In this paper we apply standard cartel theory to identify the major institutional stabilizers of Germany?s area tariff system of collective bargaining between a single industry union and the industry?s employers association. Our cartel analysis allows us to demonstrate that recent labor policy...

This paper offers a cartel explanation for the stability of German collective bargaining institutions.We show that a dense net of legal safeguards has been yarned around the wage setting cartel. These measures make deviation by cartel insiders less attractive and simultaneously erect entry...

Dieser Beitrag fasst die Ergebnisse unserer industrieökonomischen, theoretischen Forschung zur Fragestellung von Stabilität und Wandel von Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen zusammen. Wir verfolgen dabei einen wettbewerbsökonomischen Forschungsansatz, der Marktmacht sowohl auf Arbeits- als auch auf...

In den letzten Jahren haben die durch das Bundeskartellamt behandelten Fusionskontrollverfahren im Krankenhaussektor zu einer anhaltenden wettbewerbsökonomischen Debatte geführt. Als eine wichtige Erkenntnis hat sich hierbei ergeben, dass für den überwiegenden Bereich der akutstationären...

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert den Ordnungsrahmen für den deutschen Apothekenmarkt und die dortigen Konkurrenzbeziehungen, welche durch signifikante Wettbewerbsdefizite gekennzeichnet sind. Ausgehend von unserer Diagnose und den Befunden werden die Vor- und Nachteile von zwei...

It is a persistent phenomenon in many societies that a large proportion of alcohol consumption takes place in company of other people. While the phenomenon of social or public drinking is well discussed in disciplines as social psychology and anthropology, economists have paid little attention...

This paper explores the role that employers’ associations may play in centralized wage bargaining processes. It thereby adds to the literature on labor markets, in which the relationship between union behavior and unemployment has been explored quite extensively, while employers’...

This paper explores the anticompetitive effects that wage determination between an employers. association and the industry.s labor union may have when wages are generally binding. It is shown that employers. associations can, under certain circumstances, use generally binding standard wages to...

Relocation of production to countries with low labour cost have induced increased labour market flexibility, which has been praised as a silver bullet for economic growth and low unemployment. Within a unionised oligopoly framework, in which a multi-national firm has the option to relocate its...