Armin Schmutzler

Entry in Liberalized Railway Markets: The German Experience (2008)

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes 77 tenders that differ...

Entry in Liberalized Railway Markets: The German Experience (2008)

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes 77 tenders that differ...

Intimidating Competitors (2008)

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes 77 tenders that differ...

This paper examines the interplay of endogenous vertical integration and cost-reducing downstream investment in successive oligopoly. Analyzing a linear Cournot model, we establish the following key...

and (2007)

On the Role of Access Charges Under Network Competition (2006)

We analyze a model of oligopolistic competition with ongoing investment. Special cases include incremental investment, patent races, learning by doing, and network externalities. We investigate...

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

Intimidating Competitors ? Asymmetric Vertical Integration and Downstream Investment in Oligopoly (2004)

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

Infrastructure Quality in Deregulated Industries: Is There an Underinvestment Problem? (2004)

Stefan Bühler, Armin Schmutzler, Men-Andri Benz

Tücken bei der Liberalisierung von Netzindustrien (2003)

Weddings with Uncertain Prospects ? Mergers under Asymmetric Information (2003)

Thomas Borek, Stefan Bühler, Armin Schmutzler

Weddings with Uncertain Prospects ? Mergers under Asymmetric Information (2003)

Thomas Borek, Stefan Bühler, Armin Schmutzler

Railway Reforms in Europe - A Lost Cause? (2002)

Bahnreform und Netzqualität: ein inhärenter Widerspruch? (2001)

Competition for Railway Markets: The Case of Baden-Württemberg

What Does it Take to Sell Environmental Policy? An Empirical Analysis of Referendum Data

This paper studies the effects of introducing competition for local passenger railway markets in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. We compare the evolution of the frequency of service on lines...

Daniel Halbheer, Sarah Niggli, Armin Schmutzler

We analyze the factors that influence the support for environmental policy proposals. Swiss referendum data show that proposals obtain more yes-votes if they do not restrict consumption possibilities...

Lobbying against environmental regulation vs. lobbying for loopholes

Polk, Andreas, Schmutzler, Armin

Innovation and the Emergence of Market Dominance

Environmental Regulations and Managerial Myopia

This paper analyzes a model of oligopolistic competition with ongoing investment. It incorporates the following models as special cases: incremental investment, patent races, learning-by-doing, and...

Endogenous Spillovers and Incentives to Innovate

environment, regulation

Exploring the Effects of Competition for Railway Markets

spillovers, innovation, industrial organization

Rafael Lalive, Armin Schmutzler

This paper studies the effects of introducing competition for local passenger railway markets in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. We compare the evolution of the frequency of service on lines...

On The Role of Access Charges Under Network Competition

Intimidating Competitors – Endogenous Vertical Integration and Downstream Investment in Successive Oligopoly

We aim to clarify the role of access charges under two-way network competition, employing a reduced-form approach. Retaining the key features of specific network competition models but imposing less...

Mergers under Asymmetric Information – Is there a Lemons Problem?

We examine the interplay of endogenous vertical integration and costreducing downstream investment in successive oligopoly. We start from a linear Cournot model to motivate our more general...

Thomas Borek, Stefan Buehler, Armin Schmutzler

We analyze a Bayesian merger game under two-sided asymmetric information about firm types. We show that the standard prediction of the lemons market model–if any, only low-type firms are...

Globalization and General Worker Training

Downstream Investment in Oligopoly

We examine how globalization affects firms incentives to train workers. In our model, firms invest in productivity-enhancing worker training before Cournot competition takes place. When two separated...

Asymmetric Vertical Integration

We examine cost-reducing investment in vertically-related oligopolies, where firms may be vertically integrated or separated. Analyzing a standard linear Cournot model, we show that: (i) Integrated...

What does it take to sell Environmental Policy? An empirical Analysis of Referendum Data

We examine vertical backward integration in a reducedform model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

Daniel Halbheer, Sarah Niggli, Armin Schmutzler

We analyze the factors that influence the support for environmental policy proposals. Swiss referendum data show that proposals obtain more yes-votes if they do not restrict consumption possibilities...

Lobbying against Environmental Regulation vs. Lobbying for Loopholes

Andreas Polk, Armin Schmutzler

We analyze the determinants of environmental policy when two firms engage in two types of lobbying against a restriction on allowed pollution: General lobbying increases the total amount of allowed...

A Product Market Theory of Worker Training

Weddings with Uncertain Prospects – Mergers under Asymmetric Information

We develop a product market theory that explains why firms invest in general training of their workers. We consider a model where firms first decide whether to invest in general human capital, then...

