Online Consumer-to-Consumer Communication Networks are characterized by informational and social benefits as well as time and effort costs for participants. Therefore, this dissertation takes an economic perspective on the network formation process as a determinant of value for consumers and...

Mit der Liberalisierung des europäischen Marktes für elektrische Energie haben sich die Randbedingungen für alle in diesem Markt tätigen Unternehmen grundlegend verändert. Um das langfristige Ziel eines europäischen Binnenmarktes zu erreichen, sind erhebliche Eingriffe in die unter...

Diese Doktorarbeit besteht aus vier eigenständigen Forschungsarbeiten, die in der Zeit von Oktober 2004 bis Oktober 2007 geschrieben wurden, während ich Teilnehmer am "Doctoral Programme in Quantitative Economics and Finance" an der Universität Konstanz war. Meine Forschungsinteressen...

Today's predominant disclosure philosophy calls for the fulldisclosure of all decision relevant information bycompanies. More publicly available information, theargument goes, limits the adverse selection problem by reducinginformation asymmetry among heterogeneous investors. Thus, theliquidity...

Die Gründung des GATT Abkommens im Jahr 1947 sowie die Welthandelsorganisation führten zu weltweiten Zollsenkung. Seit deren Gründung haben sich mehr als 150 Länder innerhalb von acht Verhandlungsrunden auf Zollsenkungen von durchschnittlich 40% auf nunmehr 4% geeinigt.Hauptsäule der WTO...

The importance of social and economic networks has meanwhile been widely acknowledged throughout social sciences. Network positions are supposed to be important for both, consumers and suppliers. Examples are R&D collaborations, strategic alliances, knowledge management within organizations,...

The estimated parameters of output distance functions frequently violate the monotonicity, quasiconvexity and convexity constraints implied by economic theory, leading to estimated elasticities and shadow prices that are incorrectly signed, and ultimately to perverse conclusions concerning the...

The article examines the properties of generalized method of moments GMM estimators of utility function parameters. The research strategy is to apply the GMM procedure to generated data on asset returns from stochastic exchange economies; discrete methods and Markov chain models are used to...

Statistical tests based on the scan statistic are introduced for detecting possible increases in the occurrence of hospital events. The tests use a moving window and the theoretical aspects of the tests are investigated using Markov chain theory. The main objective of this study is to provide a...