This paper develops a simple model that analyses the relationship between a country's oil endowment and the duration of its autocratic leader. The dictator uses the rents from oil extraction for both personal gain and to pay-off potential opposition and chooses an optimal level of oil...

We find a U-shaped relation between happiness and religiosity in cross-country panel data after controlling for income levels. At a given level of income, the same level of happiness can be reached with high and low levels of religiosity, but not with intermediate levels. A rise in income causes...

By using a game theoretical approach and the notion of 'forum' or 'regime shifting' this paper examines the multiple interfaces of the multinational pharmaceutical corporations (MNPCs) with their major counterparts at home and abroad, including the governments of the North and South, the...

The European Union growth agenda has become even more pressing because growth is needed to support public and private sector deleveraging, reduce the fragility of the banking sector, counter the falling behind of southern European countries and prove that Europe is still a worthwhile place to...

- Data from 135 countries covering five decades suggests that creditless recoveries, in which the stock of real credit does not return to the pre-crisis level for three years after the GDP trough, are not rare and are characterised by remarkable real GDP growth rates: 4.7 percent per year in...

Public authorities overseeing the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, through the Monitoring Board in place since early 2009, should encourage the Foundation to make itself more directly accountable to the global investment community. The Monitoring Board should...

Die chinesische Währungspolitik steht weltweit in der Kritik. Die Dollarbindung des Yuan hat sich jedoch als Stabilitätsanker für die ostasiatische Region bewährt. Der globale Handel profitiert von der stabilen Wirtschaftsentwicklung in dieser Region. Allerdings führt das Festhalten an...

Auf der UN-Klimakonferenz in Cancun im Dezember 2010 haben sich die teilnehmenden Staaten auf ein Maßnahmenpaket geeinigt, das auch einen globalen Grünen Klimafonds enthält. Der Design-Prozess dieses Fonds steht jetzt auf der politischen Agenda. Eine verbesserte Koordinierung der...

Die US-Zentralbank hat begonnen, mit ihrem Quantitative Easing 2 (QE2) die Märkte mit Liquidität zu überschwemmen. Betroffen sind nicht allein die USA, sondern vor allem Länder, die ihre Währung an den US-Dollar gebunden haben. Aber auch flexible Wechselkurse bieten nur geringen Schutz vor...

Starting a firm with expansive potential is an option for educated and high-skilled workers. This option serves as an insurance against unemployment caused by labor market frictions and hence increases the incentives for education. We show within a matching model that reducing the start-up costs...