Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-24DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115193
Mert Duygan , Maria Anna Hecher , Claudia R. Binder
To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, deployment of solar PV needs to be increased significantly. There is abundant literature on the adoption of solar PV. However, most of the prior work focused on adopters or their comparison with non-adopters. In contrast, there is relatively very little research explicitly on potential adopters and unlikely adopters. Hence, through a large-N survey with Swiss households (N = 4′909), we investigated what factors characterise unlikely, potential and early adopters and participants of solar PV and PV projects, respectively. We analysed the intention and adoption of residential solar PV and the participation in PV projects and compared the determinants of both alternatives. Our findings reveal that psychosocial characteristics and pro-solar policy beliefs as well as contextual factors are important for developing both an intention to adopt and to participate. The results also show that non-adopters and non-participants do not represent a uniform group. For potential adopters, the perceived characteristics of PV, exchanges about PV within personal network and housing infrastructure stand out as important factors that could hinder or drive the progress towards adoption. By providing a finer-grained insight into potential adopters and unlikely adopters/participants, our study enables targeting of different adopter categories more effectively.
{"title":"What determines the uptake of solar PV? – A survey of early, potential and unlikely adopters of residential PV systems and participants of community PV projects","authors":"Mert Duygan , Maria Anna Hecher , Claudia R. Binder","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, deployment of solar PV needs to be increased significantly. There is abundant literature on the adoption of solar PV. However, most of the prior work focused on adopters or their comparison with non-adopters. In contrast, there is relatively very little research explicitly on potential adopters and unlikely adopters. Hence, through a large-N survey with Swiss households (N = 4′909), we investigated what factors characterise unlikely, potential and early adopters and participants of solar PV and PV projects, respectively. We analysed the intention and adoption of residential solar PV and the participation in PV projects and compared the determinants of both alternatives. Our findings reveal that psychosocial characteristics and pro-solar policy beliefs as well as contextual factors are important for developing both an intention to adopt and to participate. The results also show that non-adopters and non-participants do not represent a uniform group. For potential adopters, the perceived characteristics of PV, exchanges about PV within personal network and housing infrastructure stand out as important factors that could hinder or drive the progress towards adoption. By providing a finer-grained insight into potential adopters and unlikely adopters/participants, our study enables targeting of different adopter categories more effectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115193"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-23DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115188
A. Beutler-Greene , E.G. Waddington , P.J. Ansell
The paper considers the policy implications related to the way hydrogen operations have been depicted across the key challenges of production, distribution, and storage as well as specific guidance provided for the aviation industry. Among the alternative fuels under consideration for future U.S. aircraft fleets, many analysts view hydrogen as cost-effective and efficiently scalable. Given hydrogen’s potential as an energy source, there has been an increase in technical redesigns of aircraft to accommodate the relationship between hydrogen storage propulsion and energy systems along with experimentation with commercial aircraft models, culminating in an expansion of contemporary flight tests.
Using a balanced readiness assessment model, this paper evaluates policies undertaken by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to promote hydrogen between 2000 and 2025. The sample of 13 policy documents revealed an imbalance in coverage related to operational maturity on aircraft, in contrast to the high degree of readiness for hydrogen across production, distribution, and storage domains. For aviation, a geometric mean for Technological Readiness is assessed at a level 4, Market Readiness at level 5; Regulatory Readiness at level 5; Acceptance Readiness at level 4, and Organizational Readiness at level 5. After the initial cross-stakeholder evaluation, the sample is mapped onto the Gartner Hype Cycle, where early innovation has occurred and hydrogen operations are ready for committed development. Critically, the imbalanced operational coverage of policies assessed in this sample was immediately followed by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which explicitly prioritizes the connection of hydrogen research to aviation operations.
