Price Transparency, Search, and Collusion in Markets. Online search platforms and 'open data' policies are emerging to empower consumers with price information for decision-making in markets, yet also can enable collusive pricing. This project aims to study the competitive impact of search platforms by combining large, real-time datasets on firm pricing and consumer search with natural and field experiments. The project expects to facilitate the development of new models of collusion, consumer s ....Price Transparency, Search, and Collusion in Markets. Online search platforms and 'open data' policies are emerging to empower consumers with price information for decision-making in markets, yet also can enable collusive pricing. This project aims to study the competitive impact of search platforms by combining large, real-time datasets on firm pricing and consumer search with natural and field experiments. The project expects to facilitate the development of new models of collusion, consumer search, and platform adoption. This should yield substantial benefit by modernizing competition policy for the digital age through novel data-driven screens for collusion, and policies to encourage platform adoption and enable consumers’ use of data in decision-making to increase competition in markets.Read moreRead less
Human-capital acquisition, technological improvement and product-market competition: theory and evidence. Japan has achieved its economic growth at a remarkable pace in the postwar period, and has become one of Australia's most important trade partners. This project is expected to benefit the Australian business community and governmental institutions by offering systematic investigations, both theoretically and empirically, on the recent transition taking place in the Japanese economy from prev ....Human-capital acquisition, technological improvement and product-market competition: theory and evidence. Japan has achieved its economic growth at a remarkable pace in the postwar period, and has become one of Australia's most important trade partners. This project is expected to benefit the Australian business community and governmental institutions by offering systematic investigations, both theoretically and empirically, on the recent transition taking place in the Japanese economy from previously unexplored perspectives by capturing interconnections among employment/labour market practices, product-market competition, and government-business relationships. It is envisaged that Australian industries and government could gain useful information from this project for effective formulation of their international trade strategies and policies.Read moreRead less
Partial equity ownership and knowledge transfer: An economic analysis of strategic alliances. Since 1997, 5462 cases of equity strategic alliances have been identified within Australia. In 2003, the ACCC rejected a proposal by Qantas and Air New Zealand to enter into such an alliance on the grounds that it would be highly anti-competitive. Under what conditions should the Government allow or prevent the formation of equity strategic alliances? Under what circumstances can such alliances benefit ....Partial equity ownership and knowledge transfer: An economic analysis of strategic alliances. Since 1997, 5462 cases of equity strategic alliances have been identified within Australia. In 2003, the ACCC rejected a proposal by Qantas and Air New Zealand to enter into such an alliance on the grounds that it would be highly anti-competitive. Under what conditions should the Government allow or prevent the formation of equity strategic alliances? Under what circumstances can such alliances benefit consumers and society? This project addresses these questions by systematically exploring the link between equity ownership and knowledge transfer. It will contribute to the effective operation of the Australian economy by proposing comprehensive guidelines for antitrust agencies to analyse welfare consequences of equity strategic alliances.Read moreRead less
Optimal Policy Design with Entry: A Model of Aggregative Oligopoly Games. This project aims to develop a theory of endogenous market structures using aggregative oligopoly games to engage issues in competition, trade and innovation policy. Effective and innovative policy design is crucial for economic growth and productivity. Policy analysis with endogenous market structures is in need of better tools. The toolkit of aggregative games, in which each player’s profit can be written as a function o ....Optimal Policy Design with Entry: A Model of Aggregative Oligopoly Games. This project aims to develop a theory of endogenous market structures using aggregative oligopoly games to engage issues in competition, trade and innovation policy. Effective and innovative policy design is crucial for economic growth and productivity. Policy analysis with endogenous market structures is in need of better tools. The toolkit of aggregative games, in which each player’s profit can be written as a function of own action and an aggregate variable, would greatly simplify the analysis of oligopoly interaction. This would lead to a tractable but general welfare analysis yielding new results. The framework is designed to allow us to examine complex policy questions in a simplified way, accommodating models with heterogeneous players and entry, and generalising models with different types of competition and demand specification.Read moreRead less
Optimal prize structures in the innovation context. This project aims to study the optimal prize structures in innovation contests. Innovation contests spur innovation for governments, not-for-profit organizations and firms, but the optimal design of innovation contests is a problem. Innovation is important in economic growth and firm competitiveness, but the 2015 Australian Innovation System Report identifies Australia as a mediocre innovator amongst the OECD countries. This project will use an ....Optimal prize structures in the innovation context. This project aims to study the optimal prize structures in innovation contests. Innovation contests spur innovation for governments, not-for-profit organizations and firms, but the optimal design of innovation contests is a problem. Innovation is important in economic growth and firm competitiveness, but the 2015 Australian Innovation System Report identifies Australia as a mediocre innovator amongst the OECD countries. This project will use an ideas-based innovation model to distinguish between easy and difficult challenges based on the availability of good ideas. The results should be important for effective incentivising of innovation through contests.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100104
