Paternalism is an attempt to influence the decisions of individuals for their own benefit even if there are no third parties involved. This seems to be a contradiction to normative individualism which provides the general or ientation of our modern demo cracies. Soft or libertarian paternalism...

Zunächst wird eine kurze Übersicht über die verschiedenen Wege empirischer Forschung gegeben, die heute begangen werden. Danach wird die historische Entwicklung der empirischen Wirtschaftsforschung aufgezeigt. Es folgt eine Darstellung der Grundkonzeption der traditionellen ökonometrischen...

People are reluctant to admit mistakes. This could also be true of economic forecasters. If revisions of past forecasts are costly, then it will become optimal for forecasters to only partially adjust a past forecast in the light of new information. The unwillingness to admit to the mistake in...

Using an applied general equilibrium of the Swiss economy the economic consequences of an environmental tax reform are analysed. Such a reform is followed by a substantial reduction of C02 emissions and the use of non-renewable energy (first dividend), and a reduction of involuntary...

Whether democracy or capitalism should have normative priority depends on the philosophi- cal point of view but also how both are defined. The more rele vant perspective is, however, the positive one. Formally, politics dominate, bu t the economy often dominates de facto be- cause political...

The German Council of Economic Experts (GCEE) has the legal mandate to independently assess the state of the German economy, to formulate its expert opinion regarding issues of economic policy and to alert readers to any undesirable developments which threaten to arise in this context. While...