{"title":"Evaluating readiness for hydrogen in the United States aviation industry from a policy lens","authors":"A. Beutler-Greene , E.G. Waddington , P.J. Ansell","doi":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115188","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115188","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper considers the policy implications related to the way hydrogen operations have been depicted across the key challenges of production, distribution, and storage as well as specific guidance provided for the aviation industry. Among the alternative fuels under consideration for future U.S. aircraft fleets, many analysts view hydrogen as cost-effective and efficiently scalable. Given hydrogen’s potential as an energy source, there has been an increase in technical redesigns of aircraft to accommodate the relationship between hydrogen storage propulsion and energy systems along with experimentation with commercial aircraft models, culminating in an expansion of contemporary flight tests.</div><div>Using a balanced readiness assessment model, this paper evaluates policies undertaken by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to promote hydrogen between 2000 and 2025. The sample of 13 policy documents revealed an imbalance in coverage related to operational maturity on aircraft, in contrast to the high degree of readiness for hydrogen across production, distribution, and storage domains. For aviation, a geometric mean for Technological Readiness is assessed at a level 4, Market Readiness at level 5; Regulatory Readiness at level 5; Acceptance Readiness at level 4, and Organizational Readiness at level 5. After the initial cross-stakeholder evaluation, the sample is mapped onto the Gartner Hype Cycle, where early innovation has occurred and hydrogen operations are ready for committed development. Critically, the imbalanced operational coverage of policies assessed in this sample was immediately followed by the FAA Reauthorization Act of <span><span>2024</span></span>, which explicitly prioritizes the connection of hydrogen research to aviation operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11672,"journal":{"name":"Energy Policy","volume":"213 ","pages":"Article 115188"},"PeriodicalIF":9.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147386911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107328
Adel Daoud , Cindy Conlin , Connor T. Jerzak
Debates about whether development projects improve living conditions persist, partly because observational estimates can be biased by incomplete adjustment and because reliable outcome data are scarce at the neighborhood level. We address both issues in a continent-scale, sector-specific evaluation of Chinese and World Bank projects across 9899 neighborhoods in 36 African countries (2002-2013), representative of 88% of the population. First, we use a recent dataset that measures living conditions with a machine-learned wealth index derived from contemporaneous satellite imagery, yielding a consistent panel of 6.7 km square mosaics. Second, to strengthen identification, we proxy officials’ map-based placement criteria using pre-treatment daytime satellite images and fuse these with tabular covariates to estimate funder- and sector-specific ATEs via inverse-probability weighting. Incorporating imagery often shrinks effects relative to tabular-only models. On average, both donors raise wealth, with larger and more consistent gains for China; sector extremes in our sample include Trade and Tourism (330) for the World Bank (+12.29 IWI points), and Emergency Response (700) for China (+15.15). Assignment-mechanism analyses also show World Bank placement is often more predictable from imagery alone (as well as from tabular covariates). This suggests that Chinese project placements are more driven by non-visible, political, or event-driven factors than World Bank placements. To probe residual concerns about selection on observables, we also estimate within-neighborhood (unit) fixed-effects models at a spatial resolution about 67 times finer than prior fixed-effects analyses, leveraging the computer-vision-imputed IWI panels; these deliver smaller but, for Chinese projects, directionally consistent effects. Methodologically, we extend recent EO–ML causal inference frameworks by fusing pre-treatment satellite imagery with tabular covariates to estimate treatment propensities, and by systematically benchmarking image-augmented estimators against tabular-only and unit fixed-effects designs using new assignment-mechanism diagnostics. Empirically, we provide a continent-wide, sector-specific comparison of the neighborhood-level wealth effects of Chinese and World Bank projects across 9899 African neighborhoods.
