The correlation between persistent changes in the markup in one sector of an economy and the inflation rate is quantified in a 2-sector dynamic general equilibrium model. How this relationship is affected by monetary policy is also studied. We find that the correlation is in general positive under an exogenous money growth rule as well as under an inflation targeting rule. That is, a decrease o...

We study the exclusive semileptonic B meson decays B− → D∗0 l− ν̄ and B̄0 → D∗+ l− ν̄ using data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron-positron Storage Ring (CESR). We present measurements of the branching fractions, B(B̄0 → D∗+ l− ν̄) = (0.5/f00)[4.49 ± 0.32(stat.) ± 0.39(sys.)]% and B(B− → D∗0 l− ν̄) = (0.5/f+−)[5.13 ± 0.54(stat.) ± 0.64(sys.)]%, where f00 and f+− are the neut...

It has been argued in light of concessions made at Bonn and Marrakech, the market for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects will be small compared to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries and that it will be characterised by low demand and low prices. This paper examines these arguments in the context of India and the likely nature and extent of India’s involvement in CDM ...

JEL Classification Code(s): J 31, J 71) "Perceptions of Discrimination, Effort to Obtain Psychological Balance, and Relative Wages: Can We Infer a Happiness Gradient?" There is a substantial literature that finds a linkage between happiness and relative economic well being as measured by earnings or wages. There is also a well documented racial gap in wages. One explanation for this is disparat...

Using recently available night lights and electricity consumption data for the 212 municipios (counties) of Veracruz state in southern Mexico, the informal economy is analyzed at the Mexican county level for the first time with such data. Most counties between 2000 and 2006 are found to have growing informal economies though the richest county, Boca Del Rio, exhibits a decline in informality su...

The restaurant business in Mexico is spilling about 40 million dollars a year. Domino `s Pizza is the industry leader, with a market share of 39%. His closest competitor, Pizza Hut, have the 3.9%. What do they do to compete in a market almost dominated by Domino `s Pizza? What strategy should be used Little Caesars to get a bigger market share? In the following paper, through some qualitative m...

We study the repeal of a regulation that imposed maximum wholesale and retail markups for all but five fresh fruits and vegetables. We compare the prices of products affected by regulation before and after the policy change and use the unregulated products as a control group. We find that abolishing regulation led to a significant decrease in both retail and wholesale prices. However, markup re...

This article analyzes concerns about market power and inequality in a model with multiple sectors, heterogeneous abilities, endogenous labor supply, nonlinear income taxation. Proportional markups no profit dissipation have effect on the economy, policy that reduces nonproportional markup raises (lowers) welfare when it is higher (lower) than weighted average of other markups. With proportional...

A Hall type model that includes intermediate materials in the production function and allows for non-stochastic time variation in the contribution of technical change to output growth is used to estimate markup and returns to scale for eight Australian manufacturing industries at approximately the two-digit level, during the period 197172 to 1984-85. Six of the eight manufacturing industries in...

We provide a business cycle model in which endogenous markup fluctuations are the main driving force. These fluctuations occur due to some form of ‘animal spirits’, impelling firms in their entry-exit decisions within each sector. By contrast to existing models of the business cycle emphasizing the role of animal spirits, we do not rely on the sink property of the equilibrium to generate indete...