The purpose of this paper is to present a framework forincentive-compatible regulation that would enable regulatorsto ensure that riskier banks maintain higher capitalholdings.Under the precommitment approach, a bankannounces the appropriate level of capital that covers themaximum value of...

This paper considers the optimal communication spanning tree (OCST) problem. Previouswork analyzed features of high-quality solutions and found that edges in optimal solutions havelow weight and point towards the center of a tree. Consequently, integrating this problem-specific knowledge into a...

The theme of this year's WDR is how to structure institutions to bring about an effectively functioning market economy. There is no question that political institutions play a key role here. In most countries political institutions determine the rules of access to considerable discretionary...

In a punishment experiment, we separate the demand for punishmentin general from a possible demand to conduct punishmentpersonally. Subjects experience an unfair split of their earnings froma real effort task and have to decide on the punishment of the personwho determines the distribution....

We estimate the wage penalty associated with working in the South African informal sector.To this end we use a rich data set on non-self employed males that allows one to accuratelydistinguish workers employed in the informal sector from those employed in the formal sectorand link individuals...

In public good provision, privileged groups enjoy the advantage that some of its membersfind it optimal to supply a positive amount of the public good. However, their inherentasymmetric nature may make the enforcement of cooperative behavior through informalsanctioning harder to accomplish...

Retributive responses do play a role in human behavior. Whether they are primarily triggered by supposed intentions or by observed consequences of actions is an important question. It can be addressed by experimental studies of retributive responses in situations in which the individual actor my...

This paper experimentally investigates whether risk-averseindividuals punish less if the outcome of punishment is uncertain thanwhen it is certain. Our design includes three treatments: Baseline inwhich the one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game is played; CertainPunishment in which the prisoner’s...