Identity,Utility, and Cooperative Behaviour: An Evolutionary Perspective*†

This paper provides an argument for the advantage of a preference for identity‐consistent behaviour from an evolutionary point of view. Within a stylized model of social interaction, it is shown that the development of cooperative social norms is greatly facilitated if the agents possess a preference for identity‐consistent behaviour. As compliance with cooperative norms (in the long run) has a positive effect on the agents’ pay‐offs, it is argued that such a preference is evolutionarily advantageous. Notably, the argument, which assumes that agents always act in accordance with their preferences, also accounts for the cost of those features that are crucial for the selection process.     

AIDS-Hilfe in Afrika

Tansanische Krankenschwestern im mobilen Einsatz — Tansania ist eines der ?rmsten L?nder der Erde. Und nur in drei L?ndern weltweit gibt es mehr HIV-Infizierte. Mit internationaler Hilfe werden in vielen Regionen Versorgungsprojekte initiiert und Therapiezentren gegründet. Seit 2007 gibt es au?erdem ein nationales HIV-Programm. Dadurch gelingt es, das Tabu um HIV langsam aufzubrechen. Doch der Weg zur Eind?mmung der Epidemie ist mühsam.     

Welfare Effects of Tariff Reduction Formulas

World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations rely on tariff reduction formulas. Formula approaches are of increasing importance in trade talks, because of the large number of countries involved, the wider dispersion in initial tariffs (e.g. tariff peaks), and gaps between bound and applied tariff rates. This paper presents a two country intra‐industry trade model with heterogeneous firms subject to high and low tariffs. We examine the welfare effects of applying three different tariff reduction formulas discussed in the literature that were used and proposed in previous and current General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)/WTO negotiations (1) a proportional cut, (2) the Swiss formula and (3) a tiered formula. No single formula dominates for all conditions. The ranking of the three tools depends on the degree of product differentiation in the industry and the achieved reduction in the average tariff.     

Cartel Stability and Economic Integration

This paper revisits the notion that economic integration—modeled as a reduction of trade costs—may be anticompetitive, in the sense that it may reinforce the ability of an international cartel to maintain a collusive understanding about staying out of each other’s markets. The paper is novel in terms of introducing ad valorem and fixed trade costs in addition to the customary unit trade costs. It is shown that an anticompetitive effect, found for reductions in unit trade costs, may disappear once trade costs are ad valorem or fixed.     

Incentive effects of funding contracts: an experiment

We examine the incentive effects of funding contracts on entrepreneurial effort and on allocative efficiency. We experiment with funding contracts that differ in the structure of investor repayment and, thus, in their incentives for the provision of entrepreneurial effort. Theoretically the replacement of a standard debt contract by a repayment-equivalent non-monotonic contract reduces effort distortions and increases efficiency. Likewise, distortions can be mitigated by replacing outside equity by a repayment-equivalent standard-debt contract. We test both hypotheses in the laboratory. Our results reveal that the incentive effects of funding contracts must be experienced before they are reflected in observed behavior. With sufficient experience, observed behavior is either consistent with or close to theoretical predictions and supports both hypotheses. If we allow for entrepreneur-sided manipulations of project outcomes, we find that non-monotonic contracts lose much of their appeal.     

Fördert Primary Nursing die Salutogenese?

Betriebliche Gesundheitsf?rderung durch ein Pflegemodell? — Der aktuelle Fachkr?ftemangel in der Pflege zwingt Unternehmen der Gesundheitswirtschaft, als Arbeitgeber attraktiv zu sein. Dazu geh?rt auch, alles dafür zu tun, dass die Arbeitnehmer gesund bleiben. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersuchte Philipp Tessin das Pflegekonzept „Primary Nursing“ auf m?gliche salutogene Eigenschaften.     

Should I stay or should I go? Career choice intentions of students with family business background

Personal and motivational patterns of intentional founders have been researched in great depth; however, antecedents to career choices of intentional successors have been conspicuously missing in entrepreneurship research. By drawing on theory of planned behavior, we investigate how intentional founders, successors, and employees differ in terms of locus of control and entrepreneurial self-efficacy as well as independence and innovation motives. We find that transitive likelihood of career intent depends on degree of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the independence motive. Unexpectedly, we see that high levels of internal locus of control lead to a preference of employment, which challenges traditional entrepreneurship research and suggests that the feasibility of an entrepreneurial career path does not automatically make it desirable. Our findings suggest that students with family business background are pessimistic about being in control in an entrepreneurial career, but optimistic about their efficacy to pursue an entrepreneurial career.     

How would Swiss consumers decide if they had freedom of choice? Evidence from a field study with organic,conventional and GM corn bread

In 2005, the Swiss expressed their negative attitude towards genetic engineering in agriculture by voting in favor of a ban to use genetically modified (GM) crops in domestic agriculture. At the same time, certain GM food products remain approved but are not on offer since retailers assume that consumers would shun labeled GM food. In our study we tested this claim by conducting a large-scale field study with Swiss consumers. In our experimental design, three clearly labeled types of corn bread were offered at five different market stands across the French and German-speaking part of Switzerland: one made with organic, one made with conventional, and one made with genetically modified (GM) corn. In addition, we tested the consistency between purchasing decision at the market stand and the previous voting decision on GMOs in 2005 by means of an ex-post questionnaire. The results of our discrete choice analysis show that Swiss consumers treat GM foods just like any other type of novel food. We conclude from our findings that consumers tend to appreciate transparency and freedom of choice even if one of the offered product types is labeled as containing a genetically modified ingredient. Retailers should allow consumers to make their own choice and accept the fact that not all people appear to be afraid of GM food.