In the European Union, energy markets are increasingly being liberalized. A case in point is the European natural gas industry. The general expectation is that more competition will lead to lower prices and higher volumes, and hence higher welfare. This paper indicates that this might not happen...

About 75% of the EU budget are transfer expenditures that go to the agricultural sector and to regional policies. This has long been criticised but the structure of the EU budget has barely changed over the last decades. The EU finances are mainly based on a unanimous agreement between the heads...