{"title":"Chinese vs. World Bank development projects: Insights from earth observation and computer vision on wealth gains in Africa, 2002–2013","authors":"Adel Daoud , Cindy Conlin , Connor T. Jerzak","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Debates about whether development projects improve living conditions persist, partly because observational estimates can be biased by incomplete adjustment and because reliable outcome data are scarce at the neighborhood level. We address both issues in a continent-scale, sector-specific evaluation of Chinese and World Bank projects across 9899 neighborhoods in 36 African countries (2002-2013), representative of <span><math><mo>∼</mo></math></span>88% of the population. First, we use a recent dataset that measures living conditions with a machine-learned wealth index derived from contemporaneous satellite imagery, yielding a consistent panel of 6.7 km square mosaics. Second, to strengthen identification, we proxy officials’ map-based placement criteria using pre-treatment daytime satellite images and fuse these with tabular covariates to estimate funder- and sector-specific ATEs via inverse-probability weighting. Incorporating imagery often shrinks effects relative to tabular-only models. On average, both donors raise wealth, with larger and more consistent gains for China; sector extremes in our sample include <em>Trade and Tourism (330)</em> for the World Bank (+12.29 IWI points), and <em>Emergency Response (700)</em> for China (+15.15). Assignment-mechanism analyses also show World Bank placement is often more predictable from imagery alone (as well as from tabular covariates). This suggests that Chinese project placements are more driven by non-visible, political, or event-driven factors than World Bank placements. To probe residual concerns about selection on observables, we also estimate within-neighborhood (unit) fixed-effects models at a spatial resolution about 67 times finer than prior fixed-effects analyses, leveraging the computer-vision-imputed IWI panels; these deliver smaller but, for Chinese projects, directionally consistent effects. Methodologically, we extend recent EO–ML causal inference frameworks by fusing pre-treatment satellite imagery with tabular covariates to estimate treatment propensities, and by systematically benchmarking image-augmented estimators against tabular-only and unit fixed-effects designs using new assignment-mechanism diagnostics. Empirically, we provide a continent-wide, sector-specific comparison of the neighborhood-level wealth effects of Chinese and World Bank projects across 9899 African neighborhoods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"202 ","pages":"Article 107328"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146147672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101241
Jaeyoung Yang, Seung Hun Han, Moonseok Choi
This study examines how kinship and social ties between CEOs and board members affect firm value. Surname sharing is leveraged as a proxy for kinship ties within the unique Confucian context of Korea. Utilizing a dataset of publicly listed Korean firms from 2011 to 2022, this study finds that CEO-board surname sharing has a negative relationship with firm value. This adverse effect is more pronounced when CEO power is higher. Stronger kinship ties appear to harm firm value through four channels: 1) Investment inefficiency, 2) Compensation inefficiency, 3) Reduced reporting quality, and 4) Deteriorated operating performance. These kinship ties are strengthened when offline meetings between clan associations take place. Moreover, boards comprising older members primarily drive the negative relationship with firm value, implying that time attenuates traditional Confucian kinship norms. By demonstrating how culturally embedded kinship and social ties influence firm value, the findings contribute to the literature on CEO-board dynamics and corporate governance.
