We discuss and apply a new measure of competition: the elasticity of a firm's profits with respect to its cost level. A higher value of this profit elasticity (PE) signals more intense competition. Using firm level data we compare PE with the most popular competition measures such as the price...

This report analyses the broadband market and asks whether a specific role of government is necessary. As broadband telecommunication is seen as a source of productivity gains, the European Union and other regions are encouraging the deployment of a secure broadband infrastructure. In the...

This document provides a review of recent theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between entry, exit and productivity. Decomposition methods show that entry and exit considerably contribute to productivity growth, but are unable to shed any light on the ultimate sources of...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the contribution of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) to labour productivity growth in the 1990s, using an extensive panel of firm-level data for Dutch market services. We estimate enhanced production function models that include ICT...

In the 1990s policy makers took various measures to stimulate competition. This memorandum investigates the question in which direction competition in the Dutch market sector has changed. Four competition indicators are used. These indicators are derived from a database of 87 000 firms as well...

This document focuses on innovation, human capital, technology transfers and competition as potential sources of productivity growth for firms. It integrates the views of existing literature such as the two faces of R&D, the convergence debate and the existence of firm-level heterogeneity in...

The Dutch retail trade demonstrated a relatively meagre performance in terms of productivity (growth) during the 1990s, especially seen from an international perspective. This study analyses the productivity performance of the Dutch retail trade in more detail, and focuses on competition and...

Competition in the Dutch market sector as a whole probably slightly declined during 1993-2001. Within the market sector, a large variety in competition development exists. Competition changes have been rather small in many industries competition, but a considerable number of industries...

From an historical and international perspective, Dutch labour productivity growth rates have been lacklustre. Using a growth accounting framework, this document analyses whether ICT has recently boosted Dutch labour productivity growth, similar to developments in the US. Labour productivity...

In this study, we analyse changes in market power in the Dutch supermarket chain and discuss the effects on welfare. The supermarket chain includes consumers, supermarkets, buyer groups and food manufactures. We look at the theoretical background of market power.  Special attention has been...