Recent findings in Economic Psychology on the thinking and judgment of economic laymen can help to improve economic policy advice. First, based on psychological theories and empirical findings, the notion of the Homo oeconomicus is challenged. The economic situation is judged by laymen using...

The growing shadow economy in Germany is a challenge to the welfare state and economic policy. The burden of taxation and social security contributions combined with rising state regulatory activities are the main causes for the increase in the shadow economy. The consequences are ambivalent,...

Research output in economics is commonly measured based on the reputation of the journals in which an author has published. Using data from the 2010 Handelsblatt ranking of economists in German speaking countries and citation data from the Web of Science, we examine the relationship between...

Europe has implemented in the year 2005 an emissions trading system in order to fulfill the Kyoto emissions reduction targets. In principle, the instrument should be a cost-efficient measure of climate protection. But within the first implementation phase because of a over-allocation of...

This article presents the results of a survey among the members of the "Verein für Socialpolitik", the association of German speaking economists, containing questions on schools of thought, economic role models and policy issues. A probit analysis is used to identify to what extent ideological...

As the shadow economy is increasing in almost all OECD countries this paper analyses the theoretical reasons why people work in the shadow economy. Three approaches are presented, models of time allocation, transaction models and models of tax evasion. The major reason for a growing shadow...