Summary We examine the impact of tuition fees for long-term students at the University of Konstanz. Applying duration analysis to examine how tuition fees influence when and how students finish their studies in six different majors, we find significant effects with respect to the hazard rates of...

We study the effects of "balance billing", i.e., allowing physicians to charge a fee from patients in addition to the fee paid by Medicare. First, we show that on pure efficiency grounds the optimal Medicare fee under balance billing is zero. An active Medicare policy thus can only be justified...

Das gegenwärtige Finanzierungssystem der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung (GVK) steht auf der Kippe. Die "Kommission für die Nachhaltigkeit der Finanzierung der Sozialen Sicherungssysteme", besser bekannt als Rürup-Kommission, hat zwei verschiedene Finanzierungskonzepte vorgeschlagen: die...

We study the effects of 'balance billing', i.e., allowing physicians to charge a fee from patients in addition to the fee paid by Medicare. First, we show that on pure efficiency grounds the optimal Medicare fee under balance billing is zero. An active Medicare policy thus can only be justified...

In 2009 the German central health fund was implemented. It was the result of a political compromise. One political party intended to equalise the risk structure among 130 different health care funds, and the other wanted to intensify competition and to improve efficiency among the different...