Imposing a minimum quality standard (MQS) is conventionally regarded as harmful if firms compete in quantities. This, however, ignores its possible dynamic effects. We show that an MQS can hinder collusion, resulting in dynamic welfare gains that reduce and may outweigh the static losses which...

This paper deals with EU-Directive 89/552/EEC "Television Without Frontiers", which enables each EU-country to set up a list of major events that are not allowed to be transmitted in Pay-TV. We analyze this kind of regulation using instruments of game-theory and monopoly-theory. We compare the...

Under ex ante access regulation entrants often claim that access fees are excessive. I show that this is only the case if further entry is admitted. If the entrant is protected from further entry it would agree with the incumbent upon a strictly positive access fee which may exceed the efficient...

In the advent of postal market liberalization in several European countries we expect that the incumbent operators anticipate entry by competitors who are not required to offer universal service, i.e. coverage of the entire country and uniform pricing. The market for postal service exhibits...

This paper addresses the role of independent insurance intermediaries in markets where matching is important. A controversial matter in the discussion concerning insurance intermediation is the issue of compensation customs and how the latter affect prices, rents and advice quality in insurance...

This study explores the effects of market deregulation on employment growth. Empirical analysis of an OECD country panel (1990-2004) suggests that lower levels of product and labor market regulation foster employment growth, including through sizable interaction effects. A theoretical framework...

Abstract In markets with competing interconnected networks like mobile telecommunication markets investments affect the investor’s and also any competitors’ profits. In a theoretical model it is shown that cost-reducing investments reduce the investor’s termination rates and increase...

This paper examines the effects of various price-cap rules on peakload pricing. The issue recently gains practical importance in regulated network industries. The formal approach reveals that efficiency properties of various price-cap rules are, notwithstanding some problems, fairly good. A...

This paper explores the relation between the regulation of monopolistic upstream prices and the incentives of a vertically integrated input monopolist to discriminate third parties on the downstream market. Currently, this is an issue in network industries like telecommunications, electricity...

This paper compares two regulatory devices for handling (access to) bottlenecks in deregulated network industries: (1) a local price cap and (2) a global price cap, the latter of which applies the efficient component pricing rule. The local price cap restricts profit regulation to the...