High License Fee Research Articles

Using quasi-experimental designs for causal effects

Purpose: This paper discusses the concept of identifying the causal effects using quasi-experimental methods and applies this method to investigate the impact of high license fees on the quality of mobile Internet in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: Quasi-experiment design, especially the difference-in-differences method and the interrupted time series design were used to examine the causal effects of spectrum fees in Poland. Data on the quality of mobile Internet in Poland and around the world published by Akamai and data provided by Ookla® under the agreement were used for analysis. Findings: The study did not confirm the impact of high spectrum fees on the quality of the Internet in Poland. Practical implications: The results obtained can help policymakers in Poland and other countries in making decisions on spectrum management. Originality/value: This is the first paper using the quasi-experimental method to examine the effects of the 4G auction in Poland. Keywords: quasi-experiment, difference in difference (DiD), interrupted time series design (ITS), spectrum auction, mobile Internet market. Category of the paper: Research paper.

Tracking the flow of excreta across the sanitation service chain in Nkubu town

Inadequate access to improved sanitation and water remains a huge factor contributing to increased mortality and morbidity rates, especially among children. Despite the growth in economy and recognition of sanitation as a basic right, investment in sanitation infrastructure has not yet been achieved, particularly in low- and middle-income area. As such, nearly 827 000 people die yearly due to inadequate sanitation, water and hygiene. To track the flow of excreta in Urban areas, the existing sanitation systems were assessed, the proportion of community with access to safely managed feacal sludge was examined, the challenges facing service delivery was assessed and finally, a Shit Flow Diagram for Nkubu town was developed. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was employed. The research instruments involved were use of key informants’ interviews, observation for primary data. The secondary data was gotten from existing data. The Susana platform and the shit flow diagram tools were used for data analysis and generating SFD for Nkubu town. The data collected has been presented using a shit flow diagram, tables, graphs and charts. The results indicate that only 28% of the excreta is safely managed. The pit latrines were the most used containment method with 45% and 3% of the population practicing open defecation. Only 40% of the feacal sludge taken to the treatment was properly treated and disposed. The challenges experienced in the management of fecal sludge were high water table in the area and high license and service fee charged. The findings imply that the unsafely excreta management practices in Nkubu town pose a risk to the health of residents in and around the town and the quality of water sources. This study points to the possible areas of interventions such as proper planning of the town and also creating an enabling environment for feacal sludge management.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF LEGALIZATION OF GAMING BUSINESS IN UKRAINE

The article discusses the feasibility of a ban on gambling and the main shortcomings in the legislative regulation of public relations in this area. The causes of criminalization of the activity of gambling business in Ukraine are investigated and legal and practical assessment of the consequences of such criminalization is given. Possible ways of solving the problem of the shadow economy in Ukraine by overcoming illegal gambling business by example of the leading states of Europe are analyzed. The authors highlight the main problematic aspects of the existence of the gambling business outside the law and analyze the determinants that provoke such a gambling business. The authors analyze the main negative and positive aspects of the possible legalization of the gaming industry and its impact on civil society. Bills on legalization of gambling business in Ukraine are also analyzed. The article also examines the positive foreign experience of some foreign countries in legalizing the gambling business. In particular, some aspects of legalization are noted based on the experience of Finland, Sweden and Germany. The authors propose to introduce the experience of these states in the legislative regulation of gambling in Ukraine, in particular with regard to the creation of registers of debtors who would not be allowed to gambling, partial legalization of gambling in non-segregated territories, high license fees for gambling and high tax rates. Also important is the fact that the authors outline the regulatory and legal aspects of regulating gambling in Ukraine, and indicate the types of liability that are currently applied to the said offense. The authors also outline a number of legal conflicts, which are in the legal acts that regulate public relations in the field of gambling. Also relevant to the article is the fact that the authors analyzed the psychological aspect of gambling, which has a negative impact on civil society and noted the factors (determinants) of the said negative phenomenon, which generate and stimulate the development of offenses in this area.

Democratizing the Real-Time PCR.

