Publications des institutions partenaires
Unemployment insurance and the labor market
The existing literature assumes that unemployment insurance (UI) affects the labor market through the job finding rate of eligible workers. I argue that this focus is too narrow. I show evidence for UI effects through three other margins: (i) search externalities; (ii) takeup of other welfare state programs; and (iii) job separations. This suggests that the analysis of optimal UI...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/01/2018
Intergenerational mobility in the 19th century: micro-level evidence from the city of Zurich
We analyze social mobility of decennial citizenry cohorts of Zurich born between 1780 and 1870. We categorize individuals according to their occupations and use different measures to show the level, change, and components of intergenerational mobility. Mobility was imperfect and weakly decreasing over time. Both level and change are driven by intergenerational persistence of...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/01/2018
Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex updates chosen value according to choice set size
Having chosen an item typically increases the subjective value of the chosen item, and people generally enjoy making choices from larger choice sets. However, having too many items to choose from can reduce the value of chosen items—for example, because of conflict or choice difficulty. In this study, we investigated the effects of choice set size on behavioral and neural value...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/01/2018
Multigrading and child achievement
We exploit Italian law DPR 81/2009, which determines class composition, as an instrument to identify the causal effect of grouping students of different grades into a single class (multigrading) on children cognitive achievement. This article focuses on 7-year-old students—those at the beginning of their formal education. Results suggest that attendance in multigrade classes versus...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/01/2018
Daten gegen Armut
Neue Methoden zeigen Spendern, wofür sich das Geldgeben wirklich lohnt. Ein Gastbeitrag von Johannes Haushofer, Dina Pomeranz, Max Roser und Frank Schilbach
Institution partenaire
Deutsch / 22/12/2017
Long-range growth: economic development in the global network of air links
We study the impact of international long-distance flights on the global spatial allocation of economic activity. To identify causal effects, we exploit variation due to regulatory and technological constraints which give rise to a discontinuity in connectedness between cities at a distance of 6,000 miles. We show that improving an airport’s position in the network of air links has a...
Institution partenaire
English / 20/12/2017
Laboratory measure of cheating predicts school misconduct
Laboratory experiments provide insights into the drivers of cheating behaviour, but it is unclear to what extent cheating in the lab generalizes to the field. We conducted an experiment with middle and high school students to test whether a common laboratory measure of cheating predicts three types of school misconduct: (i) disruptiveness in class, (ii) homework non-completion, and (...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/12/2017
Optimal search from multiple distributions with infinite horizon
With infinite horizon, optimal rules for sequential search from a known distribution feature a constant reservation value that is independent of whether recall of past options is possible. We extend this result to the the case when there are multiple distributions to choose from: it is optimal to sample from the same distribution in every period and to continue searching until a...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/12/2017
A note on the analysis of two-stage task results: how changes in task structure affect what model-free and model-based strategies predict about the effects of reward and transition on the stay probability
Many studies that aim to detect model-free and model-based influences on behavior employ two-stage behavioral tasks of the type pioneered by Daw and colleagues in 2011. Such studies commonly modify existing two-stage decision paradigms in order to better address a given hypothesis, which is an important means of scientific progress. It is, however, critical to fully appreciate the...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/12/2017
Competitive pricing reduces wasteful counterproductive behaviors
Counterproductive reactions to unfavorable trading prices can cause inefficiencies in economic exchange. This paper studies whether the use of a competitive pricing mechanism reduces such wasteful activities. We report data from a laboratory experiment where a powerful buyer can trade with one of two sellers—an environment that can lead to very low prices for the sellers. We find...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/12/2017
Wahnsinn am Wohnungsmarkt
Die Regulierung der Mietpreise ist schädlich – für die Vermieter, die sozial Schwachen, den Baubestand und den Arbeitsmarkt. Ein Kommentar von Joachim Voth.
Institution partenaire
Deutsch / 23/11/2017
Numerical implementation of the QuEST function
Certain estimation problems involving the covariance matrix in large dimensions are considered. Due to the breakdown of finite-dimensional asymptotic theory when the dimension is not negligible with respect to the sample size, it is necessary to resort to an alternative framework known as large-dimensional asymptotics. Recently, an estimator of the eigenvalues of the population...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
The welfare effects of vertical integration in multichannel television markets
We investigate the welfare effects of vertical integration of regional sports networks (RSNs) with programming distributors in U.S. multichannel television markets. Vertical integration can enhance efficiency by reducing double marginalization and increasing carriage of channels, but can also harm welfare due to foreclosure and incentives to raise rivals' costs. We estimate a...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
Improving weighted least squares inference
These days, it is common practice to base inference about the coefficients in a hetoskedastic linear model on the ordinary least squares estimator in conjunction with using heteroskedasticity consistent standard errors. Even when the true form of heteroskedasticity is unknown, heteroskedasticity consistent standard errors can also used to base valid inference on a weighted least...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
The regulation of public service broadcasters: should there be more advertising on television?
Increased competition for viewers’ time is threatening the viability of public-service broadcasters (PSBs) around the world. Changing regulations regarding advertising minutes might increase revenues, but little is known about the structure of advertising demand. To address this problem, we collect a unique dataset on monthly impacts (quantities) and prices of UK television channels...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
Die Verteilung von Einkommen und Vermögen in der Schweiz
Das Interesse an der Verteilung von Einkommen und Vermögen ist in jüngster Zeit wieder neu entbrannt. Nicht zuletzt, weil nach vielen Jahren der Stabilität die Ungleichheit in vielen Ländern wieder zunimmt. Auch in der Schweiz geniesst die Frage nach der Einkommens- und Vermögensverteilung in der öffentlichen und politischen Diskussion grosse Aufmerksamkeit. Die Analyse über die...
Institution partenaire
Deutsch / 01/11/2017
The impact of peer personality on academic achievement
This paper provides evidence of a novel facet of peer effects by showing how peer personality affects educational achievement. We exploit random assignment of students to university sections and find that students perform better in the presence of more persistent peers and more risk-averse peers. In particular, low-persistence students benefit from highly-persistent peers without...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
The effect of peer gender on major choice
This paper investigates how the peer gender composition in university affects students' major choices and labor market outcomes. Women who are randomly assigned to more female peers become less likely to choose male-dominated majors, they end up in jobs where they work fewer hours and their wage grows at a slower rate. Men become more likely to choose male-dominated majors after...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
Do gender preference gaps impact policy outcomes?
Many studies document systematic gender differences in a variety of important economic preferences, such as risk-taking, competition and pro-sociality. One potential implication of this literature is that increased female representation in decision-making bodies may significantly alter organizational and policy outcomes. However, research has yet to establish a direct connection from...
Institution partenaire
English / 01/11/2017
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