We conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate the impact of institutions and institutional choice on truth-telling and trust in sender-receiver games. We find that in an institution with sanctioning opportunities, receivers sanction predominantly after having trusted lies. Individuals who...

Vertrauen hat Konjunktur. Seit etlichen Jahren ist es en vogue, Vertrauen einzufordern. - Politiker fordern das "Vertrauen" der Wähler und konstatieren konsterniert, dass sie das Vertrauen der Wähler verloren haben (Der Spiegel Nr. 26; 2004: 24, Müntefering: 'Uns ist das Vertrauen der Menschen...

The replacement of appliances and other energy using products by more efficient ones is generally regarded as an effective strategy to reduce energy demand. However, the savings realized by this strategy may be lower than those theoretically expected or calculated from a technological point of...

We use a simple version of the Psychological Expected Utility Model (Caplin and Leahy, QJE, 2001) to analyze the optimal choice of information accuracy by an individual who is concerned with anticipatory feeling. The individual faces the following trade-off: on the one hand information may lead...

Evolutionary economics is a paradigm for explaining the transformation of the economy. To achieve its goal, it needs being founded on a proper theory of economic behavior. The paper discusses these foundations. It is argued that the historical malleability of economic behavior is based on the...