External refereed essays

Sensitivity Analysis for Average Treatment Effects

Based on the conditional independence or unconfoundedness assumption,. - matching has become a popular approach to estimate average treatment. - effects. Checking the sensitivity of the estimated results with respect to deviations. - from this identifying assumption has become an increasingly important topic. - in the applied evaluation literature. If there are unobserved variables that affect. - assignment ...

Efficiency Analysis of German Electricity Distribution Utilities: Non-Parametric and Parametric Tests

This study applies non-parametric and parametric tests to assess the efficiency of electricity distribution companies in Germany. Traditional issues in electricity sector benchmarking are addressed, such as the role of scale effects and optimal utility size, as well as new evidence specific to the situation in Germany. Labour, capital, and peak load capacity are used as inputs, and units sold and the ...

Wehrpflicht - statt Berufsarmee: eine Alternative wider die ökonomische Vernunft

Die Kosten des Klimawandels: der Mensch heizt die Erde auf - was muss er dafür bezahlen?

Familienpolitische Reformen und ihre Wirkungen auf die Erwerbsbeteiligung von Eltern

Wozu ein tieferes Verständnis von Statistik? Ein Kommentar zu Hager (2005)

Agglomeration and Tax Competition

Tax competition may be different in "new economic geography settings" compared to standard tax competition models. If the mobile factor is completely agglomerated in one region, it earns an agglomeration rent which can be taxed. Closer integration first results in a "race to the top" in taxes before leading to a "race to the bottom". We reexamine these issues in a model that produces stable equilibria ...

Polen im EU-Binnenmarkt: eine Bilanz nach zwei Jahren

A Schumpeter-inspired Approach to the Construction of R&D Capital Stock

A new method for constructing R&D capital stocks is proposed and tested. Following Schumpeter, the development of R&D capital stocks is modelled as a process of creative destruction. Newly generated knowledge is assumed not only to add to the existing R&D capital stocks but also, by displacing old knowledge, to destroy part of that capital. This is in stark contrast to the perpetual inventory method, ...

Endogenous Costs and Price-Cost Margins: An Application to the European Airline Industry

This paper allows for endogenous costs in the estimation of price cost margins. In particular, we estimate price-cost margins when firms bargain over wages. We extent the standard two-equation set-up (demand and first-order condition in the product market) to include a third equation, which is derived from bargaining over wages. In this way, price-cost margins are determined by wages and vice versa. ...

Angewandte Forschung und Politikberatung in Deutschland : Editorial

Dynamic Measures of Individual Deprivation

We introduce a one-parameter class of individual deprivation measures. Motivated by a suggestion of Runciman, we modify Yitzhaki's index by multiplying it by a function that is interpreted as measuring the part of deprivation generated byan agent's observation that others in his reference group move on to a higher level of income than himself. The parameter reflects the relative weight given to these ...

Eine panelökonometrische Evaluation des deutschen Strafverfolgungssystems

probability and severity of punishment - results in a reduction of crime due to deterrence. What appears to be a simple and straightforward hypothesis turns out to be a demanding task for empirical examination because "crime" is composed of many different offence categories and expected punishment is influenced by the actions and decisions of different institutions such as police, public prosecutor's ...

Bundling of Social and Private Goods and the Soft Budget Constraint Problem

Firms in socialist and transitional economies are often obliged to provide social goods at the same time that they are competing with private firms. This paper analyzes the impact of such bundling on the provision of private and social goods focussing on the inability of politicians to commit not to bail out firms experiencing financial trouble. This soft budget constraint problem results in firms ...

Fiscal Federalism in Russia: Theory, Comparisons, Evaluations

Russia's system of fiscal federalism is examined and evaluated. Current theories of fiscal federalism provide criteria for evaluating such systems. Developments in OECD countries are examined to provide comparative perspectives. Data from Russia's Goskomstat and the Ministry of Finance, which provide an overview of Russia's regional economic characteristics, are used to apply the selected evaluation ...

Analyseergebnisse auf Basis der anonymisierten Steuerdaten

I Think I Can, I Think I Can: Overconfidence and Entrepreneurial Behavior

High failure rates and low average returns suggest that too many people may be entering markets as entrepreneurs. Thus, anticipating how one will perform in the market is a fundamental component of the decision to start a business. Using a large sample obtained from population surveys conducted in 18 countries, we study what variables are significantly associated with the decision to start a business. ...

Pets and Human Health in Germany and Australia: National Longitudinal Results

The German and Australian longitudinal surveys analysed here are the first national representative surveys to show that (1) people who continuously own a pet are the healthiest group and (2) people who cease to have a pet or never had one are less healthy. Most previous studies which have claimed that pets confer health benefits were cross-sectional. So they were open to the objection that owners may ...

Measuring Performance Heterogeneity within Groups: A Two-dimensional Approach

We introduce a two-dimensional measure for the heterogeneity of performance within groups. It leads to a much more differentiated description of heterogeneity than alternative measures and it is relatively robust with regard to extreme values of small units ("outliers").

Economic Relations between Women and Their Partners: An East and West German Comparison after Reunification

This article compares women's and men's economic relations in East and West Germany following the 1990 reunification to exemplify the impact of varying opportunity structures on women's relative contribution to family income. West Germany's takeover set in motion a rapid transformation of East German institutions and employment structures. The analysis shows that women in West Germany became less dependent ...