Competition and Consumers

Research profile

Both the changing value-added processes and market structure as well as the increasing complexity of goods and services create an on-going challenge for economic policy, in particular competition-related policy. This is not only true for the design of classic competition policy, such as those concerning mergers and anti-competitive behavior, but also regulations providing consumer protection. More generally, this relates to any regulatory measure addressing individual consumption decisions.

We strive to base policy consulting in this field using robust empirical evidence. Toward this end, we not only investigate the strategic component of firm behavior, but also the extent to which the deviation of individuals from the rational agent model has repercussions on the overall efficiency and allocation of markets.

Our research and conclusions are founded on theoretical insights in combination with experimental and empirical evidence from behavioral economics.

Research Areas