Im Jahr 2003 wurde die deutsche Zementindustrie wegen vorgeblicher Preis- und Quotenabsprachen mit einer Buße von über 600 Mio. Euro belegt. Im abschließenden gerichtlichen Verfahren des Jahres 2009 wurde die Buße erheblich reduziert, weil das Bundeskartellamt nicht in der Lage war, die...

We argue that self-binding rules in the context of the stabilisation of the eurozone — both monetary and fiscal — are important for a successful long-term European economic policy. The present loss of reputation due to the breaking of fundamental rules such as the no-bailout clause generates...

Twenty years after reunification Eastern Germany's economy is relatively stagnant compared with most of the productivity and income variables of Western Germany. The strong initial take-off which lasted until the mid to late 1990s ended at a level of 70%--80% of the western reference values. In...

Recently, investments in new generation networks in Germany have been curtailed, since potential investors required this new network be unregulated. To develop a regulator's strategy that allows investments to occur but prevents monopolistic prices, we model an investor's decision problem under...

We analyze the spatial interaction among regions in North America and in Western Europe. We use a gravity model extended by a spatial correlation structure where data allows to evaluate the spatial interaction in two dimensions: level of impact and the length of the spatial tail. This allows us...

Post reunification estimates of East German per capita income were barely one-half the officially reported level. This paper tries to explain this discrepancy and to account for the implied postwar economic divergence between the two Germanies. The statistical discrepancy is attributed to a...

The analysis covers the organization of economic activities and how the supply of transportation systems influences the definition of markets. From a spatial perspective, competition and collusion in a high-speed railway (HSR) based network are examined at three levels: (a) the chain of regions...

Evidence of falling wages in Catholic cities and rising wages in Protestant cities between 1500 and 1750, during the spread of literacy in the vernacular, is inconsistent with most theoretical models of economic growth. In The Protestant Ethic, Weber suggested an alternative explanation based on...