The paper analyses the economics behind algorithmic search and recommender services, based upon personalized user data. Such services play a paramount role for online services such as marketplaces (e.g. Amazon), audio streaming (e.g. Spotify), video streaming (e.g. Netflix, YouTube), app stores,...

Using data collected through a telephone-based survey in rural Bangladesh during the height of the pandemic, we present evidence on the effects of COVID-19-led lockdown and school closures on children, focusing on three child-related outcomes: time use of children during the school closure,...

Recent UN data show that the lifetime fertility of women in developed countries has fallen below 2.1 live births. By contrast, fertility rates in most developing countries have remained quite high despite falling mortality rates. This paper examines the effect of culture on fertility outcomes in...

This paper examines the growing trend of NFL players to forego participation in the league's yearly All-Star Game, the Pro Bowl. Viewership of the Pro Bowl has been substantially lower than the average game day in recent years, causing controversial discussions about the viability of the game...

Social media stars create stardom with uploads on social media pages like YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. One of the most popular platforms, especially designed to upload picture contents, is the service "Instagram" owned by Facebook. The growing social, cultural and economic power of social media...

Mit der 10. Novelle des Gesetzes gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (GWB; Anfang 2021 in Kraft getreten) sollen die deutschen Wettbewerbsregeln modernisiert und an die Erfordernisse der Digitalwirtschaft angepasst werden, weswegen die Novelle auch als GWB-Digitalisierungsgesetz bezeichnet wird. Der...

The recent collapse of several microfinance sectors as well as the current COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a growing concern about the risk of multiple borrowing among microcredit clients in developing countries. Researchers argue that availability of multiple sources of credit has tempted...

The Spanish Christmas Lottery is one of the most common lottery games played in Spain. This paper analyses how local windfall gains from the Christmas Lottery can affect household consumption behavior. We find that there is a significant increase in goods consumption in the winning Regions. More...

How does economic inequality affect public spending on healthcare in democracies? Does this depend upon the demographic composition of the electorate? We build a multidimensional model of political decision-making with endogenous political parties to analyse such questions. Voters in our model...