Trade-related measures aim to regulate side-effects in international environmental agreements and are expected to positively influence the level of participation in the agreements as well as their degree of stability. In this paper we examine one side-effect of the 1994 International Tropical...

Extensive research has been conducted on the economics of standards in the last three decades. To date, standard-setting studies emphasize a superior role of demand-side-driven technology diffusion; these contributions assume the evolution of a user-driven momentum and network externalities. We...

This paper discusses the design, implementation and use of standards from the perspective of transaction costs economics. A proper design and implementation of standards may lead to a considerable reduction of transaction costs, which enhances trade and, consequently, economic welfare. A major...

The WTO TBT Agreement obliges governments to use international standards as a basis for regulation, yet leaves a degree of flexibility with respect to the choice of standard, and the manner of its use. This interplay between obligation and flexibility has given rise to tension in various fora of...

International standards have the potential to both promote and hinder international trade. Yet empirical scholarship on the standards-trade relationship has been held up due to some methodological challenges: measurement problems, varied effects, and endogeneity concerns. We are able to surmount...

Unter dem Label Trusted Computing Group hat sich ein weltweites Konsortium von Unternehmen der Hard- und Softwareindustrie gebildet, das an einem universellen Standard für sichere Rechnersysteme einschließlich der Datenkommunikation über Internetverbindungen arbeitet. Im Rahmen der...

Der Gartenbau hat sich zu einem der weltweit dynamischsten Agrarsektoren entwickelt. Der Anbau von Obst und Gemüse birgt insbesondere für Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer ein erhebliches Potential, um landwirtschaftliche Einkommen zu steigern und die ländliche Armut zu reduzieren....

Publication and citation rankings have become major indicators of the scientific worth of universities and countries, and determine to a large extent the career of individual scholars. We argue that such rankings do not effectively measure research quality, which should be the essence of...

From the angle of competition policy, Voice over IP looks like a panacea. It not only brings better service, but it also increases competitive pressure on former telecommunications monopolists. This paper points to the largely overlooked downside. In a pure world of Internet telephony, there...

Es wird vielfach vermutet, daß die Software-Industrie von starken Netzwerkeffekten geprägt ist. Doch wie hoch sind die Netzwerkeffekte wirklich? Für die Messung der Netzwerkeffekte bietet sich der hedonische Preisansatz an. Zwei Anwendungen des hedonischen Preisansatzes in der...