Kalte Progression wird nach Einführung der Schuldenbremse ein zunehmendes Problem

As taxpayers typically pay relatively little attention to low levels of inflation induced income tax bracket creep, policy makers tend to regularly postpone correction of this problem. Eventually, however, the fiscal illusion fades away, and political pressure for tax relief arises once the cumulative increase of the average tax rate exceeds a critical threshold. Using Germany as an example, it is shown that bracket creep can provoke revenue cycles in public budgets that hinder governments’ compliance with the numerical budget rules. An indexation of the tax tariff, which would provide an automatic correction for bracket creep, could prevent such fluctuations and thus provide a favourable framework for the debt brake.     

Effects of time pressure,type of shopping,and store attributes on consumers’ satisfaction with grocery shopping

The aim of this study is to investigate whether satisfaction with grocery stores is affected by type of grocery shopping in conjunction with time pressure, and which attributes are important for satisfaction. Fictitious grocery stores are constructed according to a fractional factorial design by varying access, price level, supply quality/range, and service quality. In an Internet survey, 1023 Swedish consumers rated satisfaction with major vs. fill-in shopping imagining they were under high or low time pressure. The results showed that satisfaction is higher for fill-in shopping than major shopping, that time pressure has no effect on satisfaction, and that price level, service quality, and product quality/range are more important for satisfaction with major shopping, whereas access is more important for satisfaction with fill-in shopping. It is also found that the importance of attributes for satisfaction depends on type of shopping more than on individual characteristics.     

Super returns to Super Bowl ads?

This paper uses a natural experiment—the Super Bowl—to study the causal effect of advertising on demand for movies. Identification of the causal effect rests on two points: 1) Super Bowl ads are purchased before advertisers know which teams will play; 2) home cities of the teams that are playing will have proportionally more viewers than viewers in other cities. We find that the movies in our sample experience on average incremental opening weekend ticket sales of about $8.4 million from a $3 million Super Bowl advertisement.     

A Welcome Revolution in Innovation

This review considers a major new book on von Hippel’s concept of user innovation. Von Hippel’s work has led to a welcome revolution in the economics of innovation. When producers are the innovators, there is an important difference in the interests of innovators and users. This can lead to dysfunctional innovation, especially in mature markets that are monopolised. In contrast, when users innovate, there are no such problems, as the innovator and the user are the same. User innovation can help enhance the power of innovation in wealth creation, and this edited collection helps to establish user innovation as a fully fledged field of the economics of innovation.     

Fund selection,style allocation,and active management abilities: Evidence from funds of hedge funds’ holdings

This study examines whether funds of hedge funds (FOHFs) provide superior before-fee performance through managers’ fund selection, style allocation, and active management abilities. Using reported holdings of Securities and Exchange Commission–registered FOHFs, we find that FOHF managers have fund selection abilities, as hedge funds held by FOHFs outperform their style indices and over half of the individual hedge funds in the Lipper Trading Advisor Selection System (TASS) database. We also find that FOHF managers add value through active management of FOHFs’ holdings, while evidence on their style allocation abilities is mixed. Our findings suggest that FOHFs generate superior before-fee performance and that FOHF managers’ skillset is broader than previously documented. Thus, our study helps explain why FOHFs continue to survive and suggests that FOHF fee structure reform merits consideration.     

Pricing Term Insurance in the Presence of a Family History of Breast or Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

We estimate the increased mortality and term life insurance costs for women who have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Using data from the medical literature on age-specific and family history-specific incidence rates, we develop double-decrement models to evaluate the actuarial impact of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the family. We also calculate the increased mortality and term insurance costs for women who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. We find that the type of affected relative and her age at onset of the disease are key underwriting factors. We find substantial mortality increases (up to 100%) for women with two relatives with cancer and women with a first-degree relative who developed cancer at an early age. Mortality increases for women with the BRCA gene mutation reach 150%. While some females with a family history of cancer can be accepted at standard rates, others may need to be quoted substandard rates, depending on the underwriting policy of the company. Females with the gene mutation can possibly be accepted at a rate that incorporates a severe mortality surcharge.     

