This article examines the calculation of Riester pension products and their returns, highlights the price increase caused by an assumed life expectancy and the selection bias. It states that changes to the profit participation components at Riester savers' and insurees' charge-applied in...

The article documents the discussion of a workshop on the Riester saving which took place at DIW Berlin. Workshop participants included scientists, consumer advocates, representatives from the financial services industry, and politicians. The workshop addressed a number of controversial topics,...

This paper studies the impact of buyer power on dynamic efficiency. We consider a bargaining model in which buyer power arises endogenously from size and may impact on a supplier's incentives to invest in lower marginal cost. We challenge the view frequently expressed in policy circles that the...

We analyze the role of consumer expectations in a Hotelling model of price competition when products exhibit network effects. Expectations can be strong (stubborn), weak (price-sensitive) or partially stubborn (a mix of weak and strong). As a rule, the price-sensitivity of demand declines when...

We analyze the efficiency defense in merger control. First, we show that the relationship between exogenous efficiency gains and social welfare can be non-monotone. Second, we consider both endogenous mergers and endogenous efficiencies and find that merger proposals are largely aligned with a...