We re-examine the view that a ban on price discrimination in input markets is particularly desirable in the presence of buyer power. This argument crucially depends on an inverse relationship between downstream firms' profits and the uniform input price. Assuming different input efficiencies...

Die Rolle sogenannter Gatekeeper in der digitalen Medienwelt wird aktuell sowohl in Wissenschaftskreisen als auch Netz- und Medienpolitik vehement und kontrovers diskutiert. Gehen von den Gatekeepern der digitalen Welt wie Google, Apple, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc. besondere Gefahren fur den...

Bei der Besteuerung nicht oder nur begrenzt handelbarer Dienstleistungen (wie z.B. lokale Postdienstleistungen) entfällt der Anpassungsdruck des internationalen Steuerwettbewerbs weitgehend, sodass etwaige Wettbewerbsverzerrungen insbesondere zwischen verschiedenen inländischen...

We re-consider the bilateral bargaining problem of a multi-product, manufacturer-retailer trading relationship. O'Brien and Shaffer (Rand JE 35:573-598, 2005) have shown that the unbundling of contracts leads to downward distorted production levels if seller power is strong, while otherwise the...

We analyze the incentives to collude when brand manufacturers compete with a private label producer of inferior quality. Full collusion is easier to sustain than partial collusion from the brands.perspective when horizontal differentiation is large and vertical differentiation is small. The...

We analyze the role of consumer expectations in a Hotelling model of price competition when products exhibit network effects. Expectations can be strong (stubborn), weak (price-sensitive) or partially stubborn (a mix of weak and strong). As a rule, the price-sensitivity of demand declines when...

We analyze the choices between two technologies A and B that both exhibit network effects. We introduce a critical mass game in which coordination on either one of the standards constitutes a Nash equilibrium outcome while coordination on standard B is assumed to be payoff-dominant. We present a...