Human knowledge is a human creation: we seek to make sense by creating patterns, which are tested in various ways and with differing degrees and kinds of rigour. For each individual cognition is a scarce resource, but different people can apply it in diverse ways and to diverse subjects: each...

In all health care systems exists governmental regulation, as the market for health is unanimously regarded as imperfect. The German health care market is a good example for strongly regulated market in nearly each submarket, partially the determination of prices. Reimbursement of health goods...

Not only that consumers take it often for granted that product prices are good indicators of product quality, but also many experts in consumer economics expect a high positive pricequality relationship. However, for more than 50 years numerous studies in more than 10 countries all over the...

The paper addresses entry barriers for a new technology – hydrogen powered cars or cars with fuel cell engines – if the network of its filling stations is missing. We use Hotelling’s model of product differentiation to characterize a situation where an incumbent firm produces the old...

The paper discusses the link between financing R&D and tangible investment, firm size, and corporate governance. Mechanisms of corporate governance, such as the presence of large shareholders or stakeholders, may reduce agency and specificity problems and improve access to external finance. High...

Many observers regard the German system of codetermination as a very strong intervention into the working of the capital market. With the introduction of the codetermination law in 1976, employee representatives in limited lability companies with more than 2000 employees are entitled to occupy...

This article discusses the relationship between gasoline prices and market structure. A Cournot model was used to test if national oil companies have local market power. The commonly held belief that national oil companies in Germany excercise market power was not empirically supported despite...

We analyze the spatial interaction among regions in North America and in Western Europe. We use a gravity model extended by a spatial correlation structure where data allows to evaluate the spatial interaction in two dimensions: level of impact and the length of the spatial tail. This allows us...

Der Kreditkartenmarkt wird von zwei Firmen bestimmt: VISA und Mastercard/Eurocard. Der Einfluss der "Großen Zwei" hat sowohl in den USA als auch in Europa wettbewerbsrechtliche Bedenken ausgelöst und den bisher kaum wirtschaftswissenschaftlich analysierten Kreditkartenmarkt in den Mittelpunkt...

Since call center services are labour-intensive, human resource planning is a critical management task in terms of service quality and operating costs. This paper introduces a planning software tool to support short-term human resource planning. It is designed to forecast the stream of inbound...