Can competition in the credit market be excessive?

We study how market power affects investment and welfare when banks choose between restricting loan sizes and monitoring, in order to alleviate an underlying moral hazard problem. The impact of market power on aggregate welfare is the result of two countervailing effects. An increase in banks' market power results in: (i) higher lending rates, which worsens the borrower's incentive problem and reduces investment by unmonitored firms, (ii) higher monitoring effort, which reduces the proportion of credit-constrained firms. Whenever the second effect dominates, it is optimal to provide banks with some degree of market power.

Retrieving Cloud Characteristics from Ground-Based Daytime Color All-Sky Images

A discussion is presented of daytime sky imaging and techniques that may be applied to the analysis of full-color sky images to infer cloud macrophysical properties. Descriptions of two different types of skyimaging systems developed by the authors are presented, one of which has been developed into a commercially available instrument. Retrievals of fractional sky cover from automated processing methods are compared to human retrievals, both from direct observations and visual analyses of sky images. Although some uncertainty exists in fractional sky cover retrievals from sky images, this uncertainty is no greater than that attached to human observations for the commercially available sky-imager retrievals. Thus, the application of automatic digital image processing techniques on sky images is a useful method to complement, or even replace, traditional human observations of sky cover and, potentially, cloud type. Additionally, the possibilities for inferring other cloud parameters such as cloud brokenness and solar obstruction further enhance the usefulness of sky imagers

Venture capital meets contract theory: risky claims or formal control?

This paper develops a theory of the joint allocation of formal control and cash-flow rights in venture capital deals. We argue that when the need for investor support calls for very high-powered outside claims, entrepreneurs should optimally retain formal control in order to avoid excessive interference. Hence, we predict that risky claims should be be negatively correlated to control rights, both along the life of a start-up and across deals. This challenges the idea that risky claims should a ways be associated to more formal control, and is in line with contractual terms increasingly used in venture capital, in corporate venturing and in partnership deals between biotech start-ups and large drug companies. The paper provides a theoretical explanation to some puzzling evidence documented in Gompers (1997) and Kaplan and Stromberg (2000), namely the inclusion in venture capital contracts of contingencies that trigger both a reduction in VC control and the conversion! of her preferred stocks into common stocks.

Airline competition and network structure

This paper characterizes the equilibria in airline networks and their welfare implications in an unregulated environment. Competing airlines may adopt either fully-connected (FC) or hub-and-spoke (HS) network structures; and passengers exhibiting low brand loyalty to their preferred carrier choose an outside option to travel so that markets are partially served by airlines. In this context, carriers adopt hubbing strategies when costs are sufficiently low, and asymmetric equilibria where one carrier chooses a FC strategy and the other chooses a HS strategy may arise. Quite interestingly, flight frequency can become excessive under HS network configurations.

Agglomeration and location: a nonparametric approach

The aim of this article is to assess the effects of several territorial characteristics, specifically agglomeration economies, on industrial location processes in the Spanish region of Catalonia. Theoretically, the level of agglomeration causes economies which favour the location of new establishments, but an excessive level of agglomeration might cause diseconomies, since congestion effects arise. The empirical evidence on this matter is inconclusive, probably because the models used so far are not suitable enough. We use a more flexible semiparametric specification, which allows us to study the nonlinear relationship between the different types of agglomeration levels and location processes. Our main statistical source is the REIC (Catalan Manufacturing Establishments Register), which has plant-level microdata on location of new industrial establishments. Keywords: agglomeration economies, industrial location, Generalized Additive Models, nonparametric estimation, count data models.

Variational inequalities in Hilbert spaces with measures and optimal stopping problems

We study the existence theory for parabolic variational inequalities in weighted L2 spaces with respect to excessive measures associated with a transition semigroup. We characterize the value function of optimal stopping problems for finite and infinite dimensional diffusions as a generalized solution of such a variational inequality. The weighted L2 setting allows us to cover some singular cases, such as optimal stopping for stochastic equations with degenerate diffusion coeficient. As an application of the theory, we consider the pricing of American-style contingent claims. Among others, we treat the cases of assets with stochastic volatility and with path-dependent payoffs.

