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Abstract
Based on a circular product-space model with continuous time, we investigate a dynamic game in which each firm decides whether and when to adopt a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) at the beginning of the game and then chooses its quantity supplied at each time. We show that the equilibrium outcomes may be either joint adoption at the beginning of the game or sequential adoption, depending on the range of an initial adoption cost. For a given basic product, we find that a larger product differentiation decelerates the adoption of FMS. We also investigate competition behavior when the decisions on product locations are made endogenously and conduct welfare analysis, showing that there is market failure in the adoption timing choices.

AbstractThis study investigates spatial price discrimination with two types of market competition – price competition and quantity competition – and two kinds of cross-relations between goods – substitutes and complements – with endogenous location choices in a barbell model. The results herein present that the maximum differentiation (end point agglomeration) is the unique location equilibrium with substitutes (complements), irrespective of what type of competition. We demonstrate that if the unit transportation rate is sufficiently high, then consumer surplus, profits, and social welfare are higher under price competition than under quantity competition for both substitutes and complements. This means that introducing a spatial barrier to competition generated through transportation costs may solve the problem of inconsistency from the conflict interests between consumers, firms, and a social planner.

In this paper, we explore whether seller reputation can help alleviate asymmetric information in Internet online auctions, using Taiwanese data. This study reveals that the influence of seller reputations on prices is statistically significant, indicating little cultural difference in online auction behaviors, especially the attitude towards seller reputation. Although negative scores do not affect auction prices in full sample regressions, the impact of negative scores becomes statistically significant in the separated sample (low‐reputation auctions). Bidders are cautious about sellers who have not built enough reputation.

The findings of low or even negative total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Singapore's manufacturing industries by Young (1995) and many others has been a controversial issue in view of its crucial role in the future sustainability of Singaporean manufacturing. This paper applies the varying coefficients frontier model to re-examine productivity growth in Singapore's manufacturing at the 3-digit industry level over the period 1970–1997. The results indicate that Singapore's manufacturing has on average experienced a –0.8 percent TFP growth per annum although the extent of TFP growth improved slightly in the 1990s. The decomposition of TFP growth into technical efficiency change and technological progress, found technological regress is responsible for the negative TFP growth. Factor accumulation remains the principal contributor to the economic miracle of Singapore's manufacturing industries.

Abstract
This paper investigates the theory of endogenous timing by taking into account a vertically-related market where an integrated firm competes with a downstream firm. Contrary to the standard results in the literature, we find that both firms play a sequential game in quantity competition and play a simultaneous game in price competition. Under mixed quantity-price competition, the firm choosing a price strategy moves first and the other firm choosing a quantity strategy moves later in equilibrium. Given that the timing of choosing actions is determined endogenously, aggregate profit (consumer surplus) is higher (lower) under price competition than under quantity competition. Lastly, social welfare is higher under quantity competition than under price competition when the degree of product substitutability is relatively low.

PurposeDespite a growing interest in research, no existing study explores the nature of, and the relationship between, the real exchange rate and trade imbalance between Taiwan and China. These economies were admitted to the World Trade Organization in late 2001 (China) and in January 2002 (Taiwan). This study aims to redress this deficiency.Design/methodology/approachUsing Johansen's cointegration approach and bilateral trade data, the study reveals overwhelming evidence of a stable long‐run relationship of the real exchange rate and bilateral trade balance between Taiwan and its trading partners: China, the USA, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.FindingsThe evidence indicates that the currency depreciation of the New Taiwan dollar improves Taiwan's bilateral trade balance, except with China.Originality/valueThe findings imply that Taiwan cannot resolve the cross‐Strait trade imbalance alone via the currency depreciation, and macroeconomic adjustments, including application of the WTO rules, currency exchange and imports of Chinese goods, need to be negotiated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Based on a lifetime consideration, previous research has extended Frank's graphical model with borrowing, property taxes and moving costs to analyse the welfare effects of housing appreciation and depreciation, and has shown that appreciation can make homeowners worse off, but homeowners' welfare cannot decrease with depreciation. The latter is counter-intuitive, especially for owners with a high portion of mortgage in a housing slump. Alternatively, this paper treats property tax as an annual taxation and measures mortgage loan as a portion of house value when it was purchased. It is shown that if a house owner adjusts his/her house size in response to a price change, then with a low mortgage loan (or no mortgage), the owner will be better off only when there is a large appreciation or depreciation, while he/she cannot be better off under depreciation if he/she bought that house largely via a mortgage loan.