Alternative Approaches to Compensation and Producer Rights

When policies are changed, it is not uncommon for losers to be compensated. Economic theory and quantitative analysis are useful in determining the efficiency gains/losses associated with a policy change, but are little help in deciding what the approach to compensation should be. The amount of compensation varies, depending on, in part, the political clout of the parties being negatively affected by a policy change—compensation is what politicians and the sector demanding compensation can agree on. We formulate four approaches to producer compensation within the context of the Ontario Tobacco Transition Program, where producers would have suffered losses in the absence of compensation. The approaches range from providing zero compensation to providing compensation based on the entire value of the tobacco quota. The Canadian government chose the latter and compensated producers for the termination of the tobacco quota program based on an approach that far exceeded other possible compensation approaches.     

Competition in Canada's Agricultural Value Chains: The Case of Grain

To open this address, I would like to advocate for membership in the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society (CAES). The fact that applied economics offers theory and methods that help us address topics as diverse as the Canadian grain value chain and the economics of species at risk speaks well for the future of our discipline. There is a vast array of work for us to do. Membership in the CAES offers an excellent link to the most up‐to‐date research in this area through our journal and conferences. Every society I attend inspires me to examine my own research and look at problems in new ways using new tools I learned from presentations made by the members of CAES. The main message of my address is to promote the application of Game Theory strategies as a way to understand behavior in the grain value chain. These tools are already being applied in areas as different as optimizing tradable systems of environmental goods and assessing competitive behavior in beef packing. Tout d'abord, je tiens à mentionner que j'appuie l'adhésion à la Société canadienne d'agroéconomie (SCAE). Le fait que l’économie appliquée offre la théorie et les méthodes qui nous aident à examiner des sujets aussi variés que la chaîne de valeur des grains du Canada et l’économie des espèces en péril augure bien pour l'avenir de notre discipline. La diversité du travail à accomplir est immense. Être membre de la SCAE procure un lien privilégié à la recherche de pointe grâce à notre Revue et à nos conférences. Aujourd'hui, mon message vise principalement à promouvoir l'application des stratégies de la théorie des jeux pour comprendre le comportement au sein de la chaîne de valeur des grains. Certains domaines, tels que l'optimisation des systèmes d’échange des biens environnementaux et l’évaluation du comportement concurrentiel dans le secteur du conditionnement du b?uf, utilisent déjà ces outils. La panoplie d'outils à notre disposition est mise en valeur dans notre Revue et lors de nos congrès. Tous les congrès auxquels j'assiste me motivent à examiner ma propre recherche et à analyser les problèmes sous un angle différent grâce aux nouveaux outils mis au point et présentés par les membres de la SCAE.     

Can tourism be part of the decarbonized global economy? The costs and risks of alternate carbon reduction policy pathways

Global leaders agree on the need to substantially decarbonize the global economy by 2050. This paper compares potential costs associated with different policy pathways to achieve tourism sector emission reduction ambitions (?50% by 2035) and transform the sector to be part of the mid-century decarbonized economy (?70% by 2050). Investment in emissions abatement within the tourism sector, combined with strategic external carbon offsets, was found to be approximately 5% more cost effective over the period 2015–2050 than exclusive reliance on offsetting. The cost to achieve the ?50% target through abatement and strategic offsetting, while significant, represents less than 0.1% of the estimated global tourism economy in 2020 and 3.6% in 2050. Distributed equally among all tourists (international and domestic), the cost of a low-carbon tourism sector is estimated at US$11 per trip, equivalent to many current travel fees or taxes. Exclusive reliance on offsetting would expose the sector to extensive and continued carbon liability costs beyond mid-century and could be perceived as climate inaction, increasing reputational risks and the potential for less efficient regulatory interventions that could hinder sustainable tourism development. Effective tourism sector leadership is needed to develop a strategic tourism policy framework and emission measurement and reporting system.