Markets and linguistic diversity

The choice of language is a crucial decision for firms competing in cultural goods and media markets with a bilingual or multilingual consumer base. To the extent that multilingual consumers have preferences over the intrinsic characteristics (content) as well as over the language of the product, we can examine the efficiency of market outcomes regarding linguistic diversity. In this paper, I extend the spokes model and introduce language as an additional dimension of product differentiation. I show that: (i) if firms supply their product in a single language (the adoption model) then the degree of linguistic diversity is inefficiently low, and (ii) if some firms supply more than one linguistic version (the translation model) then in principle the market outcome may exhibit insufficient or excessive linguistic diversity. However, excessive diversity is associated to markets where the fraction of products in the minority language is disproportionately high with respect to the relative size of the linguistic minority.

Home i natura a la Vall de Riells

Considerant l’absència d’estudis ambientals previs a la Vall de Riells (Bigues i Riells, Vallès Oriental), i l’evident necessitat de gestió de l’espai a causa de la sobrefreqüentació antròpica, s’ha realitzat aquesta diagnosi ambiental. En ella es descriuen de manera integrada els principals elements del medi físic, biòtic i socioeconòmic, per tal de proporcionar les eines necessàries per avaluar les problemàtiques de l’espai i fomentar la seva gestió i conservació.

Estudi d'adipoquines com a marcadors plasmàtics de síndrome metabòlica

La síndrome metabòlica s’associa amb un risc elevat de desenvolupar diabetis tipus 2 i malaltia cardiovascular. La síndrome metabòlica es defineix com un clúster d’anormalitats metabòliques i, d’entre totes, l’obesitat abdominal constitueix el factor de risc més prevalent i crític en el desenvolupament de la síndrome metabòlica, el risc cardiovascular augmentat i la resistència a la insulina. La prevalença augmentada de l’obesitat en la població a nivell mundial ha portat el teixit adipós al primer pla dels estudis epidemiològics. Anteriorment es considerava el reservori energètic de l’organisme, actualment es parla del teixit adipós com un òrgan endocrí, metabòlicament molt actiu, implicat en diferents vies i processos metabòlics. L’etiologia de l’obesitat és complexa i multifactorial, però es fa evident en la disfuncionalitat del teixit adipós. Un teixit adipós disfuncional veu superada la seva capacitat d’emmagatzemar lípid i respon amb la hipersecreció de diferents molècules (adipoquines, citoquines i mediadors inflamatoris) a favor de la resistència a la insulina, proinflamatòries i proaterogèniques. La fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) i la retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) són dues adipoquines que en circulació, es desconeix la funció exacta que duen a terme. Estudis recents han suggerit la FABP4 com a marcador d’adipositat, síndrome metabòlica i diabetis tipus 2. I, RBP4, malgrat que les dades de diferents estudis en humans desperten certa controvèrsia, s’ha associat amb la resistència a la insulina i el desenvolupament de la diabetis tipus 2. En aquesta memòria es recullen els treballs en què es va estudiar el paper d’aquestes adipoquines en relació a malalties de base metabòlica amb afectació del teixit adipós com són la síndrome metabòlica, la diabetis tipus 2, la hiperlipèmia familiar combinada i la, lipodistrofia associada a tractament combinat antiretroviral de la infecció pel virus de la immunodeficiència humana (VIH).

Product differentiation, competitive pressure and the effects of innovation on the success and survivability of firms in oligopoly markets

In a recent paper Tishler and Milstein (2009) fi…nd that increased competition may increase aggregate R&D spending while market output decreases. Therefore, they obtain the surprising result that R&D spending is excessive when competition becomes intense. Their result is based on the standard linear demand function for differentiated products introduced by Bowley (1924) where decreased product differentiation is interpreted as more competitive pressure. In this paper I show that at an aggregate level this interpretation is problematic because equilibrium effects are dominated by a demand reduction effect. A slight modifi…cation of the standard demand function eliminates this effect. For the Tishler and Milstein (2009) setting it is shown that then increased competition increases both R&D spending and aggregate market output. Therefore, at least for consumers, more intense competition increases welfare. Journal of Economic Literature Classi…fication Numbers: D43, L1, O3. Keywords: Oligopoly markets, Product differentiation, Competitive pressure.