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Mechanism Design with Aftermarket Dynamics. This project aims to design optimal selling policies, allowing for aftermarket dynamics such as resale and inter-buyer competitions. The existence of an aftermarket greatly affects the optimal design of license auctions, procurement, franchising and the like. For instance, when market licenses are auctioned off, incumbent firms may compete fiercely for licenses they do not need simply to keep entrants out. Existing sales designs that overlook such bidd ....Mechanism Design with Aftermarket Dynamics. This project aims to design optimal selling policies, allowing for aftermarket dynamics such as resale and inter-buyer competitions. The existence of an aftermarket greatly affects the optimal design of license auctions, procurement, franchising and the like. For instance, when market licenses are auctioned off, incumbent firms may compete fiercely for licenses they do not need simply to keep entrants out. Existing sales designs that overlook such bidding incentives often underperform in practice. The project aims to examine informational policies that influence buyers’ activities to best suit the seller's objectives. It expects to help regulatory bodies to design more efficient license auctions, provide franchisors with more profitable strategies, and save taxpayers' money when procuring services.Read moreRead less
The evolution of Australian enterprises, 1990 to 2007 : An empirical analysis of the relationship between turbulence among firms, productivity, growth and exports. This project will examine determinants and effects of enterprise entry and exit on growth, export and productivity in Australian industry using innovative panel enterprise data sets which have been collated and linked from existing ABS surveys, administrative data and accounting data. Currently, there is only one short longitudinal en ....The evolution of Australian enterprises, 1990 to 2007 : An empirical analysis of the relationship between turbulence among firms, productivity, growth and exports. This project will examine determinants and effects of enterprise entry and exit on growth, export and productivity in Australian industry using innovative panel enterprise data sets which have been collated and linked from existing ABS surveys, administrative data and accounting data. Currently, there is only one short longitudinal enterprise data set in Australia. Further data sets are required if policy makers are to understand patterns and causes of growth and business survival in Australia. Understanding provided from these studies should significantly improve our undertanding of how businesses perform.Read moreRead less
Reassessing the role of industry associations through an examination of Australian and New Zealand wool marketing, 1890-1960. This is a study of organisational innovation in an internationally-important industry. Wool industry associations built and maintained a marketing organization, regionally and then nationally, that sold more than a half of the world's wool. Our long-term study assesses whether associations along the supply chain could replenish their social capital and remain adaptive and ....Reassessing the role of industry associations through an examination of Australian and New Zealand wool marketing, 1890-1960. This is a study of organisational innovation in an internationally-important industry. Wool industry associations built and maintained a marketing organization, regionally and then nationally, that sold more than a half of the world's wool. Our long-term study assesses whether associations along the supply chain could replenish their social capital and remain adaptive and flexible organisations in the face of marked changes in the environment. The nature of the web of connections between associations in the wool market deserves further study. If their cooperation made possible the institutions governing wool selling then government agencies may need to take a more nuanced approach to regulating inter-organizational collaboration.Read moreRead less
Innovation incentives in the Internet economy: a multi-sided market approach. The internet is a fundamental infrastructure for economic growth and prosperity in the global economy. Maintaining competition and promoting innovation in the internet industry thus is of paramount importance. The aim of this project is to push the frontier of research and advance public policy regarding the internet and, more generally, towards the ICT industry. The project will develop comprehensive and innovative e ....Innovation incentives in the Internet economy: a multi-sided market approach. The internet is a fundamental infrastructure for economic growth and prosperity in the global economy. Maintaining competition and promoting innovation in the internet industry thus is of paramount importance. The aim of this project is to push the frontier of research and advance public policy regarding the internet and, more generally, towards the ICT industry. The project will develop comprehensive and innovative economic models to understand better the innovation process in the internet industry. This will enable formulation of regulatory policies based on rigorous and evidence-based analysis to create an environment that would help the Australian economy sustain global competitiveness in the innovation-driven internet industry.Read moreRead less
Incomplete Information Models for Industrial Organisation. Mergers, acquisitions, and collusive conduct take place in imperfectly competitive environments where firms have incomplete information about others. Despite this, standard workhorse models for analyzing the associated competitive effects assume that firms have complete information and typically only accommodate imperfect competition on one side of the market. This project aims to remedy this deficiency by developing the economic theory ....Incomplete Information Models for Industrial Organisation. Mergers, acquisitions, and collusive conduct take place in imperfectly competitive environments where firms have incomplete information about others. Despite this, standard workhorse models for analyzing the associated competitive effects assume that firms have complete information and typically only accommodate imperfect competition on one side of the market. This project aims to remedy this deficiency by developing the economic theory and associated practical tools for the analysis of competitive effects in settings with incomplete information and market power on both sides. The project work will be presented at seminars and workshops around the globe to both academic audiences and to practitioners at competition authorities. Read moreRead less