On the Channels of Pro-Social Behavior Evidence from a natural field experiment

We conduct a natural field experiment on direct and indirect transfer mechanisms for small donations. Charitable contributions are significantly higher if made indirectly, i.e. if they are tied to the purchase of a good sold at a premium, than if they are made directly. Donations are signficantly higher under both transfer mechanisms if people are given a suggested reference donatioTied versus untied transfers, charitable donations, charity, willingness to give, pro social behavior

Endogenous Environmental Policy when Pollution is Transboundary

We analyze the formation of environmental policy to regulate transboundary pollution if governments are self-interested. In a common agency framework, we portray the environmental policy calculus of two political supportmaximizing governments that are in a situation of strategic interaction with respect to their environmental policies, but too small to affect world market prices. We show how governments systematically deviate from socially optimal environmental policies. Taxes may be too high if environmental interests and pollution-intensity of production are very strong; under different constellations they may be too low. Governments may actually subsidize the production of a polluting good. Politically motivated environmental policy thus may be more harmful to the environment as compared to the benevolent dictators’ solution. In other cases it may enhance environmental quality and welfare beyond what a benevolent government would achieve.Political economy, environmental policy, transboundary pollution, common agency, strategic interaction

Inefficient but Effective? A field experiment on the effectiveness of direct and indirect transfer mechanisms

We conduct a field experiment on direct and indirect transfer mechanisms. It shows that people are willing to donate significantly more if the donation is indirect, i.e., it is tied to the purchase of a good with a price premium, rather than made directly. This points to an efficiency–effectiveness trade–off: even though indirect donations are less efficient than direct donations, they are more effective in mobilizing resources. Our findings hold for ‘Fair Trade’ coffee as well as for ‘normal’ coffee. However, the strength of the efficiency–effectiveness trade–off is higher in the case of ‘Fair Trade’.Tied transfers, donations, charity, efficiency versus effectiveness, ‘fair trade’

On the Channels of Pro-Social Behavior-Evidence from a natural field experiment

We conduct a natural field experiment on direct and indirect transfer mechanisms for small donations. Charitable contributions are significantly higher if made indirectly, i.e. if they are tied to the purchase of a good sold at a premium, than if they are made directly. Donations are significantly higher under both transfer mechanisms if people are given a suggested reference donation.Tied versus untied transfers, charitable donations, charity, willingness to give, pro social behavior

Inefficient but effective? A field experiment on the effectiveness of direct and indirect transfer mechanisms

We conduct a field experiment on direct and indirect transfer mechanisms. It shows that people are willing to donate significantly more if the donation is indirect, i.e., it is tied to the purchase of a good with a price premium, rather than made directly. This points to an efficiency–effectiveness trade–off: even though indirect donations are less efficient than direct donations, they are more effective in mobilizing resources. Our findings hold for ‘Fair Trade’ coffee as well as for ‘normal’ coffee. However, the strength of the efficiency–effectiveness trade–off is higher in the case of ‘Fair Trade’.Tied transfers, donations, charity, efficiency versus effectiveness, ‘fair trade’

What does it take to be a star? The role of performance and the media for German soccer players

We test existing superstar theories for the German soccer league. We use various measures for individual players’ performance and media presence to analyze whether performance and popularity can explain salaries and superstars in soccer. Moreover, we argue that quantile regression technique should be applied to analyze superstar phenomena instead of OLS used hitherto.Superstars, soccer, quantile regressions, Rosen, Adler

What and how long does it take to get tenure? The Case of Economics and Business Administration in Austria, Germany and Switzerland?

This paper investigates the determinants of tenure decisions in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking part of Switzerland for professorships in economics, business administration and related fields. Our data set comprises candidates who were awarded tenure as well as those who were eligible but were not tenured. We show that business candidates have a higher probability of being tenured than economists. Youth, marital status, and publications matter; gender and children do not. The market for first appointments in economics relies much more on publication performance than the market for business administration.Habilitation, tenure, academic labor market

On the spectrum of the magnetohydrodynamic mean-field alpha^2-dynamo operator

The existence of magnetohydrodynamic mean-field alpha^2-dynamos with spherically symmetric, isotropic helical turbulence function alpha is related to a non-self-adjoint spectral problem for a coupled system of two singular second order ordinary differential equations. We establish global estimates for the eigenvalues of this system in terms of the turbulence function alpha and its derivative alpha'. They allow us to formulate an anti-dynamo theorem and a non-oscillation theorem. The conditions of these theorems, which again involve alpha and alpha', must be violated in order to reach supercritical or oscillatory regimes.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures, to be published in SIAM J. Math. Anal

Background optimization for the neutron Ttime of flight spectrometer NEAT

The neutron time of flight spectrometer NEAT at BER II is currently undergoing a major upgrade where an important aspect is the prevention of parasitic scattering to enhance the signal to noise ratio. Here, we discuss the impact of shielding to suppress parasitic scattering from two identified sources of background the sample environment and detector tubes. By means of Monte Carlo simulations and a modification of the analytical model of Copley et al. [Copley and Cook, 1994], the visibility functions of instrument parts are computed for different shielding configurations. According to three selection criteria, namely suppression of background, transmission and detection limit, the parameters of an oscillating radial collimator are optimized for NEAT s default setup. Moreover, different configurations of detector shielding are discussed to prevent cross talk within the radial detector syste