This paper investigates whether there is a convergence in welfare state policies among the old EU member states. To identify such trends, we rely on pension and unemployment net replacement rates as well as on public social expenditures. Empirically, we use a sample of 14 economies (EU-15 excl....

The European Employment Strategy (EES) aims to promote convergence of domestic labour market policies by soft law instruments. Previous studies on the impact of the EES are mainly focused on active labour market policies. The present study aims at explaining cross national variation in national...

We investigate the density of private physicians in a two-tiered health care system, i.e., one with co-existing public and private health care providers. In particular, we analyze how the densities of private and public suppliers of outpatient health care (general practitioners and specialists)...

We investigated the determinants of disparities in the regional density of private dentists in Austria. Specifically, we focused on the relationship between the density of private dentists and their public counterparts, thereby controlling for other possible covariates of dentist density....

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird untersucht, ob sich ein internationales Vorgehen gegen Steueroasen rechtfertigen lässt und welche Instrumente dabei gewählt werden sollen. Es wird argumentiert, dass durch die Ausklammerung der Unternehmensbesteuerung aus den OECD Maßnahmen gegen Steueroasen...

Empirical evidence from U.S. studies suggests that female physicians earn less than their male counterparts, on average. The earnings gap does not disappear when individual and market characteristics are controlled for. This paper investigates whether a gender earnings difference can also be...

This paper provides a framework to evaluate human life based on civil court decisions on damages for pain and suffering. Using judgements from Germany and Austria over the last 25 years, we calculate an average Value of Damages for Pain and Suffering (VDPS) of about EUR 1.79 millions, with a...

This paper analyzes the relationship between corporate taxation, firm age and debt. We adapt a standard model of capital structure choice under corporate taxation, focusing on the financing and investment decisions a firm is typically faced with. Our model suggests that the debt ratio is...

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the relationship between environmental regulation and firm behavior. In particular, we ask whether and how strongly an industry's investment responds to stringency in environmental regulation. Environmental stringency is measured as (i) an...

This paper assesses the role of distance in professional team sports, taking the example of football (soccer). We argue that a team's performance in terms of scored and conceded goals decreases with the distance to the foreign playing venue. To test this hypothesis empirically, we investigate...