Spillover Effects of Minimum Wages: Theory and Experimental Evidence

We study the spillover effects of minimum wages in a laboratory experiment. In a bilateral firm-worker bargaining setting, we find that the introduction of a minimum wage exerts upward pressure on wages even if the minimum wage is too low to be a binding restriction. Furthermore, raising the minimum wage to a binding level increases the bargained wage above the new minimum wage level. While the Nash solution cannot explain the existence of spillover effects, the Kalai-Smorodinsky solution yields results that are qualitatively more in line with our experimental findings.minimum wage, bargaining, Kalai-Smorodinsky solution, labor market experiments

Gender Differences in Strategic Reasoning

This paper studies gender differences in strategic situations. In two experimental guessing games - the beauty contest and the 11-20 money request game - we analyze the depth of strategic reasoning of women and men. We use unique data from an internet experiment with more than 1,000 participants. We find that men, on average, perform more steps of reasoning than women. Our results also suggest that women behave more consistently across both games

Gender differences in experimental wage negotiations

We examine behavioral gender differences and gender pairing effects in a laboratory experiment with face-to-face alternating-offers wage bargaining. Our results suggest that male players are able to obtain better bargaining outcomes than female players. Male employees get higher wages than female employees. Male employers pay lower wages to female employees than female employers pay to male employees. Moreover, we find gender differences in the first offers of the bargaining game

Spillover effects of minimum wages: Theory and experimental evidence

We study the spillover effects of minimum wages in a laboratory experiment. In a bilateral firm-worker bargaining setting, we find that the introduction of a minimum wage exerts upward pressure on wages even if the minimum wage is too low to be a binding restriction. Furthermore, raising the minimum wage to a binding level increases the bargained wage above the new minimum wage level. While the Nash solution cannot explain the existence of spillover effects, the Kalai-Smorodinsky solution yields results that are qualitatively more in line with our experimental findings

Worldviews and Intergenerational Altruism: Empirical Evidence for Germany

This paper studies the effects of differences in worldviews on parents? attitudes towards their children. We use unique German survey data containing questions on worldviews, religion, parental behavior, and socioeconomic variables. Our empirical evidence suggests that people with stronger confidence in strong disbelief in afterlife are more likely to have a tough love attitude towards their children. On the other hand, people who have strong disbelief in afterlife are less likely to have tough love attitude towards their children. Our results also indicate that people who belong to the Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany are less likely to have spoiling love attitude. On the other hand, people who have strong disbelief in afterlife are less likely to have tough love attitude towards their children

Individual and developmental differences in the relationship of preferences and theory of mind

Theory of mind and individual preferences are important determinants in social decision making. The current study examined in a large sample whether being a cooperative preference type is related with better theory of mind skills. Furthermore, by testing adolescents and adults, we examined the impact of age on this relation. Theory of mind is measured in a Public Goods Game. Results indicate that the cooperative type predicted other players. preference types more accurately in the first round of the Public Goods Game. Regarding age differences, cooperative adults estimated the behavior of players of the same type better than cooperative adolescents. Adolescents show lower cooperation levels and a slower adaption of behavior than adults indicating ongoing development of theory of mind in adolescence

Worldviews and Intergenerational Altruism: A Comparison of Turkish People Living in Turkey and Germany

In this paper, we examine and compare the impact of cultural differences on intergenerational altruism in Turkish people living in Turkey and in Germany, using the anthropological concept of worldview. Data were gathered from four surveys: nationwide surveys in Turkey and Germany, an online survey of Turkish people living in Germany, and a survey conducted as an experiment in a mosque attended by Turkish people in Germany. We find striking differences in parenting attitudes between Turkish people living in Turkey and those who live in Germany. Turkish people living in Germany tend to resemble German people in their parenting attitudes. We also find that differences in confidence attached to worldview beliefs, differences in religiosity, and the subjective probabilities attached to worldview beliefs (such as “All humans evolved from another living organism”) between Turkish people living in Turkey and those in Germany have statistically significant explanatory power for these differences in parenting attitudes

Recognition of microbial viability via TLR8 drives TFH cell differentiation and vaccine responses

Live attenuated vaccines are generally highly efficacious and often superior to inactivated vaccines, yet the underlying mechanisms of this remain largely unclear. Here we identify recognition of microbial viability as a potent stimulus for follicular helper T cell (TFH cell) differentiation and vaccine responses. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) distinguished viable bacteria from dead bacteria through Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8)-dependent detection of bacterial RNA. In contrast to dead bacteria and other TLR ligands, live bacteria, bacterial RNA and synthetic TLR8 agonists induced a specific cytokine profile in human and porcine APCs, thereby promoting TFH cell differentiation. In domestic pigs, immunization with a live bacterial vaccine induced robust TFH cell and antibody responses, but immunization with its heat-killed counterpart did not. Finally, a hypermorphic TLR8 polymorphism was associated with protective immunity elicited by vaccination with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in a human cohort. We have thus identified TLR8 as an important driver of TFH cell differentiation and a promising target for TFH cell–skewing vaccine adjuvants

Cognitive behavioural therapy with optional graded exercise therapy in patients with severe fatigue with myotonic dystrophy type 1:a multicentre, single-blind, randomised trial

