Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey Recent documents in Bruno S. Frey en-us Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:41:25 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/6 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/6 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:38 PST Many studies have established that people care a great deal about their relative economic position and not solely, as standard economic theory assumes, about their absolute economic position. However, behavioral evidence is rare. This paper provides an empirical analysis on how individuals' relative income position affects their performance. Using a unique data set for 1040 soccer players over a period of eight seasons, our analysis suggests that if a player's salary is below the average and this difference increases, his performance worsens and the productivity decreasing effects of positional concerns are stronger. Moreover, the larger the income differences within a team, the stronger positional concern effects are observable. We also find that the more the players are integrated in a particular social environment (their team), the more evident a relative income effect is. Finally, we find that positional effects are stronger among high performing teams. Benno Torgler http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/5 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/5 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:37 PST Why so many people pay their taxes, even though fines and audit probability are low, is a central question in the tax compliance literature. Positing a homo economicus having a refined motivation structure sheds light on this puzzle. This paper provides empirical evidence for the relevance of conditional cooperation, using survey data from 30 West and East European countries. We find a high correlation between perceived tax evasion and tax morale. The results remain robust after exploiting endogeneity and conducting several robustness tests. We also observe a strong positive correlation between institutional quality and tax morale. Bruno S. Frey http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/4 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/4 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:35 PST World governance today is characterized by international organizations lacking democratic legitimacy and control by the citizens they claim to represent. They are also criticized for being inefficient. This leads to violent protests and to NGOs having great influence. To address these problems, we propose international governance based on the democratic idea of citizen participation: All citizens of the member countries of international organizations have the potential right to participate in the decision-making of international organizations via initiatives, referendums and recalls. In order to reduce transaction costs, a representative group of citizens is randomly selected who can actually exercise their participation rights. Alois Stutzer international organizations global public goods democracy http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/3 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/3 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:35 PST Bruno Frey argues that terrorism has been fought in the wrong way. Instead of focusing on deterrence and preemptive strikes, we should: (1) Reduce vulnerability by decentralizing society; (2) Strengthen positive incentives to leave the terrorist camp; and (3) Divert media attention from terrorist groups. Bruno S. Frey http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/2 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/2 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:34 PST States are ill equipped to meet the challenges of a globalized world. The concept of citizenship with its rights and obligations, including the allegiance owed, is too narrowly defined to exist only between individuals and a state. Today, people identify with, and pay allegiance to, many organizations beyond the state. This paper suggests that citizenship could be extended further and be possible between individuals and quasi-governmental organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations, such as churches, clubs, interest groups, functional organizations and profit firms. Due to the larger set of types of citizenship individuals could choose from, their preferences would be better fulfilled and, due to the competition for citizens induced among organizations, the efficiency of public activity would be raised. Bruno S. Frey http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/1 http://works.bepress.com/bruno_s_frey/1 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:59:32 PST A federal, i.e. decentralized, state is superior to a centralized one because it fulfills the preferences of the citizens more effectively. However, it is also faced with major problems. Therefore, a new kind of democratic federalism for Europe is proposed which maintains the great advantages of federalism but which overcomes its most important weaknesses. Functional, overlapping, and competing jurisdictions (FOCJ) emerge in response to the 'geography of problems'. This concept suggests that prospective new member countries of the European Union should have the possibility of partially entering the EU with respect to functions where they expect positive net benefits. Bruno S. Frey H 10