The memo consists of six papers on a common theme: applying economic analysis to subjects at the time, 1972, considered non-economic. The first paper considers changes in preferences. The second considers strategies of a regime and its opposition. The Third discusses collective decision making...

This text attempts to estimate the impacts of Bolsa Família upon grade repetition using matched data from the Single Registry, the Attendance Project and the annual school censuses. Three approaches are used: i) comparison of results for poor children in the Single Registry with and without the...

Many politicians believe they can intervene in the economy to improve people's lives. But can they? In a social experiment carried out in the United Kingdom, extensive in-work support was randomly assigned among 16,000 disadvantaged people. We follow a sub-sample of 3,500 single parents for 5...

In diesem Bericht werden die Zwischenergebnisse der Begleitforschung 2012 bis 2013 zum Modellvorhaben LandZukunft des Bundesministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) vorgestellt. Das Modellvorhaben läuft von 2012 bis Ende 2014 in vier aus ursprünglich 17 Landkreisen ausgewählten...

We evaluate the impact of a major European state aid program for broadband deployment applied to rural areas in the German State of Bavaria in the years 2010 and 2011. Using difference-in-differences estimation strategies, we find that aided municipalities have - depending on broadband quality -...

The paper analyzes how geographical clustering of beneficiaries might affect the effectiveness of public innovation support programs. The geographical proximity of firms operating in the same industry or field of technology is expected to facilitate innovation through knowledge spillovers and...

I develop a dynamic model of forward-looking entrepreneurs, who decide whether to operate in the formal economy or informal economy and choose how much to invest in their businesses, taking government policy as given. The government has access to two policy tools: taxes on formal business...

This paper assesses the effect of political institutions on stock market performance in 14 African countries for which stock market data is available for the period 1990-2010. The estimation technique used is a Two-Stage-Least Squares Instrumental Variable methodology. Political regime channels...

This paper examines interconnections between law, politics and the quality of government in Africa. We investigate whether African democracies enjoy relatively better government quality compared to their counterparts with more autocratic inclinations. The empirical evidence is based on...

Das Wirtschaftswachstum eines Landes hängt immer stärker von dessen Innovationsfähigkeit ab. Ohne ein leistungsfähiges und international vernetztes Innovationssystem wird Deutschland den zunehmenden Herausforderungen im Zuge der Globalisierung immer weniger gewachsen sein. Über die...