Macroeconomic Effects of Oligopolistic Competition with Wage Bargaining

Modelling oligopoly in general equilibrium is about understanding the aggregate effects of the strategic behavior that nonatomistic agents may exhibit in their markets. Real-world economies appear to be characterized by (monopoly) power-endowed agents behaving strategically - namely, firms and unions. By abstracting from this behavior, we risk missing some important features of the macroeconomy. We develop a general equilibrium model of unionized oligopoly aimed at addressing this point. We evaluate the macroeconomic effects of supply-side shocks under alternative product and labor market structures. In addition, the micro foundations of the model capture an alternative channel for the development of strategic interactions among firms, unions and the monetary authority. This channel creates a transmission mechanism for real effects of monetary policy-related shocks, which we investigate. Finally, in the light of the predictions of the model, we discuss macroeconomic performance in Continental Europe over the 1990s.

Negative-Energy Perturbations in Circularly Cylindrical Equilibria within the Framework of Maxwell-Drift Kinetic Theory

The conditions for the existence of negative-energy perturbations (which could be nonlinearly unstable and cause anomalous transport) are investigated in the framework of linearized collisionless Maxwell-drift kinetic theory for the case of equilibria of magnetically confined, circularly cylindrical plasmas and vanishing initial field perturbations. For wave vectors with a non-vanishing component parallel to the magnetic field, the plane equilibrium conditions (derived by Throumoulopoulos and Pfirsch [Phys Rev. E {\bf 49}, 3290 (1994)]) are shown to remain valid, while the condition for perpendicular perturbations (which are found to be the most important modes) is modified. Consequently, besides the tokamak equilibrium regime in which the existence of negative-energy perturbations is related to the threshold value of 2/3 of the quantity $\eta_\nu = \frac {\partial \ln T_\nu} {\partial \ln N_\nu}$, a new regime appears, not present in plane equilibria, in which negative-energy perturbations exist for {\em any} value of $\eta_\nu$. For various analytic cold-ion tokamak equilibria a substantial fraction of thermal electrons are associated with negative-energy perturbations (active particles). In particular, for linearly stable equilibria of a paramagnetic plasma with flat electron temperature profile ($\eta_e=0$), the entire velocity space is occupied by active electrons. The part of the velocity space occupied by active particles increases from the center to the plasma edge and is larger in a paramagnetic plasma than in a diamagnetic plasma with the same pressure profile. It is also shown that, unlike in plane equilibria, negative-energy perturbations exist in force-free reversed-field pinch equilibria with a substantial fraction of active particles.Comment: 31 pages, late

Technology adoption and the investment climate : firm-level evidence for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The international diffusion of technology presents an opportunity for developing economies distant from the world technological frontier to reduce their income gap relative to advanced economies. It is therefore crucial to understand why, when faced with similar technological alternatives different firms in different countries choose to adopt different vintages of capital. This paper examines technology adoption across firms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The findings show that access to complementary inputs - managerial capacity, skilled labor, finance, and good infrastructure - and to international knowledge - through foreign direct investment or exports - is an important correlate of technology adoption. The link between market incentives and technology adoption is more nuanced. Although consumer pressure results in technology adoption, competitor pressure does not, suggesting that only firms with rents are able to adopt technology given substantial resource constraints. Privatized firms exhibit better technology adoption outcomes but only when a clear private owner with a profit incentive is present. Better governance is associated with technology adoption only in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004. Future increases in technology adoption by firms in the region will require complementary reforms of the investment climate.E-Business,Technology Industry,ICT Policy and Strategies,Microfinance,

Breakdown of the Fermi-liquid regime in the 2D Hubbard model from a two-loop field-theoretical renormalization group approach

We analyze the particle-hole symmetric two-dimensional Hubbard model on a square lattice starting from weak-to-moderate couplings by means of the field-theoretical renormalization group (RG) approach up to two-loop order. This method is essential in order to evaluate the effect of the momentum-resolved anomalous dimension $\eta(\textbf{p})$ which arises in the normal phase of this model on the corresponding low-energy single-particle excitations. As a result, we find important indications pointing to the existence of a non-Fermi liquid (NFL) regime at temperature $T\to 0$ displaying a truncated Fermi surface (FS) for a doping range exactly in between the well-known antiferromagnetic insulating and the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave singlet superconducting phases. This NFL evolves as a function of doping into a correlated metal with a large FS before the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave pairing susceptibility finally produces the dominant instability in the low-energy limit.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures; published in Phys. Rev.