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Research Project
The Collaborative Research Center Transregio “Rationality and Competition” combines the research programs of behavioral and neoclassical economists to study applied economic questions that are of high policy relevance. The focus CRC TRR 190 is on the economic behavior and performance of individuals and firms: How do systematic biases in expectations, decision processes, and preferences affect the...
Current Project| Public Economics
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DIW Discussion Papers 2145 / 2025
Trade conflicts, geopolitical tensions, digital disruption, and the climate crisis pose major challenges for the European Union (EU) and its member states. As called for in the Draghi Report, industrial policy measures can increase competitiveness, strengthen resilience, and facilitate the twin transformation. This article explores ways in which competition policy can be realigned to better accommodate ...
2025| Tomaso Duso, Martin Peitz
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Non-refereed Articles
The competitiveness of German industry is under significant pressure. While politiciansacknowledge the need for change, their proposed solutions remain vague and lack a clearstrategic direction. Current approaches focus on tax relief, broad investment subsidies fordomestic firms or targeted cost reductions, such as lower electricity prices. While thesemeasures may improve production conditions, they ...
In:
Intereconomics
60 (2025), 4, S. 215-220
| Tomaso Duso, Martin Gornig, Alexander Schiersch
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Refereed essays Web of Science
The ongoing expansion of wind and solar electricity generation alongside increasing electrification is leading to a considerable strain on transmission capacities and grid bottlenecks in the EU. Coping with this challenge requires increasing system flexibility, e.g. by exploiting the potential for demand-side flexibility. However, in the current market design, demand-side flexibility responds to zonal ...
In:
Energy Policy
207 (2025), 114808, 10 S.
| Karsten Neuhoff, Franziska Klaucke, Luis Olmos, Lisa Ryan, Silvia Vitiello, Anthony Papavasiliou, Konstantin Staschus
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Refereed essays Web of Science
During the 2022 energy crisis, electricity prices across Europe have risen to unprecedented heights. In a case study for Germany, this work investigates to which extent price spikes can be attributed to changes in upstream commodity prices, and to which degree strategic behavior by generators may have contributed to the situation. Electricity markets are more prone to the effects of such behavior if ...
In:
Energy Reports
13 (2025), S. 5474–5485
| Maria Krzywnicka, Lukas Barner
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DIW Discussion Papers 2121 / 2025
This study examines how policies affecting the cost of using fossil fuels in production influence comparative advantage in the industrial sector. Firstly, we use a fixed-effects gravity model to estimate the export capabilities that determine comparative advantage. Subsequently, using data on direct (carbon taxes, ETS permit prices) and indirect (fossil fuel excise taxes and subsidies) carbon pricing ...
2025| Antonia Kurz, Stela Rubínová
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Refereed essays Web of Science
Introducing electricity purchase conditions in renewable fuel regulations and carbon accounting is a controversial issue in the US and Europe. We argue that their impact must be assessed considering demand flexibility, local grid conditions, and overlapping policy instruments such as emissions trading schemes and renewable portfolio standards. The introduction of more stringent requirements has a significant ...
In:
iScience
28 (2025), 5, 112349, 8 S.
| Lissy Langer, Kenneth Bruninx, Anders Bjørn, Lukas Barner, Julien Lavalley, Hadi Vatankhah Ghadim, Rasmus Bramstoft
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DIW Discussion Papers 2119 / 2025
The energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the heightened vulnerability of low-income households to rising heating costs, particularly those in energy inefficient buildings. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study examines the distributional impact of heating costs across income deciles and evaluates the effectiveness of policy interventions. We find ...
2025| Sophie M. Behr, Merve Kucuk, Maximilian Longmuir, Karsten Neuhoff
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DIW Discussion Papers 2116 / 2025
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a global economic crisis, leading governments to provide substantial State Aid to support firms. This paper examines the effectiveness of Covid-related financial support in Spain and Italy, focusing on its impact on firm recovery. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach combined with propensity score weighting, it compares outcomes of similar firms receiving aid ...
2025| Giulia Canzian, Elena Crivellaro, Tomaso Duso, Antonella Rita Ferrara, Alessandro Sasso, Stefano Verzillo
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Refereed essays Web of Science
This paper analyzes three key labor market trends – structural change, servitization, and skill-biased change – using German data from 1975 to 2017. Through a decomposition analysis, we discern their individual impacts on employment shifts, revealing their distinct roles in the German labor market’s evolution. Servitization and skill-biased change significantly influence employment growth alongside ...
In:
Labour Economics
97 (2025), 102778, 16 S.
| Dominik Boddin, Thilo Kroeger