Suchergebnisse

Der Vorschlag des russischen Präsidenten Medwedew für eine neue europäische Sicherheitsarchitektur hat die Debatte über das Verhältnis zwischen der EU und Russland belebt. Doch unter Sicherheit verstehen die Russen etwas anderes als die EU mit ihrem Konzept der "soft power". Notwendig sind neue Foren für ein gemeinsames Verständnis über die Zukunft der europäisch-russischen Beziehungen.

AbstractThis paper examines the incidence of the cost burden associated with expanding public health insurance to low‐income adults in the context of the Affordable Care Act. Using data from the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), I exploit exogenous variation in Medicaid eligibility rules across states, income groups and time. I find that public insurance eligibility reduced mean out‐of‐pocket spending by 19.6 percent among targeted households, but it did not causally increase total expenditures among beneficiaries. Rather, Medicaid expansion shifted the burden of payment from eligible households and private insurance (21.5 percent reduction) to taxpayers in the form of public insurance (46.6 percent increase). The efficiency of these public funds can be summarized by a mean Marginal Value of Public Funds of 0.70 in the full sample, 0.99 among households with at least one pre‐existing condition, and 1.26 in states with an above‐median number of public hospitals.

The goal of this dissertation is to contribute to better understanding the role of various public policies in shaping opportunities, incentives and ultimately economic decisions at the individual and household level. The four independent research papers that constitute the thesis employ microeconometric methods to explore causal relationships between policy interventions, household consumption and labor supply, with a particular interest in low-income households. Chapters one and two both focus on the effects of minimum wages among groups exhibiting lower skills than those present in the average population: teens and the non-employed, respectively. Chapter three investigates the work incentives inherent in tax-benefit systems across 12 countries of the European Union and how these incentives influence labor supply decisions on the extensive margin. Chapter four considers the effect of an in-kind benefit, namely the availability of public health insurance, on household medical spending and consumption.

Abstract
We study the role of perceived trade-offs between human lives and economic benefits in shaping policy views. In an online experiment with a representative sample from the United States conducted during the early Covid-19 pandemic, we provide randomised information on the medium-run costs of restricting economic activity to mitigate infections. A one standard deviation lower perceived economic cost of lockdowns increases support by about twice as much as having a Covid at-risk condition, and by half as much as being a Democrat. Varying projected health benefits has a similar effect. Personal exposure to health risks reduces people's responsiveness to cost-benefit considerations.

We study the role of cost-benefit considerations in driving public acceptance of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a large-scale online survey experiment with a representative sample of the US population, we introduce exogenous variation in the perceived economic costs and health benefits of shutdown measures by informing a random half of our sample about relevant research evidence. We find that a one standard deviation decrease in perceived economic costs (increase in perceived health benefits) of shutdown measures increases the preferred shutdown length by 13 (11) days. These effects are substantial, corresponding to two times the effect of having a Covid at-risk condition and to approximately half of the Democrat-Republican difference in the support of NPIs. Individuals with an acute and immediate personal exposure to the crisis, either in the form of health at-risk conditions or job loss, however, are less responsive to cost-benefit considerations. Our results provide insights into the mechanisms determining public acceptance of pandemic response measures.

We study the role of perceived trade-offs between human lives and economic benefits in shaping policy views. In an online experiment with a representative sample from the US conducted during the early Covid-19 pandemic, we provide randomized information on the medium-run costs of restricting economic activity to mitigate infections. A one standard deviation lower perceived economic cost of lockdowns increases support by about twice as much as having a Covid at-risk condition, and by half as much as being a Democrat. Varying projected health benefits has a similar effect. Personal exposure to health risks reduces people's responsiveness to cost-benefit considerations.