Please select from the titles below:

• Institutional Responses to Uncertainty: Evidence from the Transfer Market
• The Locational Strategies of Investment in the UK by MNE’s from Developing Countries
• Measuring Habit Persistence Effects in Attendance at Professional Team Sports Encounters: a cautionary note
• An Econometric Study of the Behaviour of Real Wages in Two French Industries
• Recent Trends in Enrolments for UK Economics Degrees
• Reforming Competition Law in the UK: The Competition Act, 1998

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Institutional Responses to Uncertainty: Evidence from the Transfer Market (p.1)
by Fiona Carmichael and Dennis Thomas

In this paper we examine the organisation of the transfer market for association football players in the English Football League adopting a transactions cost framework. The transfer system for professional footballers is effectively the game’s  labour market and we argue that it is characterised by small numbers bargaining and uncertainty and that therefore the transactions cost paradigm is relevant. We analyse 7,367 league transfers between English Football League clubs covering the seasons 1977-8 through 1993-4. Our results suggest that the transfer market has evolved in distinctive ways in response to informational problems. In particular we identify long term relationships between clubs, well established regional markets and the development of the loan system as rational responses to institutional uncertainty. Our conclusion also contains some observations regarding the implications of recent developments affecting the transfer system.

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The Locational Strategies of Investment in the UK by MNE’s from Developing Countries (p.21)
by Emmanuel Cleeve

The 1980s and early 1990s have witnessed the proliferation of multinational enterprises from developing countries (MEDCs), which are also becoming more significant players in the industries in which they participate. In this paper we identify and examine the locational characteristics of these firms in the UK. It also assesses how these locational characteristics of MEDCs reflect those identified in the literature, how they compare with local UK firms and how they relate to multinationals from industrialised countries (MEICs). The results on MEDCs’ locational characteristics in the UK support the literature on other empirical results, differ from UK firms’ locational characteristics and are similar to some of the factors that determine the choice of location of MEICs.

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Measuring Habit Persistence Effects in Attendance at Professional Team Sports Encounters: a cautionary note (p.37)
by Alistair Dawson and Paul Downward

The authors argue that the standard procedure for capturing habit persistence in empirical models of attendance at professional team sports is deficient. A mis-specification traceable to an early (influential) paper appears to affect subsequent work, casting some doubt on its correct interpretation.

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An Econometric Study of the Behaviour of Real Wages in Two French Industries (p.41)
by A T Flegg, J D Boardley, C D Webber and G C Mulvey

This paper examines the behaviour of real wages in the French textile and paper industries. The econometric analysis is embedded within theoretical framework of the insider-outsider hypothesis. The models attempt to measure the impact of insiders and outsiders on real wages, and the part that insiders play in creating hysteresis in employment. The analysis uses a range of industry-specific and aggregate variables to measure the influence of insiders and outsiders. Quarterly data for the period 1972-97 are employed.

The econometric results indicate that both internal and external variables play a statistically significant role in explaining changes in real wages, and that the pure insider-outsider hypothesis can be rejected for both industries. As far as its authors are aware, this paper is the first to test for insider power in French industry.

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Recent Trends in Enrolments for UK Economics Degrees (p.61)
Andrew J Abbott and Russell Williams

This paper examines the changing trends in enrolments on economic degrees in the UK. Other recent studies in this area are reviewed and a survey of admissions tutors is used to identify the most important factors contributing to the decline in applications.

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Reforming Competition Law in the UK: The Competition Act, 1998 (p.69)
David Parker

The l998 Competition Act introduced important changes to UK competition policy after years of concern that UK competition law was in need of reform. The new Act harmonises UK law with European Union legislation on restrictive practices and abuse of a dominant position. At the same time, UK competition policy retains certain features that continue to make it distinct from EU law and practice, especially in relation to the treatment of oligopoly and the regulation of mergers.

This paper details the changes to competition policy introduced by the 1998 Competition Act and reviews in particular the government’s new powers of investigation and the penalties that can now be levied for anti-competitive behaviour. The paper also discusses the role and structure of the new Competition Commission. Where relevant comparisons are made with European Union policy.

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Page last modified on 22 January 2001