In a spatial competition setting there is usually a non-negative relationship between competition and quality. In this paper we offer a novel mechanism whereby competition leads to lower quality. This mechanism relies on two key assumptions, namely that the providers are motivated and...

The health care system in Germany is undergoing a phase of transformation. The resulting challenges and fields of action for the hospitals were described as one outcome of a scenario analysis conducted by the author. These include, for example, setting up new organisation structures,...

We address the following question: how does a higher education funding system influence the trade-off that universities make between research and teaching? We do so by constructing a model that allows universities to choose actively the quality of their teaching and research when faced with...