Publikationen

There is agreement among health economists that on the whole medical innovation causes health care expenditures (HCE) to rise. This paper analyzes for which diagnoses HCE per patient have grown significantly faster than average HCE. We distinguish decedents (patients in their last 4 years of life) from survivors and use a unique dataset comprising detailed HCE of all members of a regional health insurance fund in Upper Austria for the period 2005-2018. Our results indicate that among decedents in particular, the expenditures for treatment of neoplasms have exceeded the general trend in HCE. This confirms that medical innovation for this group of diseases has been particularly strong over the last 15 years. For survivors, we find a noticeable growth in cases and cost per case for pregnancies and childbirth, and also for treatment of mental and behavioral disorders. We discuss whether these findings contradict the widespread interpretation of cost-increasing innovations as "medical progress" and offer some policy recommendations.

Against the background of digital transformation processes that are currently changing the world of work, this paper examines general digital competences of beginning trainees in commercial vocational education and training (VET) programs. We are particularly interested in factors influencing digital competence profiles. From survey data including N = 480 trainees in one federal state in Germany, we were able to identify three different competence profiles (based on the trainees’ self-assessment of their general digital competence). Initial descriptive analysis reveals differences between competence profiles of different training professions (industrial clerks and retail salespersons reach higher competence levels than salespersons). However, regression results indicate that these differences can be explained by differences in school leaving certificates. Contrary to prior empirical evidence, we find no significant effect of trainees’ gender. Finally, the frequency of certain private digital activities (e.g. using office programs, conducting internet searches) affects digital competence profiles. Implications for both VET programs and further research are discussed.

This paper addresses the effects of a prohibition of providing non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients. By combining a strategic auditor–client game with a circular market-matching model that has an endogenous number of auditors, we take into account the interdependence between the auditors’ and clients’ incentives, the market structure, and the quality of audited reports. We show that the regulation’s effects depend on the preexisting audit market concentration and the types of blacklisted NAS. In sharp contrast to the effects that regulators desire, a prohibition of providing NAS to audit clients can further increase audit market concentration and decrease the quality of audited reports if the fees that auditors previously earned from providing the blacklisted NAS were relatively high, compared to the reduction in audit costs that result from spillovers. In contrast, a prohibition of the NAS that generate intense spillovers and low NAS fees can have the unexpected—but desired—effect of decreasing market concentration; however, reporting quality also decreases.

The choice of a study program is based on complex individual decision-making processes. Thereby, economics is one of the most popular fields of study worldwide. Considering previous studies, the role of the teacher is often neglected. However, it can be assumed that teachers’ professional knowledge plays a significant role in a student’s choice of a study program. Thus, the present study investigated the influence of the professional knowledge that students perceive in their economics teacher on their aspirations and choice of an economics study program. The longitudinal data of 1387 Swiss high school students were analyzed. Economic competencies were measured multidimensionally and included knowledge, motivation, interest, value-oriented dispositions, and attitude. There were small to moderate correlations between the professional knowledge that students perceived in their economics teacher and their economic competencies. With regard to the intention and choice of economics, the results show small to moderate effects of the pedagogic content knowledge and the general pedagogic knowledge that students perceive in their teacher. These findings contribute to the discussion on the role of the economics teacher. It is therefore recommended that the teaching professionalism of economics teachers, which has been criticized in different countries, be promoted more strongly and more systematically.

People often have to judge the social motives of others, for example, to distinguish truly prosocial people from those merely trying to appear prosocial. Gaze can reveal the motives underlying social decisions, as decision-makers dedicate more attention to motive-relevant information. We extend the use of eye-tracking and apply it as a communication device by providing (real-time) eye-tracking information of one participant to another. We find that untrained observers can judge the prosociality of decision-makers from their eye-tracked gaze alone, but only if there are no strategic incentives to be chosen for a future interaction. When there are such strategic incentives, the cues of prosociality are invalidated, as both individualistic and prosocial decision-makers put effort into appearing more prosocial. Overall, we find that gaze carries information about a person's prosociality, but also that gaze is malleable and affected by strategic considerations.

