Design-based econometrics, centred on average treatment effects in the potential-outcomes framework, treats causal effects as population-level expectations under hypothetical interventions and thereby offers an expectation-based, mechanism-agnostic conception of causality. This conception is...

Over the past two decades, Iran has been the target of various international economic sanctions, notably the U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign, aimed at compelling regime change by imposing costs and stirring public discontent. This study examines patterns consistent with a...

In the German pharmacy market, strictly regulated prescription (Rx) drug prices coexist with free pricing for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. This paper investigates the extent of market power in the non-prescription segment (OTC drugs and non-pharmaceuticals) and explores the role of Rx drugs in...

Due to rent control, the primary landlord-tenant dilemma prevents landlords from recovering costs of energy-efficiency retrofits, which mainly benefit tenants. This necessitates tenancy law to allocate retrofit and energy costs adequately. We analyze the impact of Germany's current system and...

Inspired by the controversial public and political debate in the European Union (EU) about legal initiatives to protect human rights and the environment along supply chains (e.g., the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, CSDDD), this paper examines individual preferences for...

Legal norms can have a direct effect on individual behavior through their legal enforcement. However, according to the 'expressive function of law,' they can also have indirect effects on individual behavior by shaping related social norms. Since evidence for this expressive function is scarce,...

This study examines the effect of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in Iran during the last quarter of 2022 on individual life satisfaction. To assess this impact, we use two original representative surveys conducted before and after the protests in 2022. The repeated cross-sectional dataset...

While climate change is widely considered as a major challenge for societies, another pressing global environmental problem, i.e. the loss of biodiversity, is often given less attention despite its strong negative consequences for ecosystems and thus for human life. In light of the strong...

Household heterogeneity has been shown to be an important driver of aggregate demand. In this research, we demonstrate that it also impacts the supply side. We build a model in which heterogeneous households vary in their extent to which they supply production factors (labor and capital). Our...

We investigate the relationship between parliamentary debates and public expenditure by mapping legislative speeches to fiscally relevant topics and examining their connection in both long-term trends and short-term adjustments. Our analysis draws on transcripts of federal legislative...