The overall aim of this study is to investigate energy transition processes in rural areas by paying particular attention to the role of energy cooperatives in these processes. The study should mainly uncover, if and under which conditions energy cooperatives provide favourable structures for...

The empirical literature is inconclusive about whether a country's democratization goes hand in hand with a reallocation of economic resources. With newly available individual-level data of former residents of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), we analyse how supporters and...

The concept of path-dependence is applied on the Chinese transition to the market economy, bearing the questions in mind, firstly, whether in China a new model of "market socialism" is emerging, and secondly, whether China is a successful case of gradualism as opposed to "big bang" transition. I...

The empirical literature is inconclusive about whether a country’s democratization has a long-lasting impact on former supporters or opponents of the bygone regime. With newly available individual-level data of former residents of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), we analyze how...

Traditional economic theory describes economic agents as being perfectly rational. According to this approach, agents posses all necessary information and have the ability to process this information to make the best decision for maximizing their profit. However, in the real world this...

The research project WWWforEurope undertakes to lie the theoretical and empirical foundations for the embarkment on a new socio-ecological growth path in Europe. The new path underlines the need to guarantee Welfare as a broad universal principle for its population, assuring economic and social...

This research explores the economic causes and consequences of language structures. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that variations in pre-industrial geographical characteristics that were conducive to higher returns to agricultural investment, gender gaps in agricultural...

Climate change and other sustainability problems represent unprecedented challenges to humanity today. Because of such challenges there is a need for fundamental social changes of current unsustainable society. There is essential advanced interdisciplinary scientific contribution for informing...

This research explores the geographical origins of the coevolution of cultural and linguistic traits in the course of human history, relating the geographical roots of long-term orientation to the structure of the future tense, the agricultural determinants of gender bias to the presence of...