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This thesis investigates sequential quality and pricing competition in markets with network effects and compatibility choices. By extending a standard Hotelling model to incorporate three stages—compatibility choice, quality choice, and pricing—it examines the strategic behavior of firms and its implications for market outcomes and consumer welfare. The analysis reveals that compatibility reduces equilibrium quality levels. In most circumstances, firms have excessive incentives for compatibility. The study also introduces the concept of partial network compatibility, showing that demand elasticities decrease monotonically with higher compatibility levels. Additionally, even when allowing for interior solutions, firms' incentives for compatibility still exceed those of a social planner. The findings highlight the divergence between private and public interests and caution policymakers when considering compatibility regulation in network markets. However, further research is needed into the ability of firms to leverage compatibility to engage in anti-competitive behaviour. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of competition in modern markets and provides insights for policymakers, market participants, and regulators. Keywords: Network industries, Hotelling model, sequential competition, compatibility

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This thesis aims to explore whether Belgian federal politicians live longer than the general Belgian population due to socioeconomic health inequalities. To achieve this, an observational analysis is conducted by comparing the mortality and life expectancy of all past and present Belgian members of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives with the life tables of the general population. The study complements evidence found by Clarke et al. (2022), which investigated life expectancy and mortality rates in 11 developed countries, and aims to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health inequalities. Based on the findings of Clarke et al. (2022), this study hypothesises that higher socioeconomic status leads to greater health and life-prolonging benefits compared to lower socioeconomic status. In general, we therefore expect Belgian politicians to live longer than the general population. To derive our results, we make use of descriptive statistics, survival analysis and regression analysis. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) are used to estimate relative mortality differences, while the calculation of absolute mortality differences involves comparing the differences in remaining life expectancy from a given age between the two groups. A self-constructed longitudinal dataset covers the years 1831 to 2021 and includes a total of 4,483 individuals. Our variables include age, sex, date of birth, date of death, and date of first entry into parliament. Our results show that Belgian politicians have lived consistently and significantly longer than the general population. Only between 1900 and 1970 did the general population gain the upper hand. The structure of this thesis is as follows: After the introduction, an extended literature review provides the main findings on this broad topic. The methodology then outlines the techniques used to calculate the various indices and decompositions and includes a description of the relevant variables. Our statistical findings are presented and explained in the results section, while the conclusion summarises this study as a whole.

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Climate change is likely to be the biggest threat of the 21st century. To measure today the future damage that climate change will cause, economists have used the discount rate as it allows converting future values into a comparable amount to today’s values. In consequence, choosing an appropriate discount rate is essential to evaluating climate change damage that will impact future generations’ welfare and taking the right decisions for current action (or not). So far, the use of a positive discount rate has been the norm. By means of scientific reports to evaluate how growth of consumption may evolve and by applying ethical principles to support the adoption of a zero pure rate of time preference, I show that using a negative discount rate may be justified. I then suggest another interpretation of the discount rate by computing it between individuals rather than generations and show that negative discount rates to assess climate policies remain appropriate.

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This thesis aims to study the impact of free trade on the environment and more precisely on the optimal level of carbon emissions released by the countries. Contrary to the previous literature on this topic, this thesis uses a more and more popular methodological tool in environmental economics: an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM). This IAM is combined with a Heckscher-Ohlin model of trade in order to examine the impact of opening up economies to trade compared to an autarky scenario. The results lead to the unveiling of a factor endowment-based composition effect: the country with an energy-intensive production sector will specialise in polluting goods and release more emissions. Due to the unilateral environmental policy, this effect is reinforced by the fact that after opening up for trade the (positive) scale effect will be more likely to dominate the (negative) technique effect for the energy-intensive country. Finally, a link between the relative sizes of the economies trading and the net effect on global temperature is established.