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Supplier Fixed Costs and Retail Market Monopolization

Considering a vertical structure with perfectly competitive upstream firms that deliver a homogenous good to a differentiated retail duopoly, we show that upstream fixed costs may help to monopolize the downstream market. We find that downstream prices increase in upstream firms’ fixed costs when both intra- and interbrand competition exist. Our findings contradict the common wisdom that fixed costs ...

The EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Framework and Energy Security

Financial Incentives for Low Carbon Investment: Dissertation

Zur Bekämpfung des Klimawandels haben politische Entscheidungsträger auf europäischer, nationaler und regionaler Regierungsebene CO2-Reduktionsziele formuliert, die erhebliche Investitionen erfordern. Studien haben zahlreiche Marktbarrieren ermittelt, die diese Investitionen verhindern. Zur Überwindung dieser Barrieren wurden regulatorische, preis- und informationsbasierte Politikinstrumente implementiert. ...

The Welfare Impact of Parallel Imports: A Structural Approach Applied to the German Market for Oral Anti-Diabetics

We investigate the welfare impact of parallel imports using a large panel dataset containing monthly information on sales, ex-factory prices, and further product characteristics for all 649 anti-diabetic drugs sold in Germany between 2004 and 2010. We estimate a two-stage nested logit model of demand, and on the basis of an oligopolistic model of multi-product firms, we then recover the marginal costs ...

Climate Protection through Biochar in German Agriculture: Potentials and Costs

In recent years, there has been much discussion about biochar - a carbonaceous product made of biomass - as a promising technique for mitigating climate change. In particular, this method has the potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for the long term by incorporating biochar into the soil while enhancing soil fertility at the same time. A research project conducted by DIW Berlin calculated ...

The Welfare Impact of Parallel Imports: A Structural Approach Applied to the German Market for Oral Anti-Diabetics

We investigate the welfare impact of parallel imports using a large panel data set containing monthly information on sales, ex-factory prices, and further product characteristics for all 700 anti-diabetic drugs sold in Germany between 2004 and 2010. We estimate a two-stage nested logit model of demand and, based on an oligopolistic model of multiproduct firms, we then recover the marginal costs and ...

Market Driven Power Plant Investment Perspectives in Europe: Climate Policy and Technology Scenarios until 2050 in the Model EMELIE-ESY

In the framework of the Energy Modeling Forum 28, we investigate how climate policy regimes affect market developments under different technology availabilities on the European power markets. We use the partial equilibrium model EMELIE-ESY with focus on electricity markets in order to determine how private investors optimize their generation capacity investment and operation over the horizon 2010 to ...

Crop Failures and Export Tariffs

We analyse a stylized model of the world grain market characterized by a small oligopoly of traders with market power on both the supply and demand side. Crops are stochastic and exporting countries can impose export tariffs to protect domestic food prices. Our first results is that export tariffs are strategic complements and that for poor harvests equilibrium tariffs can explode (shedding some light ...

Price Guarantees, Consumer Search, and Hassle Costs

The paper deals with the competitive effects of price guarantees in a spatial duopoly where consumers can search for lower prices but have to incur hassle costs if they want to claim a price guarantee. It is shown that symmetric equilibria with and without price guarantees exist but price guarantees will have no effect on prices if search costs are low, hassle costs are high and the number of uninformed ...

From Boom to Bust? A Critical Look at US Shale Gas Projections

US shale gas production is generally expected to continue its fast rise. However, a cautious evaluation is needed. Shale gas resource estimates are potentially overoptimistic and it is uncertain to which extent they can be produced economically. Moreover, the adverse environmental effects of ever more wells to be drilled may lead to a fall in public acceptance and a strengthening of regulation. The ...