We present a quantitative analysis of international capital flows induced by differ-ential population aging and pension reform. It is well known that within each country, demo-graphic change alters the time path of aggregate savings. This process may be amplified if pension reform shifts old-age...

Throughout the world, population aging is a major challenge that will continue well into the 21 st century. While the patterns of the demographic transition are similar in most countries, timing differs substantially, in particular between industrialized and less developed countries. To the...

We discuss survey evidence on individuals' willingness to sanction norm violations – such as evading taxes, drunk driving, fare dodging, or skiving off work – by expressing disapproval or social exclusion. Our data suggest that people condition their sanctioning behavior on their belief...

Throughout the world, population aging is a major challenge that will continue well into the 21st century. While the patterns of the demographic transition are similar in most countries, timing differs substantially, in particular between industrialized and less developed countries. To the...

Eine Vielzahl ökonomischer Entscheidungen ist diskreter Natur und weist ein intertemporales, sequentielles Element auf. Beispiele sind das Ersatzproblem für dauerhafte Wirtschaftsgüter, die Investitionsentscheidung bei endogenem Marktaustritt, die Wahl des Verrentungszeitpunktes sowie die...

France, Germany and Italy, to take the three largest economies in continental Europe, have large and ailing pay-as-you-go public pension systems, very thin capital markets, and low capital performance. This paper proposes to study these three issues together, taking Germany as an example....

We present a quantitative analysis of the effects of population aging and pension reform on international capital markets. First, demographic change alters the time path of aggregate savings within each country. Second, this process may be amplified when a pension reform shifts old-age provision...

We analyze life-cycle savings decisions when households use simple heuristics, or rules of thumb, rather than solve the underlying intertemporal optimization problem. The decision rules we explore are a simple Keynesian rule where consumption follows income; a simple consumption rule where only a...

Life insurance, in particular whole life insurance, plays an important role for private saving in Germany. Whole life insurance combines the insurance against uncertain death with a savings plan. Accordingly, a stylized model of life-cycle behavior would predict that whole life insurance...