We compute average mark-ups as a measure of market power throughout time and study their interaction with fiscal policy and macroeconomic variables in a VAR framework. From impulse-response functions the results, with annual data for a set of 14 OECD countries covering the period 1970-2007, show...

We document the decline in market power of the U.K. in safe assets and quantify the resulting losses. We estimate an increasing elasticity of demand for U.K. public debt during the latter half of the 20th century. This is in sharp contrast to the U.S., which displays the opposite pattern with...

Der angekündigte mehrheitliche Verkauf des Discounters "Plus" würde der Konzentration im deutschen Einzelhandel einen neuen Schub verleihen. Die oft vorgebrachte These, dass ein Ausscheiden kleinerer Wettbewerber langfristig auch den Konsumenten schadet, ist allerdings rein spekulativ. Dieser...

In April 2003 the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a complicated marketdesign – the Wholesale Power Market Platform (WPMP) – for common adoption byall U.S. wholesale power markets. Versions of the WPMP have been implemented in NewEngland, New York, the mid-Atlantic states,...

Präferenzen für Gütervielfalt und hieraus resultierende heterogene Preisbildung auf unvollkommenen Gütermärkten werden in empirischen Produktivitätsuntersuchungen bislang nur unzureichend berücksichtigt. Der vorliegende Beitrag möchte zur Schließung dieser Forschungslücke beitragen: Er...

Dieser Beitrag thematisiert die ökonomische Macht von Unternehmen in Österreich und stellt die Frage, ob diese - wie auch in anderen OECD-Ländern - zugenommen hat. Konzeptuell wird eine neuartige Differenzierung zwischen ökonomischer und politischer Macht sowie zwischen Marktmacht im engeren...

This report argues in favour of an economics-based approach to Article 82, in a way similar to the reform of Article 81 and merger control. In particular, we support an effects-based rather than a form-based approach to competition policy. Such an approach focuses on the presence of...

We examine the degree of market power in the big four countries of the euro area using macro and firm-micro data. We focus on three main indicators of market power in and across countries: namely, the concentration ratios, the markup and the degree of economic dynamism. For the macro database we...

We estimate a structural vector autoregressive model in order to quantify four main explanations for the decline of the US labor income share: (i) rising market power of firms, (ii) falling market power of workers, (iii) higher investmentspecific technology growth, and (iv) the widespread...

Policy makers are increasingly concerned about the combination of market power and massive data collection in digital markets. This concern is fueled by the theoretical prediction that more market power causes firms to collect ever more data from their users. We investigate the relationship...