infonet-economy

This paper studies the behavioral mechanisms underlying the increase in strategic defaults during an economic crisis. We report data from a laboratory experiment in which we exogenously vary the state of the economy. Our data reveal two main reasons for why an economic contraction adversely affects repayments. First, weak economic conditions seem to soften debtors' moral...

Ein festes Grundeinkommen ohne Bedingungen macht die Menschen nicht kreativ und frei,sondern träge und bequem

The Swiss Treasury has used the sealed-bid, uniform-price auction format for allocating government bonds since 1980. In this study, we examine the authorities’ motivation for choosing the uniform-price auction. In addition, we describe how the institutional set-up evolved over time. It includes bidding requirements, class of bidders, pre-auction information, the bidding process, the...

Using a comprehensive simulation study based on empirical data, this paper investigates the finite sample properties of different classes of parametric and semi-parametric estimators of (natural or pure) direct and indirect causal effects used in mediation analysis under sequential conditional independence assumptions. The estimators are based on regression, inverse probability...

Gemäss Statistik per 2014 ereignen sich täglich über 700 Berufsunfälle. Alle diese Unfälle müssen finanziell und haftungstechnisch abgewickelt werden. In der Regel wird dabei der Arbeitgeber den Unfall bei der Unfallversicherung melden, welche anschliessend die anfallenden Kosten und weitgehend den Lohnausfall übernimmt. Allerdings ergeben sich bei der Abwicklung zahlreiche Probleme...

Using state-of-the-art frontier efficiency methodologies, we study the efficiency and productivity of Swiss insurance companies in the life, property/casualty, and reinsurance sectors from 1997-2013. In this context, we provide the first empirical analysis of internationalization strategies of insurance companies, a topic of high interest in the business and economics literature, but...

When facing complex ethical problems, assigning responsibility is a difficult undertaking with far-reaching consequences. Chapter 3 by Thomas Beschorner and Martin Kolmar addresses this foundational issue by arguing for a multilevel approach that rejects this either/or thinking of moral actions versus institutions. It proposes using an extended transaction cost approach (inspired by...

Participation in intensive training programs for the unemployed in Germany is allocated by awarding training vouchers. Using rich administrative data for all vouchers and actual program participation,
the authors provide first estimates of the short-run and long-run employment and earnings effects of receiving a training voucher award based on a selection-on-observables...