The authors develop a dynamic approach to measuring the evolution of comparative brand premium, an important component of brand equity. A comparative brand premium is defined as the pairwise price difference between two products being identical in every respect but brand. The model is based on...

In Germany, donations to charitable institutions can be deducted from the taxable income. The government subsidizes each donated Euro by the household’s marginal tax rate. Unfortunately, this system has some serious shortcomings. Therefore, the existing tax deduction of donations should be...

In order to provide information concerning the significant contributions to price index theory made by Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch (1802-1896), this paper presents an account of his pioneering scientific achievements together with a synopsis of his personal and professional life. He was the first to...

Textbooks of macroeconomics regularly remind their readers that they should not interpret the macroeconomic price variable as some sort of average price. Instead it represents some price index indicating the average of the individual items’ price changes between the period considered and some...

The inflation rate is normally computed as a weighted average of individual price changes. Alternatively, this rate could be evaluated by comparing average price levels. Unfortunately, this methodology has received limited attention in past research. This study attempts to remedy this situation...

New and old products differ in two respects: quality and newness. Whereas a higher quality of a new product always benefits consumers, the newness itself benefits some consumers, but not others, and for some, it is even a disadvantage. We capture these features in a Hotelling model of Over-...

New and old products differ in two respects: quality and newness. Whereas a higher quality of a new product always benefits consumers, the newness itself benefits some consumers, but not others, and for some, it is even a disadvantage. We capture these features in a Hotelling model of...

The personalities of central bankers moved center stage during the recent financial crisis. Some central bankers even gained "superstar" status. In this paper, we evaluate the pivotal role of superstar central bankers by assessing the difference an outstanding governor makes to economic...

In this paper, we derive a modification of a forward-looking Taylor rule, which integrates two variables measuring the uncertainty of inflation and GDP growth forecasts into an otherwise standard New Keynesian model. We show that certainty-equivalence in New Keynesian models is a consequence of...

We analyze the impact of the pro-Russian conflict on stock returns in Russia and the Ukraine during the period November 21, 2013 to September 29, 2014. We utilize a newly created indicator for the degree of (de-)escalation based on an Internet search for conflict-related news. We find that...