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Sovereign Haircuts: 200 Years of Creditor Losses

We study sovereign external debt crises over the past 200 years, with a focus on creditor losses, or “haircuts”. Our sample covers 327 sovereign debt restructurings with external private creditors over 205 default spells since 1815. Creditor losses vary widely (from none to 100%), but the statistical distribution has remained remarkably stable over two centuries, with an average haircut of around 45 ...

Cumulative Socioeconomic Risk Factors and Infant Temperament

The Non-linear Impact of Risk Tolerance on Entrepreneurial Profit and Business Survival

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 ...

(Re)Integrating Radioactive Materials and Waste into a Global Sustainable Development Context

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 ...

Measuring the Dunkelflaute: How (not) to Analyze Variable Renewable Energy Shortage

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 ...

Sovereign vs. Corporate Debt and Default: More Similar than You Think

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 ...

External Costs of Water Pollution in the Drinking Water Supply Sector

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 ...

Air Pollution Impacts and Energy Infrastructure Efficiency: Empirical Evidence with Official Micro Data

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 ...

Education, Expectations, and the Economy: Four Essays in Education and Labor Economics

Diese Dissertation umfasst vier eigenständige Kapitel, die zur Literatur in der BildungsundArbeitsmarktökonomie beitragen. Sie zeigen auf, welche Determinanten zu denLohnerwartungen von Abiturienten beitragen (Kapitel 1) und wie diese Erwartungenzusammen mit Arbeitsmarktbedingungen zum Zeitpunkt des Abiturs (Kapitel2), Studiengangsrankings (Kapitel 3) und Studiengebühren (Kapitel 4) nachschulischeHumankapitalinvestitionen ...

Power Sector Impacts of a Simultaneous European Heat Pump Rollout

The decarbonization of buildings requires the phase-out of fossil fuel heating systems. Heat pumps are considered a crucial technology to supply a substantial part of heating energy for buildings. Yet, their introduction is not without challenges, as heat pumps generate additional electricity demand as well as peak loads. To better understand these challenges, an ambitious simultaneous heat pump rollout ...