This note derives a new formula for determining a monopolist's optimal multi-tier pricing scheme for any given number of tiers. It further characterizes Gabor's (1955, Review of Economic Studies) two-tier pari passu marginal revenue function to the n-tier case. By introducing the individual...

This paper examines the various economic issues on offshoring (international outsourcing). It begins with a discussion of the factors that determine a firm's decision to offshore and illustrates, with simple models, the cost saving of offshoring certain stages of production and the advantages of...

This paper provides a concise guide to dynamic optimization with an integral treatment on various optimal control and dynamic programming problems. It presents essential theorems and methods for obtaining and characterizing solutions to these problems. The paper discusses Pontryagin's maximum...

The paper introduces the conjectural variations and bargaining approaches into a vertical model, wherein a foreign upstream firm supplies one input to two downstream firms that produce differentiated products for the export market. Various downstream firms' competition modes and upstream's...

We show that in an n×n tridiagonal matrix T that has a positive dominant diagonal and negative super- and sub-diagonals, there exists a strictly positive x0 that satisfies the system Tx=b, b≧0 and b≠0. Furthermore, if T is symmetric, the components of x can be ranked under certain...

Optimal trade and industrial policies are examined in an export-rivalry and a home-market model with general cost heterogeneity among firms. The roles of the demand and cost structures in policy determination are systematically analyzed. It is shown that the equal-markup property holds in both...

This paper discusses the key ingredients of WTO antidumping, countervailing, and safeguard measures, and corresponding U.S. trade laws. It explores a number of shortcomings of current U.S. antidumping laws, including the cost- and price-based dumping criteria and the inevitable excessive...

This paper discusses WTO's trade dispute settlement procedure. It also discusses NAFTA's unique dispute settlement system that subjects antidumping and countervailing duty determinations to binational panel reviews instead of the more conventional judicial reviews. The paper then studies seven...

The EU is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries. It has accomplished a great deal in promoting peace, prosperity, justice, freedom, solidarity, and participatory democracy for its 498 million citizens. The eurozone showcases the achievement of its...

The objective of this paper is to find the key factors that affect a firm's optimal transfer pricing policy. It examines two minimalist vertical models -- one consisting of a vertically integrated firm monopolizing an intermediate input for its own and rival's downstream division, and the other...