This paper argues that the development of energy systems rests on a combination of three different domains of socio-economic processes and associated modes of decision-making. For shorthand these are termed ‘satisficing’, ‘optimising’, and ‘transforming’ domains, with corresponding underpinnings found in behavioural, neoclassical, and evolutionary economics respectively. Each domain operates at different ...
This paper, which is one of the first to estimate productivity in retail electricity for a European country after liberalisation, analyses the effect of ownership and governance structure by using a unique dataset of German electricity retailers from 2003 to 2012. An innovative service production function for the retail sector is derived with labour and external services as the main inputs. A structural ...
The paper aims at measuring the rental housing market regulations in Germany between 1913 and 2015. Four classes of housing policy are considered: Rent controls, tenant protection, rationing of housing, and fostering of social housing. Based on a thorough analysis of federal and regional legislation, for each class, an index is constructed, increasing in degree of regulation. The average of class-specific ...
Big data is transforming the world we live in. The instant availability of information impacts how individuals consume, how businesses thrive or fail, how society makes scientific discoveries, as well as how governments design and implement informed policies. At a pace and scale unanticipated 20 years ago, information technology is enabling consumers globally. Uncountable services make use of a...
Damit Maßnahmen gegen den Klimawandel weltweit greifen, ist es unerlässlich, Wirtschaftswachstum so umzugestalten, dass es weniger von fossilen Rohstoffen und den damit verbundenen Treibhausgasen (THG) abhängt. Das Jahr 2014 war das erste seit Jahrzehnten, in dem global die Wirtschaft wuchs und die THG-Emissionen der Energiebranche dennoch sanken. In der vorliegenden Studie soll versucht werden, diese ...
