A simple model of an open exchange economy with two commodities is used to investigate the relative merits of small and large reforms: reforms are represented as movements in the relative price of the two commodities, achieved by tightening or relaxing quotas. Three approaches, based on majority voting, the costs of compensation, and social welfare, are used to compare the merits of small and l...

Reference price systems for prescription drugs constitute widely adopted cost containment tools. Under these regimes, patients co-pay a fraction of the difference between a drug's pharmacy retail price and a reference price that is set by the government. Reference prices are either externally (based on drug prices in other countries) or internally (based on domestic drug prices) determined. We ...

The price e¤ects of the Swedish pharmaceutical substitution reform are analyzed using data for a panel of all pharmaceutical product sold in Sweden in 1997–2007. The price reduction due to the reform was estimated to average 10% and was found to be signi…cantly larger for brand name pharmaceuticals than for generics. The results also imply that the reform ampli…ed the e¤ect that generic entry h...

The Federal Communications Commission is at a critical juncture in telecommunications regulation. Four years ago the Commission introduced price cap regulation for local exchange carriers. This marked a major improvement over traditional cost of service regulation because it streamlined regulatory procedures and introduced incentives for efficient firm behaviour in place of regulatory micromana...

We compare the impact of mandatory against voluntary ownership transfer on stock price informativeness using the unique research setting provided by the Split Share Structure Reform in China. Ownership transfers from state to private entity are expected to improve corporate governance, which in turn reduce managerial incentives to withhold value-relevant information to outside investor. However...

In 2005 and 2006, the split-share structure reform converted the nontradable shares of most domestic public firms in China to tradable shares. This conversion imparted a drastic supply shock to the public market. Studying this unique event, we provide direct evidence to support an inelastic demand curve for stocks. Abnormal returns of the sample firms resulting from the reform are found to be n...

Understanding who benefits from fuel price subsidies and the welfare impact of increasing fuel prices is key to designing, and gaining public support for, subsidy reform. This paper updates evidence for developing countries on the magnitude of the welfare impact of subsidy reform and its distribution across income groups, incorporating more recent studies and expanding the number of countries. ...