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Dissertação de mestrado em Economia Industrial e da Empresa, O mercado dos medicamentos é bastante interessante pela grande dinâmica que o envolve, principalmente em relação à intensidade concorrencial entre os medicamentos de referência e os medicamentos genéricos. O grande crescimento de genéricos em Portugal é muito recente, sendo no ano 2003 que estes medicamentos começam a ser comercializados com uma maior expressão, impulsionados pela introdução do Sistema de Preços de Referência e outras medidas que visavam promover o crescimento destes medicamentos no mercado português. Com base nos dados disponibilizados pela Autoridade Nacional do Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde, I.P. para o período entre 2000 a 2015, foi elaborada uma análise descritiva, com o objetivo de estudar o efeito gerado pela entrada dos genéricos sobre as vendas dos medicamentos de referência das substâncias ativas que constituem a amostra. Esta análise mostrou que, na maior parte dos casos, a entrada dos genéricos no mercado gerou impactos significativos sobre as vendas e quotas de mercado, ambas em volume, das marcas. Foram também estimados três modelos econométricos, com o intuito de identificar os fatores determinantes da entrada de genéricos e da sua penetração no mercado. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a dimensão do mercado é o fator que mais influencia a entrada dos genéricos no mercado. Relativamente à penetração dos genéricos, os resultados mostram que esta aumenta com o número de genéricos comercializados e com o diferencial de preços de venda praticados entre marcas e genéricos., The medicines market is quite interesting for its great dynamics which involves it, especially in relation to the competitive intensity between reference medicines and generic medicines. The high growth of generics in Portugal is very recent. Driven by the introduction of the Reference Pricing System and other measures that would promoted the growth of these medicines in the Portuguese market, it was in the year 2003 that these medicines began to be more widely. Considering the data provided by Autoridade Nacional do Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde, I.P. for the period between 2000 and 2015, a descriptive analysis was performed, in order to study the impact generated by the entry of generic competitors on the reference medicines sales of the active substances in the sample. This analysis, in most cases, showed that the entry of generics on the market has generated significant impacts on sales and market shares, both in volume, of brands. There were also estimated three econometric models, in order to identify the determinants of the entry of generics and their penetration in the market. The results suggest that the size of the market is the determinant which has more influence on the entry of generics into the market. Regarding the penetration of generics, the results show that this variable increases with the number of marketed generics and with the differential of selling prices between brands and generics.

This study considers the role of demand-driven changes arising from population aging and how they affect the pattern of international trade as well as trade and immigration policy. An aging society can see a welfare-reducing reduction in its share of manufacturing output and this reduction is magnified by a decrease in trade costs (an increase in globalization). Immigration can ameliorate this outcome if it is directed toward younger immigrants. A unilateral tariff increase can also reduce firm delocation from an aging country, however, a reciprocated tariff increase will unambiguously harm the country with the older average population.

Evidence shows that foreign direct investment can provide many benefits to host countries, including productivity improvements, better jobs, and knowledge transfer. Further, it can serve as a vehicle for transformation of domestic production and better integration with global value chains. Nonetheless, these benefits are not automatic. Investment policies are required to maximize the potential gains of foreign direct investment. One challenge is that there are different kinds of foreign direct investment, and each may have different economic, social, and environmental impacts. However, the literature analyzing foreign direct investment often tends to swing from an extremely case-specific focus — analyzing experiences in one particular country in a single sector during a given period — to lumping together the analysis as if it was a homogenous phenomenon. Investment policy formulation requires a framework sophisticated enough to differentiate between the various kinds of foreign direct investment, as well as potential challenges and benefits for development. It must also be simple enough to enable governments to organize and prioritize the multiple and complex variables affecting the maximization of investment benefits. This paper presents an overview of the literature on the impact of foreign direct investment. The paper argues that a logical framework is needed to organize existing evidence from research to fill gaps in the literature and make existing evidence more useful in targeting policy making.

Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal has struggled to develop its industrial sector in the face of import competition. For basic food products, there is an implicit trade-off between the objectives of maintaining employment and lowering the cost of living, both of which figure prominently in current government policy. Conflicting pressures have led to a rather inconsistent policy mix of high levels of protection with price ceilings. The products of the three industries examined here—sugar, vegetable oil, and flour—account for roughly 14 percent of the consumption basket of the poor, so distortions in their prices can have a significant effect on poverty reduction. This paper compares domestic prices in Senegal with world prices since 2000, and then explains the difference by examining the protection enjoyed by these industries, along with their market structure. The analysis finds that high protection and market power have resulted in domestic prices which were often two or three times the equivalent world price. Tightening of price ceilings and some liberalization have taken place recently, but consumers have continued to pay above world prices for sugar and edible oil in 2014. The paper estimates that if this differential were eliminated, the purchasing power of households around the poverty line would increase by 3 percent, 227,000 people would move above the poverty line, and the national poverty rate would drop by 1.9 percentage points. The cost to consumers far exceeds the total wage bill paid by these industries. Further liberalization of these industries is recommended, along with phasing out price controls and shifting government policy from protecting traditional enterprises to the promotion of new export-oriented ones.

