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Contract Regulation and Cartels (HDE)

  • Project Period: June 1, 2011–May 31, 2013
  • Funding: Handelsverband Deutschland e.V.

Summary

The research project “Contract Regulation and Cartels” deals with the issue of demand-side market power from a bargaining perspective. The focus is on the organizational problems that need to be solved in the vertical relationship between producers and retailers in order to achieve efficiency in the value chain. In particular, information asymmetries, incentives and externalities resulting from investments and sales promotion have to be considered.

The aim of the project is a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of the efficiency and competition effects of current contractual arrangements along the value chain. Therefore, the analysis incorporates the implications of such agreements for all parties of the value chain, including the consumers. This project also develops a theoretical and empirical assessment of buyer power and contract agreements. Alongside the analysis of unilateral effects, the focus is also on the problem of cartelization on the supply and demand-sides.

Publications

Researchers involved

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