Search

Multiple geopolitical disruptions have highlighted the need for firms to diversify their supply chains. For Germany and the EU, this might imply an increased reliance on Africa, the neighboring continent, for example when it comes to sourcing…

This paper makes the first comprehensive attempt to study within-country heterogeneity of housing returns. We introduce a new city-level data set covering 15 OECD countries over 150 years and show that national housing markets are characterized by…

In a model of moral hazard in teams, we demonstrate that firms’ concerns about low trust among teammates can justify two common but otherwise puzzling patterns: information waste and transparency trap. We find that (i) firms predominantly employ…

This paper contributes to the literature on political business cycles by assessing the effect of elections on growth expectations based on expert survey data instead of using actual performance data. We analyze different roles opportunistic and…

Political distortions are prevalent in many developing countries, implying substantial productivity losses. This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalization on political distortions in India. First, using variation in political turnover, we…

German history over the past 125 years has been turbulent. Marked by two world wars, revolutions and major regime changes, as well as a hyperinflation and three currency reforms, expropriations and terri- torial divisions, it provides unique insights…

Norms play a pivotal role in fostering peace. Yet, there is a dearth of comparative empirical studies testing which norms exhibit the strongest connection. Moreover, peace is usually only measured in terms of the absence of violent conflict,…

We analyze the impact of economic conditions at arrival on the economic integration of family-sponsored migrants in the U.S. A one pp higher unemployment rate at arrival decreases annual wage income by four percent in the short run and two percent in…

This paper examines whether biased income expectations due to overconfidence lead to higher levels of debt-taking. We show suggestive evidence for a link between overconfidence and borrowing behavior in a representative survey of German households…

African innovators typically suffer from severe resource constraints and need to develop strategies to cope with these constraints. This paper focusses on external knowledge sourcing and, in particular, on the role of cooperation as a means to…