Thomas Borek, Stefan Buehler, Armin Schmutzler

We provide a framework for analyzing bilateral mergers when there is two-sided asymmetric information about firms’ types. We show that there is always a "no-merger" equilibrium where firms do not...

Infrastructure Quality in Deregulated Industries: Is there an Underinvestment Problem?

Stefan Buehler, Armin Schmutzler, Men-Andri Benz

We investigate how various institutional settings affect a network provider’s incentives to invest in infrastructure quality. Under reasonable assumptions on demand, investment incentives turn out...

Acquisitions versus Entry: The Evolution of Concentration

Zava Aydemir, Armin Schmutzler

We consider market dynamics in a reduced form model. In the simplest version, there are two investors and several small noninvesting firms. In each period, one investor can acquire a small firm, the...

Quality Provision in Deregulated Industries: The Railtrack Problem

Men-Andri Benz, Stefan Buehler, Armin Schmutzler

This paper studies a network provider's incentives to invest in infrastructure quality. In a simple but general framework, we investigate how various institutional settings affect investment...

A unified approach to comparative statics puzzles in experiments

Endogenous spillovers and incentives to innovate

Many experimental studies implement two versions of one game for which agents’ behavior is fundamentally different even though the Nash prediction is the same. This paper provides a novel...

Foreign Direct Investment and R&D Offshoring

We present a new approach to endogenizing technological spillovers. Firms choose levels of a cost-reducing innovation from a continuum before they engage in competition for each other's...

Foreign Direct Investment and R&D offshoring

We analyze a two-country model of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Two firms, each of which is originally situated in only one of the two countries, first decide whether to build a plant in the...

Merger Negotiations and Ex-Post Regret

We analyze a two-country model of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Two firms, each of which is originally situated in only one of the two countries, first decide whether to build a plant in the...

Dennis Gaertner, Armin Schmutzler

We consider a setting in which two potential merger partners each possess private information pertaining both to the profitability of the merged entity and to stand-alone profits, and investigate the...

The Effects of Competition in Investment Games

Dario Sacco, Armin Schmutzler

We analyze the effects of competitive intensity on investment behavior in oligopoly games. To this end, we use an experiment based on two-stage games, where cost-reducing investments are followed by...

Does Globalization Create Superstars?

Does Globalization Create Superstars?

To examine the impact of globalization on managerial compensation, we consider a matching model where a number of firms compete both in the product market and in the managerial market. We show that...

Merger Negotiations and Ex-Post Regret

To examine the impact of globalization on managerial compensation, we consider a matching model where a number of firms compete both in the product market and in the managerial market. We show that...

Gärtner, Dennis, Schmutzler, Armin

We consider a setting in which two potential merger partners each possess private information pertaining both to the profitability of the merged entity and to stand-alone profits, and investigate the...

Downstream Investment In Oligopoly

Stefen Buehler, Armin Schmutzler

Endogenous Technological Spillovers: Causes and Consequences

The New Economic Geography.

We develop a new approach to endogenizing technological spillovers. We analyze a game in which firms can first invest in cost-reducing R&D, then compete on the human-capital market for their...

Schmutzler, Armin

Recently, the 'new economic geography' literature has developed as a theory of the emergence of large agglomerations which relies on increasing returns to scale and transportation costs. This...

Small scale entry versus acquisitions of small firms: Is concentration self-reinforcing

Aydemir, Zava, Schmutzler, Armin

Entry in liberalized railway markets: The German experience

Rafael Lalive, Armin Schmutzler

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes the 77 tenders that have...

A Product-Market Theory of Industry-Specific Training

Self-Reinforcing Market Dominance

We develop a product market theory that explains why firms provide their workers with skills that are sufficiently general to be potentially useful for competitors. We consider a model where firms...

Daniel Halbheer, Ernst Fehr, Lorenz Goette, Armin Schmutzler

Are initial competitive advantages self-reinforcing, so that markets exhibit an endogenous tendency to be dominated by only a few firms? Although this question is of great economic importance, no...

Environmental Regulations and Managerial Myopia

Infrastructure Quality in Deregulated Industries: Is there an Underinvestment Problem?

It has recently been claimed that, contrary totraditional neoclassical theory, suitably chosenenvironmental regulation is often beneficial for theregulated firms because it induces...

Benz, Men-Andri, Bühler, Stefan, Schmutzler, Armin

We investigate how various institutional settings affect a network provider’s incentives to invest in infrastructure quality. Under reasonable assumptions on demand, investment incentives turn out...

