The aim of this study is to investigate how network effects affect the quality and price decisions of firms in a vertically differentiated market. As network effects increase, high-quality producers tend to raise quality while low-quality producers lower it. The degree of product differentiation...

On March 18th 2009, FED has made a move it haven’t done since 1960 (the so-called Operation Trust conceived by the Kennedy administration): it steped into the market in order to buy long term securities for an amount of some 1.25 trillion dollars. FED also announced a program to restart...

We study competition in two sided markets with common network externality rather than with the standard inter-group e¤ects. This type of externality occurs when both groups bene…t, possibly with di¤erent intensities, from an increase in the size of one group and from a decrease in the size of...

Despite the increasing coverage and prevalence of equality legislation and the general alignment of key determining characteristics such as educational attainment, gender differentials continue to persist in labour market outcomes, including earnings. Recently, evidence has been found supporting...

Successful transition and adjustment to school life is critical for a child's future success. To ease this transition a child needs to arrive equipped with the necessary skills for school. The extent of a child’s behavioural problems is one indicator of his or her level of adjustment and...

In the postal sector, the net cost of universal service depends on the content of the service, the postal market characteristics and the country’s geographical configuration. These three groups of factors affect both the direct cost of providing the service and the extent of competition on the...

We study the exit of hospitals from the market for inpatient services. More generous hospital reimbursement significantly reduces the probability of exit throughout the 1990s. Conditional on reimbursement levels, hospital efficiency was not a significant determinant in the early 1990s but in the...