External refereed essays

The Implication of the Paris Targets for the Middle East through Different Cooperation Options

The core of the 36th round of the Energy Modeling Forum project shows that it is more likely that major fossil-fuel exporters, such as the Middle East, are highly affected because of the decrease in fossil-fuel extractions required for the worldwide fulfillment of the Paris agreement. We employ a multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium model of global trade and energy to examine the ...

The Assessment of Substitution through Event Studies: An Application to Supply-Side Substitution in Berlin’s Rental Market

Face Masks Increase Compliance with Physical Distancing Recommendations during the COVID‑19 Pandemic

Governments across the world have implemented restrictive policies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Recommended face mask use has been a controversially discussed policy, among others, due to potential adverse effects on physical distancing. Using a randomized field experiment (N = 300), we show that individuals kept a significantly larger distance from someone wearing a face mask than from an unmasked ...

Warheads of Energy: Exploring the Linkages between Civilian Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons in Seven Countries

This paper focuses on the causal determinants of the accumulation of nuclear weapons, also known as vertical nuclear proliferation, in China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, UK, and the US. It empirically analyzes the causal relationships between the civilian uses of nuclear energy, military expenditures, trade openness, and the stockpiling of nuclear warheads. Results from the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) ...

One Hundred Years of Rent Control in Argentina: Much Ado about Nothing

Following World War I, rent control became a standard policy response to the housing shortage and the resulting rent increases. Typically, economists blame it for creating inefficiencies in the housing market and beyond. We investigate whether rental market regulations (including rent control, protection of tenants from eviction, and housing rationing) had any effects in a middle-income Latin American ...

Protecting the Ego: Motivated Information Selection and Updating

We investigate whether individuals self-select feedback that allows them to maintain their motivated beliefs. In our lab experiment, subjects can choose the information structure that gives them feedback regarding their rank in the IQ distribution (ego-relevant treatment) or regarding a random number (control). Although beliefs are incentivized, individuals are less likely to select the most informative ...

On the Economics of Storage for Electricity: Current State and Future Market Design Prospects

Since the early beginnings of the electricity system, storage has been of high relevance for balancing supply and demand. Through expanded electricity production by variable renewable technologies such as wind and photovoltaics, the discussion about new options for storage technologies is emerging. In addition, the electricity markets were subject to remarkable alterations. Some developments which ...

Coase and Cap-and-Trade: Evidence on the Independence Property from the European Carbon Market

I examine the Coasean independence property in a large multinational cap-and-trade scheme for greenhouse gas emissions, the EU Emissions Trading System. I analyze whether emissions of power producers are independent from allowance allocations by leveraging a change in allocation policy for a difference-in-differences strategy. The evidence suggests that the independence property holds overall and for ...

Drivers of Participation Elasticities across Europe: Gender or Earner Role within the Household?

We compute participation tax rates across the EU and find that work disincentives inherent in tax–benefit systems largely depend on household composition and the individual’s earner role within the household. We then estimate participation elasticities using an IV group estimator that enables us to investigate the responsiveness of individuals to work incentives. We contribute to the literature on ...

Subjective Age and Attitudes toward Own Aging across Two Decades of Historical Time

A large body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that the experience of old age is “younger,” more “agentic,” and “happier” than ever before. However, it is not yet known whether historical improvements in well-being, control beliefs, cognitive functioning, and other outcomes generalize to individuals’ views on their own aging process. To examine historical changes in such views on aging, ...

Coal Transitions - Part 1: A Systematic Map and Review of Case Study Learnings from Regional, National, and Local Coal Phase-Out Experiences

A rapid coal phase-out is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but is hindered by serious challenges ranging from vested interests to the risks of social disruption. To understand how to organize a global coal phase-out, it is crucial to go beyond cost-effective climate mitigation scenarios and learn from the experience of previous coal transitions. Despite the relevance of the topic, evidence ...

The Role of Different School Organizational Models in the Psychological Adaptation of Refugee Adolescents

Given the high number of refugee children and adolescents around the globe, it is critical to determine conditions that foster their adaptation in the receiving country. This study investigated the psychological adaptation of recently arrived adolescent refugees in Germany. We focused on whether psychological adaptation reflects the organizational approach taken by the school that refugee adolescents ...

Comparison of Local Projection Estimators for Proxy Vector Autoregressions

Different local projection (LP) estimators for structural impulse responses of proxy vector autoregressions are reviewed and compared algebraically and with respect to their small sample suitability for inference. Conditions for numerical equivalence and similarities of some estimators are provided. Two generalized least squares (GLS) projection estimators are found to be more accurate than the other ...

Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel

Public debates and current research on “digitalization” suggest that digital technologies could profoundly transform the world of work. While broad claims are common in these debates, empirical evidence remains scarce. This calls for reliable data for empirical research and evidence-based policymaking. We implemented a data module in the Socio-Economic Panel to gather information on digitalization ...

12 Euro Mindestlohn: neue Erwartungen und alte Hürden

The EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy and Its Contribution to Climate Neutrality

The EU Taxonomy is the first standardised and comprehensive classification system for sustainable economic activities. It covers activities responsible for up to 80% of EU greenhouse gas emissions and may play an important role in channelling investments into low-carbon technologies by helping investors to make informed decisions. However, especially in transition sectors much depends on the stringency ...

Migration and Dynamics in Men’s and Women’s Domestic Work

International migration of couples is rising. Still, there is little evidence on men’s and women’s domestic work hours before and after migration. This is despite the fact that domestic work provides deep insights into family life and, for migrants, is directly linked to integration. Therefore, this study examines how immigrant men and women change their domestic work hours following migration, using ...

Financial Literacy and Intra-household Decision Making: Evidence from Rwanda

Research has consistently shown that women’s involvement in household decision making positively affects household outcomes such as nutrition and education of children. Is financial literacy a determinant for women to participate in intra-household decision making? Using data on savings groups in Rwanda, we examine this relationship and show that women with higher financial literacy are more involved ...

The Dynamic Impact of FX Interventions on Financial Markets

Evidence on the effectiveness of foreign exchange (FX) interventions is either limited to short horizons or hampered by debatable identification. We address these limitations by identifying a structural vector autoregressive model for the daily frequency with an external instrument. Generally we find, for freely floating currencies, that FX intervention shocks significantly affect exchange rates and ...

Locus of Control and Investment in Training

We extend standard models of work-related training by explicitly incorporating workers’ locus of control into the investment decision through the returns they expect. Our model predicts that higher internal control results in increased take-up of general, but not specific, training. This prediction is empirically validated using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP). We provide empirical ...