Entrepreneurs tend to be risk tolerant but is higher risk tolerance always better? In a sample of about 2100 small businesses, we find an inverted U-shaped relation between risk tolerance and profitability. This relationship holds in a simple bilateral regression, and even after controlling for a large set of individual and business characteristics. Apparently, one major transmission goes from risk ...
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, established in 2015, aim to achieve global sustainability by 2030 through the improvement of environmental, social, and economic parameters. However, unlike earlier concepts such as the Agenda 21 of 1992, the SDGs overlook radioactive waste management and related challenges of radiation itself. First, we investigate the historic consideration ...
As variable renewable energy (VRE) sources increasingly gain importance in global energy systems, there is a growing interest in understanding periods of VRE shortage ('Dunkelflauten'). Defining, quantifying, and comparing such shortage events across different renewable generation technologies and locations presents a surprisingly intricate challenge. Various methodological approaches exist in different ...
Theory suggests that corporate and sovereign bonds are fundamentally different, also because sovereign debt has no bankruptcy mechanism and is hard to enforce. We show empirically that the two assets are more similar than you think, at least when it comes to high-yield bonds over the past 20 years. Based on rich new data we compare risky US corporate bonds (“junk” bonds) to risky emerging market sovereign ...
Untersuchungen zeigen: Die Deutschen sind zufriedener mit ihrer Lebenslage, als es so manche Umfrage suggeriert. Warum nur ist die Stimmung dann so mies? Die Stimmung in Deutschland scheint schlecht zu sein. Man hat das Gefühl, die deutsche Gesellschaft ist von einer mentalen Depression geprägt, so wie Bundespräsident Roman Herzog es 1997 monierte. Dieser Eindruck steht in starkem Kontrast zu wissenschaftlichen ...
Nitrate pollution from agricultural production is a major threat to water resources worldwide. This study quantifies the consequences of groundwater nitrate pollution for the drinking water supply sector by estimating the effect of groundwater nitrate pollution on the costs of water utilities. In doing so, we contribute to the estimation of the external costs of agricultural nonpoint pollution associated ...
Die Klima- und Umweltkrise ist eine der größten Bedrohungen für die Menschheit, und ihre Folgen sind allumfassend. Exemplarisch für die negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels werden in dieser Dissertation die Auswirkungen der klimawandelbedingten Ozonbelastung auf die Gesundheit und das Wohlbefinden der Menschen untersucht, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den unterschiedlichen Effekten von Ozon auf vulnerable ...
