This paper argues that the accession to the European Union improves the quality of competition policy via the implementation of pro-competitive policies, especially antitrust and competition policies, embedded in the Community Acquis. We assess this conjecture empirically for the (former)...

Aiming at both low prices and innovation, policy makers and economists have long argued about the optimal intensity of competition. While the current discussion in telecommunication regulation points out that competition can be detrimental to innovation due to the low appropriability of rents...

The report underpins the discussion of applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the welfare sector. Greater use of ICTs is embedded in the Europa 2020 growth strategy which sees the availability of broadband access as a prerequisite for the use of such services....

In this paper we argue that changes in the EU membership status of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe led to less concentrated markets. This is due to the implementation of competition policy and other pro-competitive policies embedded in the Community Acquis, the body of European Union...

The empirical literature on mergers, market power and collusion in differentiated markets has mainly focused on methods relying on output and/or panel data. In contrast to this literature we suggest a novel approach that allows for the detection of collusive behaviour among a group of firms...

Mit dem seit 2013 gültigen Fiskalpakt und seiner Umsetzung hat die Politik in der EU wesentliche Forderungen der ideologischen Hauptgegner des Europäischen Sozialmodells, der "Schule von Chicago", übernommen. Erstens wird mit dem Pakt die Fiskalpolitik noch enger an Regeln gebunden,...

It is frequently claimed that high levels of generalised trust are conducive for economic reforms. In contrast, the "traditional view" on institutional and political constraints on the executive (IPCE) postulates that high IPCE tend to paralyse the decision-making process, thus blocking required...

Recent research has shown that the degree to which people feel they are in control of their lives is an important correlate of individual happiness, where those that feel more in control are also found to be systematically happier. In turn, the economic sources of perceived life control are only...

The promotion of Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) is one of the political priorities of the "European Union Strategy for the Danube Region". A growing share of IWT within the regional freight transport market is expected to raise the sustainability of the transport system and provide beneficial...

The mitigation of (anthropogenic) climate change requires an extensive decarbonisation of production and consumption activities and thus a major transformation of societal processes and energy systems. In order to monitor and evaluate the transformation path en route to the long-term climate and...