Die Bundesregierung will das System der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsfähige radikal reformieren. Neben der Abschaffung des Vermittlungsvorrangs und der Stärkung der Qualifizierung will sie vor allem die Zuverdienstmöglichkeiten für Hilfeempfänger:innen verbessern. Fachleute zerbrechen sich schon lange den Kopf, wie die prohibitiv hohen Transferentzugsraten, also die Anrechnung von Markteinkommen auf den Transfer, auf ein erträgliches Maß gesenkt werden können, ohne dass das System zu teuer wird. Eine Lösung könnte in einer Variante des „Workfare“-Modells liegen, die aus einer Absenkung des Sockeltransfers und einer Arbeitsplatzgarantie des Staates besteht, sodass jeder Arbeitsfähige zur Deckung seines Grundbedarfs durch Arbeit beiträgt.

We present a simple model, illustrating how democracy may improve the quality of the economic institutions. The model further suggests that institutional quality varies more across autocracies than across democracy and that the positive effect of democracies on economic institutional quality increases in people’s human capital. Using a panel data set that covers 150 countries and the period from 1920 to 2019, and different measures of economic institutional quality, we show results from fixed effect and instrumental variable regressions that are in line with the predictions of our model.

In Germany, young migrants and refugees whose German language skills are not sufficient for attending regular classes at school are assigned to so-called “preparation classes”. As the name implies, the main objective of these classes is to teach German language skills and thereby prepare students for regular classes or vocational education and training. Teachers in these classes face special challenges: They have to teach a group of students that is highly heterogeneous in several key respects, they have to deal with a dearth of institutional support and guidance, and they have a lot of responsibility regarding their students' integration in Germany. Therefore, this paper asks what target group-specific professional knowledge teachers possess and to what extent this knowledge reduces the teachers' burdens and raises their perception of gains and contributions to their students' success. Our mixed-method survey of 48 teachers of refugees in prevocational preparation classes in Germany shows that the majority of teachers acquired useful knowledge for teaching refugees, e.g., dealing with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, building German proficiency, or language-sensitive teaching, by attending professional training. In sum, most of the teachers saw immigration to Germany as both a problem and an opportunity. The main burdens they identify are bad working conditions, a lack of support and appreciation and a high demand for high flexibility. Despite generally low stress levels and high resilience, the teachers were extremely stressed by the heterogeneity in their students' performance, especially those teachers who had completed professional training. However, teachers appreciated the students' willingness to learn and gratitude, and perceived cultural diversity in the classroom as a gain for themselves and their teaching. The teachers felt they had mostly contributed to their students' acquisition of the German language as well as their educational progress in general and their personal development. Students' chances of success are expected to be especially high in the German language acquisition and the management of everyday life in Germany. The assessments of teachers with and without target group-specific professional knowledge differ only slightly and rarely significantly.

Governments in developing countries struggle to reach intended beneficiaries when targeting social transfers towards vulnerable populations. Rates of eligible individuals not receiving social transfers and ineligible individuals receiving them tend to be high, constraining the effectiveness of such anti-poverty programs. While interventions to incentivize or monitor local agents in charge of selecting beneficiaries are typically expensive, an important complementary and cost-effective approach could be to reform eligibility criteria to facilitate the selection of beneficiaries. Whether reforms should focus on reducing the number of rules, or selecting criteria which are easy to verify, or do both remains an unanswered question. We address this knowledge gap based on India’s social pension scheme for elderly poor. We find that making eligibility criteria easier to verify has the potential to achieve a substantial improvement in the targeting performance through a reduction in the exclusion error. Those who meet the relevant criteria have a much higher chance of actually becoming beneficiaries. Since eligibility criteria can be changed at low cost, this suggests a viable route for reform in many developing countries. However, a major caveat remains that criteria must sufficiently well reflect actual poverty if the more accurate selection of beneficiaries according to formal criteria shall also translate into actual poverty reduction.

