We present an approach to implement an auction of railway slots. Railway network, train driving characteristics, and safety requirements are described by a simplified, but still complex macroscopic model. In this environment, slots are modelled as combinations of scheduled track segments. The...

The most important policy instruments of the Bundesbank and of the coming European Central Bank involve lending to domestic credit institutions. In this monetary setup, banks use short-term central bank credits extensively in order to refinance long-term loans to the public, which makes them...

This book provides a balanced presentation of international trends in infrastructure regulation and financing. Based on recent developments in microeconomic theory, it comprehensively discusses the role of the state and the private sector in infrastructure provision.

We examine the role of expectations for interest rates on mortgage loans. Our empirical results, based on cointegration tests, indicate a violation of the expectations hypothesis on the German loan market. In contrast to the capital market, a failure of the expectations hypothesis on the loan...

We study the effectiveness of mediators in situations of conflict. In a game of cheap talk a principal may employ a mediator whose task is to gather information and make non--binding proposals. We show that mediators facilitate information transmission and are helpful if and only if the...

Many utilities are regulated with respect to prices and quality, and there is uncertainty about market conditions when regulation is chosen. We consider four different regulation regimes, based on two-part tariffs: A cap on the fixed fee is combined with either (i) quantity and quality...