Successful development programs rely on people to behave and choose in certain ways, and behavioral economics helps us understand why people behave and choose as they do. Approaching problems in development using behavioral economics thus leads to better

Household energy conservation has emerged as a major challenge and opportunity for researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Consumers also seem to be gaining greater awareness of the value and need for sustainable energy practices, particularly amid growing public concerns over greenhouse...

Der Verhaltensoekonomik wird das Potenzial zugeschrieben, Erkenntnisse ueber moralisches Verhalten und Gerechtigkeitsvorstellungen durch Beruecksichtigung von psychologischen und verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Faktoren in wirtschaftlichen, aber auch gesellschaftlichen Kontexten zu generieren....

Die Arbeit zielt auf die Begruendung eines komplementaeren Verhaeltnisses einer voraussetzungsaermeren Ordnungsethik und der Verhaltensoekonomik ab. Dabei zeigt sie erstens, inwiefern der Rekurs auf ein bestimmtes Homo-Oeconomicus-Modell als Zurechnungsschema (Heuristik) zu einer methodologisch...

Abstract: This paper is a comment on Ronald Gilson and Alan Schwarz “Constraints on Private Benefits of Control: Ex Ante Control Mechanisms versus Ex Post Transaction Review”. Together with that paper it will appear in the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 169 (1) in 2013,...

We report the results of experiments where in each period of her lifetime the subject must choose how to allocate real earned income between health investment and life enjoyment in each period of a nine-period life in order to maximize aggregate life enjoyment. The key dynamic optimization...

This article examines individual and social influences on investments in health and enjoyment from immediate consumption. We report the results of a lab experiment that mimics the problem of health investment over a lifetime, building on Grossman’s (1972a, 1972b) theoretical framework....

Who was the greater economist — Adam Smith or Charles Darwin? The question seems absurd. Darwin, after all, was a naturalist, not an economist. But Robert Frank, «The New York Times’» economics columnist and best-selling author of «The Economic Naturalist», predicts that within the next...

In this paper we establish a link between probabilistic cost efficiency and bounded rationality in the newsvendor model. This establishes a framework where bounded rationality can be examined rigorously by statistical methods. The paper offers a relatively deep theoretical analysis of...

We study the fair allocation of a one-dimensional and perfectly divisible good when individuals have other-regarding preferences. Assuming no legitimate claims and purely ordinal preferences, how should society measure social welfare so as to satisfy basic principles of efficiency and fairness?...