Angesichts der digitalen Transformation schulischer Kontexte ergeben sich neue Anforderungen an die berufliche Handlungskompetenz von Lehrkräften. Dies führt zu einem erhöhten Handlungsbedarf im Bereich der Lehrkräftefortbildung. Diese befindet sich als eine spezifische Form beruflicher Fortbildung an der Schnittstelle zwischen Lehrkräftebildung und Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung, so dass eine Betrachtung dieser Lernkontexte aus dieser Perspektive subdisziplinübergreifende Impulse für die Umsetzung und Gestaltung von Lehrkräftefortbildung geben kann. Im Beitrag werden daher aktuelle Herausforderungen der Lehrkräftefortbildung vor dem Hintergrund der digitalen Transformation anhand des Mehrebenensystems der Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung aufgezeigt und mit Blick auf die Erkenntnisse und Konzepte der Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung diskutiert.

Schlenker’s model of responsibility was used in this study to investigate to what extent leadership trainers consider themselves accountable for the transfer of training. We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews and evaluated the answers using qualitative content analysis. With respect to the responsibility links of Schlenker’s model, the trainers described two out of three links as being rather strong. The interview data suggest that transfer-enhancing strategies were mostly clear to the trainers. They also reported feeling personally obliged to support trainees in their transfer efforts. Regarding the third link, the trainers perceived limited control over several transfer determinants. They explained that they could facilitate transfer but not produce it. The trainers identified the trainees, their supervisors, and the organisations as other responsible parties. The concept of trainers as transfer managers was scarcely reported among the data. Our findings suggest that client organisations could strengthen accountability by setting adequate and feasible training objectives and by monitoring their achievement. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications with regard to the promotion of transfer.

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der professionellen pädagogischen Beziehung zwischen Referendar*innen und ihren Seminarlehrkräften, deren Beitrag für die Beanspruchung der Referendar*innen bisher noch nicht eingängig untersucht wurde. Das Ziel der Studie ist es, anhand einer Querschnittserhebung von 2583 Referendar*innen und ausgebildeten Lehrkräften, kompensatorische sowie verstärkende Effekte der Beziehungsdimensionen Transparenz, Fairness, Vertrauen und Ambivalenz auf die wahrgenommene Beanspruchung im Referendariat zu untersuchen. Die Analyse erfolgt mittels eines latent moderierten Strukturgleichungsansatzes. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Belastungen durch die Kerntätigkeiten im Referendariat sowie Belastungen durch den Umgang mit Kolleg*innen im Lehrer*innenkollegium in signifikant positivem Zusammenhang mit resultierenden Beanspruchungsreaktionen stehen. Je transparenter, fairer und vertrauensvoller und je weniger ambivalent die Beziehung zur Seminarlehrkraft erlebt wird, desto geringer fallen die Beanspruchungsreaktionen aus. Die Ergebnisse werden hinsichtlich ihrer Relevanz für die Beziehungsarbeit im Referendariat als zentralem Ausbildungsbestandteil der zweiten Phase der Lehrer*innenausbildung diskutiert.

Transfer gilt als zentrales Ziel berufsbezogener Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen. Obwohl Lehrende in der berufsbezogenen Weiterbildung Transfer anbahnen und unterstützen können, ist über ihr dafür benötigtes professionelles Wissen bislang wenig bekannt, und es fehlt an einem Messinstrument zu dessen Erfassung. Zu diesem Zweck entwickelten wir einen Test, welcher wissenschaftlich fundiertes Wissen über die Determinanten und die Förderung von Transfer erfasst. Der vorliegende Beitrag thematisiert die Entwicklung und Pilotierung des Instruments. Auf Basis der Item-Response-Theory (IRT) wurden die Testantworten von N = 105 Lehrenden skaliert und interpretiert. Die 32 Items zeigen eine gute Passung hinsichtlich des eindimensionalen Partial-Credit-Modells mit Infit-Werten zwischen 0,93 und 1,16. Die EAP/PV-Reliabilität liegt bei 0,81. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass sich Transferwissen mithilfe des Instruments operationalisieren und reliabel messen lässt.

