The paper studies duopolistic competition when firms face fixed quality‐dependent costs of production and one of the two firms targets (at least in the long run) welfare maximization. We show that mixed oligopoly is in general socially desirable compared with a private duopoly regardless of the type of competition in the short run and the equilibrium quality ranking. In addition, the nationalization of one of the firms seems to be a more efficient regulatory instrument than the adoption of minimum quality standard or subsidization of the high‐quality provider.

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We study an oligopolistic market in which consumers located around the perimeter of a Salop circle buy either from firms around this perimeter (providing horizontally differentiated goods) or from a firm located at the centre of the circle (providing a homogeneous good). An entry-pricing game is studied. The market equilibria and social optima indicate various possible market failures, including cases in which the market is served only by perimeter firms whilst central provision would be socially optimal (in this sense, more extreme than the standard Salop excessive product differentiation). Moreover, for some parameters, the standard Salop result might be reversed.

Background Many physicians are experiencing increasing demands from both their patients and society. Evidence is scarce on the consequences of the pressure on physicians’ decision making. We present a theoretical framework and predict that increasing pressure may make physicians disregard societal welfare when treating patients. Setting We test our prediction on general practitioners’ antibiotic-prescribing choices. Because prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics does not require microbiological testing, it can be performed more quickly than prescribing for narrow-spectrum antibiotics and is therefore often preferred by the patient. In contrast, from a societal perspective, inappropriate prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics should be minimized as it may contribute to antimicrobial resistance in the general population. Methods We combine longitudinal survey data and administrative data from 2010 to 2017 to create a balanced panel of up to 1072 English general practitioners (GPs). Using a series of linear models with GP fixed effects, we estimate the importance of different sources of pressure for GPs’ prescribing. Results We find that the percentage of broad-spectrum antibiotics prescribed increases by 6.4% as pressure increases on English GPs. The link between pressure and prescribing holds for different sources of pressure. Conclusions Our findings suggest that there may be societal costs of physicians working under pressure. Policy makers need to take these costs into account when evaluating existing policies as well as when introducing new policies affecting physicians’ work pressure. An important avenue for further research is also to determine the underlying mechanisms related to the different sources of pressure.JEL-code: I11, J28, J45 Highlights Many physicians are working under increasing pressure. We test the importance of pressure on physicians’ prescribing of antibiotics. The prescribed rate of broad-spectrum antibiotics increases with pressure. Policy makers should be aware of the societal costs of pressured physicians. [Formula: see text]

The paper highlights the importance and necessity of a versatile and reliable platform for online assessment in higher education. Recent technological developments allow instructors to go beyond standard multiple choice questions (MCQs). The paper considers, in particular, two important aspects: (i) embedding visual and interactive material in assignment questions that favours reasoning and learning and (ii) the importance of questions and feedback that can adapt to the particular performance of students. To reinforce the message, the paper shows how the latest release of the platform MapleTA could represent a powerful tool in the hands of educators in those …elds where algebraic and diagrammatic analysis is essential to the learning process, such as mathematics, economics and business.