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

Beta regression - an increasingly popular approach for modeling rates and proportions - is extended in various directions: (a) bias correction/reduction of the maximum likelihood estimator, (b) beta regression tree models by means of recursive partitioning, (c) latent class beta regression by...

This paper suggests that one should account for the endogeneity of important explanatory variables and the persistence of technology shocks when analyzing spatial convergence among regions.Specifically, it is argued that a systems approach is called for that includes the average growth rate and...

Using a spatial systems estimator to incorporate spatial interactions and endogeneity of income levels and migration, this paper finds a positive effect of migration on cohesion within the European Union on the NUTS 2 level. As migration can generally be observed from low to high income regions,...

This paper uses model-based recursive partitioning to study economic growth in the 255 European Union NUTS2 regions over the period 1995-2005. The starting point of the analysis is a human-capital augmented Solow-type growth equation similar in spirit to Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992). Initial...

Many economic decisions are made jointly within households. This raises the question about spouses? relative influence on joint decisions and the determinants of relative influence. Using a controlled experiment (on inter-temporal choice), we let each spouse first make individual decisions and...

We run a large-scale natural field experiment to evaluate alternative strategies to enforce compliance with the law. The experiment varies the text of mailings sent to potential evaders of TV license fees. We find a strong alert effect of mailings, leading to a substantial increase in...

Many tournaments are plagued by sabotage among competitors. Typically, sabotage is welfare-reducing, but from an individual's perspective an attractive alternative to exerting positive effort. Yet, given its illegal and often immoral nature, sabotage is typically hidden, making it difficult to...

Credence goods are characterized by informational asymmetries between sellers and consumers that invite fraudulent behavior by sellers. This paper presents the results of a natural field experiment on taxi rides in Athens, Greece, set up to measure different types of fraud and to examine the...

A publisher uses an honor system for selling a newspaper in the street. The customers are supposed to pay, but they can also pay less than the price or not pay at all. We conduct an experiment to study honesty in this market. The results show that appealing to honesty increases payments, whereas...