{"title":"Kinship and social ties between CEOs and board members: Costs to firm value","authors":"Jaeyoung Yang, Seung Hun Han, Moonseok Choi","doi":"10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how kinship and social ties between CEOs and board members affect firm value. Surname sharing is leveraged as a proxy for kinship ties within the unique Confucian context of Korea. Utilizing a dataset of publicly listed Korean firms from 2011 to 2022, this study finds that CEO-board surname sharing has a negative relationship with firm value. This adverse effect is more pronounced when CEO power is higher. Stronger kinship ties appear to harm firm value through four channels: 1) Investment inefficiency, 2) Compensation inefficiency, 3) Reduced reporting quality, and 4) Deteriorated operating performance. These kinship ties are strengthened when offline meetings between clan associations take place. Moreover, boards comprising older members primarily drive the negative relationship with firm value, implying that time attenuates traditional Confucian kinship norms. By demonstrating how culturally embedded kinship and social ties influence firm value, the findings contribute to the literature on CEO-board dynamics and corporate governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46907,"journal":{"name":"Global Finance Journal","volume":"69 ","pages":"Article 101241"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146173099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-03DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101233
Tom Aabo , Viktor Raaby Jensen
CEOs matter, and beauty matters. Based on social identity theory, we argue that women and men are likely to be held to different beauty standards by the boards of directors when these boards select the new CEO. Our empirical results support our arguments. Specifically, we investigate 959 CEO turnovers in non-financial S&P 1500 firms in the period from 2008 to 2022. We find that newly appointed female CEOs are significantly more attractive than their male peers. Thus, the median female CEO is more attractive than a male CEO at the 75th percentile level. We find no indication of an economic rationale for such a biased beauty preference. When investors are informed of the new CEO, they value CEO beauty equally across the two genders (i.e., no gender bias). The discrimination by the boards of directors seems to be related to women's minority status (i.e., we get similar results for non-white candidates) rather than the sexualization of women although we cannot rule out that both may coincide. Our findings are robust and economically significant. Thus, they are important in understanding the lack of gender equality and the avenues through which women face (beauty) discrimination in the upper echelons.
{"title":"Only attractive women are welcome: Board bias and CEO selection","authors":"Tom Aabo , Viktor Raaby Jensen","doi":"10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101233","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.gfj.2026.101233","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>CEOs matter, and beauty matters. Based on social identity theory, we argue that women and men are likely to be held to different beauty standards by the boards of directors when these boards select the new CEO. Our empirical results support our arguments. Specifically, we investigate 959 CEO turnovers in non-financial S&P 1500 firms in the period from 2008 to 2022. We find that newly appointed female CEOs are significantly more attractive than their male peers. Thus, the median female CEO is more attractive than a male CEO at the 75th percentile level. We find no indication of an economic rationale for such a biased beauty preference. When investors are informed of the new CEO, they value CEO beauty equally across the two genders (i.e., no gender bias). The discrimination by the boards of directors seems to be related to women's minority status (i.e., we get similar results for non-white candidates) rather than the sexualization of women although we cannot rule out that both may coincide. Our findings are robust and economically significant. Thus, they are important in understanding the lack of gender equality and the avenues through which women face (beauty) discrimination in the upper echelons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46907,"journal":{"name":"Global Finance Journal","volume":"69 ","pages":"Article 101233"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145977096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.108955
Jukka Kilgus , Trisha R. Shrum
Studies have shown that many people prioritize environmental protection over some levels of economic growth, even when tradeoffs exist. However, to date, most research on these tradeoffs has primarily been conducted in the Global North and has lacked cross-country comparisons. We elevate this research to a global level by analyzing data from the World Values Survey across 92 countries, focusing on how people's prioritization relates to demographic and socio-economic factors. Our results confirm previous findings that a majority of the global population favors environmental protection over economic growth (57.99%), especially in high-income countries in Western Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, as well as in Southeast Asia. Across the global average and in many countries, stronger support for the environment is found among more educated people, those leaning politically to the left, females, and younger individuals. Income does not have a significant effect on the global scale. However, and this is where our study offers new insights, the analyzed demographic and socio-economic factors have fundamentally different effects on prioritization within individual country samples. Especially in non-Western countries, the often-expected predictors for environmental support do not behave as anticipated. While our results cannot be interpreted as direct public support for post-growth systems change, they indicate that diverse groups of people, distinct across countries, support placing less emphasis on economic growth and more on the environment. Politicians and world leaders need to consider this when deciding on future political priorities.
