Am 26. Februar 2007 hat die EU-Kommission ein beschleunigtes Vertragsverletzungsverfahren gegen Deutschland wegen der Einführung von angeblichen "Regulierungsferien" in dem jüngst novellierten Telekommunikationsgesetz (TKG) eröffnet. Die Kommission vermutet, dass die dort getroffene...

Im vorliegenden Papier werden die Ursachen und das Ausmass von so genannten First-Mover Vorteilen (FMV) analysiert und wettbewerbsoekonomische sowie regulierungspolitische Implikationen eroertert. Im Zentrum der Analyse stehen dabei das theoretische Fundament von FMV, die empirischen Befunde zu...

This paper analyzes how competition works in mobile telecommuncations markets and, bases on this analysis, we discuss whether regulatory intervention in mobile telephone markets is justified from an economic perspective. Starting point of our analysis is the observation that an evaluation of...

This paper analyzes a sequential game where firms decide about outsourcing the production of a non-specific input good to an imperfectly competitive input market. We apply the taxonomy of business strategies introduced by Fudenberg and Tirole (1984) to characterize the different equilibria. We...

This Paper examines how different unionization structures affect firms' innovation incentives and industry employment. We distinguish three modes of unionization with increasing degree of centralization: (1) ‘decentralization’ where wages are determined independently at the firm-level, (2)...

In the literature on international marketing it is generally agreed upon that the location of production has considerable effects on consumers' beliefs about product quality. In this paper, a rational choice explanation for this fact is offered. Due to differences in country-specific costs (such...

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...

In the literature on international trade, very little attention has been given to informational asymmetries between firms and consumers with respect to product quality. The few economic models that analyze the question of how asymmetric information about product quality might affect trade flows...

Der vorliegende Beitrag interpretiert die Standortentscheidung von Unternehmen als den bschluß eines impliziten Franchisevertrages zwischen dem Standort als Franchisegeber und dem Unternehmen als Franchisenehmer. Standorte bieten ein Bundel von Dienstleistungen wie die Nutzung von Infrastruktur...

This paper analyzes the incentive effects of pollution taxes versus pollution permits for a budget oriented Government. Pollution permits are analyzed as durable goods, and a pollution tax is seen as being equivalent to leasing out pollution permits. First, a general model is developed, and then...