This paper examines transition in the level of competition in the Japanese life insurance industry over the last ten years. We estimate the first order condition for profit maximizing insurance oligopolies to obtain the degree of non-competition and collusion. Estimation results suggest: 1) mutual companies, like stock companies, seek to maximize their own profits rather than pay out dividends ...

Revisiting Inter-Industry Wage Differentials and the Gender Wage Gap: An Identification Problem We propose a measure of the industrial gender wage gap which is free from an identification problem by using inter-industry wage differentials, or industrial wage premia. We draw on a recent literature showing that a normalized regression equation can be used to resolve the identification problem in ...

In this introduction the editors showcase the papers by way of a structured project and seek to clarify the two key concepts cited in the title. We consider the history of the idea that knowledge is an economic factor, and discuss the question of whether regions provide the relevant system of reference for knowledge-based economic development. Current transformations in university-industry-gove...

The title needs clarification because it suggests a broad theme concerning the relative ability of contending groups to obtain tariffs or quotas or other special devices serving to raise that industry or firm’s domestic prices above their levels if trade were free. This note is intended to focus more narrowly on a particular model scenario, that of the specific factors type, in which two firms ...

Rapid trade liberalisation can exert profound effects on labour markets. Domestic firms, to sustain competitiveness for survival, could react through cutting labour benefits to achieve cost reductions. Alternatively, trade liberalisation may alter the industry composition of firms changing the aggregate formality rates. This paper studies the relationship between trade liberalisation and inform...

This paper examines the interaction between default risk and interest-rate risk in determining the term structure of credit default swap spreads at different industry sectors and credit rating classes. The paper starts with a parsimonious three-factor interest-rate dynamic term structure and projects the credit spread at each industry sector and rating class to these interest-rate factors while...

At present, China's steel industry is experiencing a serious dilemma. The steel companies are trying to achieve a breakthrough and upgrade in the face of adversity with Ebusiness. So Ebusiness has been a long-term development in the steel industry, from version 1.0 to version 2.0, and now it has come to version 3.0. In its version 3.0 resource integration platform, the information release platf...

We estimate changes in market structure in the US electric power industry during the last three decades using two independent approaches. First, we estimate an industry-wide conjectural-variations parameter. We find that industry concentration was generally rising during the 1970s, but has been gradually and consistently falling since the early 1980s. To check the robustness of these results, w...

Economies of Scale in European Manufacturing Revisited* We test for internal and external economies of scale in European manufacturing, employing a more disaggregated data set than has been used in earlier analyses. We aim to separate externalities from common business cycle effects. Fifteen European manufacturing industries in France, Germany, Italy and the UK are analysed. We focus on economi...