ZEW Discussion Papers

The massive economic crisis 2008/09 had substantial impacts on the innovation activities of the German economy. The loss in sales and profits resulted in a sharp decline of innovation expenditure. While capital…

Vertical integration of electricity distribution network operator and electricity supplier is a key issue in European energy markets, in particular since the European Commission (EC) has initiated a sector…

German electricity submarkets for residential customers have been liberalized by the end of the 1990s. Since then a large number of new providers has entered former monopolistic markets, which are first and…

Although the pricing dynamics of hardcore cartels have been studied intensively from a theoretical perspective, empirical evidence is still rare. We combine publicly available data with a unique private data set…

Cartel detection is usually viewed as a key task of either competition authorities or compliance officials in firms with an elevated risk of cartelization. We argue that customers of hard core cartels can have…

Many natural resources involve threshold effects. Using these resources beyond a tipping point can have disastrous consequences for the environment and human well-being. Prominent examples are related to…

Academic institutions are an important component of the public agricultural research system in many countries. According to the "open science" model of research, these institutions produce new knowledge,…

While most economists believe that public scientific research fuels industry innovation and economic growth, systematic evidence supporting this relationship is surprisingly limited. In a recent study, Acemoglu…

Exchange rates are one of the most important prices in open economies. Despite their great importance for many enterprises, surprisingly little is known about the economic factors influencing the ups and downs…