Corporate governance (CG) success stories in Vietnam are part of the International Finance Corporation’s ongoing efforts to raise greater awareness of the merits of CG. These success stories in Vietnam can serve as a guiding light for the immediate benefit and long-term value of CG to corporate development. The Law on Enterprise 2005, implemented in July 2006, marked the first introduction of a formal legal framework on CG in Vietnam. CG practice in Vietnam is expected to undergo sweeping changes when the revised Law on Enterprise (LOE) 2014 comes into effect on 1st July 2015. The revised LOE 2014 ensures independence of the Board of Directors, seeks to eliminate conflict of interest, and to improve accountability as part of Vietnamese government’s drive to ensure better CG.

Policy attitude towards trade integration and foreign direct investment (FDI) is often a controversial yet popular subject. This note presents evidences from recent policy researches that arguing that engaging in an open trade and investment regime have brought productivity gains which is key factor for sustaining increase in income per-capita. Evidence from Indonesia also suggests that foreign owned plants have become increasingly important, generating a significant share of exports and overall output, as well as more productive and more export intensive than domestic plants, and to spend more on RD and training. FDI also have positive impact on firms in the same sector, through competition and demonstration effects, and in upstream sectors, as suppliers to foreign-owned plants improve the quality of their own products to meet their clients more exacting needs. Evidence also suggests a positive impact from import competition in improving allocative efficiency across manufacturing plants which is a key element in driving productivity in manufacturing sector.

This assessment reviews the regulatory and supervisory developments in the insurance sector of Moldova. The current assessment is benchmarked against the insurance core principles (ICPs) issued by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) in October 2011 and revised in 2012. The ICPs apply to all insurers, whether private or state-owned. Specific principles apply to the supervision of intermediaries. The assessment covers the supervisory practices of the Comisa Nationala a Pietei Financiare (National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM)) which began operations in 2007. The recent decision to move from a pure compliance approach to a more risk based methodology needs to be gradual and carefully staged given the technical capacity constraints in Moldova. Insurer risk management is not universally developed so insurers will only be able to effectively move toward a more risk based approach in a series of small and quite specific steps, supported by regulatory clarity. Many shortcomings in the observance of the ICPs will be addressed by a well-structured transition to risk-based supervision (RBS). Group supervision, particularly operational level cooperation and communication with other supervisors, is also an opportunity and a priority. Ensuring the credibility of the regulatory regime will rely on transparent and sustained enforcement.

This paper is the first that applies a new measure of competition, the Boone indicator, to the banking industry. This approach is able to measure competition of bank market segments, such as the loan market, whereas many well-known measures of competition can consider the entire banking market only. A caveat of the Boone-indicator may be that it assumes that banks generally pass on at least part of their efficiency gains to their clients. Like most other model-based measures, this approach ignores differences in bank product quality and design, as well as the attractiveness of innovations. We measure competition on the lending markets in the five major euro countries as well as, for comparison, the UK, the US and Japan. Bearing the mentioned caveats in mind, our findings indicate that over the period 1994-2004 the US had the most competitive loan market, whereas overall loan markets in Germany and Spain were among the best competitive in the EU. The Netherlands occupied a more intermediate position, whereas in Italy competition declined significantly over time. The French, Japanese and UK loan markets were generally less competitive. Turning to competition among specific types of banks, commercial banks tend to be more competitive, particularly in Germany and the US, than savings and cooperative banks.

May, 2007, References: p. 27-28, This paper is the first that applies a new measure of competition, the Boone indicator, to the banking industry. This approach is able to measure competition of bank market segments, such as the loan market, whereas many well-known measures of competition can consider the entire banking market only. A caveat of the Boone-indicator may be that it assumes that banks generally pass on at least part of their efficiency gains to their clients. Like most other model-based measures, this approach ignores differences in bank product quality and design, as well as the attractiveness of innovations. We measure competition on the lending markets in the five major EU countries as well as, for comparison, the UK, the US and Japan. Bearing the mentioned caveats in mind, our findings indicate that over the period 1994-2004 the US had the most competitive loan market, whereas overall loan markets in Germany and Spain were among the best competitive in the EU. The Netherlands occupied a more intermediate position, whereas in Italy competition declined significantly over time. The French, Japanese and UK loan markets were generally less competitive. Turning to competition among specific types of banks, commercial banks tend to be more competitive, particularly in Germany and the US, than savings and cooperative banks.

This paper is the first that applies a new measure of competition, the Boone indicator, to the banking industry. This approach is able to measure competition of bank market segments, such as the loan market, whereas many well-known measures of competition can consider the entire banking market only. A caveat of the Boone-indicator may be that it assumes that banks generally pass on at least part of their efficiency gains to their clients. Like most other model-based measures, this approach ignores differences in bank product quality and design, as well as the attractiveness of innovations. We measure competition on the lending markets in the five major EU countries as well as, for comparison, the UK, the US and Japan. Bearing the mentioned caveats in mind, our findings indicate that over the period 1994-2004 the US had the most competitive loan market, whereas overall loan markets in Germany and Spain were among the best competitive in the EU. The Netherlands occupied a more intermediate position, whereas in Italy competition declined significantly over time. The French, Japanese and UK loan markets were generally less competitive. Turning to competition among specific types of banks, commercial banks tend to be more competitive, particularly in Germany and the US, than savings and cooperative banks.