Joint impact of competition,ownership form and economic regulation on airport performance and pricing

The combined impact of ownership form, economic regulation and competition on airport performance is analyzed using data envelopment analysis to measure cost efficiency in the first stage and regression analysis to measure the impact of the environment in the second stage. The empirical results of an analysis of European and Australian airports over a 10 year timeframe reveal that under relatively non-competitive conditions, public airports operate less cost efficiently than fully private airports. Irrespective of ownership form, regulation is necessary to emulate competitive forces thus pushing airport management towards cost efficiency and reasonable pricing policies. Under potential regional or hub competition, economic regulation inhibits airports of any ownership form from operating and pricing efficiently. Although public and fully private airports operate equally efficiently in a competitive setting, private airports still set higher aeronautical charges. Furthermore, mixed ownership forms with a majority public holding are neither cost efficient nor low price, irrespective of the level of competition.     

Possibility of Strategic Alliance from Competition： A Game Analysis

The possibility for two competitive firms to form a strategic alliance was quantitatively analyzed with the game theory. The strategic alliance could be formed in an infinitely repeated game with complete information or a finitely repeated game with incomplete information. In the former situation, the discount ratio is important. If the discount ratio is large enough, alliance would be a possible solution. In the latter situation, the bigger the possibility of the rationality is, the more possible is for both firms to make strategic alliance.     

运用“波特五力竞争模型”分析公路施工行业

文中介绍了公路施工行业的现状,运用“波特五力竞争模型”对其进行分析,并提出相应的对策。     

冷战后中美在东亚地区的关系及展望

文章分析了冷战后特别是后金融危机时代,中美关系在东亚地区的态势—合作、竞争与冲突,提出了中美关系在东亚地区关系的定位—正常的大国关系,最后分析了中美关系前景及对我国政策制定的影响。     

Workshop report - Public policy and transport

This workshop considered the wider public policy goals of a range of transport interventions. Particular attention was paid to assessing the role of integration of the different components of the transport system and of the integration of transport with other economic sectors. This assessment was informed by Ray Pawson’s realist evaluation approach, with its emphasis on the inter-relationships between context, process and outcome. The context was provided by case studies covering small urban areas, large urban areas and inter-urban corridors. The three key processes identified related to a regulated system with public ownership and control, a deregulated system with private sector ownership (‘competition in the market’) and a system in which there was public planning of the transport system but private provision (‘competition for the market’). Outcomes can be assessed using cost-benefit analysis tools to determine impacts on economic welfare or more qualitative approaches can be used to determine the extent to which accessibility or sustainability goals have been achieved. The evidence provided suggests that wider public policy goals are more important for urban than for inter-urban transport and it thus in urban areas where integration should be pursued with most vigour. The most relevant process for achieving this would seem to be variants of the competition for the market model. Some policy recommendations are made and implications for further research and for future conferences assessed.     

The impact of competition on container port (in)efficiency

There are many studies on container port efficiency and that seek to understand what factors, such as technical and scale efficiency, private versus public terminal management or macro-economic factors, play on the efficiency score of a given port. There are fewer studies that focus on the role played by the inter-port competitive environment. This role remains difficult to assess. In fact, on the one hand, a port subject to high inter-port competition may record higher efficiency scores due to the pressure from the competitive environment. On the other hand, a port subject to high competition may be forced to over-invest and could therefore records a lower efficiency score. This article investigates this issue and examines how the degree of competition measured at different levels (local, regional and global level) impacts the efficiency score of a given container port. To do so, we implement a truncated regression with a parametric bootstrapping model. The model applied to information gathered for 200 container ports in 2007 and 2010 leads to the following conclusions: port efficiency decreases with competition intensity when measured in a range of 400–800 km (regional level); and the effect from competition is not significant when competition is measured at a local (less than 300 km) or at a global (more than 800 km) level. Estimates also show a tendency for ports who invested from 2007 to 2010 to experience a general decrease in efficiency scores, an element which could be explained by the time lag between the investment and the subsequent potential increase in container throughput.     

Modelling emission control taxes in port areas and port privatization levels in port competition and co-operation sub-games

Using a game theory approach, this paper analyses a situation in which the government imposes a certain emission tax on vessels and port operations for emission control in port areas. Two ports are considered: a purely private port and a landlord (partial public) port. These two ports are in Cournot or Bertrand competition or cooperation with differentiated service. Our model outcomes lead to the following conclusions. First, the optimal private level of port 2 under Cournot and Bertrand competitions varies between fully private and highly public concerned port, while government will prefer a highly public concerned or close to highly public concerned port in the cooperation scenario. Second, government will have to make more and stricter efforts to enhance environmental protection in the situation of port cooperation (monopoly) than in the case of inter-port competition, and all the optimal emission tax should be always lower than the marginal emission damage. Third, port privatization has a non-monotonous effect on ports’ environmental damage in the inter-port competition scenarios and a monotonous decreasing effect in the cooperation scenario. Fourth, the total emission tax revenue is always higher than the overall environmental damage in the cooperative scenario, and it may or may not be able to cover the whole environment damage in Cournot and Bertrand competitions. Finally, the government may face a trade-off among environmental protection, maximizing social welfare, satisfying individual motivation, when considering port cooperation (monopoly).     

Rail access charges in France: Beyond the opposition between competition and financing

Access charges to the railway infrastructures, and in particular of the high speed lines, poses many theoretical and practical questions. Besides the need to decide whether it is better to apply a principle of marginal cost or a full cost approach, a difficulty arises with regard to the possibilities of competition between various operators. France is especially affected by this problem since access charges are particularly high while at the same time competition is non-existent. Is this absence of competition explained by the high level of access charges? After describing the principles which underlie the pricing scheme for high speed trains in France, this paper attempts to find out if these tolls constitute a barrier to entry. After building a model that summarizes the components of supply and demand on the Paris–Lyon journey, this paper shows that the considerations relating to demand (peak hour or off-peak hour) are more fundamental than access charges, which do not in themselves constitute a barrier to entry. Barriers exist, but they involve access charges in relation to the allocation of slots which would make it possible to guarantee certain profitability to a new entrant. Break-even points are proposed which show that SNCF's potential competitors have margins for manoeuvre.     

集装箱港口竞合战略研究

世界集装箱港口呈现区域化发展和与竞争者合作的趋势。重点分析了现代集装箱港口业的各方压力和竞争态势;以香港和深圳港各集装箱码头为例,对港口间的"为了竞争而合作"的"竞合"战略的优势和组织方式进行了详细的研究。     

长江水路与沿江铁路运输的竞争分析

在长江经济带中,水运发挥着基础性的作用,但沿长江铁路即将通车,两者间的竞争不可避免。本文通过两者间的竞争分析,为探寻两者的和谐合作之路打下基础。