Background: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults and leads to severe fatigue, substantial physical functional impairment, and restricted social participation. In this study, we aimed to determine whether cognitive behavioural therapy optionally combined with graded exercise compared with standard care alone improved the health status of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. Methods: We did a multicentre, single-blind, randomised trial, at four neuromuscular referral centres with experience in treating patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 located in Paris (France), Munich (Germany), Nijmegen (Netherlands), and Newcastle (UK). Eligible participants were patients aged 18 years and older with a confirmed genetic diagnosis of myotonic dystrophy type 1, who were severely fatigued (ie, a score of ≥35 on the checklist-individual strength, subscale fatigue). We randomly assigned participants (1:1) to either cognitive behavioural therapy plus standard care and optional graded exercise or standard care alone. Randomisation was done via a central web-based system, stratified by study site. Cognitive behavioural therapy focused on addressing reduced patient initiative, increasing physical activity, optimising social interaction, regulating sleep–wake patterns, coping with pain, and addressing beliefs about fatigue and myotonic dystrophy type 1. Cognitive behavioural therapy was delivered over a 10-month period in 10–14 sessions. A graded exercise module could be added to cognitive behavioural therapy in Nijmegen and Newcastle. The primary outcome was the 10-month change from baseline in scores on the DM1-Activ-c scale, a measure of capacity for activity and social participation (score range 0–100). Statistical analysis of the primary outcome included all participants for whom data were available, using mixed-effects linear regression models with baseline scores as a covariate. Safety data were presented as descriptives. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02118779. Findings: Between April 2, 2014, and May 29, 2015, we randomly assigned 255 patients to treatment: 128 to cognitive behavioural therapy plus standard care and 127 to standard care alone. 33 (26%) of 128 assigned to cognitive behavioural therapy also received the graded exercise module. Follow-up continued until Oct 17, 2016. The DM1-Activ-c score increased from a mean (SD) of 61·22 (17·35) points at baseline to 63·92 (17·41) at month 10 in the cognitive behavioural therapy group (adjusted mean difference 1·53, 95% CI −0·14 to 3·20), and decreased from 63·00 (17·35) to 60·79 (18·49) in the standard care group (−2·02, −4·02 to −0·01), with a mean difference between groups of 3·27 points (95% CI 0·93 to 5·62, p=0·007). 244 adverse events occurred in 65 (51%) patients in the cognitive behavioural therapy group and 155 in 63 (50%) patients in the standard care alone group, the most common of which were falls (155 events in 40 [31%] patients in the cognitive behavioural therapy group and 71 in 33 [26%] patients in the standard care alone group). 24 serious adverse events were recorded in 19 (15%) patients in the cognitive behavioural therapy group and 23 in 15 (12%) patients in the standard care alone group, the most common of which were gastrointestinal and cardiac. Interpretation: Cognitive behavioural therapy increased the capacity for activity and social participation in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 at 10 months. With no curative treatment and few symptomatic treatments, cognitive behavioural therapy could be considered for use in severely fatigued patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. Funding: The European Union Seventh Framework Programme

Large-scale clinical platelet lipidomics in coronary artery disease patients by untargeted data independent liquid chromatography hyphenated with high-resolution mass spectrometry

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and are highly prevalent in modern societies. Thus, research in this field is expedited and here, lipidomics emerged to a valuable tool in assessing the physiological and pathophysiological lipid profile in human blood. Lipids, being essential metabolites e.g. for cellular structure or inter- and intracellular signaling, are critically involved in disease development, progression, and prognosis. While CVD research is typically based human serum or plasma, the lipid profile of platelets, as the cellular component in haemostasis and thrombosis, is highly interesting but rarely addressed. In this thesis, large-scale lipidomics was conducted on platelets from clinical cohorts of patients suffering coronary artery disease, to explore the lipid profile in dependence on various clinical conditions. The platelet lipids from two cohorts were investigated by reversed phase ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (RP UHPLC) coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry on a hybrid quadrupole-time-of-flight (QTOF) instrument in an untargeted data independent acquisition approach using SWATH for MS and MS/MS data collection. Due to the complexity of lipid profiling data, i.e. data from thousands of metabolites in hundreds of samples acquired in multiple batches, the challenge was the development and establishment of a data processing workflow for large-scale lipidomics. A combined untargeted-targeted data extraction approach was proposed with i. batch-wise untargeted data extraction of selected batches, ii. reference target list preparation by inter-batch feature alignment of untargeted processed batches, and iii. batch-wise targeted data extraction of the entire cohort based on the reference target list. For inter-batch feature alignment, a VBA-based tool was developed to merge metabolite data from multiple batches based on accurate mass and retention time similarity. Further, several steps of curating annotated lipids as well as unknown features were established to improve the quality of the lipidomics datamatrices. By this strategy, representative lipid profiling data of platelets from the entire cohorts were obtained. Due to the untargeted data structure, the clinical platelet lipidomics data were used for hypothesis generation on different clinical conditions or for cardiovascular risk assessment. In one exploration, the platelet lipidome was found to be significantly altered in dependence on disease severity, most prominently with an upregulation of medium chain fatty acyl phosphatidylcholines. The upregulation might lead to a hyperreactive state of the platelets under more severe disease conditions, potentially originating from a fatty acid oxidation disorder. Secondly, the effect of lipid-lowering therapy with statins was investigated, indicating a pleiotropic effect by beneficially modulating the platelet lipid profile. Furthermore, the association of the platelet lipid profile with the risk of adverse cardiovascular events was shown, emphasizing the potential of platelet lipids in cardiovascular risk assessment.Die Dissertation ist gesperrt bis zum 18. Juli 2025