{"title":"Global public opinion on tradeoffs between environmental protection and economic growth","authors":"Jukka Kilgus , Trisha R. Shrum","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.108955","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.108955","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies have shown that many people prioritize environmental protection over some levels of economic growth, even when tradeoffs exist. However, to date, most research on these tradeoffs has primarily been conducted in the Global North and has lacked cross-country comparisons. We elevate this research to a global level by analyzing data from the World Values Survey across 92 countries, focusing on how people's prioritization relates to demographic and socio-economic factors. Our results confirm previous findings that a majority of the global population favors environmental protection over economic growth (57.99%), especially in high-income countries in Western Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, as well as in Southeast Asia. Across the global average and in many countries, stronger support for the environment is found among more educated people, those leaning politically to the left, females, and younger individuals. Income does not have a significant effect on the global scale. However, and this is where our study offers new insights, the analyzed demographic and socio-economic factors have fundamentally different effects on prioritization within individual country samples. Especially in non-Western countries, the often-expected predictors for environmental support do not behave as anticipated. While our results cannot be interpreted as direct public support for post-growth systems change, they indicate that diverse groups of people, distinct across countries, support placing less emphasis on economic growth and more on the environment. Politicians and world leaders need to consider this when deciding on future political priorities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51021,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Economics","volume":"244 ","pages":"Article 108955"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146161053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance is linked to the corporate default risk. Using listed Indian firms from 2016 to 2024, this study finds that ESG performance and its individual dimensions are negatively related to default risk via improved Altman Z-score. The advanced serial mediation analysis using the PROCESS model 6 suggests that ESG information is transmitted to lower default risk via enhanced corporate efficiency (CEF), improved financial performance indicated by return on assets (ROA), and lowered the cost of borrowing indicated by the cost of debt (COD). Applying the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Difference (DID) technique, this study also documents that firms that are part of the NIFTY100ESG index have significantly better financial resilience than companies not part of the index after the COVID-19 crisis. Through ex-post analysis in the case of defaulted firms, this study finds that ESG performance can predict corporate default events if combined with other parameters effectively. The findings supported by the legitimacy theory indicate that firms can increase corporate sustainability and legitimacy not only through improvements in corporate efficiency and profitability but also through external perceptions, responsibility, and ethical practices, which function as an ‘insurance effect’. Thus, policymakers should encourage lenders to integrate ESG factors into business models and promote sustainable business practices to reduce financial risks. This will accelerate the firms' adoption of cleaner technologies, enhance governance standards, and strengthen overall financial stability and corporate sustainability.
{"title":"From corporate responsibility to corporate sustainability: A study of how ESG mitigates corporate default risk using serial mediation analysis","authors":"Naresh Chandra Sahu, Abhisek Mahanta, Nihar Ranjan Jena","doi":"10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance is linked to the corporate default risk. Using listed Indian firms from 2016 to 2024, this study finds that ESG performance and its individual dimensions are negatively related to default risk via improved Altman <em>Z</em>-score. The advanced serial mediation analysis using the PROCESS model 6 suggests that ESG information is transmitted to lower default risk via enhanced corporate efficiency (CEF), improved financial performance indicated by return on assets (ROA), and lowered the cost of borrowing indicated by the cost of debt (COD). Applying the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Difference-in-Difference (DID) technique, this study also documents that firms that are part of the NIFTY100ESG index have significantly better financial resilience than companies not part of the index after the COVID-19 crisis. Through ex-post analysis in the case of defaulted firms, this study finds that ESG performance can predict corporate default events if combined with other parameters effectively. The findings supported by the legitimacy theory indicate that firms can increase corporate sustainability and legitimacy not only through improvements in corporate efficiency and profitability but also through external perceptions, responsibility, and ethical practices, which function as an ‘insurance effect’. Thus, policymakers should encourage lenders to integrate ESG factors into business models and promote sustainable business practices to reduce financial risks. This will accelerate the firms' adoption of cleaner technologies, enhance governance standards, and strengthen overall financial stability and corporate sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46907,"journal":{"name":"Global Finance Journal","volume":"69 ","pages":"Article 101225"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145617100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101159
Øystein Foros , Arne Rogde Gramstad , Bjørn Hansen
Non-discrimination clauses are once again central in digital markets, echoing the 1990s debates on telecom liberalization and resurfacing in later discussions on net neutrality. In practice, they often appear as margin squeeze regulations, requiring vertically integrated firms to offer wholesale access with a minimum margin between retail and wholesale prices—the margin’s size determining the rule’s strictness. We show that binding margin squeeze constraints can soften downstream competition, creating a trade-off between product variety and retail prices for both total and consumer welfare. Stricter rules, however, do not spur wholesale access competition, unlike direct wholesale price caps. These results have important implications for telecom and digital market regulation, where regulation of gatekeepers is tightening.
