A number of shortcomings in Germany's efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, including fraudulent testing, vaccination fraud and insufficient testing capacity have been identified and need to be remedied before another wave or worse, another pandemic. This paper examines the failures...

Critics protest loudly against restrictions imposed by politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: Mandatory masks, lockdowns, school and business closures. This paper examines (1) the extent to which these policies have indirectly contributed to limiting the number of COVID-19 cases...

Using the 2012-13 American Time Use Survey, I find that both who people spend time with and how they spend it affect their happiness, adjusted for numerous demographic and economic variables. Satisfaction among married individuals increases most with additional time spent with spouse. Among...

We study individual demand for COVID-19 antibody tests in an incentivized study on a representative sample of the US population. Almost 2,000 participants trade off obtaining an athome test kit against money. At prices close to zero, 80 percent of individuals want the test. However, this broad...

This study assesses the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic on poverty levels in 50 African countries by employing the PovcalNet computational tool for poverty monitoring. The empirical evidence is based on: (i) Pre Covid-19 macroeconomic projections of October 2019 and revised macroeconomic...

Durch die Änderung des Infektionsschutzgesetzes Ende November 2021 wurde die Abbildung der 3G- und 2G-Quoten auf betrieblicher Ebene knapp ein Jahr nach Beginn der Impfungen möglich. Mithilfe einer Online-Blitzumfrage der Unternehmerverbände Niedersachsen, IHK Hannover, creditreform und dem...

Impfpflichten sind aus ökonomischer Sicht ein negativer Anreiz, sich impfen zu lassen. Im Einzelfall genauso wirksame positive Anreize - etwa staatlich finanzierte Impfprämien - können flexibler gestaltet werden, einige Nachteile starrer gesetzlicher Impfpflichten vermeiden und womöglich...

We study individual demand for COVID-19 antibody tests in an incentivized study on a representative sample of the US population. Almost 2,000 participants trade off obtaining an athome test kit against money. At prices close to zero, 80 percent of individuals want the test. However, this broad...

Public health experts have been predicting imminent threat of pandemic influenza. The latest US preparedness plans use the single statistic of case-fatality as the basis to evaluate any new threats. On this basis, Avian flu (H5N1) has been declared the single pandemic threat of concern, such...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments had to rapidly implement lockdown policies that restricted human mobility to suppress the spread of the disease and reduce mortality. Although this intervention was successful in saving lives, it delivered a serious shock to the economy and decimated...