Digital platforms are at the heart of online economic activity, connecting multi-sided markets of producers and consumers of various goods and services. Their market power and their privileged ecosystem positions raise concerns that they may engage in anti-competitive practices that reduce...

Industry-wide voluntary agreements are touted as a means for corporations to take more corporate social responsibility (CSR). We study what type of joint CSR agreement induces firms to increase CSR efforts in a model of oligopolistic competition with differentiated products. Consumers have a...

A sizeable literature analyzes the appropriate interpretation of FRAND commitments for standard-essential patents. With few exceptions, the literature disregards international dimensions, despite the fact that most standards are used in international markets. This paper uses a simple economic...

We study the interest rate's effect on the stability of cartels. A low interest rate implies a high discount factor and thus increases cartel stability. If firms access the capital market, an additional effect comes into play: a low interest rate lowers investment costs, resulting in more...

In this comprehensive review of ex-post merger studies price effects of horizontal transactions are evaluated. By combining and further analyzing the results of 52 retrospective studies on 82 mergers or merger-like transactions it can be shown that the industry alone is no strong indication for...

Der Beitrag analysiert mögliche spezielle Wettbewerbsprobleme, die in Medienmärkten auftreten können, und ihre Implikationen für die Wettbewerbsordnung. Es wird beleuchtet, ob klassische medienspezifische Wettbewerbsprobleme in der Digitalwirtschaft noch bestehen und welche neuen...

The European Commission has proposed a new regulatory tool for the governance of digital markets. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) intents to limit the market behavior of so- called gatekeeper companies to ensure contestable and fair digital markets. We review the provisions of the DMA both from a...

Mit der 10. Novelle des Gesetzes gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (GWB; Anfang 2021 in Kraft getreten) sollen die deutschen Wettbewerbsregeln modernisiert und an die Erfordernisse der Digitalwirtschaft angepasst werden, weswegen die Novelle auch als GWB-Digitalisierungsgesetz bezeichnet wird. Der...

Der Beitrag liefert eine kritische Würdigung der geplanten europäischen Regulierung digitaler Onlinedienste - Digital Markets Act (DMA) und Digital Services Act (DAS) - aus medienökonomischer Perspektive. Dabei werden Schwerpunkte auf Gatekeeper-Effekte und die Rolle von algorithmischen Such-...