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Intermediate microeconomics : A modern approach
01 Jan 2006-
TL;DR: The Varian approach as mentioned in this paper gives students tools they can use on exams, in the rest of their classes, and in their careers after graduation, and is still the most modern presentation of the subject.
Abstract: This best-selling text is still the most modern presentation of the subject. The Varian approach gives students tools they can use on exams, in the rest of their classes, and in their careers after graduation.
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that a gaming tax is divided between local casinos and tourist gamblers and affects the relative price of gambling services in a holiday resort, and conduct a general-equilibrium analysis of overall welfare effect on the tourism-based economy of the tax via its induced changes in the relative prices that alter terms of trade and production incentives.
Abstract: Using a partial-equilibrium framework, this paper shows that a gaming tax is divided between local casinos and tourist gamblers and affects the relative price of gambling services in a holiday resort. We then conduct a general-equilibrium analysis of overall welfare effect on the tourism-based economy of the tax via its induced changes in the relative price that alter terms of trade and production incentives. The paper finds that differences in demand elasticity and market structure have a clear bearing on tax incidence in gaming dominant economies. We discover that those market conditions can make all the difference between success and failure of a gaming tax and may thus have a good potential for explaining why each gaming jurisdiction has adopted a different tax. The paper also discusses the efficiency criterion for optimal tax choice and the tax policy tradeoff between revenue generation and job creation.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider whether this potentially punitive treatment of joint buying arrangements under section 4(1)(b) of the South African Competition Act is warranted and indeed whether the equivalent treatment for joint buying and selling agreements under this section of the Act is appropriate.
Abstract: The creation of ‘buying power’ through joint purchasing agreements is often seen as positive, with direct benefits for consumers in the form of lower prices. Even where joint purchasing agreements lead to the creation of a monopsonist, economic theory suggests that the welfare effects of monopsony power depend greatly on the market context, with some economists proposing that the probability of harm in cases involving monopsony power is considerably lower than in cases of a monopoly. Despite this view, section 4(1)(b) of the South African Competition Act classifies the ‘fixing of a purchase or selling price or any other trading condition’ by competitors as a per se prohibition. This implies that from a legal perspective purchasing agreements may be afforded the same draconian treatment as selling cartels. This paper considers whether this potentially punitive treatment of joint buying arrangements under section 4(1)(b) is warranted and indeed whether the equivalent treatment of joint buying and selling agreements under this section of the Act is appropriate.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the relationship between economies of size and managerial ability in South Africa's dairy sector and found that the AC curves are U-shaped with greater economies than diseconomies of size.
Abstract: This study analysed the relationship between economies of size and managerial ability in South Africa'S dairy sector. The results show that the AC curves are U-shaped with greater economies than diseconomies of size. Better managers were shown to profitably produce output levels at lower average cost per litre than other managers do. In addition, their optimum levels of output are between two and four times as large as that of firms with average or low levels of management. Better-managed enterprises are on average operating below their optimum size, but low and average managed firms are producing output well in excess of their optima.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative GA strategy was proposed and compared with the previous GA evolution strategy, where all child-solutions were only compared with their parents during the evolution process, and the non-dominated childsolutions are collected into a candidate list.
Abstract: Limited natural daylight in Nordic Countries means artificial lighting is a critical factor in industrial plant production. The electricity cost of artificial lights accounts for a large percentage of the overall cost of plant production. The optimal use of artificial lighting in plant production can be formulated as a multi-objective problem (MOP) to achieve optimal plant growth while minimizing electricity cost. In previous work, for solving this MOP, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) was used to create a Pareto Frontier (PF), which contains solutions representing a trade-off for using artificial lighting against plant production objectives. The PF was updated immediately once a non-dominated child-solution was found by comparing the dominance with solutions in the PF. Besides, in addition to the PF, the initial random population is also reused as a parent source in the evolution process. When the genetic evolution process terminated, a priority-based selection mechanism was used to select a final solution from the PF. In this paper, an alternative evolution strategy is proposed and compared with the previous GA evolution strategy. By this alternative strategy, all child-solutions are only compared with their parents during the evolution process, and the non-dominated child-solutions are collected into a candidate list. The PF is then updated at the end of each generation by comparing solutions on the PF with the collected candidate solutions. In this alternative strategy, the PF is the only source of parent-solution during the evolution process. In addition, a posterior normalization is implemented in the dominance evaluation, and social welfare metrics (SWs) are applied as an alternative to the priority-based selection mechanism to avoid the explicit ranking of objectives. The experimental results show that the proposed alternative evolution strategy outperforms the previous strategy on dramatically avoiding local minima.
1 citations
08 Nov 1998
TL;DR: Main reasonings for and against pricing as a method to reduce congestion of Internet services are introduced and a new volume-based approach for pricing communication services in the Internet is proposed.
Abstract: The most important approaches on Internet economics make various assumptions on pricing policies and services. This study introduces main reasonings for and against pricing as a method to reduce congestion of Internet services. These criteria encompass features of the economic model, the pricing mechanism, and the network model. Moreover necessary basics are outlined to handle general influences. Advantages and drawbacks of economics for communication services are discussed to reveal a structured picture of today's situation, which is driven by technological and economic factors at the same time. Based on a sketchy overview of related work a new volume-based approach for pricing communication services in the Internet is proposed and an implementation architecture is introduced.
1 citations