1. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 20-040 // 2020

    Dismissal Protection and Long-term Sickness Absence – First Evidence from Germany

    This paper analyses the causal effects of weaker dismissal protection on the incidence of long-term sickness (> six weeks). We exploit a German policy change, which shifted the threshold exempting small…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 20-039 // 2020

    When Nudges Fail to Scale: Field Experimental Evidence from Goal Setting on Mobile Phones

    Non-pecuniary incentives motivated by insights from psychology (“nudges”) have been shown to be effective tools to change behavior in a variety of fields. An often unanswered question relevant for public policy…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 20-038 // 2020

    The Impact of Carbon Disclosure Mandates on Emissions and Financial Operating Performance

    We examine whether a disclosure mandate for greenhouse gas emissions creates stakeholder pressure for firms to subsequently reduce their emissions. For UK-incorporated listed firms such a mandate was adopted in…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 20-037 // 2020

    The Effect of Patent Litigation Insurance: Theory and Evidence from NPEs

    We analyze the extent to which private defensive litigation insurance deters patent assertion by non-practicing entities (NPEs). We study the effect that a patent-specific defensive insurance product, offered by…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper Nr. 20-036 // 2020

    Capital Incentive Policies in the Age of Cloud Computing: An Empirical Case Study

    The following paper assesses whether current policy environments are appropriate for the emergence of cloud computing technology. In particular, this research uses firm-level data for Germany and the UK to…