JanuaryPaul Seabright

The Vanishing Rouble

Paul Seabright, The Vanishing Rouble: Barter Networks and Non-Monetary Transactions in Post-Soviet Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. Edited by Paul Seabright.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the transition process in the former Soviet Union has been the extent to which the economy has effectively become demonetized in recent years. At the time of Russia’s financial crisis of 1998 it was estimated that up to 70% of industrial output was being exchanged for barter. This book provides an accessible and authoritative analysis of barter in the former Soviet Union, addressing such questions as: What has brought about this demonetization and why have we not seen the same phenomenon on a widespread scale in central and eastern Europe? Does the nature of demonetization cast light on what underpins monetary transactions in industrial societies? What are the consequences for output and growth? Should the state intervene and how? Does the network character of many non-monetary transactions have implications for the role and value of social networks in complex modern societies?

Contributors: Paul Seabright, Jayasri Dutta, Canice Prendergast, Lars Stole, Caroline Humphrey, Alena Ledeneva, Simon Commander, Christian Mummsen, Sergei Guriev, Barry W. Ickes, Simon Clarke, Dalia Marin, Daniel Kaufmann, Bogdan Gorochowskij, Wendy Carlin, Steven Fries, Mark Schaffer, David G. Anderson, Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov

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Trawling for Minnows

Damien Neven, Pénélope Papandropoulos and Paul Seabright, Trawling for Minnows: European Competition Policy and Agreements between Firms, Center for Economic Policy Research, London, 1998.

This report examines the policy of the European Union towards agreements on competition between firms. The report looks at the EU’s policy from three perspectives.

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Competition Policy and the Transformation of Central Europe

John Fingleton, Eleanor Fox, Damien Neven and Paul Seabright, Competition Policy and the Transformation of Central Europe, Center for Economic Policy Research, London, 1996.

This book examines the implementation of competition policy during the 1990s in Hungary, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Republics. It looks at the economic predicament of countries in transition, considering how far this has required the state to actively police the competitive process. It assesses the extent to which initial economic and political conditions have constrained the involvement of the state in such activity. It then analyzes the statutes of the countries and the structure of the institutions established to implement competition policy. A comprehensive discussion of the case law and the experience of policy in practice is used to suggest lessons for the task of competition policy, both in these countries and in others undergoing the transition from central planning. This book will be valuable not just for those interested in competition policy but for all students of the political economy of transition.

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Merger in Daylight

Damien Neven, Robin Nuttall and Paul Seabright, Merger in Daylight: the Economics and Politics of European Merger Control, Center for Economic Policy Research, London, 1993.

In 1989 the European Council of Ministers approved a Regulation establishing a new system of merger control for the European Community. This is the first independent review of the EC Merger Regulation and has wide implications for other issues such as regulatory capture and transparency. It uses the latest research methodology from economics to analyse the decisions taken by the Commission and also reports a detailed survey of firms which have submitted merger proposals and the law firms that have advised them. The full text of the Regulation is reprinted along with summary statistics for all of the cases investigated up to the end of March 1993. Economists, lawyers, and practitioners in the business and policy communities concerned with regulation and merger policy will need this book.

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‘I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the political economy of merger control in the EC and in the US. The authors show clear mastery of complex legal issues that underpin merger control, and offer an up-to-date and highly readable guide through the policy thicket.’ (Janusz Ordover, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice).

Published Book Chapters

“The Birth of Hierarchy”, in Calcott et al. (edited) Cooperation and its Evolution, MIT Press, forthcoming 2013. [ Download pdf ]

“The Economics of Trade in Football Broadcasting Rights” (with Josepa Miquel-Florensa), in Gali, J. & X. Vives (eds): Football Economics: Proceedings of the Armand Caraben Workshop on Sports Economics, Reports of the Public-Private Research Center 4, IESE, University of Navarra, 2011. [ Download PDF 1.1MB ]

The Hidden Costs of Political Sponsorship of Industrial Firms”, in Falck, O., C. Gollier & L. Woessman (eds): Industrial Policy for National Champions, CESIfo Seminar Series, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2011. [ See the book’s homepage ]

Bailing out the banks: Reconciling stability and competition, report to DG-Competition of the European Commission, May 2009 (with Thorsten Beck, Diane Coyle, Xavier Freixas and Mathias Dewatripont), revised and updated version published in February 2010 by Centre for Economic Policy Research. [ Access the report ]

Current Research

To be completed…..

Networks and their influence on the careers of careers of senior executives (with Nicoletta Berardi, Marie Lalanne).

Research initiative on The Digital Society (with Jacques Crémer), details available shortly.

Gender differences in the formation of social networks (several different projects underway, with Anna Dreber-Almenberg, Guido Friebel, Astrid Hopfensitz, Marie Lalanne, Peter Schwardmann, Marie-Clarie Villeval).

A signaling approach to understanding the origins of the statues on Easter Island (with Ricardo Guzman, Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert).