This paper studies farmers who operate in a risky environment at a minimum of subsistence. In particular, the author investigates how poverty influences the soil conservation decision in the absence of formal insurance markets. It is shown that the consequences for the optimal soil conservation...

Individuals often respond with strong emotions to being penalised. Such responses suggest that informal penalties are important and play a role in creating deterrence. In this paper informal penalties are analysed in the context of medical errors. The introduction of informal penalties, if...

A good health is important for having a good life. This is supported by surveys on happiness. However, at least after a certain age, the health state deteriorates naturally over time due to ageing. Nevertheless, research reports show that old people in average are satisfied with their health...

This paper analyses optimal contracts in a principal-agent model where the agent is intrinsically motivated at the outset and there is an endogenous relationship between the structure of incentive payments and intrinsic motivation (crowding effects). The analysis shows that crowding effects have...