The current issue of the Review of Network Economics contains selected papers from the recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York conference entitled "Antitrust Activity in Card-Based Payment Systems: Causes and Consequences" held on September 15 and 16, 2005. The nine papers selected focus on how antitrust and regulatory measures are being applied in various countries, studying the cause and effects of such actions. Included are three papers from a panel of country studies as well as three commentaries. Together these papers provide varying perspectives on the case for and impact of policy interventions in card payment systems around the world. An upcoming special issue will publish a second set of selected papers from the conference that focuses on the contributions to the modeling and policy analysis of payment card systems.
For both special issues, we were extremely fortunate to have as editor, James McAndrews, Vice President and Head of the Payments Studies Function, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Through the conference, he brought together the views of over twenty leading experts for a focused discussion on card payment systems. We wish to express our sincere thanks to James McAndrews for the exceptional job he has done in organizing and hosting the conference, and putting together this fine selection of papers.
We also wish to draw the reader's attention to the following planned issues of the journal:
- Dynamics, Efficiency and Regulation, guest edited by Jeffrey Bernstein
- Railroad Industry Structure, Competition and Investment, guest edited by Guido Friebel and Marc Ivaldi
- Regulation, Competition and Universal Service in Postal Service, guest edited by Helmuth Cremer and J-P Florens
Please see the journal website for contact information on these issues. Further information is also contained on our announcements page
here.
