Events

On Friday, 20 July 2018, the 6th Crowdinvesting Symposium „Blockchain and Initial Coin Offerings“ takes place at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The annual event was initiated by Prof. Dr. Lars Klöhn, Humboldt University Berlin, and Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf, University of Bremen. It was first organized in February 2013 at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) Munich.

Since April 2016, Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf is Affiliated Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition within the scope of the research project "Crowdinvesting in Germany, England and the USA: Regulatory Perspectives and Welfare Implications of a New Financing Scheme" which is funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).

The symposium offers academics and practitioners a platform to exchange ideas about the latest developments in this field as well as for networking. Moreover, it is a forum for the information of legislators on the European and national level on a scientific basis and with regard to new legislative proposals or legal reform projects. For this purposes, each year a priority topic is defined which covers current issues of crowdinvesting from an economic and legal perspective. The findings of the symposia are published in high-ranking scientific journals.

See Program

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich, Room 313

Abstract:
The digitization of economic activity has important socio-economic development implications and at the same time creates challenges for antitrust analysis. These implications and challenges have been met differently in jurisdictions around the world.  We analyze the different experiences in the EU and developing countries, focusing on mobile payments. We find that this market exhibits special characteristics that need to be taken into account in the analysis of competition conditions. First, it is enabled by mobile telecommunications infrastructure and is offered by network operators, which causes competition in both markets to be closely linked. Second, there is still regulatory arbitrage which potentially favors mobile payments. Third, there are factors, such as the lack of interoperability and geographical reach, that make network effects in this industry different from those present in other platforms. Fourth, since mobile payments in developing countries serve a niche—the population underserved by mainstream banking—the definition of the relevant market is not straightforward. We propose the criteria to be applied when making such definition. Finally, since mobile payments have associated financial services, there is an interaction between competition and financial stability that needs to be considered.

Note: This seminar will be of interdisciplinary character and follow a novel format – following a 30min introductory presentation by Jörg and Paco, we will focus on the economic aspects of the project during the discussion.

Contact: Zhaoxin Pu

Moderation: Dr. Natale Rampazzo

Veranstaltungsort:
Technische Universität München,
Arcisstr. 21, 80333 München, Theodor-Fischer-Hörsaal (HS 0360)

Wissenschaftliche Leitung:
Dr. Lena Maute, Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsrecht und Geistiges Eigentum, Technische Universität München, lena.maute(at)tum.de
Dr. Dr. Mark-Oliver Mackenrodt, LL.M. (NYU), Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, mark-oliver.mackenrodt(at)ip.mpg.de

Veranstaltungsprogramm als pdf zum Download

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich, Room 313

Abstract:
Generic penetration in the U.S. pharmaceutical market has increased, providing significant gains in consumer surplus. What impact has this had on the rate and direction of pharmaceutical innovation? While the overall level of drug development activity has increased, our estimates suggest a sizable, robust, negative relationship between rising generic penetration and early-stage pharmaceutical innovation in the same therapeutic areas. We also find that increasing generic penetration induces firms to shift their R&D activity towards more biologic-based products and away from chemical-based products. We conclude by discussing potential implications of our results for long-run welfare, policy, and innovation.

Contact Person: Zhaoxin Pu

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich, Room 313

Abstract:
We study the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on total factor productivity (TFP) of domestic firms using a new, representative firm-level data set spanning six countries. A novel finding is that firm-level spillovers from foreign firms to domestic companies can be significantly positive, non-existent, or even negative, depending on which sectors receive FDI. When foreign firms produce in the same narrow sector as domestic firms, the latter are negatively affected by increasing competition and positively affected by knowledge spillovers. We find that the positive spillovers dominate if foreign firms enter sectors where firms are “technologically close,” controlling for the endogeneity of their entry decision into such sectors. Positive technology spillovers also affect firms in other sectors, if those sectors are technologically close to the sectors receiving FDI. Increasing FDI in sectors that are technologically close to other sectors boosts TFP of domestic firms by twice as much as increasing FDI by the same amount across all sectors.

Contact Person: Zhaoxin Pu

In cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, the Oxford University and the University of Haifa will hold a workshop at the premises of the Max Planck Institute on 15-16 June 2018 to discuss the benefits and especially the risks of algorithms given the exponential growth of their use in the marketplace.

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Room E10