In credence goods markets, experts have better information about the appropriate quality of treatment than their customers. As experts provide both diagnosis and treatment, this leaves scope for fraud. We experimentally investigate how intensity of price competition and the level of customer...

The paper proves the existence of equilibrium in nonrenewable resource markets when extraction costs are non-convex and resource storage is possible. Inventories flatten the consumption path and eliminate price jumps at the end of the extraction period. Market equilibrium becomes then possible,...

We study the impact of economic policy on the importance of history and expectations for the macroeconomic performance of an economy. In our model the energy mix is based on the conversion of heterogeneous energy sources. Markups over marginal costs are endogenous so that the marginal revenue...

The paper analyses the effect of interest rate changes on education and child labor in an economy with a high-skilled sector, a low-skilled sector and fragmented credit markets. The high-skilled sector takes educated labor as input. The low-skilled sector takes unskilled labor, physical capital...

Hurdle and zero-in ated models are the two foremost methods used to deal with excess zeros. However, their reliance on the nonparticipation assumption is a drawback when applied to recreation demand analysis because there is not a theoretical framework convincingly explaining presence of...

We consider a carbon emissions tax announced today, but implemented after a known time-lag. Before implementation, the announcement induces higher emissions than without intervention. In welfare terms, this adverse announcement effect could more than outweigh the gain after tax implementation....

We study the consequences and optimal design of bank deposit insurance in a general equilibrium model. The model involves two production sectors. One sector is financed by issuing bonds to risk-averse households. Firms in the other sector are monitored and financed by banks. Households fund...

Governments design taxation schemes to capture resource rent. However, they usually propose contracts with limited duration and possess less information on the resources than the extractive firms do. This paper investigates how information asymmetry on costs and an inability to commit to...

This dissertation was written by Johannes Pfeiffer while he was working with the ifo Institute for Economic Research. It was completed in November 2016 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the department of economics of the University Regensburg in December 2016. The thesis studies unintended...