There is a general presumption that social preferences can be ignored if markets are competitive. Market experiments (Smith 1962) and recent theoretical results (Dufwenberg et al. 2008) suggest that competition forces people to behave as if they were purely self-interested. We qualify this view....

This paper discusses the nature of macro productivity change from the perspective of a Schumpeterian micro-to-macro (M-M) model. It emphasizes the dynamics of resource allocation through markets (firms) where agents are both price and quantity setters. We find that the organization of market...

Market competition is central to innovative activity, the diffusion process and macro-economic productivity growth. Productivity growth at all levels comes about through institutional reconfiguration in response to the ongoing market process. Stable and sustained long-term growth in output...

Given the far-reaching implications of commodity prices for developing countries an understanding of the factors behind recent commodity price developments is crucial. ÖFSE research shows that besides structural changes in fundamental supply and demand conditions, the increasing presence of...

Je weiter sich der deutsche Sozialstaat aus seinen Sicherungsversprechen verabschiedet, je größer die Räume gewollter politischer Eigenverantwortlichkeit werden und je größer die Anteile individueller Sicherungsleistungen sind, die auf Wohlfahrtsmärkten "produziert" werden sollen, desto...

Der Kronberger Kreis, wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Stiftung Marktwirtschaft, fordert einen energiepolitischen Neustart in Deutschland. Bei Fortführung des Status quo drohen ansonsten die drei energiepolitischen Oberziele - Umwelt- und Klimaschutz, Versorgungssicherheit sowie Kosteneffizienz -...