This paper analyses second-best optimal environmental policies in the presence of a double dividend. Using a partial equilibrium model, the paper first reconfirms the well-known result that the existence of a double dividend (in its weak form) favours environmental policy instruments which -...

We use the differences between life satisfaction and emotional well-being of employed and unemployed persons to analyze how a person’s employment status affects cognitive well-being. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on cognitive, but not on affective well-being, which...

Adaptation is omnipresent but people systematically fail to correctly anticipate the degree to which they adapt. This leads individuals to make inefficient intertemporal decisions. This paper concerns optimal income taxation to correct for such anticipation-biases in a framework where consumers...

Ab dem 1.Januar 2015 soll in Deutschland ein flächendeckender Mindestlohn von 8,50 € gelten. Die Warnungen vor Arbeitsplatzverlusten werden meist mit Verweis auf internationale Erfahrungen als ungerechtfertigt zurückgewiesen. Beispielsweise wurde 1999 in Großbritannien der Mindestlohn neu...

Extraction of shale gas in Germany (fracking) is better left as an option for the future. Today, owners of deposits in many other countries have uncertain property rights and extract too quickly. German deposits may appreciate in value if left in the ground. They also better contribute to...

This paper studies a revenue-neutral green tax reform that substitutes energy for wage taxes in an open economy with unemployment. As long as the labour tax rate exceeds the energy tax rate, such a reform will increase employment, reduce the domestic firms’ unit cost of production and hence...

When consumers choose between clean and dirty goods and the labour market clears, a green tax reform may not bring about a double dividend in the sense of increasing environmental quality and increasing employment. However, when firms choose between clean and dirty factors of production, and...

This paper studies a revenue-neutral green tax reform that substitutes energy for wage taxes in an open economy with unemployment. As long as the labour tax rate exceeds the energy tax rate, such a reform will increase employment, reduce the domestic firms' unit cost of production and hence...