The efficiency of market-determined risk classification in automobile insurance is a lasting matter of controversy. It can be traced back to the 1950s (Muir, 1957) and received broad economic attention in the 1980s when spiralling car insurance premiums in the US were blamed on tariff...

The German health care market suffers of a lack of competition. This is the resolution of a long period of collective negotiations between a provider monopoly and statutory health insurance funds. To correct this market failure, the sector has undergone a series of reforms such as the initiation...

The German Cartel Office’s recent study of retail gasoline markets provides strong evidence of an oligopoly in which the major suppliers coordinate pricing strategies and achieve supracompetitive prices. Competition law enforcement does not provide effective tools to improve market outcomes....

In this study, we propose our hypothesis that the distinguishable principal-agent relationships of German banks are significantly influencing the risk-taking attitudes of bank managers. Particularly, we intend to substantiate the theory that banks owned by dispersed shareholders or federal state...

The paper analyzes the dynamic efficiency of the Coase solution to the problem of negative externalities. We demonstrate that with respect to the incentive of the producer to develop or to adopt a superior technology the so-called "symmetry thesis" does not hold for all types of contracts.

After the deregulation of the German electricity markets, network access charges are based on contractual arrangements between energy producers and industrial consumers. As the electricity networks are incontestable natural monopolies, the operators are able to set (monopolistic) charges at...

Die Anfang 2004 durchgeführten Reformen auf dem Handwerksmarkt hatten vor allem eine Erleichterung des Marktzutritts und damit mehr Wettbewerb zum Ziel. Die erwartete Zunahme der Anbieter, durch die es zu sinkenden Preisen und einer steigenden Nachfrage kommen soll, konnte zumindest auf...