Temptation and self-control in intertemporal choice environments are receiving increasing attention in the theoretical economics literature. Nevertheless, there remains a scarcity of empirical evidence from controlled environments informing behavior under repeated temptations. This is...

This article examines how government ideology influenced privatization efforts in Central and Eastern Europe after the transition from socialism. We analyse a dataset of privatization indicators covering small- and large-scale industries in 19 transition countries over the period 1990-2007 and...

The paper analyses the impact of pecuniary externalities in a two-sector economy with an incomplete market structure. Agents in each sector choose their proportion of risky investment. Sector specific risks are assumed to be perfectly negatively correlated. It is shown that the economy is more...

Auf die Finanzkrise haben die Zentralbanken und die Regierungen mit ungewöhnlichen Maßnahmen reagiert. Die Geldpolitik senkt die Zentralbankzinsen bis auf die Nullgrenze, die Wirtschaftspolitik ist bemüht, mit riesigen Konjunkturprogrammen die Rezession zu bekämpfen. Diese Maßnahmen...

Although the IS/LM-AS/AD model is still the central tool of macroeconomic teaching in most macroeconomic textbooks, it has been criticized by several economists. Colander (1995) demonstrated that the framework is logically inconsistent. Romer (2000) showed that it is unable to deal with a...

The draft treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union states that each member state may withdraw from the European Union following its own constitutional requirements. We argue that such a rule could lead into an increased use of threat of withdrawal to extract concessions in...

In the framework of an efficiency-wage model, Hoel [Journal of Economics (1990) 51: 89-99] argues that a reduction in the marginal income-tax rate reduces employment. The present note shows that this result depends on how the tax reform is assumed to change the burden per worker. If the tax...

Can the aging problem be solved by a higher birth rate? While the popular notion - \"if we have too many elderly we need more children in order to compensate for this\" - seems plausible, the results of economic theory are ambiguous at best. This paper employs a quantitative macroeconomic...

In this paper we assess the information content of seven widely cited early indicators for the euro area with respect to forecasting area-wide industrial production. To this end, we use various tests that are designed to compare competing forecast models. In addition to the standard...