{"title":"Stricter margin squeeze regulation to achieve non-discrimination in digital markets","authors":"Øystein Foros , Arne Rogde Gramstad , Bjørn Hansen","doi":"10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101159","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101159","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Non-discrimination clauses are once again central in digital markets, echoing the 1990s debates on telecom liberalization and resurfacing in later discussions on net neutrality. In practice, they often appear as margin squeeze regulations, requiring vertically integrated firms to offer wholesale access with a minimum margin between retail and wholesale prices—the margin’s size determining the rule’s strictness. We show that binding margin squeeze constraints can soften downstream competition, creating a trade-off between product variety and retail prices for both total and consumer welfare. Stricter rules, however, do not spur wholesale access competition, unlike direct wholesale price caps. These results have important implications for telecom and digital market regulation, where regulation of gatekeepers is tightening.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47029,"journal":{"name":"Information Economics and Policy","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101159"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146090461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101160
Firat Inceoglu , Xingyi Liu
We investigate the incentives of an upstream producer to enter the downstream market where the alternative is to sell via a downstream platform who offers all products as a bundle. When consumers can multihome, following entry the producer faces increased downstream competition but benefits from greater price setting flexibility. We show that entry becomes relatively more profitable if the products are closer substitutes or the correlation between product valuations is weaker. Our results have important implications on recent developments in industries such as video and music streaming.
{"title":"Bundling and downstream entry","authors":"Firat Inceoglu , Xingyi Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101160","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.infoecopol.2026.101160","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the incentives of an upstream producer to enter the downstream market where the alternative is to sell via a downstream platform who offers all products as a bundle. When consumers can multihome, following entry the producer faces increased downstream competition but benefits from greater price setting flexibility. We show that entry becomes relatively more profitable if the products are closer substitutes or the correlation between product valuations is weaker. Our results have important implications on recent developments in industries such as video and music streaming.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47029,"journal":{"name":"Information Economics and Policy","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101160"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146187937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102797
Enrico Perotti , Oscar Soons
We analyse the causes and consequences of the adoption of a common currency by countries with persistently different institutional quality, as in the euro area. A diverse monetary union has redistributive effects on investment and fiscal capacity across countries and societal groups. A common currency leads to rapid market adjustments while nominal wages lag, and institutional differences persist, resulting in hidden currency revaluations and devaluations. Productive and fiscal capacity benefit in core countries with stronger institutions, while public spending is less constrained in periphery countries with weaker institutions just as their fiscal capacity is reduced by revaluation. Firms and employment gain in core countries, along with savers in periphery countries.
{"title":"The euro as an institutionally diverse monetary union","authors":"Enrico Perotti , Oscar Soons","doi":"10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102797","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102797","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We analyse the causes and consequences of the adoption of a common currency by countries with persistently different institutional quality, as in the euro area. A diverse monetary union has redistributive effects on investment and fiscal capacity across countries and societal groups. A common currency leads to rapid market adjustments while nominal wages lag, and institutional differences persist, resulting in hidden currency revaluations and devaluations. Productive and fiscal capacity benefit in core countries with stronger institutions, while public spending is less constrained in periphery countries with weaker institutions just as their fiscal capacity is reduced by revaluation. Firms and employment gain in core countries, along with savers in periphery countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51439,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Political Economy","volume":"93 ","pages":"Article 102797"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}