Two duopolists compete in price on the market for a homogeneous product. They can ‘profile’ consumers, i.e., identify their valuations with some probability. If both firms can profile consumers but with different abilities, then they achieve positive expected profits at equilibrium. This...

The Internet has become an integral part of the everyday life of households, firms and governments. Its proper functioning over the long run is therefore crucial for economic growth and people’s wellbeing more generally. The success of the Internet depends on its openness and the confidence of...

Die Europäische Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO) erhöht das Schutzniveau von personenbezogenen Daten und vereinheitlicht es europaweit. Reagieren müssen darauf alle Unternehmen, die personenbezogene Daten verarbeiten. Dies hat ganz unterschiedliche unmittelbare und mittelbare Auswirkungen...

This study highlights the relationship between the competitive environment in the domestic banking sector and the protection of consumers’ rights and interests. The research is focused on three areas: analysis of the competitive environment, based on detailed analysis of the degree of...

Currently, the European Union finds itself in troubled waters. It has to prove that its benefits outweigh the costs of its endeavour. In this respect, an EU competition policy that focuses on consumer welfare is one way to gain support by the citizens of its member states. The Roaming Regulation...

The current paper aims to investigate the relation between competit ion and online purchasing decision-making, integrating consumer protection awareness and the corresponding consumer behavior as mediators. The focus is on both subjective and objective measures related to the level of consumer...

Consumer boycotts often provide a disciplinary mechanism against firms deviating from established social norms. Such actions tend to be organized by people through reference groups with a social mission. The intensity of the group identity is, however, private information. Therefore, the...

We run a market experiment where firms can choose not only their price but also whether to present comparable offers. They are faced with artificial demand from consumers who make mistakes when assessing the net value of products on the market. If some offers are comparable however, some...

This article analyzes the Canadian Superior Propane decision, apparently the first merger decision in world history to consider explicitly what to do when a merger was predicted to lead to both higher consumer prices and to net efficiencies. The article advocates analyzing the merger under a...

We study the interplay between quality provision and consumer search in a search market where firms may design products of inferior quality to promote them to naive consumers who fail to fully understand product characteristics. We derive an equilibrium in which both superior and inferior...