The article proposes a social network analysis of the main European capitalisms and its correspondence with an index of economic freedom. The analysis relates to two kinds of economic liberties taken from the concept of freedom formulated by Isaiah Berlin. While the first kind of freedom...

This paper develops a model of the birth and death of cartels in the presence of enforcement activities by a Competition Authority (CA). We distinguish three sets of interventions: (a) detecting, prosecuting and penalizing cartels; (b) actions that aim to stop cartel activity in the short-term,...

Energy sectors-primarily power generation and gas production, but also energy transmission and distribution-require significant capital investment in infrastructure. Market structures as well as the degree of competition and regulation are key factors that determine firms' incentive to invest....

Der Energiesektor zeichnet sich durch den Bedarf an kapitalintensiven Investitionen in Infrastruktur aus - vor allem in der Stromerzeugung und der Gasgewinnung, aber auch in der Energieübertragung und -verteilung. Sowohl die Marktstrukturen als auch der Grad an Wettbewerb und Regulierung sind...

This paper summarizes the results of nearly a dozen new papers presented at the Sundance Conference on Monopsony in Labor Markets held in October 2018. These papers, to be published as a special issue of the Journal of Human Resources, study various aspects of monopsony and failures of...

In this paper we discuss the competition and innovation arguments for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC could be an effective competition policy tool for payments. On innovation, we argue that a CBDC could be necessary to support the vibrancy of the digital economy by...

Data is often at the core of digital products and services, especially when related to online advertising. This has made data protection and privacy a major policy concern. When surfing the web, consumers leave digital traces that can be used to build user profiles and infer preferences. We...

Through the canon of the UN SDGs or the European Green Deal, sustainability goals are finding their way into legislation. From an economic point of view, these targets often aim to reduce negative external effects, which is in many cases in line with the economic goal of maximising welfare. The...

We document the following stylized facts for the Mexican retail market for gasoline using data for 2018-2019: (1) consumer prices adjust slower than wholesale prices; (2) more competition, in the form of a higher density of stations, implies lower markups and lower prices; and (3) more...

Online shopping is often guided by search platforms. Consumers type keywords into query boxes, and search platforms deliver a list of products. Consumers' attention is limited, and exhaustive searches are often impractical. Thus, the order in which products appear in search results affects the...