Weddings with Uncertain Prospects - Mergers under Asymmetric Information

Borek, Thomas, Bühler, Stefan, Schmutzler, Armin

We provide a framework for analysing bilateral mergers when there is two-sided asymmetric information about firms’ types. We introduce the concepts of essentially monotone decreasing (EMD) and...

Who Integrates?

Bühler, Stefan, Schmutzler, Armin

We examine vertical backward integration in oligopoly. Analysing a standard linear Cournot model, we find that for wide parameter ranges (i) some firms integrate, while others remain separated, and...

Pollution control with imperfectly observable emissions

The relation between competition and innovation – Why is it such a mess?

In this paper, a model of environmental regulation with imperfect monitoring of emissions is presented. The regulator can use linear output taxes and emission taxes to influence the pollution level...

Intimidating competitors -- Endogenous vertical integration and downstream investment in successive oligopoly

Using several simple examples, this paper shows that the effects of increasing competition on cost-reducing investments can be positive, negative or non-monotone. Also, competition is more likely to...

Entry in Liberalized Railway Markets: The German Experience

Rafael Lalive, Armin Schmutzler

In Germany, competitive franchising is increasingly being used to procure passenger railway services that were previously provided by a state monopolist. This paper analyzes 77 tenders that differ...

A Product Market Theory of Training in Firms

Innovation and the Emergence of Market Dominance

We develop a product market theory explaining why firms invest in general training of their workers and managers. We consider a model where firms first decide whether to invest in general human...

A Product Market Theory of Training and Turnover in Firms

No abstract.

The Choice between Emission Taxes and Output Taxes under Imperfect Monitoring

We develop a product market theory that identifies determinants of worker turnover and explains why firms invest in general training of their workers. We consider a model where firms first decide...

Schmutzler, Armin, Goulder, Lawrence H.

The Effects of Globalization on Worker Training

External spillovers, internal spillovers and the geography of production and innovation

We consider a three-stage game to examine how market integration affects firms’ incentives to provide general worker training. In stage 1, firms invest in productivity-enhancing training. In stage...

Infrastructure quality in deregulated industries: is there an underinvestment problem?

Buehler, Stefan, Schmutzler, Armin, Benz, Men-Andri

Changing places--the role of heterogeneity and externalities in cumulative processes

Schmutzler, Armin

Declining costs of communication and transportation: What are the effects on agglomerations?

Investment and Market Dominance.

Athey, Susan, Schmutzler, Armin

We analyze a model of oligopolistic competition with ongoing investment. Special cases include incremental investment, patent races, learning by doing, and network externalities. We investigate...

Product and Process Flexibility in an Innovative Environment

A Product Market Theory of Worker Training

This article studies several attributes of a firm's long-run decisions about organizational structure, attributes that affect the firm's short-run innovative activity. We focus on flexibility, which...

The Effects of Globalization on Worker Training

We develop a product market theory that explains why firms invest in general training of their workers. We consider a model where firms first decide whether to invest in general human capital, then...

Innovation and the Emergence of Market Dominance

We examine how globalization affects firms’ incentives to provide general worker training. We consider a three-stage game. In stage 1, firms invest in productivity-enhancing training. In stage 2,...

Asymmetric Vertical Integration

All-Pay Auctions with Negative Prize Externalities: Theory and Experimental Evidence

We examine vertical backward integration in a reduced-form model of successive oligopolies. Our key findings are: (i) There may be asymmetric equilibria where some firms integrate and others remain...

Dario Sacco, Armin Schmutzler

The paper characterizes the mixed-strategy equilibria in all-pay auctions with endogenous prizes that depend positively on own eﬀort and negatively on the eﬀort of competitors. Such auctions...

Competition and Innovation: An Experimental Investigation

Dario Sacco, Armin Schmutzler

The paper analyzes the eﬀects of more intense competition on ﬁrms’ incentives to invest in process innovations. We carry out experiments based on two-stage games, where R&D investment choices...

When do Finns Benefit from Environmental Regulations? A Simple Microeconomic Approach to the Porter Controversy

Dario Bonato, Armin Schmutzler

Michael Porter and others have recently argued that suitable environmental regulations are likely to induce cost-reducing innovations. We analyze under which conditions such arguments might be...

Exploring the effects of competition for railway markets

Analyzing Mergers under Asymmetric Information: A Simple Reduced-Form Approach

This paper studies the effects of introducing competition for local passenger railway markets in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. We compare the evolution of the frequency of service on lines...

Thomas Borek, Stefan Bühler, Armin Schmutzler

This paper provides a simple reduced-form framework for analyzing merger decisions in the presence of asymmetric information about firm types, building on Shapiro's (1986) oligopoly model with...

Flexibility in Intertemporal Decision Making