In this article a simple game is used to develop a concept of trust that takes account of boundedly rational behavior. Even if a first mover in a sequential game is protected against opportunism by legal means or means of private ordering there remains a risk that the second mover does not...

The paper argues in favor of the economic analysis as a method of international comparison of legal systems. It demonstrates that the legal rules governing the termination of employment contracts in the US are not "weaker" than in Germany. Arguing in terms of expected damages, the probability of...

Before joining the European Union countries from Central and Eastern Europe have to adopt the acquis communautaire, i.e. the system of legal rules developed in the Union. The paper outlines an economic theory of optimum legal areas, that is used to determine the optimal size of the Union as well...

The question of third-party access to the networks has become central to the debate around the liberalisation of the European electricity markets due to the natural monopoly characteristic of the transmission network. The European Union?s electricity directive provides three institutional...

The aim of this paper is to derive conditions under which either dictatorship or the rule of law are the equilibria of a post-constitutional game. It thus contributes to positive constitutional economics, i.e., the research program that is interested in explaining the emergence of constitutions...

Der Beitrag stellt die Bedeutung von Handlungsbeschränkungen für die Erwartungsstabilisierung und Koordination von Handlungen heraus. An einem einfachen Modell aus der evolutorischen Spieltheorie wird die Bildung von Konventionen und deren Bedeutung für die Reduktion von Transaktionskosten...

Im Zuge der Diskussion über die Liberalisierung des deutschen Strommarktes wurde von kommunaler Seite die Befürchtung vorgebracht, daß die Einführung von Wettbewerb zu einem Rückgang der Gemeindeeinnahmen führe. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert aus ökonomischer Sicht, daß diese Befürchtung...

Helping somebody may undermine his incentives to work. What Buchanan identified more than 25 years ago as the Samaritan's dilemma is basically a time-inconsistency problem. The paper discusses possible solutions of the dilemma such as punishment within an iterated game, reshaping the game in the...

Banks often have to determine the credit worthiness, i.e. the ability to repay the loan, of their customers ex-ante. According to the theory of imperfect diagnosis, it can be rational not to use an informative diagnosis result, even though it can be acquired without costs. We call this...

Die empirische Prüfung theoretischer Forschungsergebnisse wirft in der Ökonomie - wie bei jeder Sozialwissenschaft - Probleme auf. Anders als in den Naturwissenschaften können kaum volkswirtschaftliche Labors errichtet werden. Seit einigen Jahren nutzen Ökonomen die Erfahrungen der...