This paper argues that, despite important productivity gains, reforms have benefited consumers much less than expected in El Salvador. Antitrust legislation, consumer protection and an adequate regulation of privatized utilities are central ingredients of a successful market economy. Major...

Theories of industrial organization (IO) are tested in the laboratory more and more often. The example we consider throughout the paper is oligopoly theory, specifically, the Cournot and the Stackelberg model of duopolistic quantity competition with homogeneous products. These models have often...

Mehr als die Hälfte der Erwachsenen in Deutschland ist übergewichtig. Besonders oft betroffen sind Ältere, Arme und Menschen mit geringer Bildung. Ein Thema für Wirtschaftswissenschaftler? Ernährung und fehlende Bewegung sind entscheidende Faktoren für wichtige Volkskrankheiten. Für durch...

In this paper a method is developed to derive prices for natural goods from information about material and energy flows within ecosystems. The derivation is based on an analogy between ecological and economic systems: both systems are characterized by flows of material and energy. To derive...

We ask why, in many circumstances and many environments, decision-makers choose to act on a time-regular basis (e.g. adjust every six weeks) or on a stateregular basis (e.g. set prices ending in a 9), even though such an approach appears suboptimal. The paper attributes regular behaviour to...

We ask why, in many circumstances and many environments, decision-makers choose to act on a time-regular basis (e.g. adjust every six weeks) or on a stateregular basis (e.g. set prices ending in a 9), even though such an approach appears suboptimal. The paper attributes regular behaviour to...

Industrial organization is mainly concerned with the behavior of large firms. Experimental industrial organization therefore faces a problem: How can firms be brought into the laboratory? The main approach relies on framing: Call individuals firms! This experimental approach is not in line with...

Models of consumer behavior play a key role in modern empirical Industrial Organization. In this paper, I survey some of the models used in this literature. In particular, I discuss two commonly used demand systems: multi-stage budgeting approaches and discrete choice models. I motivate their...

This paper considers procurement auctions with costly bidding when the auctioneer is unable to commit himself to restrict the number of bidders. The auctioneer can, however, offer a financial reward to be paid to every short-listed bidders as an indirect commitment device. Rewards for...