Fatih Cemil Ozbugday

Mandatory Quality Disclosure and Quality Supply: Evidence from German Hospitals

Using a newly constructed dataset on German hospitals, which includes 24 process and outcome indicators of clinical quality, we test whether quality has increased in various clinical areas since the introduction of mandatory quality reports and the online publication of part of the collected quality measures. Our results suggest that process indicators of clinical quality have increased significantly in 2008 compared to 2006. In addition, the hospitals underperforming in 2006 appear to have increased their clinical quality relatively more than the other hospitals. When instead quality is measured by outcome indicators, average clinical quality is estimated to have increased for underperforming hospitals and decreased for the best performing hospitals in 2006, so that on average across all hospitals the changes in outcome indicators are insignificant for just more than half of the outcome quality measures. We further show that the best performing hospitals in 2006 in terms of outcome quality measures experienced an increase in their share of patients in 2008, thus providing indirect evidence that patients react to disclosed quality. Interestingly, the best performing hospitals in 2006 in terms of process quality measures did not experience a significant change in their share of patients in 2008, thus suggesting that patients react more to output than to process measures of quality. Finally, for the subset of hospitals who offer services in obstetrics, we find that higher competitive pressure, measured as the number of competitors in a given radius, is associated with a higher increase in quality following quality disclosure. We argue that the latter effect is unlikely to be due to selection of patients by hospitals.

A Global Perspective on the Long-term Impact of Increased Energy Efficiency

This chapter provides a global perspective on the development of energy efficiency by analyzing the experience in 65 developing and developed countries since 1971. Total energy consumption and electricity consumption have increased worldwide, but have declined in relation to the GDP. The decline in energy intensity has been more pronounced in developed countries. Changes in economic structure have had an upward effect on energy intensity, but this has not been a major driver. On balance, energy intensity has converged over time, but the causes of convergence differ between countries. The results point towards the absence of Kuznets-type relationships between economic development and energy intensity, which may be the result of the diffusion of new techniques and knowhow among countries. Nevertheless, energy consumption is still expected to increase significantly in the coming years, highlighting the significant potential benefits of improving energy efficiency.

Competition law and profits : A dynamic panel data analysis for Dutch manufacturing firms

This article tests whether the transition from the old Economic Competition Act, which was based on the so-called ‘abuse system’, to the new Competition Act, which was based on ‘prohibition system’, in the Netherlands had an impact on the Price-Cost Margins (PCM) of manufacturing firms during the period 1993 to 2006. The results indicate that the transition from the old system to the new system, which was aimed at fostering competition, did not result in lower profits.

Competition law, networks and innovation

This article investigates the determinants of innovative activities at the industry level for the Dutch manufacturing industries during the period 1993 to 2007. The results indicate that the transition from the old Economic Competition Act to the new Competition Act is statistically insignificantly associated with decreased innovation intensity, while it is positively and statistically significantly linked to an increased share of firms with patent applications. Furthermore, we find that cooperation with their suppliers for innovative activities boosts both innovation intensity of the industry and the ratio of firms with patent applications.

The Assessment of Agreements for Which Temporary Antitrust Immunity is Sought: Competition Authority's Perspective

The present study provides an analysis of the conditions that led the Dutch competition authority (the NMa) to decide against a temporary antitrust immunity seeking agreement on antitrust grounds. First, a theoretical Bayesian decision framework, that is similar to that of Cooper et al. (2005), is presented to derive the optimal enforcement rule for agreements for which ex ante antitrust immunity is sought. The NMa’s decisions are then investigated in an econometric background where those final decisions are linked to various industry characteristics, as the NMa took them into consideration when making its final decision. In doing so, a bivariate Probit model with sample selection is estimated to account for the fact that non-application by firms operating in a specific industry for an exemption might result in significant bias. The econometric results suggest it is more likely that concerted practices are seen as anti-competitive in more competitive and less concentrated industries. Finally, the narrative evidence on the legal and institutional background, and the econometric results are interpreted in light of the theoretical Bayesian decision framework.