To be able to describe informal rural credit markets, we apply the Brock and Scheinkman model of a price setting and capacity constrained oligopoly, where firms tacitly collude on monopoly pricing. We generalise the model to allow for third-degree price discrimination. The interval of aggregate...

We test two alternative models of interest rates determination in informal rural credit markets, using data from a cross-sectional national household survey from Nepal. We find strong support for a full information, capacity-constrained and repeated oligopoly model with third-degree price...

We believe that group-lending institutions have incentives to include members outside the target-group of poor households. This implies a methodological problem that is rarely taken into account in empirical studies. We apply a general household survey, and find some evidence of non-poor...

Three Nordic countries, Norway, Finland and Sweden, and Japan had experienced the severe financial crisis after the rapid asset price increase in almost the same period. However the recovery was fast in Nordic countries, while Japan experienced a prolonged recession, so called lost two decades....

Sickness absence has risen over the past years in Norway. One explanation put forward is that a tougher labor market represents a health hazard, while a competing hypothesis predicts that loss of job security works as a disciplinary device. In this analysis we aim to trace a causal impact of...

We use two non-parametric measures to characterize intergenerational mobility (IGM) throughout the income distribution: Rank Mobility and Income Share Mobility. We examine differences in these IGM curves between Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United States using comparable samples. Although we...

The article offers a complementary theory for conglomerate mergers. Conglomerate mergers take place to achieve control over distribution channels that otherwise could be used by rival entrants. An entrant with a very differentiated product is accommodated, and an entrant with a close substitute...

It is often asserted that agricultural land yields significant amenity benefits that could be used as a rationale for some of the substantial support to agriculture occuring in many industrialized countries. This paper introduces a method for incorporating information on the willingness to pay...

In this paper the author estimates the effect of the Helsinki agreement and economic factors on sulfur emissions using data from 25 European coutnries. To allow for self-selection into the agreement, a treatment effect model was estimated using the Heckman two-step procedure.

The paper studies the performance of joint ventures where upstream firms sell inputs to a production joint venture. It is found that joint ventures lead to overinvoicing of input prices (transfer prices) compared to integrated firms resulting in lower aggregate profits. Tax and tariff policy may...