Frederic Krehl

Frederic is currently studying Economics in the Masters program of the University of Cologne, Germany. He is a student assistant at the Center of Macroeconomic Research of the University of Cologne as well as student research assistant at the FiFo Institute for Public Economics at the University of Cologne. In the year 2009 he completed a three month internship at MAN Diesel Ltd. in Shanghai. He likes playing tennis as well as snowboarding and is keen in improving his skills in chess.

About His Research

His research deals with the effects of a deregulation of intercity express coach services in Germany. The passenger transportation law, dating back into the 1930’s, heavily restricts express coach services within German cities. The initial intention behind this law was to protect the national railway from competition. Therefore, the possibility to enter the market (thus allowing free price adjustment) is negligible. In a summit on August 3rd 2011 the reigning coalition decided to open the intercity line traffic market to express coach services by 2012.

By using Sawtooth Software's CBC/HB module, he will empirically investigate the effects of the upcoming liberalization of the intercity line traffic market in Germany. Subject of interest will be the evaluation of demand for such services, resulting in estimation of market share for express coach services. With those scores, he will be able to estimate whether the passenger transportation law achieved its intention. There is the possibility that a relevant fraction of customers will substitute other modes of traffic, such as the private motorized transport rather than the railway, for express coach services. If this proves to be true, the liberalization in the year 2012 states an end to a long period of governmentally caused deadweight loss.