Featured Article: Wittwer CT, Herrmann MG, Moss AA, Rasmussen RP. Continuous fluorescence monitoring of rapid cycle DNA amplification. Biotechniques 1997;22:130–1, 134–8.3 After the development of the PCR in the second half of the1980s and demonstration of real-time analysis in 1992 (1), it was not clear how the technology would unfold. On the one hand, dissemination of PCR was limited by strong patents, high license fees, and royalties. On the other hand, PCR was so simple that anyone could modify it and build instruments. PCR became an experimenter's playground and many novel methods and creative tools appeared from universities, clinical laboratories, and small companies. We developed rapid-cycle PCR in 1990 (2) and formed a small company as a University of Utah spin-off, “Idaho Technology.” The company was bootstrapped by a family business that made replacement parts for potato harvesters and manufactured a niche product that performed 30 PCR …

Evaluation of Different Thin-Client Based Virtual Classroom Architectures

Abstract This paper presents an evaluation of different methods used to deliver virtual machines capable of being accessed remotely by thin-clients. The objective of the research was to provide a recommendation for building a cost-effective computer infrastructure for use in two scenarios: as a programming lab, and as an office infrastructure. We have found that different thin-client solutions based on single board computers are reliable solutions for commercially available thin client replacement, because they can run free Linux-based operating systems, can handle Remote Desktop Protocol, have lower acquisition costs, lower power consumption and offer almost the same computing performance. For providing remote desktops, there are several methods and virtualization platforms available. We benchmarked some of these platforms in order to choose the one best-suited for implementation. Our conclusion is that Microsoft Remote Desktop Services outperforms the virtualization based solutions, but it entails high license fees. Of the virtualization solutions tested, the VMW are ESXi based one is the most reliable choice.

Building Information Modelling in Cameroon

BIM has recently gained ground in developed countries. However, the use of BIM in developing countries including Cameroon is not well-known. In this study, BIM implementation in Cameroon is explored. The research methods used are a pilot study, electronic email surveys and in-depth phone interviews. Altogether, 179 professionals having at least a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the National Advanced School of Engineering Yaoundé I - Cameroon, a leading engineering institution in Francophone Africa, were sampled. Forty six provided feedback yielding a response rate of 25.7%. It emerged that some BIM software are already being used in Cameroon. However, major barriers hindering BIM uptake are high license fee and lack of huge projects that can pay off the cost of investment in BIM. Perhaps, partly because the respondents were highly skilled, it emerged that the lack of expertise was/is not a major problem to use BIM in projects. Although this study is limited to Cameroon, many recommendations could be relevant to other African countries.

Why Ecosystem-Based Management May Fail without Changes to Tool Development and Financing

Resource managers rely on tools to enact ecosystem-based management (EBM) principles and frequently express frustration at the difficulty of use and unreliability of available tools. EBM tool developers lack the consistent, long-term funding needed to develop high-quality tools. Through interviews, we determined several reasons for this funding problem including: (a) most EBM tools are developed by academics rather than software professionals and (b) most tools are offered at no cost. These factors create a double-edged sword for managers who cannot afford high license fees or to waste time with low-quality, unmaintained products. Without a fundamental shift in tool funding and development, many potentially useful tools will remain poorly implemented and underused. Without a significant increase in the number of high-quality EBM tools, governmental mandates to implement EBM will remain unfulfilled. This problem can be addressed if both developers and funders change the ways in which they seek and grant financial support.

Patent Settlements as a Barrier to Entry

We formulate a model of entry with two incumbent firms—a patent holder and an infringer—and a potential entrant, with asymmetric information about the validity of the infringed patent (patent strength) between incumbent firms and the entrant. Within this framework we show that patent settlements between the incumbent firms can be mutually beneficial even when the cost of trial is zero and the settlement agreement takes the form of a simple fixed license fee. For patents of intermediate strength, settlements are a tool for entry deterrence. The two parties agree on a high settlement amount which sends a credible signal to “outsiders” that the patent is not weak and therefore entry will not be profitable. This provides a novel explanation for the role of settlements and to the recent observation of high license fees negotiated in settlement agreements. It suggests that firms should disclose the settlement amount if they want to keep out further entrants. We also show that even nonreverse settlements that entail only a fixed fee can be anticompetitive because they are used to block entry.

