Essays on R&D investments, market structure and welfare

The firms´Investments in research and development (R&

D) are of key importance both for the overall economic development and for competition in oligopolistic market structures. While both product and process R&

D can yield higher consumer welfare, it is often assumed that competition is a necessary condition for the implementation of this consumer-welfare-enhancing potential. This belief provides the background for the actions of competition authorities, such as prevention of price discrimination as well as mergers and acquisitions, in order to ensure genuine and undistorted competition. This is the point where this dissertation comes in. It investigates the firms´ R&

D incentives in different oligopolistic market structures depending on the intensity of competition in the market. Moreover, this dissertation scrutinizes the above practices of competition authorities.