In 2003, Germany switched from a fee-for-service (FFS) system to a fixed-fee prospective payment system (PPS) in reimbursement schemes for hospitals. In close cooperation with two hospitals in Germany we have compiled a data set to analyze the impacts of the new system on the length of stay in...

Recently, the European Commission has issued the Directive 2004/35/CE on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental liability. The Directive extends liability that usually refers to personal injuries and private property to harm where private property...

Assuming that the willingness to find a potentially innocent defendant guilty is decreasing in punishments, we derive two results: Deterrence is decreasing when punishments are too high, and deterrence maximizing punishments tend to increase in the quality of legal systems.

Following the financial crisis, many countries introduced fiscal stimulus packages making budget consolidations in the future rather challenging. Using a data set for 28 OECD countries spanning the period 1978–2007, we contribute to the literature on success probabilities of consolidation...

In legal systems all over the world, injurers are held liable only when the probability of having caused an accident exceeds a critical threshold (causation standard) and when behaving negligently. In a complete information framework, the joint use of the two instruments is puzzling as both...

Following the financial crisis, many countries introduced fiscal stimulus packages making budget consolidations in the future rather challenging. Using a data set for 28 OECD countries spanning the period 1978-2007, we contribute to the literature on success probabilities of consolidation...