This paper analyses market competition between two different types of credit card platforms: not-for-profit associations and proprietary systems. The main focus is on the role of the interchange fee set by not-for-profit platforms. We show that when the interchange fee is set so as to maximise...

The comparison of different tax schedules is a problem of high dimensionality. In the current paper it is proved that under very general assumptions a utilitarian welfare function and an inequality index compose a sufficient statistic for the after-tax welfare distribution, reducing...

In this paper we argue that pricing is all about price changes, and that the costs of price changes are often simultaneously subtle and substantial. We discuss a framework to deal with the dynamics of changing prices. This framework incorporates customer interpretations of price changes, an...

This paper develops a model of pricing and advertising in a matching environment with capacity constrained sellers. Sellers' expenditure on directly informative advertising attracts consumers only probabilistically. Consumers who happen to observe advertisements randomize over the advertised...

Spatially differentiated duopolists set higher-than-monopoly prices at some distances. This phenomenon is shown to occur in any finite- dimensional space for a class of reservation prices that covers concavity and convexity in perceived distance from a design. But an upper bound on the...

Theoretical study identifying one modality with conditions necesary for the financial stabilization of an inherently unstable system; and 5040 other unstable dynamic modes. It draws on knowledge made available by the academic field of Control Engineering.

The United Kingdom began deregulating its electric market years before the U.S. Thus, the UK provides the best example of what can be expected in the deregulated residential retail electric market in the United States. . An extensive review of the evidence found: Questionable price savings:...

This paper examines how the option for licensing affects research and development (R&D) and social welfare. We find that if cost reduction from R&D is sufficiently small and there is an option of licensing, firms will do non-cooperative R&D. In absence of licensing, firms will do cooperative R&D...

Coordination Failure Diagnostics (CFD) is a model that analyses real market processes with the help of time pattern analysis and investigates whether they operate efficiently (See www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de/cfd). The CFD cartel-audit should enable the detection of cartels via characteristic market...

This paper analyzes if vertical foreclosure can emerge as an equilibrium outcome of an infinitely repeated game. Foreclosure is profitable due to a 'raising rival's costs' effect but it is not a Nash equilibrium of the static game. The results are that foreclosure is in fact a subgame perfect...