We study a setting in which individual players choose their partners as well as a mode of behavior in 2 x 2 anti-coordination games -- games where a player's best response is to behave differently than the opponent. We characterize the nature of equilibrium networks as well as study the effects...

Increased competition and the attempts of European banks to increase their presence in other markets may have affected the efficiency and credit risk. The first of this aspects is based on the incentive to the banks to reduce cost in order to gain in competitiveness. The second is associated to...

Hypothesis testing and statistical precision in the context of nonparametric efficiency and productivity measurement have been investigated since the early 1990s. Recent contributions focus on this matter through the use of resampling methods?i.e., bootstrapping techniques. However, empirical...

In this paper we analyze firms' ability to tacitly collude on pricesin an infinitely repeated duopoly game of vertical productdifferentiation. We show that firms collude if and only if their discountfactor is high enough, i.e. if they value future profits sufficiently. We alsoshow that a lower...

This study analyses the evolution of market power in the banking sectors of the European Union based on the estimation of Lerner indices. Using a panel of 18,810 observations of the banking industries of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom during the period 1992-99, the results...

Financial integration in Europe should affect the competition between markets and intermediaries and generate a convergence of both interest rates and margins among the different countries. This paper analyses the evolution of the convergence in interest rates and the level of competition and...

This paper examines the reaction of the Spanish continuous market to the announcement of securitisation operations by listed banks in the period 1993-2003. Results indicate the existence of positive and significant abnormal returns on the day immediately following the announcement date. The...

The aim of this study is to analyze labor productivity convergence in the countries of the OECD over the period 1965-90. A non-parametric frontier approach is used to calculate the Malmquist productivity index. By breaking it down, the contribution to the growth of labor productivity of...

This study analyzes the links between efficiency and the decentralization of competencies among Spanish local governments for years 1995 and 2000. The aim is pursued by considering a two-stage activity analysis model in which the performance of eachmunicipality is first evaluated against other...

Over the last decade, the Spanish banking sector has undergone a radical structural change. The old bank statu quo has broken down due both to the impact of technical change and to a strong deregulation process, that has given way to a much freer and competitive economic environment. Similarly,...