A university system has both efficiency and equity objectives. Efficiency requires the adoption of a tuition fee system that maximizes net social benefits. These benefits take two main forms: production benefits and a more diffuse range of benefits to society in general. The equity objective...

This paper (1) investigates Hayek's proposition that law in the sense of universal rules of conduct and property are the only solution to the problem of reconciling indi-vidual freedom with the absence of conflict. It (2) argues that the test of the compatibility with the inherited body of law...

Taking the fundamental and comprehensive reform of EU competition policy which embodies a shift from a formalistic regulatory approach towards a more economic approach as a point of departure, this article argues that it is time for antitrust policy to move beyond structural understandings of...

The paper demonstrates the economic consequences of a new EU directive that introduces resale rights in all member states. The lifetime income of young, unknwon artists is likely to shrink, despite the intention of the EU to increase their income. Even if the lifetime income were increasing, the...

In Economics, like in any social science, empirical tests of theoretical results face the problem that the economy cannot be reproduced in laboratories. Drawing on the experience of Psychology, Experimental Economics nowadays uses stylised experiments to test at least the basic assumptions of...

Drawing on a new analytical framework provided by the economic theory of optimal legal areas, this paper identifies the factors determining the optimal size of the European Union. It applies this theory to the question of how enlargement affects the welfare of the current and the new members of...

The theory of competition as a discovery procedure argues that the results of this procedure cannot be predicted because of its very nature as a discovery procedure. If this were true, this would imply the impossibilty of testing whether competition actually works as predicted. This article...

According to a new European Union directive, artists, whose works are resold, are entitled to a share of the sales price. The principal aim of this initiative is to let the artists participate in the economic success of their work. Our analysis shows that the new directive is most likely to...