In der berufsbezogenen Weiterbildung gilt der Transfer des Gelernten als zentrales, wenngleich schwer erreichbares Erfolgskriterium. Das systematische Literaturreview folgt der Prämisse, dass Transfer gezielt gefördert werden muss und dass die Rolle der Lehrenden dabei bisher unzureichend berücksichtigt wurde. Mit dem Ziel, die empirische Forschungslage zu Transferdeterminanten zu analysieren, wurden 19 Metaanalysen aus dem Zeitraum zwischen 1988 und 2021 ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse wurden zusammengefasst und mit Blick auf mögliche Ansatzpunkte der Transferförderung durch die Lehrenden interpretiert. Erwartungsgemäß scheint der Handlungsspielraum der Lehrenden hinsichtlich des Weiterbildungsdesigns am größten. Abhängig von den Weiterbildungszielen erwiesen sich unterschiedliche Lehr-Lern-Methoden und -Prinzipien als transferförderlich. Daneben können Lehrende aber auch auf einzelne Teilnehmendenmerkmale, wie die Motivation und Selbstwirksamkeit, Einfluss nehmen. Die Transferförderung im Arbeitsumfeld können sie begünstigen, indem sie diese rechtzeitig anbahnen, wichtige Beteiligte einbinden und über die Weiterbildungsmaßnahme hinaus Unterstützung anbieten. Das Literaturreview kommt zu dem Schluss, dass Lehrende Transfer fördern können und die dafür nötigen Kompetenzen besitzen sollten.

Vocational education and training (VET) programs are typically regarded as the means to enable successful school-to-work transitions. However, high rates of premature contract terminations in VET programs suggest that adolescents face difficulties during this transition. This paper aims to examine the determinants of persistence intention, claiming that persistence intention is a crucial indicator of imminent dropout decisions. The analysis is based on a longitudinal data set of trainees in dual VET programs in Switzerland (n = 1,163) containing two measurement points (before and after the transition from school to VET). Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent & Brown, 2008, 2013), we are interested in the effects of work adjustment indicators, selected characteristics of the vocational choice process, and environmental support before and after the transition on trainees’ persistence intention. We use structural equation modeling to analyze both direct and indirect effects of different predictor variables on persistence intention. The results show significantly positive effects of both occupational self-efficacy and perceived person-vocation fit during the training program on trainees’ persistence intention. Moreover, there are only indirect effects of anticipated person-vocation fit and occupational self-efficacy at the end of compulsory education. Trainees’ relationship with the trainer also has an indirect effect on persistence intention. Social integration in the workplace is both directly and indirectly linked to persistence intention. Overall, the model explains 48% of the variance in persistence intention. Implications for VET programs and future research are discussed.

The new Keynesian literature typically makes the assumption that firms always have to satisfy demand, which is at odds with profit-maximizing behavior under Calvo pricing when long-run inflation is positive. Our model, which relaxes this assumption, predicts that inflation causes a substantially smaller loss in effective aggregate productivity compared to a benchmark model without the possibility of rationing. Moreover, under positive inflation, firms choose smaller markups over marginal costs in our model than in the benchmark model. As a result, our analysis suggests that the standard new Keynesian model may exaggerate the welfare costs of inflation.

Using administrative German data, we show that large cities allow for a more efficient matching between workers and firms and this has important consequences for geographical inequality. Specifically, the match between high-quality workers and high-quality plants is significantly tighter in large cities relative to small cities. Wages in large cities are higher not only because of the higher worker quality, but also because of a stronger assortative matching. Strong assortative matchig in large cities magnifies wage differences caused by worker sorting, and is a key factor in explaining the growth of geographical wage disparities over the last three decades.