Linda A. Toolsema

Competition in the Dutch consumer credit market

This paper considers the degree of competitiveness of the Dutch consumer credit market. We use the well-known I Bresnahan-Lau method that estimates it structural model consisting of a demand relation and a supply relation, based on aggregate data. The level of compelition is derived from the estimated conjectural variation elasticity. Our empirical results show that there is no evidence of market power.

Corporate Social Responsibility in a Corporate Governance Framework

We argue that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may affect the agency relationship inside a firm. We analyze how CSR and the threat of stakeholder activism influence effort of manager and shareholder, and describe how CSR may arise endogenously in this context. By engaging in CSR the shareholder can commit to less monitoring, increase the manager’s effort, and raise profits. Even a socially indifferent shareholder may thus benefit from CSR and prefer to behave socially responsibly. He may even find it optimal to sponsor a social activist, giving it the means to exert pressure.

License auctions when winning bids are financed through debt

We study an auction where two licenses to operate on a new market are sold, and winning bidders finance their bids on the debt market. Higher bids imply higher debts, which affects product market competition. We compare our results to those of a beauty contest and a standard auction. For the case that debt induces firms to compete more aggressively, we find that consumer prices are lower, and expected firm profits are strictly positive although firms are a priori identical. When debt induces firms to compete less aggressively, we find that firms make zero profits, and consumer prices are higher.

Reserve requirements and double Bertrand competition among banks

The paper considers a model of double Bertrand competition among banks, in which banks compete for deposits as well as loans. It is shown that the introduction of reserve requirements can have an effect on the existence and efficiency properties of Nash equilibria of this model. This provides a new rationale for imposing reserve requirements on banks.