Behavioural economics and economic experiments can offer valuable insights to policymakers. Liberal or soft paternalism assumes that governmental nudging through the conscious setting of defaults in order to overcome potential behavioural anomalies can lead to better outcomes without giving up...

In experimental bargaining with incomplete information, we vary the information distribution (symmetric and asymmetric), the direction of electronic pre-play communication (no, one-way, and two-way), and the electronic communication medium (email and video) Bargaining out-comes are influenced by...

This paper provides a critical re-examination of Rubinstein's survey (Rubinstein; Economic Journal 2006), in which he questions the way economics is taught. The observations obtained in our new survey cast some doubts on the original findings, and, in particular, question Rubinstein's conjecture...

We apply the Day Reconstruction Method to compare unemployed and employed people with respect to their subjective assessment of emotional affects, differences in the composition and duration of activities during the course of a day, and their self-reported life satisfaction. Employed persons are...

We use modified dictator games in which the productivity of taking or giving is varied. Subjects have to decide which of the different games will be payoff relevant in the end. We can show that the behavior of dictators does not depend on the productivity of their gifts, but that their behavior...

We apply the Day Reconstruction Method to compare unemployed and employed people with respect to their subjective assessment of emotional affects, differences in the composition and duration of activities during the course of a day, and their self-reported life satisfaction. Employed persons are...

Wieder einmal ist der Aufbau Ost in die Diskussion gekommen: Sonderwirtschaftszone oder Förderung von Wachstumskernen - was ist der richtige Weg, um Deutschland wieder auf Wachstumskurs zu bringen? Für Dr. Klaus von Dohnanyi, Bundesminister a.D. und Vorsitzender des "Gesprächskreises Aufbau...

Die Osterweiterung der EU nimmt konkrete Formen an. Sie wird in den nächsten Jahren die Europäische Union zu einer Gemeinschaft von bis zu 27 selbständigen Staaten machen. Aber nicht nur die erhebliche Vergrößerung der Anzahl der Mitgliedsstaaten verleiht der Osterweiterung eine besondere...

The problem of coordination failure, particularly in 'team production' situations, is central to a large number of mircroeconomic as well as macroeconomic models. As this type of inefficient coordination poses a severe economic problem, there is a need for institutions that foster efficient...