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Impact Assessment of Emissions Stabilization Scenarios with and without Induced Technological Change

The main aim of this paper is to investigate quantitatively the economic impacts of emissions stabilization scenarios with and without the inclusion of induced technological change (ITC). Improved technological innovations are triggered by increased research and development (R&D) expenditures that advance energy efficiencies. Model results show that ITCs due to increased investment in R&D reduce compliance ...

On Estimating an Asset's Implicit Beta

A.F. Siegel (1995) has developed a technique with which the systematic risk of a security (beta) can be estimated without recourse to historical capital market data. Instead, beta is estimated implicity from the current market prices of exchange options that enable the exchange of a security against shares on the market index. Because this type of exchange options is not currently traded on the capital ...

Liability for Climate Change: The Benefits, the Costs, and the Transaction Costs

Theories of Behavior in Principal-Agent Relationship with Hidden Action

In a laboratory experiment, we investigate behavior in a principal-agent situation with moral hazard. We evaluate the predictive success of two theories. One is the standard agency theory, which assumes that the agent will accept any contract offer that satisfies his participation constraint, typically requiring zero expected utility. The other is the "fair-offer" theory suggested by Keser and Willinger ...

Desired Lifetime and End-of-Life Desires across Adulthood from 20 to 90: A Dual-Source Information Model

How long do people want to live, and how does scientific research on aging affect such desires? A dual-source information model proposes that aging expectations and desires are informed differently by two sources: personal experiences on the one hand, and scientific and societal influences on the other. Two studies with independent German national samples explored desires regarding length of life and ...

What Makes an Entrepreneur and Does It Pay? Native Men, Turks, and Other Migrants in Germany

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial endeavours of immigrants' and natives in Germany, concentrating on Turks, Germany's largest immigrant group and one under-studied in the literature. Self-employed Turks in Germany represent about 70 per cent of all Turkish entrepreneurs in the European Union. We use data from the German Socio-economic Panel to study patterns of self-employment. First, we identify ...

On the Choice of Public Pensions When Income and Life Expectancy Are Correlated

The paper presents a model where public pensions are determined by majority voting. Voters differ by age and income. Moreover, life expectancy increases with income. Depending on the strength of the link between contributions and benefits, and the relationship between income and life expectancy, individually optimal tax rates may increase or decrease with income. If they decrease, high tax rates are ...

Innovationen für ein klimafreundliches Stromsystem

Effects of Tariffication: Tariffs and Quotas under Monopolistic Competition

Recent rounds of GATT and later WTO have advocated widespread tariffication, meaning that existing non-tariff barriers be converted into import equivalent tariffs. From an economic point of view, the effects of such tariffication are not entirely clear. The paper presents a trade model with monopolistic competition to examine the welfare effects of tariffication. The ranking of pre- and post-tariffication ...

Why Are Mothers Working Longer Hours in Austria than in Germany? A Comparative Microsimulation Analysis

Labour force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar; however, full-time employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax-transfer system, we perform a comparative microsimulation exercise. After estimatingstructural labour supply models for both countries, we interchange ...