We describe a classroom experiment that illustrates the concepts of market power and the Lerner Index. Students are organized in groups, each making a decision for a monopolist. Monopolists face different (unknown) demand curves, each with a different (constant) elasticity. Through repetition,...

Abstract We discuss competition policy issues of vertical integration in internetbased two-sided markets against the background of the Google antitrust allegations. Network effects and economics of scale often lead to dominating companies, which are integrated over several markets. This implies...

Abstract This paper is concerned with the question of how to deal with Google Shopping’s position on online markets in order to prevent harm to public welfare. From the perspective of sellers and buyers of goods and services in Germany, Google can be seen as a gatekeeper to the Internet and...

We study the incidence and economic rationale for cooperative bargaining in U.S. agricultural markets. Bargaining is not just about increasing price paid to farmers; indeed, there is no empirical research indicating that cooperative bargaining has any direct influence on price. Nevertheless, the...

Summary This paper expands the empirical analysis of hysteresis in trade in two directions. First, it uses disaggregate data for exports from Germany to the U.S. to minimise aggregation problems. Second, it introduces a new non-linear model to test for the non-linear parameter. The model is...

This paper incorporates inventory dynamics into a standard conjectural variations analysis of market power. Using a model which incorporates closed-loop equilibrium strategies, we show that measures of market power that ignore inventory dynamics are biased. We then apply the model to the...

While the development of empirical models of seller conduct abound, arguably less attention has been paid to the development of empirical models of buyer conduct. This is especially problematic in studies of food and agricultural industries where high buyer concentration along the supply chain...

This paper investigates the existence of market power in the Swedish food and beverage industry and how market power has been affected by European competition (the Single Market and Swedish EU membership). The study makes use of a census of some 500 firms for the period 1990–2002. The results...

In this note we discuss how to estimate the social discount rate when banks have market power. Some data from Sweden are used to illustrate the approach. If other investments are crowded out, the implied social discount rate is around 7 percent, i.e. more or less equal to the one suggested by...