[Introduction] Competition policy, i.e. the design and enforcement of competition rules, is a cornerstone of European Union policy designed to enhance European integration and foster growth. Among the different areas of the European Commission’s (EC) antitrust enforcement, i.e. collusion,...

Besonders in Großstädten wird die Wohnsituation in Deutschland oft als problematisch wahrgenommen, etwa durch hohe Mieten bei Neuvermietungen und einem Mangel an verfügbarem Wohnraum. Gestützt auf Langzeitdaten des SOEP untersucht der Bericht, welche Rolle die Wohnsituation für die...

This paper empirically evaluates the price effects of the merger of two major book retail chains in the UK: Waterstone's and Ottakar's. We employ differences-in-differences techniques and use a rich dataset containing monthly scanner data information on a sample of 200 books sold in 60 stores in...

We study the effect of a merger in a dynamic high-technology industry–the videogame market– which is characterized by frequent introduction of new products. To assess the impact of the merger between two large specialist retailers in the UK, we perform a difference-in-differences analysis...

This paper tests whether upstream R&D cooperation leads to downstream collusion. We consider an oligopolistic setting where firms enter in research joint ventures (RJVs) to lower production costs or coordinate on collusion in the product market. We show that a sufficient condition for...

It is commonly perceived that firms do not want to be outsiders to a merger between competitor firms. We instead argue that it is beneficial to be a non-merging rival firm to a large horizontal merger. Using a sample of mergers with expert-identification of relevant rivals and the event-study...