Volume 13, Issue 4

Systematic evidence on scientific misbehavior in economics is limited; so far no study explicitly deals with the attitudes and behavior of German economists. In this paper, results of a survey among the members of the Vereins für Socialpolitik conducted in autumn 2010 are reported. According to the results, serious misbehavior like the fabrication of data or pure plagiarism is rare. German economists reject such behavior unanimously, only a handful of respondents admit it. A problem rather consists in the low reporting of observed misbehavior. Some forms of questionable research practices are also of concern. For example, strategic behavior in the publication process is wide-spread, although the majority of the German economists find it unacceptable.

The German government’s adoption of the so-called Energy Concept in 2010 and its decision in the summer of 2011 to phase out nuclear energy altogether within the next ten years, has started a process of severe transformation of the German system of energy provision. Specifically, until 2050 renewables will have to become the dominant source of electricity generation. Disconcertingly, up to now the government has not outlined a comprehensive overall strategy how this objective should be achieved in practice. In this paper we discuss the necessary preconditions for a successful transformation in the German energy system. Overall cost of this transition could be held in check, if economic policy were to rely exclusively on a properly designed European Emission Trading System. Yet, instead of attempting to eliminate the remaining deficiencies of this already existing instrument, policy makers in Germany and all across Europe insist on devising additional subsidy schemes for renewables. We argue that the most sensible way to do this is by implementing a renewable support system that is harmonized across Europe. To this end, Germany should switch from current system of feed-in tariffs to a quantity-based system of Green Certificates and, in a second step, combine the German Green Certificate market with that of other European countries.

This work discusses different methodological approaches for the economic evaluation of electricity supply security, quantifies the expected economic costs of power outages in Austria, and provides an interpretation of the results regarding the future challenges of sustaining the currently high levels of electricity supply security. By applying a macroeconomic simulation tool, which assesses the damages of power outages which can be defined for the period between one to 48 hours taking into account the day of the week and time of day, the value of supply security can be estimated precisely with high spatial and sectoral resolution. This is demonstrated exemplarily for a power outage scenario which is similar in scope, timing and duration to a historic even in Italy in 2003 affecting over 50 million people. Decision-makers in politics and businesses can use the analysis tool APOSTEL to conduct precise evaluations of the value of supply security, for cost-benefit analyses of supply security enhancing investments, of regulatory descions which affect the level of supply securty and for many more applications with regards to energy policy. Precise knowledge of the social and economic value of a secure supply of electricity becomes even more crucial considering that the average value of lost load for a one-hour power cut in Austria on a weekday morning in the summer is calculated at 17.1 € per kWh of electricity not supplied.

This paper analyzes decentralization as an instrument of development policy. The positive experience of high developed countries with federal government structures has shifted the focus of international development organizations to decentralization. In particular, decentralization should promote economic prosperity and reduce corruption. This paper argues, however, that the particular institutional framework of developing countries should be taken into account. This study demonstrates that fiscal decentralization tends to harm the effectiveness of foreign aid, whereas forms of political decentralization are less problematic. Moreover, decentralization can increase corruption in less liberal countries. In light of these findings, national and international development agencies should carefully consider potential negative consequences from decentralization.

The question of costs and benefits related to the introduction of tuition fees still dominates the current discussion of higher education policy in Germany. In this contribution, we quantify the effect of tuition fees on state-to-state migration patterns among university freshmen in Germany using an empirical migration model for all 16 German states (Bundesl¨ander) in the period 1999 to 2010. Overall, our results reveal a negative effect of tuition fees on gross in-migration to feecharging states since their introduction in 2006. Although the absolute size of this spatial redistribution effect is moderate, by means of simulation exercises we nevertheless show that the potential use of tuition fees as a planning instrument for higher education policy may not be seen as negligibly. With regard to the questions, which of the other determinants in the migration model can affect gross in-migration flows in a similar way as the introduction of tuition fees was able to do, we find that only a very drastic improvement in the quality of teaching and research facilities at universities in non-charging states relative to fee-charging universities would be able to evoke a similar effect on the spatial redistribution of university freshmen among German states. This raises a closely related question, namely, which of the available instruments may serve best to accomplish the goal of high utilization rates for existing capacities at universities in East Germany as formulated in the University Pact 2020 (Hochschulpakt 2020).

For a long time, religion has been viewed as a topic outside the range of economics. In the last few decades however, economists increasingly started to extend their methods to non-market-based behavior, including religion. One main research area in the economics of religion concerns the economic consequences of religion both for the individual and for the society at large. The second field of research uses economic reasoning to explain religious behavior of individuals as well as the existence of religious groups. This article provides an overview on this literature and summarizes the main conclusions drawn so far.