Overconfidence leads to risky behavior, including when people are around guns. Does overconfidence also shape attitudes about gun ownership and use? We evaluate this possibility by conducting nationally representative surveys in six countries in the Americas, including the United States. Results...

We examine the relationship between scientific knowledge and the legal system with a focus on the exclusion of expert testimony from trial as ruled by the Daubert standard in the US. We introduce a simple framework to understand and assess the role of judges as 'gatekeepers', monitoring the...

A key issue in the debate over gun control is how it will affectthe relative incentives of criminals and law-abiding citizens to acquireguns. We propose a simple model of interaction of criminals and law-abiding citizens as a contest where the parties arm themselves in orderto improve their...

Economists generally assume that the state has sufffcient institutional capacityto support markets and levy taxes, assumptions which cannot be taken forgranted in many states, neither historcally nor in today’s developing world.Our paper develops a framework where "policy choices" in market...

This paper analyses the connection between legal origins and generalized trust. Based on recent results of institutions and trust research it argues that legal origins and trust are connected via the beliefs of agents. Next, it develops hypotheses about a complex and self-reinforcing causal...

Nach § 147 Abs. 6 AO (Abgabenordnung) haben die Finanzbehörden im Rahmen einer Außenprüfung das Recht, Einsicht in die gespeicherten Daten zu nehmen (...). Hiervon betroffen sind Betriebs-, Umsatzsteuersonder-, Lohnsteueraußen- und Kapitalertragssteuerprüfungen sowie die...

Am Beispiel des Hochschulmanagements auf fünf Ebenen werden verschiedene Formen der normativen, insbesondere ethischen Analyse vorgestellt und deren Grenzen aufgezeigt.

Dieser Beitrag setzt sich mit dem Verhältnis von Schattenwirtschaft und Korruptionauseinander. Es wird insbesondere die Frage untersucht, welche Rolle die Schattenwirtschaftin korrupten Ökonomien spielt. Die Schattenwirtschaft begrenzt letztendlich dieMacht korrupter Institutionen, indem sie...

We investigate the origin, impact and evolution of citizenship laws. Citizenship laws originate from the common and civil law traditions, which apply jus soli and jus sanguinis, respectively. We compile a data set across countries of the world starting from the 19th century. The impact of the...

This paper investigates the merits of different democratic institutions when politics is uni-dimensional, there is uncertainty both about the preferences of the future electorate and the future polarization of political parties, and politicians have better information about the state of the...