Endogenous Mergers of Complements with Mixed Bundling

This paper studies endogenous mergers of complements with mixed bundling, by allowing both for joint and separate consumption. After merger, partner fi…rms decrease the price of the bundled system. Besides, when markets for individual components are suffi…ciently important, partner …firms raise prices of stand-alone products, exploiting their monopoly power in local markets and making substitute 'mix-and-match' composite products less attractive to consumers. Even though these effects favor the pro…fitability of mergers, merging is not always an equilibrium outcome. The reason is that outsiders respond by cutting their prices to retain their market share, and mergers can be unprofitable when competition is intense. From a welfare analysis, we observe that the number of mergers observed in equilibrium may be either excessive (when markets for individual components are important) or suboptimal (when markets for individual components are less important). Keywords: complements; merger; mixed bundling; separate consumption JEL classi…fication: L13; L41; D43

Insomnia in hospitalised patients with advanced disease: prevalence and related factors

Objectiu: Avaluar prevalença i factors associats a l’insomni en pacients ingressats a una unitat de cures pal•liatives. Mètode: Entrevista estructurada a pacients consecutivament ingressats avaluant l’insomni a través de l’escala Sleep Disturbance Scale, i els factors físics, psicològics i ambientals potencialment associats. Resultats principals: El 47% presentà insomni moderat a sever. Els factors potencialment associats més prevalents foren dolor, distrés psicològic, rumiacions nocturnes i factors ambientals. En l’anàlisi multivariada, rumiacions nocturnes i somnolència diürna (relació inversa) es relacionaren amb insomni moderat a sever. Conclusions: L’insomni és un símptoma prevalent relacionat amb rumiacions nocturnes i absència de somnolència diürna.

Dynamic product diversity

The goal of this paper is to study the frequency of new product introductions in monopoly markets where demand is subject to transitory saturation. We focus on those types of goods for which consumers purchase at most one unit of each variety, but repeat purchases in the same product category. The model considers infinitely-lived, forward-looking consumers and firms. We show that the share of potential surplus that a monopolist is able to appropriate increases with the frequency of introduction of new products and the intensity of transitory saturation. If the latter is sufficiently strong then the rate of introduction of new products is higher than socially desirable (excessive dynamic product diversity.)

Propostes de prevenció de residus en esdeveniments a la ciutat de Sitges

El model actual de consum comporta el malbaratament de recursos, potenciant l’ús desmesurat de materials i productes no reutilitzables, convertint-los en residu. Aquesta generació creixent de residus comporta la necessitat de gestionar-los de manera eficient o impedir generar-los, per minimitzar els impactes ambientals i econòmics. En aquest projecte es pretén actuar en la prevenció de la generació de residus a Sitges, concretament en la promoció d’actuacions de prevenció de residus en esdeveniments. L’estudi analitza la situació actual del municipi en quant a prevenció de residus i, tenint en compte el tipus de residus generats en els esdeveniments, proposa mesures per reduir-los considerant el seu cost econòmic, comptabilitzant les despeses amb i sense l’aplicació de les mesures, i el benefici d’aquestes llarg termini.

Alternation and Cooperation in a Two-party System: Implications for Resource-Based Developing Economies

This paper studies cooperation in a political system dominated by two opportunistic parties competing in a resource-based economy. Since a binding agreement as an external solution might be difficult to enforce due to the close association between the incumbent party and the government, the paper explores the extent to which co-operation between political parties that alternate in office can rely on self-enforcing strategies to provide an internal solution. We show that, for appropriate values of the probability of re-election and the discount factor cooperation in maintaining the value of a state variable is possible, but fragile. Another result is that, in such political framework, debt decisions contain an externality element linked to electoral incentives that creates a bias towards excessive borrowing.