infonet-economy

This paper deals with two issues concerning the effects of population
aging on education decisions in the presence of a PAYG pension
system: We first analyze the effects of an aging population per se on
individual skill choices and continuous education and the production
structure. Second, we study the implications of postponed retirement, which is often…

The Market Information Service project in Uganda collected data on prices for the main agricultural commodities in major market centers and disseminated the information through local FM radio stations in various districts. Exploiting the variation across space between households with and without access to a radio, we find evidence suggesting that better-informed farmers managed to…

The aim of this paper is to compare pricing and performance of mutual funds with two types of guarantees: a lookback guarantee and an interest rate guarantee. In a simulation analysis of different portfolios based on stock, bond, real estate, and money market indices, we first calibrate guarantee costs to be the same for both investment guarantee funds. Second, their performance is…

This paper analyzes public value creation by the German Federal Labour Agency (FLA) from a middle management perspective. We relate the role description of a public value manager by Mark Moore with middle management research inspired by Floyd and Wooldridge. As a result of a case study we conceptualize critical experience of middle management and its antecedents in balancing…

This paper uses data on German consumer magazines observed between 1992 and 2004 to analyze the extent to which consumers (dis-)like advertising. We estimate logit demand models separately for the six most important magazine segments in terms of circulation. We find little evidence for readers disliking advertising. On the contrary, we show that readers in many magazine segments…

In this paper we have argued for a new conceptualisation of strategic foresight. The existing approaches are largely based on too simple a concept of future. It is usually assumed that one is able to conceptualise already in the present all possible future developments. We contrast this with the concept of a 'radically open' future, which might develop in ways which go…

We study the impact of reputational incentives in markets characterized by moral hazard problems. Social preferences have been shown to enhance contract enforcement in these markets, while at the same time generating considerable wage and price rigidity. Reputation powerfully amplifies the positive effects of social preferences on contract enforcement by increasing contract…

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a brain response to violations of a rule, established by a sequence of sensory stimuli (typically in the auditory domain) [Näätänen R. Attention and brain function. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1992]. The MMN reflects the brain’s ability to perform automatic comparisons between consecutive stimuli and provides an electrophysiological index of…