This paper studies the introduction of new products (increase in product variety) in the automobile industry. The focus is on the two sources of market power that may allow the firms to get higher profits (and, thus, recoup investments): new products and brand-name reputation. The effects of new...

This paper explores whether investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) and firm?sponsored training programmes are complementary. Three approaches are applied to panel data from German service companies for the time period 1994?98. Results for a system of interrelated factor...

We present a model that integrates the discrete working time choice of heterogenous households into a general equilibrium setting where wages are determined by sectoral bargaining between firms and trade unions. The model is calibrated to German micro and macro data. We then use it to analyse...

We compare two options of integrating discrete working time choice of heterogenous households into a general equilibrium model. The first, known from the literature, produces household heterogeneity through a working time preference parameter. We contrast this with a model that directly...

The paper analyses the potential impact of stock market developments on lending behaviour from different perspectives. First we scrutinize the impact of stock market movements on the banks? and on the borrowers? balance sheets. Subsequently we estimate aggregate credit supply and demand...

Die aktuelle Diskussion um die Novellierung der deutschen Pressefusionskontrolle macht deutlich, welche Relevanz medienökonomische Fragestellungen haben. Was jedoch bei dieser Diskussion häufig vernachlässigt wird, ist die intensive Betrachtung der Ökonomischen Besonderheiten von...