Spectrum Auction and Investment in Telecom Industry: A Suggested Policy

Recently, Indian telecommunication industry has passed through an auction process of 3G spectrum, which has enabled the government to collect hefty license fees. The successful bidders are expected to borrow this bid amount from the commercial banks and repay from the revenue to be generated from the new services. This paper looks at this issue theoretically. The telecommunication firms operate on the basis of acquisition of airwave space, which is licensed by the government. The usual policy practice is to distribute the available spectrum by an ascending auction. As per the economic theory, auction has two merits. Firstly, auction ensures that spectrum goes to the most efficient firm, which is by definition the firm that makes the maximum profit among all. This firm by virtue of their maximum profit bids the highest amount in the auction and gets the spectrum. Secondly, spectrum auction ensures revenue maximization of the government. This result of efficiency optimization however holds under the assumption of perfect information and no uncertainty. Uncertainty and irrationality like over-optimism can lead to problems like ‘winners‘ curse' or ‘broke winners’ under auction. Still auction is market-based and less controversial than discretionary distribution. However, this paper argues that high amount of auction bid can result in several deficiencies in the telecom industry. An issue of debate is whether high auction bid will result in higher price for the services. Under the assumption of infinite time horizon, high license fee is a sunk cost and therefore does not raise price. But this paper shows that a high license fee can raise the lending bank�s interest charge for which not only price rises but the infrastructural investment in the telecom industry suffers. After the acquisition of spectrum through auction the industry needs infrastructural investments to roll out the quality services. Inadequate investment in infrastructural activities like procurement of quality equipments, erection of tower, etc., may result in lower quantum of services with degraded qualities. This is in fact a reality in India where not only rural telecom infrastructure is vastly inadequate, the urban telecom infrastructure is also under severe stress. In this paper, using the tool of game theory we show how capacity and quantity choice game of firms ends up in high auction bid and sub-optimal investment on infrastructure. Then how can the social planners simultaneously achieve the twin objective of growth and revenue maximization? The paper shows that these objectives are realized if a part of the license fee is spent for the subsidization of infrastructural investment in the telecom industry.

Spectrum Auction and Investment in Telecom Industry - A Suggested Policy

The telecommunication firms operate on the basis of acquisition of airwave space, which is licensed by the government. The usual policy practice in this regard is ascending auction that ensures maximization of revenue for the government. The established view in the literature is that the resulting high license fee is a sunk cost and therefore cannot adversely affect the industry. But this paper shows that high license fee can influence the lending bank's interest charge for which the infra structural investment in the telecom industry suffers and results in lower quantum of services with degraded qualities. The analysis is based on capacity and quantity choice game. The paper looks into the social planner's objective of growth and revenue maximization and observes that these objectives are better realized if a part of the license fee is spent for the subsidization of telecom investment.

Technology sharing and tacit collusion

I study the prospects for collusion between rival firms that share technological know-how. Two common forms of technology sharing are compared: a research joint venture (RJV) and licensing. Under licensing, firms can use the licensing fee to elicit higher levels of R&D than with an RJV. However, firms must also be induced to license innovations ex post. For a broad set of cases, licensing yields higher collusive profits to firms and higher prices to consumers. In other cases, licensing can only be induced through a very high license fee, leading to excessive R&D and lower profits. In these cases, the colluding firms prefer to share technology through an RJV.

Patent Settlements as a Barrier to Entry

Empirical studies have found that most patent litigations are resolved through settlements rather than trials. Moreover, license fees negotiated in settlement agreements have become very large. We formulate a model of sequential entry with an incumbent patent holder, multiple potential entrants and asymmetric information about the validity of the infringed patent (patent strength) between firms that are already in the market and future potential entrants. Within this framework we show that patent settlements between the incumbent and the first entrant can be mutually beneficial even when the cost of trial is zero and the settlement agreement takes the form of a simple fixed license fee. For patents of intermediate strength, settlements are a tool for further entry deterrence. The two parties agree on a high settlement amount which sends a credible signal to 'outsiders' that the incumbent's patent is not weak and therefore further entry will not be profitable. This provides a novel explanation for the role of settlements and to the recent observation of high license fees negotiated in settlement agreements. Our analysis demonstrates than even non-reverse settlements that entail only a fixed fee can be anticompetitive because they are used to block further entry.

Chinese Experience with Global 3G Standard-Setting

China’s growth strategy as set out in the 11th 5-year plan in 2005 called for upgrading of product quality, the development of an innovation society, and reduced reliance on foreign intellectual property with high license fees. Consistent with this policy, China has been involved in recent years with the development of a Chinese standard in third generation (3G) mobile phone technology, both in negotiating the standard and seeing it through to commercialization. This is the first case of a developing country both originating and successfully negotiating a telecommunications standard and this experience raises issues for China’s future development strategy based on product and process upgrading in manufacturing. We argue that while precedent setting from an international negotiating point of view, the experience has thus far is unproven commercially. But the lessons learned will benefit future related efforts in follow-on technologies if similar Chinese efforts are made. This paper documents Chinese standard-setting efforts from proposal submission to ITU to the current large-scale trial network deployment in China and overseas trial networks deployment. We discuss the underlying objectives for this initiative, evaluate its effectiveness, and assess its broader implications for Chinese development policy.

