We test whether financial incentives have an effect on weight reduction in a randomized controlled trial involving 700 obese persons assigned to three experimental groups. While two treatment groups obtain €150 and €300, respectively, for achieving an individually assigned target weight...

This paper contributes to the analysis of policy measures that attempt to reduce health care expenditures of insurers. We examine the impact of a cash bonus program for preventive health behavior of a German health insurer on prevention effort and health care expenditures using a unique...

Demographic change inevitably shifts the balance between contributors and recipients in the pension system. Moreover, in the German pension system benefit levels are closely linked to the current state of economic prosperity. Therefore, in the coming decades stabilisation of old-age security...

Die gute konjunkturelle Lage der deutschen Volkswirtschaft bietet der Bundesregierung hervorragende Möglichkeiten, Deutschland für die Herausforderungen der Zukunft zu wappnen. Was sind die drängendsten Probleme? Der demografische Wandel erfordert Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung des...