Wettbewerbspolitik wird innerhalb der Europäischen Union in erster Linie auf zwei vertikal miteinander verbundenen Ebenen betrieben, nämlich der supranationalen Ebene der EU-Institutionen und Organisationen und der nationalen Ebene der mitgliedstaatlichen Institutionen und Organisationen : Auf...

The recent Impala Judgment by the CFI on the Sony/BMG Decision by the Commission represents the most important ruling on collective dominance since Airtours. We review both the Decision and the Judgment and derive implications for the institutional and substantive development of EU Merger...

Die europäische Wettbewerbspolitik durchläuft in den letzten fünf Jahren einen grundlegenden Reformprozess, der mit der Neufassung von Kartellverordnung und Fusionskontrollverordnung begann (2002-2004), sich mit der Verfassung von Leitlinien für horizontale (2004) und nicht-horizontale...

We demonstrate that the popular Farrell-Shapiro-framework (FSF) for the analysis of mergers in oligopolies relies regarding its policy conclusions sensitively on the assumption that rational agents will only propose privately profitable mergers. If this assumption held, a positive external...

An increasingly important part of contemporary merger control both in the US and the EU is unilateral effects analysis, particularly with regard to oligopolistic mergers. In practice, this requires econometric analyses of past market data and, above all, the construction of simulation models in...

In times of globalization, trade liberalization and deregulation of specific industries, competition authorities face new challenges in order to protect national as well as international competition. With companies operating in various countries, fading market frontiers and increasing...

Should the EU introduce an Optional European Contract Law Code and what should it look like? By applying economic theories of federalism and regulatory competition (legal federalism), it is shown why an Optional Code would be a very suitable legal instrument within a two-level European System of...

Die Diskussion reißt nicht ab. „Deutschlands Bildung hinkt hinterher“. Andreas Schleicher, der Sprecher der OECD in Bildungsangelegenheiten, wirft den verantwortlichen Politikern vor, sie handelten „weitgehend visionslos“. Dabei hat die PISA-Studie durchaus eine Reihe von Aktivitäten...

In this paper, the introduction of direct-democratic decision-making in all EU decisions is considered when it is feasible without prohibitively increasing decision-making costs. We start with the contractarian argument that each constitution is a contract joining the citizens of a state and...