Based on the standard axiom of individual utility maximization, rational choice has postulated that higher income inequality translates into greater redistribution by shaping the median voter's preferences. While numerous papers have tested this proposition, the literature has remained divided...

Four types of economics" relevant for institutional analysis are distinguished: Standard Neoclassical Economics; Socio-Economics or Social Economics; New Institutional Economics; and Psychological Economics (often misleadingly called Behavioural Economics). The paper argues that an extension of...

Bis heute stellt das Paradigma der Neoklassik und ihrer neueren Formen (Institutionenökonomik, Informationsökonomik) die wichtigste theoretische Grundlage der Verbraucherpolitik dar. Heute sucht diese jedoch nach neuen, empirisch basierten Konzepten für ihre strategische Ausrichtung. Eine...

Dieser Beitrag bestimmt das Verhältnis zwischen Verhaltensökonomik und Ordnungsethik. Er entwickelt in acht Thesen das Argument, dass ein methodisch reflektiertes Homo-Oeconomicus-Modell unverzichtbar wichtige Beiträge zu Forschung und Lehre zu leisten vermag: zur Erforschung der situativen...

Theories of industrial organization (IO) are tested in the laboratory more and more often. The example we consider throughout the paper is oligopoly theory, specifically, the Cournot and the Stackelberg model of duopolistic quantity competition with homogeneous products. These models have often...

Many development policies and programmes are premised on a traditional economic model of rationality to predict how individuals will respond to changes in incentives. Despite the emphasis of these programmes on poverty reduction, economists and the development community in general are still...

Utilitarian foundations for limited government are shaky insofar as they assume rational and consistent individuals. Recently economists' assumption of rational actors has come under sustained attack. Behavioural economics has suggested that people are plagued by irrational biases and...