Topic Markets

Abuse of Dominance and Antitrust Enforcement in the German Electricity Market

Determinants of Ownership Changes in the Market for Diabetes

Abstract:  This paper investigates the determinants of ownership changes of drug candidates in one of the most important current pharma markets —the market for diabetes. We in particular look at how do the competitive circumstances, progress in clinical development and radicalness of the drug candidates matter in these decisions. We use newly constructed, very granular dataset tracking...

Partitioned Pricing and Consumer Welfare

Abstract:   In online commerce, obfuscation strategies by sellers are hypothesized to mislead consumers to their detriment and to the profit of sellers. One such obfuscation strategy is partitioned pricing in which the price is split into a base price and add-on fees. While empirical evidence suggests that partitioned pricing impacts consumer decisions through salience effects, its consumer...

Data Network Effects: The Example of Internet Search

Abstract:   The rise of dominant firms in data driven industries is often credited to their alleged data advantage. Empirical evidence lending support to this conjecture is lacking. In this paper, we show that data as an input into machine learning tasks displays features that favor the hypothesis that data is a source of market power. We study the search result quality for search keywords on...

Incumbency Advantage: Theory and Possible Applications

Joanna and Christoph will do a joint IOBB to exchange ideas on a possible project on incumbency advantage and mergers in procurement auctions. In the first part of the seminar, they will discuss possible theoreotical explanations and consequences of incumbency advantage. This will open the floor for discussion on how data from procurement auctions in the French urban transport industry can be...

Evaluation of Bidding Groups in First-price Auctions

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze bidding groups that participate in procurement auctions. Our main question is to ask, whether in the absence of the joint bid, there could have been two or more independent bids and if yes, these bids yield a different final outcome. We utilize data from the Austrian construction sector and estimate models of first-price sealed-bid auctions with endogenous entry...

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019: Policy Roundtable: Consumer and Competition Policy in Times of Rising Corporate Power

In the closing policy roundtable about Consumer and Competition Policy in Times of Rising Corporate Power, panelists Amelia Fletcher (University of East Anglia and Centre for Competition Policy), Marit Hansen (State of Schleswig-Holstein), Stefan Hunt (UK Competition and Markets Authority), Paul Nemitz (European Commission), and moderator Hans Friederiszick (E.CA Economics) engaged in a lively...

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019: Panel 2: Political Consequences of Corporate Power in Digital Markets

In the first afternoon session, Matthew Gentzkow (Stanford University) and Helen Margetts (University of Oxford) presented their research on the political consequences of corporate power in digital markets.

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019: Panel 1: The Rise of Market Power

In the opening session of the BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019, Jan Eeckhout (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona), Jonathan Baker (American University), and Fiona Scott Morton (Yale University) discussed the global rise of concentration, profits, mark-ups and market power across many markets and industries, the possible explanations for rising mark-ups and concentration and the role of...

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019

Focusing on regulatory challenges in digital markets, in particular the rise of corporate power, the fourth annual Conference and Policy Forum of the Berlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) was held in Berlin on June 21st, 2019.  Touching upon an issue at the forefront of current European and US policy debates, more than 100 participants, including academics from law and economics, policy...