Thinking about Ronald Coase, economists generally refer to transaction and social costs, to the importance of property rights and institutions or to the Coase-theorem. Examine his work more closely, a common feature takes shape behind these ideas, the public utilities. The constant and detailed...

The paper analyses the economics behind algorithmic search and recommender services, based upon personalized user data. Such services play a paramount role for online services such as marketplaces (e.g. Amazon), audio streaming (e.g. Spotify), video streaming (e.g. Netflix, YouTube), app stores,...

In unavoidable traffic accidents, autonomous vehicles (AVs) face the dilemma of protecting either the passenger(s) or third parties. Recent studies show that most people prefer AVs following a utilitarian approach by minimizing total harm. At the same time, however, they would adopt an AV only...

Firms have incentives to influence regulators' decisions. In a dynamic setting, we show that a firm may prefer to capture regulators through the promise of a lucrative future job opportunity (i.e., the revolving-door channel) than through a hidden payment (i.e., a bribe). This is because the...

An important question in banking is how strict supervision affects bank lending and in turn local business activity. Supervisors forcing banks to recognize losses could choke off lending and amplify local economic woes. But stricter supervision could also change how banks assess and manage...

Am 1.8.2021 ist das neue Personenbeförderungsgesetz in Kraft getreten. Es definiert neue Formen der Mobilität. Die Reform enthält zwei Neuerungen: Erstens wird ein neuer Gelegenheitsverkehr, der gebündelte Bedarfsverkehr, zugelassen und damit die Rechtsgrundlage für derartige...

The term Systemic Risk belongs to the standard rhetoric of economic policy discussions related to the banking industry. Besides of the goal of protecting small depositors control of systemic risk is given as one of the main arguments for banking regulation. Various recent financial crises have...

In recent years, the OPEX-CAPEX-incentive-bias (short: CAPEX-bias) received renewed attention in regulatory practice. A CAPEX-bias occurs when the OPEX solution is the more efficient approach, but regulation sets distorted incentives to choose the CAPEX solution. This paper presents a promising...

Die Liberalisierung und Regulierung der Telekommunikationsmärkte in Deutschland ist trotz einiger Widrigkeiten als großer Erfolg zu bezeichnen. Verbrauchern stehen, im Gegensatz zu den Zeiten des staatlichen Monopols, preisgünstige und innovative Produkte zur Verfügung. Im Zentrum der...

Im Zuge der von der Bundesregierung eingeleiteten Energiewende wird zunehmend die Frage diskutiert, wie bei einem forcierten Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien und der dadurch zunehmenden Fluktuation der Stromerzeugung die Versorgungssicherheit gewährleistet werden kann. Zur Diskussion steht die...