The Emergence of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs): An Examination of the Business Strategy in the Global MVNO Market

To assess the strategy adopted by the mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and the factors that affect the development of this mobile market, this study analyzes the MNVO sector from 2 perspectives: the exogenous factors including the consumer, industry, regulation, and technology characteristics; and the generic strategies that have been adopted by successful MVNOs in various Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development markets. Although cost leadership was found to be most prevalent initially, as the mobile market begins to be infused by high-capacity networks and value-added services, MVNOs are more inclined to apply multiple generic strategies and non-price competition. The strategies of differentiation and focus are practiced in addition to, not in place of, the cost leadership strategy. This study also found that countries with higher third-generation (3G) license fees tend to have higher levels of MVNO development, suggesting that the economic pressure created by the high 3G license fee might contribute to the deployment of MVNOs in a country.

Promoting Access to Intellectual Property: Patent Pools, Copyright Collectives and Clearinghouses

This paper reviews and compares patent pools, intellectual property clearinghouses and copyright collectives as alternative systems for promoting efficient access to licensable intellectual property in a 'market for technology' (Arora et al 2001). These systems aid downstream use of innovations by economizing on search and transaction costs faced by licensees, as well as potentially mitigating the conditions that lead to the 'tragedy of the anti-commons' (excessively high license fees and under-use of innovations). We compare and classify different systems in terms of their features, review some existing systems, and discuss their economic characteristics.

Restless Visionaries: The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan.

Restless Visionaries: The Social Roots of Antebellum Reform in Alabama and Michigan. By John W. Quist. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 562. $57.50, ISBN 0-8071-2133-9.) This comparative study of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, and Washtenaw County, Michigan, argues that antebellum reform, except where slavery was at issue, was the same regardless of section. Challenging the widespread assumption that abolition tainted all reform in the South, John W. Quist first compares Bible and tract societies and Sunday schools and the secular crusade against intemperance of both counties. Only then does he contrast how each county addressed slavery. Because the secondary literature on northern reform is already so rich, the author treats Tuscaloosa's experience more comprehensively than Washtenaw's even though his examination and quantification of Michigan public, church, and associational records is the more extensive. Quist's central theme is comparability. Each county contained a thriving market town that served rural populations growing at similar rates. The political leadership of each was more Whig than Democratic; in each the prevailing churches were evangelical--chiefly Presbyterian and Congregational in Wisconsin, Methodist and Baptist in Alabama. Consequently their Christian benevolence, shaped by a propertied Whig elite of urban professional and commercial men dedicated to forwarding the self-control compatible with a market economy, was similar. Female participation was limited to aiding the poor, raising funds for male-led societies, and teaching Sunday School. The outstanding sectional difference was that, even though few were planters, officers of Alabama's benevolent organizations were overwhelmingly slaveholders. The temperance movements were similarly congruent, largely because each county followed patterns set in the Northeast. An initial campaign of elitist moral suasion against the consumption of hard liquor but not wine and beer was, by the late 1830s, ratcheted up to the teetotalism endorsed by artisans as well as professionals in Washingtonian and Sons of Temperance societies that provided a community of support. By the mid-1840s, however, the limited success of voluntary abstinence drove the urban elite, with considerable rural support, toward temperance by legislation. Thwarted in achieving statewide prohibition, both counties attempted instead to control the retail liquor trade by imposing high license fees. Although in doing so they stirred up working-class resentment and made temperance a political issue that attracted more Whig than Democratic support, in neither county did liquor become a defining party issue. …

Patenting Animal Genetics and DNA-Based Processes: Implications for the Pork Industry

Advances in biotechnology show great promise for animal agriculture. Decreased public funding of agricultural research has led to encouragement of private funding at public institutions. Intellectual property rights provide incentives for researchers and avenues to recoup costs or realize profits. The appropriateness of patenting of animals and animal parts such as altered DNA sequences or DNA-based tests have been established by U.S. courts and agencies. Private research investors seek a return on their investment, and thus require exclusive rights to use inventions. Limited access to new innovations and high license fees cause concern and debate about fairness, distribution of profits, and dispersion of new processes. Increased public funding of basic research is needed to keep a balance with private research investment. Some refinement of intellectual property rights procedures is needed. Provisions should be made for DNA-based tests to be broadly accessible for the most possible benefit of producers and consumers.