We re-examine the economic justification for the regulation of firms' spatial price policies. Existing analysis, by treating market structure as exogenous, loses an important trade-off. Discriminatory pricing is more competitive between incumbents but acts as a strong deterrent against entry....

The impact of exchange rate fluctuations on international trade has long been a major concern for policy-makers. This is particularly the case in Europe, where countries trade extensively with each other. The crisis that began in the Summer of 1992 generated increased exchange rate fluctuations...

This paper studies the impact of income inequality on fiscal conservatism when an increase in inequality affects the bottom portion of income distribution. It is argued that, contrary to what is generally assumed in the economic literature, inequality will then be associated with less, rather...

In this paper we relate trends in the accumulation of human capital in Britain, Germany and the United States to overall production strategy and productivity trends. In the United States a strategy of standardized mass production led to high levels of labour productivity and concentration on the...

We examine national effects on the common policies of the European Union (EU). The paper establishes a difference between national influence on voting outcomes and policies. It is assumed that policies of the EU are public goods and Holler's public good power index is applied. The method is...

This paper presents empirical tests of the hypothesis that firms cluster geographically due to Marshallian localization economies. The hypothesis implies that changes in employment in localized industries should be more closely related within the regions than across regions. We develop an...

This paper extends the bargaining and matching literature such as Rubinstein (1985) and Gale (1986 and 1987) by considering a new matching process. We assume that a central information agency exists, such as job centres and newspapers in the labour market, or real estate agents in the housing...

This paper analyses the determinants of language abilities of migrant workers and the impact of language proficiency on their earnings position. The analysis is based on data for West Germany. The first part presents an ordered probit analysis of the determinants of German speaking and writing...

This paper develops a theory of optimal sequencing of regional integration and applies it to the specific question of Central and East European countries (CEECs) and the EU. We show that the timing of transition and integration has implications for the long-term trade structure of Europe. In...

This paper provides a description of the economic growth process and its major characteristics in the Netherlands from the 1930s up to the present. The first part presents some main characteristics of the long-run growth performance of the Dutch economy. It is shown that the Netherlands has...