This report provides an overview on the economics of attention intermediaries. It addresses the following questions: What are the economics of attention intermediaries? For competition policy, how should markets be defined and market power of attention intermediaries be assessed? What theories...

We develop a model of rational bubbles based on the assumptions of unknown market liquidity and limited liability of traders. In a bubble, the price of an asset rises dynamically above its steady-state value, justified by rational expectations about future price developments. The larger the...

In the recent financial crisis, risk management tools have been proven inadequate. Model risk, a key component of bank risk, has shown its negative impact. It seems that risk models did not cover the included risks comprehensively and were not kept up-to-date by banks, and also rating agencies....

The use of file-sharing technologies, so-called Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, to copy music files has become common since the arrival of Napster. P2P networks may actually improve the matching between products and buyers - we call this the matching effect. For a label the downside of P2P networks...

Contractual and regulatory provisions for access affect incentives to invest in an upgraded network and, in particular, a next-generation access network. Investment decisions are made under uncertainty and have to be made over time. This papers provides a framework for taking uncertainty, risk...

Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die wesentlichen ökonomischen Aspekte der so genannten Sharing-Economy. Bei den dort tätigen Unternehmen handelt es sich zumeist um Plattformen, die direkte Transaktionen zwischen Akteuren mit dem Zweck einer temporären Nutzung dauerhafter...

Digital products have the property that they can be copied almost costlessly. This makes them candidates for non-commercial copying by final consumers. Because the copy of a copy typically does not deteriorate in quality, copying products can become a wide-spread phenomenon this can be...

Launching and stimulating competition in telecommunications markets is an important policy goal. It contains two elements: to encourage entry and to make competition effective such that consumers benefit. The first one requires that entrants can make profits after investing in infrastructure so...

Suchmaschinen ermöglichen Nutzern einen schnellen Zugang zu Informationen, die sie konkret suchen oder die sie durch die Suchmaschine entdecken. Sie haben sich zu wichtigen Informationsintermediären entwickelt. Aufgrund ihrer zentralen Rolle in der Informationsvermittlung und der...