The Internet has significantly expanded worldwide, changing our relationship with the world, and the way we communicate, educate, and inform ourselves. Africa, despite having a very low number of fixed-broadband subscriptions for 100 inhabitants, has not escaped the Internet phenomenon, as the...

Long-term beneficial welfare state reforms not only face opposition from powerful insiders and beneficiaries of the system in place. While potential losers from a policy change are often relatively easy to spot, ewll-designed reforms generate mostly diffuse gains, and the potential winners are...

Luisa Dörr prepared this study while she was working at the ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy. The study was completed in February 2022 and accepted as doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It consists of three distinct empirical essays...

This thesis examines the reciprocity between the economy and elections, politicians, and policies. To inform voters about the consequences of their ballot choices, understanding the triangular relationship between the economy, political actors, and policies is essential. In representative...

This thesis consists of five independent chapters, studying how economic agents respond to unanticipated shocks. Chapter 1 shows that a well-intentioned policy can create unintended barrier to voting by creating seemingly small shocks to voting costs. Election administrators in Munich control...

Die vorliegende Studie zeigt auf Basis der IW-Personenbefragung 2024, dass rund 62 Prozent der Deutschen die Wahl des Europäischen Parlaments für wichtig halten. Dies ist das Ergebnis unter rund 5.200 Befragten. Der Anteil liegt damit in etwa so hoch wie die Wahlbeteiligung im Jahr 2019. Die...