L12 - Monopoly; Monopolization StrategiesReturn

In a monopoly industry with firm-union wage bargaining, we show that it is optimal to privatise a share of the public firm. The optimal privatisation share increases with the union's higher bargaining power and/or wage-orientation and, when the latter is large, full privatisation becomes socially optimal. Interestingly, the optimal privatisation share is the highest (lowest) when the government attributes a medium-low (low and high) weight to the workers' welfare, notably when the union's bargaining power and/or wage-orientation are sufficiently high. This may be counterintuitive because it implies that left-wing governments (with a weak and moderate union) tend to privatise more greatly.

This article tries to summarize achievements of ten years anniversary of WTO (1995-2005) and the negotiations taking place at its summits from Seattle (1999) to Hongkong (2005). These achievements could be characterized at best as mediocre ones. WTO has been muddling through numerous disputes, the most important of which have been and still are agricultural subsidies of developed countries. Due to double standards and sometimes lack of transparency at least three summits (Seattle, Cancún and Doha) almost failed and the Katar Round ended deadlocked for 2004. The last Hongkong summit (December 2005) saved WTO functionality mainly through some concessions demanded by developing countries" since 1998. Katar Round, unfortunately, is still far from any safe landing. Nevertheless, the article praises some good results, too. The whole decade of such partial and practical struggling open, hovewer, also some issues important for theory of international economics, for example such as optimality of global vers. regional-subregional options for the future international trade liberalization, etc. The article, of course, cannot pretend solving but only draws attention of academic research resp. sorting them and establishing their hierarchy.

This contribution is focused on the core changes and trends in the globalized world economy. As the globalization advances, countries and regions are challenged to shape more flexible arrangements to ensure that new risks are dealt with and the new opportunities are exploited. It is Europe's regions that are coming to the fore in matters as capacity - building and growth - related activities. As a locally rooted approach, regional cooperation can harness institutions, encourage creativity and take into account local labor, skills, infrastructure, economic mentality, business environment and communities at different levels of decision - making. Globalization has affected the magnitudes, composition and directions of capital flows. Namely in the sphere of foreign direct investment (FDI) that constitute a patent complex of capital, experience, knowledge and operational links with partners abroad. FDI contribute to the economic advancement, especially in the emerging market economies, and has proved to be resilient during financial crises. Attention is also set on motivation, benefits and disputed aspects of FDI.

The paper presents in contribution the development of theories and opinions about competition, competitiveness and antimonopoly policy. These topics are treated starting from the oldest time, e.g. from Aristotle, through antique world, early capitalism, A. Smith and the classical Ricardian tradition. She further discusses the ruinous competition and the origin of the first framework of anti-trust legislation at the break of 19th and 20th centuries, Marx's interpretation of concentration tendencies of capitalist development and his followers, the origin of imperfect competition, ordoliberalism and the system of neoliberal politics and at last the dynamic theory of competition - concept of workable competition as well as theory of "balancing force" and the concept of so-called mature corporations.