While decentralized peer-to-peer market platforms are more suited for trading short-lived or non-material goods (e.g., electrical power, bandwidth-ondemand) due to reduced transaction cost, robustness and scalability, they lack the legal certainty provided by centralized electronic market places operated by a trusted third party. This paper presents a technical framework that, conforming to Eur...

The main objective of this paper is to design and test a decentralized exchange mechanism that generates the location-specific pricing necessary to achieve efficient allocations in the presence of instream flow values. Although a market-oriented approach has the potential to improve upon traditional command and control regulations, questions remain about how these rights-based institutions can ...

Due to ever stricter emissions regulations the automobile industry struggles to reduce their products’ emissions of carbon dioxide. There are several technical options to solve the problem, all of them equally effective. A manufacturer could decide for minimum cost and move on. However, the problem should also be considered from a long-term perspective. Changes in the products’ characteristics ...

The U.S. government and commercial sector have opted to use privacy regulations to control the problem of consumer information misuse in the E-business environment. The authors argue that this is undesirable because it does not correct the market failure that causes this “information externality.” Using the Coase theorem, the authors propose that the market failure can be corrected using either...

This feature explores the operation of individual markets. Patterns of behavior in markets for specific goods and services offer lessons about the determinants and effects of supply and demand, market structure, strategic behavior, and government regulation. Suggestions for future columns and comments on past ones should be sent electronically to James R. Hines Jr., Professor of Economics, Univ...

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) continues to plague health-oriented government regulation. This is particularly reflected in recent challenges to tobacco control measures through bilateral investment agreements. There are numerous reform proposals circulating within the public health community. However, I suggest that perhaps it is time for the community to explore a stronger position ...

Between the 1970s and 2009 the Swedish pharmacy market was characterized by a governmental monopoly with Apoteket AB as the only market-actor. By the year 2009, market reforms and re-regulations allowed private companies to enter the pharmacy market. Still, pertaining to existing regulations (e.g the pricing of prescription drugs) the market cannot be described as entirely free. The purpose of ...