On the self-interested use of equity in international climate negotiations

We discuss self-interested uses of equity arguments in international climate negotiations. Using unique data from a world-wide survey of agents involved in international climate policy, we show that the perceived support of different equity rules by regions may be explained by the ranking of their economic costs. Despite being self-interested, equity arguments may be perceived as being used for different reasons, for example, out of fairness considerations or in order to facilitate negotiations. Consistent with experimental and behavioral studies on fairness perceptions, we find that individuals are more likely to state reasons with positive attributes if they evaluate their own region or regions that support the individual's personally preferred equity rule. Negotiators perceive the use of equity by regions as less influenced by pressure from interest groups.     

Patientenschulung nicht vergessen!

Akut dekompensierte Herzinsuffizienz - Rund zwei Millionen Menschen in Deutschland leiden an einer Herzinsuffizienz. Vor allem Dekompensationen des Krankheitsbildes gef?hrden die Patienten und führen zu wiederholten Krankenhauseinweisungen. Ursache: Oft falsche Medikamenteneinnahme oder die mangelnde Umsetzung von Verhaltensrestriktionen. Pflegekr?fte müssen bei ihrer Arbeit daher verst?rkt auf Aspekte der Patientenedukation setzen.     

Innovation and the imitative entrepreneur

This paper presents a model of the way ex-employees of an innovative, science-based entrepreneurial firm founded new enterprises based on copying the novel products of their former employer. The model focuses on the role played by the product-specific subculture of the innovative parent firm in the emergence of these imitative entrepreneurs.     

Socially responsible investing and stock performance: New empirical evidence for the US and European stock markets

This paper empirically examines the theoretically ambivalent relationship between socially responsible investing (SRI) and stock performance. It contributes to the existing literature by considering both the US and the entire European stock markets and by using consistent world-wide corporate sustainability performance data. Our portfolio analysis from 1998 to 2009 is based on the common four-factor model according to Carhart (1997), which comprises market return, size, value, and momentum factors. We show for the US and the European stock markets that SRI is associated with large-sized firms. The insignificant abnormal stock returns for SRI in both regions are the main result of our paper. Therefore, our study supports the view that SRI stocks are correctly priced by market participants, although we cannot rule out that a corresponding mispricing has existed before the beginning of our observation period in 1998.     

Gendiagnostikgesetz und Versicherung: Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

With the new German Gene Diagnostic Act (Gendiagnostikgesetz) the legislator aims at improving the protection of insurance applicants by prohibiting private insurers from collecting and using genetic information. However, the analysis of the new provisions shows that the provisions pertaining to insurance neither provide a comprehensive protection against genetic discrimination of insurance applicants and insured nor do they protect their right of gene-informational self-determination. Cuts of insurance benefits of the insured in private health insurance as well as incoherent disclosure obligations for insurance applicants unconstitutionally limit the rights of affected people as compared to the time before the Gene Diagnostic Act came into force. In summary, the new Gene Diagnostic Act does not only fail to meet its claims and thus falls short of the expectations, but also, due to numerous unclear provisions, poses a series of grave problems for insurance applicants, privately insured and private insurers.     

Swiss banking secrecy: the stock market evidence

We examine the stock price reactions of four Swiss banks to negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union and between Switzerland and the United States to (i) obtain an estimate of the value of banking secrecy to Swiss banks, and (ii) distinguish between tax evasion and genuine privacy concerns as sources of that value. We find that the value of banking secrecy to the private banks is large, accounting for 8 to 14% of their market value; in contrast, the value of banking secrecy to the universal banks is small. We further find that tax evasion may be less important and privacy concerns more important a source of value of banking secrecy than might previously have been thought.     

Offset carbon emissions or pay a price premium for avoiding them? A cross-country analysis of motives for climate protection activities

This article contributes to the economic literature on pure and impure public goods by considering two alternatives for contributing to the public good climate protection: offsetting carbon emissions from conventional consumption or paying higher prices for climate-friendly products. We empirically examine a wide range of motives and their impact on individuals’ choice in favour of these two alternatives relying on data from representative international surveys. Our results indicate that environmental awareness, warm glow motives and the desire to set a good example have the most robust effects on both climate protection activities in Germany and the United States. However, some motives differ considerably between both alternatives and the two countries. A green identity enhances the willingness to pay a price premium for climate-friendly goods or services in Germany, while social norms seem to be of much higher relevance in the United States. Our results further suggest that the choice of climate protection activities, especially of carbon offsetting, entails a high degree of uncertainty.     

Optimal Portfolio Choice under Heterogeneous Beliefs

This paper analyzes how an investor who is convinced that he can``beat the market' should behave when the equilibrium priceprocess is endogenous. The investor's optimal portfolio is shownto consist of three components: (1) a tangency portfolio, (2) ahedge portfolio against changes in the market's valuation ofsecurities, and (3) a hedging position against changes in thedivergence between the investor's and the market's beliefs. Thesign and magnitude of this third component will depend on investorpreferences and on the divergence in the investor's and themarket's quality of information. A numerical example illustratesthat the effect of heterogeneous beliefs on optimal portfolioallocations can be significant.     

The effect of environmental and social performance on the stock performance of european corporations

This paper examines the effect of sustainability performance of European corporations on their stock performance, measured as the average monthly stock return from 1996 to 2001. The econometric analysis is based on common empirical asset pricing models, particularly on the multifactor model according to Fama and French (1993, Journal of Financial Economics, 33:3–56). The consideration of sustainability performance is two-fold: The average sustainability performance of the industry in which a corporation operates and the relative sustainability performance of a corporation within a given industry. The main result is that the average environmental performance of the industry has a significantly positive influence on the stock performance. In contrast, the average social performance of the industry has a significantly negative influence. The variables of the relative environmental or social performance of a corporation within a given industry have no significant effect on the stock performance. As a by-product, the econometric analysis implies that some results of Fama and French (1993, 1996, The Journal of Finance, LI (1):55–84) regarding the risk factors of the multifactor model need not hold true for different observation periods, for different stock markets, and for the use of single stocks (instead of portfolios). An erratum to this article can be found at