A recent experimental study by Falk and Szech (Science, 2013) concludes that „markets erode moral values”. If this were true, economists, who have emphasized the efficiency enhancing effects of markets for centuries, would have to reconsider their judgments fundamentally. This would be no...

In this paper, both a conjoint analysis and a lab experiment are conducted to analyze the influence of changes in the tax rate and the tax base on the perceived tax burden. Our results show that the majority of individuals do not make rational tax decisions based on the actual tax burden but...

Um klimapolitische Maßnahmen hinsichtlich ihrer Wirkung abschätzen und bewerten zu können, ist es hilfreich, sich die wichtigsten Charakteristika des Klimaproblems noch einmal ins Gedächtnis zu rufen. Klimapolitik zu betreiben bedeutet, ein global öffentliches Gut zur Verfügung zu stellen....

We use the differences between life satisfaction and emotional well-being of employed and unemployed persons to analyze how a person’s employment status affects cognitive well-being. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on cognitive, but not on affective well-being, which...

We use a controlled laboratory experiment with and without overlapping generations to study the emergence of public debt. Public debt is chosen by popular vote, pays for public goods, and is repaid with general taxes. With a single generation, public debt is accumulated prudently, never leading...

Many of real-world public-goods are characterized by a marginal per capita return (MPCR) close to zero and have to be provided by large groups. Up until now, there is almost no evidence on how large groups facing a low MPCR behave in controlled public-good laboratory experiments involving...

In this paper we suggest a model for an analysis of how newspapers and political parties determine their ideological orientation and how both decisions depend on each other. Quite naturally dissemination of information plays an important role. The model is set up as a two-stage game. Because...

Using data from laboratory experiments, we find that East Germans show consistently less solidarity than West Germans; there has been no convergence in the 20years after the reunification. While it has recently been estimated that political values converge 20 to 40years after the reunification...

The dynamics of behavior observed in standard public-good experiments can be explained by imperfect conditional cooperation combined with social learning (Fischbacher and Gächter, 2010). But it is unclear what determines first-round contributions. We argue that first-round contributions depend...

After the Fukushima accident, the German government decided to change the energy system in a dramatic way (the energy transition). The core of this project is the transition from a fossil fuel based system to a system that relies heavily on the use of renewable energies. In this paper, it is...