Contributions in Merlin

"A cross-regional econometric analysis is conducted suggesting that institutional factors in the form of direct democracy (via initiatives and referenda) and of federal structure (local autonomy) systematically and sizeably raise self-reported individual well-being. This positive effect can be attributed to political outcomes closer to voters preferences as well as to the procedural utility of political participation. Moreover, the results of ""standard"" microeconometric well-being functions previously published are supported. Unemployment among economic variables and bad health among demographic variables have a strongly depressing effect on happiness. Income only significantly raises happiness for higher income groups."

This paper studies the effect of increased immigration in Austria on the unemployment risk of young natives. Austria experienced a dramatic rise in the share of alien workers as a result of the breakdown of the former commu-nist regimes (especially from former Yugoslavia). We concentrate on unemployment entry of young male workers, who are supposed to compete most heavily with new immigrants. Our results indicate that the detrimental impact - if it exists at all - is only minor. This is irrespective of the analyzed proxy for competition: The share of foreign workers in an industry or in a region.

Volunteer work is an increasingly large, yet ill-understood sector of the economy. We show that monetary rewards undermine the intrinsic motivation of volunteers. A unique data set from Switzerland allows us to assess the effects of financial rewards on the effort put into volunteer work. There is a fairly standard pattern regarding the volunteers reaction e.g. to more labor market work hours. But we obtain the puzzling result that, when rewarded, volunteers work less. These findings are in line with a large literature in social psychology emphasizing that external rewards can undermine the intrinsic motivation for an activity. We show the implications for public policy towards volunteering.

This paper analyzes the impact of inequality on growth when technical progress is driven by innovations and consumers have hierarchic preferences. Inequality has an impact on growth because it affects the structure and the dynamics of demand. Redistribution from very rich to very poor consumers is beneficial for growth. In general, the growth effect depends on the nature of redistribution. Due to a demand externality of R&D activities multiple equilibria are possible.

Over the recent years one could repeatedly hear the claim that a rising concern for relative standing (in terms of consumption) was partly responsible for the decline in household savings and in growth that could be observed in some developed countries (particularly in the US) and that the rise in income inequality had further aggravated this process. In this paper we want to analyze under which conditions (concerning the importance of social comparisons for peoples' behavior and their choice of reference groups) this claim is valid. We show that an increase in a societies' concern for relative standing aggravates a negative impact of inequality on growth if two conditions are fulfilled: individuals have a higher concern for their present than for their future relative standing and individuals have a tendency to find their reference groups among people that are wealthier then they are themselves. Empirical data suggest that the negative impact of inequality on growth is stronger in highly developed economies. This is compatible with the explanation that is presented in this paper if individuals living in highly developed countries are more likely to have a high concern for relative standing. We will argue (using research on the cultural consequences of economic development) that this is a reasonable assumption to make.

Using information on job changes and search behavior of workers and controlling for endogenousnmobility we study firm-size wage differentials in Switzerland. We find that the observed crosssectionalnfirm size premium cannot be explained exclusively by worker heterogeneity. Almost 50n% of the cross-section differential is a firm-size effect.

This paper examines costs in the Swiss nursing home industry, an issue of concern to Swiss policy makers because of the explosion of elderly care costs and the aging of the population. The paper considers estimation of a translog cost function employing panel data for a sample of 36 nonprofit nursing homes operating in Ticino, a canton of Switzerland, over the period 1993-1995. Using a set of dummy variables quality differences are considered. The results of this analysis indicate the existence of economies of scale for most output levels.

In der Sozialversicherung gelten Risikoselektionen als unerwuenscht, weil sie die Gefahr mit sich bringen, dass der einheitliche Risikopool in der Sozialversicherung aufgespalten und die sozialpolitisch gewuenschten Umverteilungsstroeme zwischen den Versicherten reduziert werden. Der Beitrag zeigt am Beispiel der sozialen Krankenversicherung in der Schweiz und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland auf, dass die Selbstselektion von Versicherten in der Sozialversicherung produktiv, das heisst wohlfahrtssteigernd eingesetzt werden kann, ohne den ‚solidarischen‘ Charakter der Sozialversicherung in Frage zu stellen. Konkret wird vorgeschlagen, den Versicherten innerhalb eines durch einen Risikoausgleich gestuetzten Wettbewerbs zwischen den Krankenkassen eine groessere Wahlfreiheit ueber die Hoehe des Versicherungsschutzes einzuraeumen. Fuer Versicherte mit niedrigem Risiko oder hohem Einkommen kann es sinnvoll sein, ihren Versicherungsschutz innerhalb der Sozialversicherung zu reduzieren, obwohl sie dann aufgrund des konstanten Transfers an andere Versicherte der sozialen Krankenversicherung einen hoeheren Preis pro Einheit Sozialversicherungsschutz zu zahlen haben.

In this paper we have examined the scale and cost inefficiency of a sample of Swiss electricity distribution utilities. To do so, we have considered estimation of a stochastic frontier average cost model using the approach suggested by Schmidt and Sickles (1984) for panel data. A translog cost function was estimated using panel data for a sample of 30 municipal utilities over the period 1992-1996. The results indicate the existence of economies of output and customer density and economies of scale. Moreover, the findings on cost inefficiency show that a majority of the distribution utilities is not producing at the minimum level of the cost and that a possible application of the frontier methodology employed in this paper relates to the regulation and benchmarking of the delivery rates.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung wurde ermöglicht durch das vom Bundesamt für Energiewirtschaft finanzierte Projekt „Auswirkungen einer grenzkostenorientierten Tarifrevision auf die Elektrizitätsnachfrage“. Wir danken dem Bundesamt für Energiewirtschaft, dem Bundesamt für Statistik sowie den Elektrizitätswerken der Städte Zürich, Bern und Basel für die tatkräftige Unterstützung des Projekts.