Health care is one of the most important public policy areas both due to the economic importance of the sector and its impact on individual well-being. Health and hospital services have historically been provided through centralised, highly regulated or non-market means in most OECD countries...

While there are no universally accepted definitions, “internet traffic prioritization” or, in broader terms, “network neutrality,” are terms generally used to refer to the equal treatment of internet traffic by internet service or network providers (“ISPs”) over wired or wireless...

The article discusses the legal basis for structural remedies under European Competition Law in light of the mainly German criticism of recent commitment decisions in the energy sector and in particular the E.ON decisions of DG Competition. In particular the article discusses what “bringing an...

We develop a simple theoretical model of exclusionary bundle discounts. Based on the model, we develop a screening test for exclusionary bundle discounts. This test only requires knowledge of prices and an estimate of the coverage of the bundle discount. We apply this test to the...

German Abstract: Die politische Zielsetzung der Klimaneutralität im Jahr 2050 bedarf einer effizienten Umsetzung. Das europäische Zertifikatesystem (EU-ETS) ist dazu allerdings nicht in der Lage und wird mit sehr hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit die notwendige Ausdehnung auf den Transportsektor und...

German Abstract: Fragen der Weiterwälzung von Preisaufschlägen sind für die Quantifizierung von Schäden durch Wettbewerbsverstöße zentral. In Maier-Rigaud/Heller/Hanspach (2019) wird der konzeptionelle Hintergrund der Weiterwälzung zusammen mit sechs in der Rechtsprechung anzutreffenden...

This paper analyzes the role of the reference period in assessing switching costs in retroactive rebates. A retroactive rebate allows a firm to use the inelastic portion of demand as leverage to decrease price in the elastic portion of demand, thereby artificially increasing switching costs of...

The organisational form and potential harm caused by cartels are fundamentally dependent on the parameters of the coordination. In contrast to classical price cartels, where prices are coordinated and monitored, market allocation cartels permit cartelists to set prices independently....

In the context of its ambitious State Aid Modernisation work, the European Commission presented new guidelines on Rescue and Restructuring (R&R) aid in 2014. In this paper the consequences for generic R&R aid and in particular the balancing test for State aid proposed by the guidelines are...

The incentives of pharmaceutical companies to innovate and how competition affects these incentives has been topical in recent years: for the general public, as evidenced by a patent race at an unprecedented pace during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; and more specifically for competition...