Institutions matter both for long-term economic evolution as well as for more short-termed economic performance. The law is particularly important in shaping the institutional framework for economic activities. This paper gives an overview of typical evolutionary explanations of legal change,...

Insurance intermediation services are information services which exhibit strong information asymmetries. We empirically analyze whether signaling works in the German market for insurance intermediation services. For this a signal must increase service quality and be easily identifiable by...

Based on a sample of 946 German insurance intermediaries, the factors that affect the quality of the information services provided by them are studied using OLS-estimations. Applying a search theoretical approach, we analyze the impact of supply and demand side variables on service quality....

Insurance markets are characterized by profound market imperfections. Insurance intermediaries reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries. From transaction cost economics, agency theory, and law and economics literature the hypothesis is derived that insurance brokers may provide more...

Despite the advances in New Institutional Economics about the economic consequences of institutions and legal rules, up to now we have only limited knowledge about the mechanisms of the evolution of law. By combining the main ideas of Evolutionary Economics and New Institutional Economics this...

This paper analyses the potential effects of the open method of co-ordination on pension reforms in the European Union from an economic point of view. The main results are: (1) For the first time, the Commission formally participates in the input of pension policy-formation of the member states,...

Der folgende Beitrag stellt erste Ergebnisse einer schriftlichen Umfrage vor, die im Herbst 2001 bei Versicherungsvertretern und Versicherungsmaklern zum Thema Transparenz auf dem Markt für private Alterssicherung deutschlandweit durchgeführt wurde. Mit der zunehmenden Bedeutung, die der...

Obwohl die Kompetenz zur Ausgestaltung ihrer sozialen Sicherungssysteme nach wie vor bei den Mitgliedstaaten der europäischen Union liegt, wendet der Europäische Gerichtshof seiner bisherigen Tradition folgend das europäische Gemeinschaftsrecht zunehmend auch auf die wirtschaftliche Seite...

Institutions matter both for long-term economic evolution as well as for more short-termed economic performance. The law is particularly important in shaping the institutional framework for economic activities. This paper gives an overview of typical evolutionary explanations of legal change,...