1. Discussion and Working Paper // 2015

    The Economic Costs of Mass Surveillance: Insights from Stasi Spying in East Germany

    Based on official records from the former East German Ministry for State Security, we quantify the long-term costs of state surveillance on social capital and economic performance. Using county-level variation…

  2. ZEW Newsletter // 2015

    2015-07

    1. News
    2. Call for Papers
      • TAPES 2016 - ZEW/NBER Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar
    3. Staff
      • Guests at ZEW
      • Visiting Researchers
    4. Press Releases
    5. Recent Publications
      IN ENGLISH
      • Financial Market Report Switzerland
      • Financial…
  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-051 // 2015

    Measuring Patent Quality in International Comparison – Index Development and Application to China

    We develop an index that compares the quality of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications by considering citations generated by International Search Reports (ISRs). In its most restrictive variation, i.e.…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-050 // 2015

    Flying the Nest: How the Home Department Shapes Researchers' Career Paths

    This paper studies the importance of the socialization environment – nest – for the career destinations of early career researchers. In a sample of research groups in the fields of science and engineering at…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-048 // 2015

    Facility- and Service-based Competition and Investment in Fixed Broadband Networks: Lessons from a Decade of Access Regulations in the European Union Member States

    This paper employs firm-level panel data of 57 incumbent and entrant firms for 23 European countries in the decade from 2003 to 2012. We examine the impact of service- and facility-based competition on…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-047 // 2015

    Marital Sorting, Inequality and the Role of Female Labor Supply: Evidence from East and West Germany

    This paper examines to what extent marital sorting affects cross-sectional earnings inequality in Germany over the past three decades, while explicitly taking into account labor supply choices. Using rich micro…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-046 // 2015

    Revenue Decentralization, Central Oversight and the Political Budget Cycle: Evidence from Israel

    This paper examines whether revenue decentralization and direct external financial supervision affect the incidence and strength of political budget cycles, using a panel of Israeli municipalities during the…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 15-045 // 2015

    The Influence of Collective Action on the Demand for Voluntary Climate Change Mitigation in Hypothetical and Real Situations

    In this experiment, we investigate determinants of the individual demand for voluntary climate change mitigation. Subjects decide between a cash prize and an allowance from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme for…