-
DIW Discussion Papers 1825 / 2019
We develop a structural model to address the question whether, and to what extent, expert panelists engage in herd behavior when voting on important policy questions. Our data comes from FDA advisory committees voting on questions concerning the approval of new drug applications. We utilize a change in the voting procedure from sequential to simultaneous voting to identify herding. Estimates suggest ...
2019| Melissa Newham, Rune Midjord
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1803 / 2019
Antibiotic resistance constitutes a major health threat. Predicting bacterial causes of infections is key to reducing antibiotic misuse, a leading cause of antibiotic resistance. We combine administrative and microbiological laboratory data from Denmark to train a machine learning algorithm predicting bacterial causes of urinary tract infections. Based on predictions, we develop policies to improve ...
2019| Michael A. Ribers, Hannes Ullrich
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1800 / 2019
I study the predictability of the EC’s merger decision procedure before and after the 2004 merger policy reform based on a dataset covering all affected markets of mergers with an official decision documented by DG Comp between 1990 and 2014. Using the highly flexible, non-parametric random forest algorithm to predict DG Comp’s assessment of competitive concerns in markets affected by a merger, I find ...
2019| Pauline Affeldt
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1797 / 2019
We study the evolution of the EC’s merger decision procedure over the first 25 years of European competition policy. Using a novel dataset constructed at the level of the relevant markets and containing all merger cases over the 1990-2014 period, we evaluate how consistently arguments related to structural market parameters were applied over time. Using non-parametric machine learning techniques, we ...
2019| Pauline Affeldt, Tomaso Duso, Florian Szücs
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1788 / 2019
This paper analyzes the effect of agglomeration economies on firms’ total factor productivity. We propose the use of a control function approach to overcome the econometric issue inherent to the two-stage approach commonly used in the literature. Estimations are conducted separately for four industry groups, defined by technological intensity, to allow for non-uniform effects of agglomeration economies ...
2019| Martin Gornig, Alexander Schiersch
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1787 / 2019
Starting from December 2012, insurers in the European Union were prohibited from charging gender-discriminatory prices. We examine the effect of this unisex mandate on risk segmentation in the German health insurance market. While gender used to be a pricing factor in Germany's private health insurance (PHI) sector, it was never used as a pricing factor in the social health insurance (SHI) sector. ...
2019| Shan Huang, Martin Salm
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1774 / 2018
A rich literature links knowledge inputs with innovative outputs. However, most of what is known is restricted to manufacturing. This paper analyzes whether the three aspects involving innovative activity - R&D; innovative output; and productivity - hold for knowledge intensive services. Combining the models of Crepon et al. (1998) and of Ackerberg et al. (2015), allows for causal interpretation of ...
2018| David B. Audretsch, Marian Hafenstein, Alexander S. Kritikos, Alexander Schiersch
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1772 / 2018
Understanding whether laws shape or simply reflect citizens’ attitudes is important but empirically difficult. We provide new evidence on this question by studying the relationship between legal same-sex relationship recognition policies (SSRRPs) and attitudes towards sexual minorities in Europe. Using data from the European Social Surveys covering 2002-2016 and exploiting variation in the timing of ...
2018| Cevat G. Aksoy, Christopher S. Carpenter, Ralph de Haas, Kevin Tran
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1744 / 2018
Many important decisions within public and private organizations are based on recommendations from expert committees and advisory boards. A notable example is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's advisory committees, which make recommendations on new drug applications. Previously the voting procedure for these committees was sequential, however, due to concerns of herding and momentum effects the ...
2018| Melissa Newham, Rune Midjord
-
DIW Discussion Papers 1738 / 2018
Common ownership - where two firms are at least partially owned by the same investor - and its impact on product market outcomes has recently drawn a lot of attention from scholars and practitioners alike. Theoretical and empirical researchsuggests that common ownership can lead to higher prices. This paper focuses on implications for market entry. To estimate the effect of common ownership on entry ...
2018| Melissa Newham, Jo Seldeslachts, Albert Banal-Estanol