Platform businesses have been pivotal in the rise of the digital economy. Amazon is one example of a platform taking on the role of a quasi-regulator; an entity that is able to determine the terms of interaction on the platform. This intermediary position entails the danger of anti-competitive...

The role of product market reforms in achieving the objective of higher employment and growth has recently received much attention amongst academics. The aim of this paper is to analyse some of the channels through which cross-market effects come about and to assess their policy relevance. The...

The role of product market reforms in achieving the objective of higher employment and growth has recently received much attention amongst academics. The aim of this paper is to analyse some of the channels through which cross-market effects come about and to assess their policy relevance. The...

If an intermediary offers sellers a platform to reach consumers, he may face the following hold-up problem: sellers suspect the intermediary will enter their respective product market as a merchant after they have sunk fixed costs of entry. Therefore, fearing that their investments cannot be...

The study analyses the price formation and market functionality of the Finnish food chain. A significant portion of the report consists of international comparisons. The main comparison countries are the so-called old EU countries (EU15) of Western Europe, the new EU countries (EU12) and the...

This paper presents a set of panel data to study the diffusion of retail checkout barcode scanning in ten European countries over the period 1981-1996. Estimates from a standard diffusion model suggest that countries differ most in the long-run diffusion level of barcode scanning and less in...

Die Bundesregierung plant wieder eine Erweiterung der Ladenöffnungszeiten. Aus handelsforscherischer Sicht wäre dies zu begrüßen. Die Liberalisierung des Handelsgesetzes hat zwar die Strukturdynamik im Einzelhandel etwas beschleunigt, die wesentlichen Einflussfaktoren für die Veränderungen...

Die zunehmende Intensität des Preiswettbewerbs, die steigende Zahl der Geschäftsaufgaben und Marktaustritte vor allem kleinerer Unternehmen des Einzelhandels sowie die gegenwärtige Krise der KarstadtQuelle-Gruppe sind Anlass vielfältiger Diskussionen um die Zukunft des Einzelhandels, auch um...

Das Thema Digitalisierung im Handel ist aktueller denn je, nicht nur in Bezug auf den Onlinehandel und die Auswirkungen auf den lokalen Absatz, sondern auch mit Blick auf die vielen neuen Möglichkeiten, die die digitalen Technologien dem stationären Handel bieten.

This paper analyzes the effect of competition on a supermarket firm’s incentive to provide product quality. In the supermarket industry, product availability is an important measure of quality. Using U.S. consumer price index microdata to track inventory shortfalls, I find that stores facing...