We investigate possible effects of network neutrality regulation on the distribution of content in the Internet. We model a two-sided market, where consumers and advertisers interact through Content Providers (CPs), and CPs and consumers through Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Multiple...

This paper discusses the Fedon case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which involved a claim for compensation by Fedon (an Italian producer of eye glass cases) from the EU for the imposition of WTO-authorized retaliatory trade barriers by the United States following the failure by the...

While WTO disputes involve legal rights and obligations, economics often can help the Appellate Body (AB) make sense of the dispute and the implications of ambiguous language in the Agreements. This paper reviews three examples of where the economics could have provided a clearer basis for the...

The aim of this paper is to examine whether shareholders consider the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as value-relevant for the participating firms. An analysis is conducted of the share prices changes as caused by the first publication of compliance data in April, 2006, which disclosed an...

We study the impact of different regulatory and ownership regimes on the dividend policy of regulated firms. Using a panel of 106 publicly traded European electric utilities in the period 1986-2010, we link payout and smoothing decisions to the implementation of different regulatory mechanisms...

Following the discovery of the pre-salt petroleum fields, Brazil changed the regulatory framework of the oil industry upstream. Its main objectives are three-fold: (i) increasing the government take; (ii) mitigating the oil curse; (iii) developing the national oil industry. The paper attempts to...

This paper suggests four metaphors to correct our habitual way of thinking about globalization. It begins with the idea that the world can be understood more effectively based on the properties of gases, rather than liquids, secondly, it analyzes the properties and effects of the excessive...

From Phase 3 (2013-20) of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme carbon-intensive industrial emitters will receive free allocations based on harmonised, EU-wide benchmarks. This paper analyses and evaluates the impacts of these new rules on allocations to key energy-intensive sectors. It...

After 20 years of its foundation, MERCOSUR has failed to meet its declared goals. Far from being a common market and not yet a customs union, it has neither deepened nor (legally) enlarged. All other regionalist projects in Latin America fare even worse, albeit they have arguably fostered...

This paper looks at European trade unions and employers, their awareness of racial/ethnic discrimination, and their receptiveness to legislation against it, focusing both on differences among EU member states, and on changes that have occurred since the 1990s. It draws specifically on two...