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A Stochastic Decision-Support Framework for Exploring Strategic Pathways in 3D Concrete Printing
(2024)SSRN3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) promises significant gains through faster construction and reduced waste, yet its adoption is limited. Addressing economic uncertainty in new technologies, this study presents a three-stage stochastic framework using a case study company, focusing on software, hardware, and material innovation. Stage one quantifies unit cost uncertainties; stage two explores development options for strategic planning; stage ...Working Paper -
Harmony and Discord: The Impact of Leadership Dynamics on the Group Climate of Jazz Ensembles
(2024)CES Working Paper SeriesThis paper investigates the influence of different layers of leadership on the group climate within two jazz ensembles, consisting of conductors, instrument section leaders, and music students preparing for live concerts. Using data from 58 short semi-structured interviews, we examine how sentiments and emotions within these relationships affect group climate. We use applying both traditional coding by human researchers and coding by large ...Working Paper -
Warum Biodiversität wichtig ist und welche Rolle sie bei der Klimaregulierung spielt
(2024)Working Paper -
The Moderating Effect of Firm-Specificity on the Impact of Unemployment on Apprenticeship Positions: Evidence from Switzerland
(2024)CES Working Paper SeriesThis paper evaluates how firm-specificity of apprenticeship training affects the response of apprenticeship positions to the unemployment rate. We first develop a theoretical model postulating how firm-specificity of apprenticeship training moderates the impact of changes in unemployment on the supply of apprenticeship positions. We then leverage Swiss data during COVID19 and utilise Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood methodology in empirical ...Working Paper -
How Working from Home Affects Job Satisfaction: Shedding Light on the Mechanisms*
(2024)CES Working Paper SeriesAs a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of people began working from home, and this form of work will remain important. However, there is no consensus how working from home a ects workers' job satisfaction. This paper provides novel insights into the mechanisms through which working from home a ects job satisfaction. We use data from an online survey of part-time students and graduates of professional colleges in Switzerland ...Working Paper -
Public Good Superstars: A Lab-in-the-Field Study of Wikipedia
(2024)Center for Law & Economics Working Paper SeriesMany field public goods are provided by a small number of contributors: the “superstars” of their respective communities. This paper focuses on Wikipedia, one of the largest online volunteering platforms. Over 9 consecutive years, we study the relationship between social preferences – reciprocity, altruism, and social image – and field cooperation. Wikipedia editors are quite prosocial on average, and superstars even more so. But while ...Working Paper -
Fiscal Responses to Monetary Policy: Insights From a Survey Among Government Officials
(2024)KOF Working PapersThis paper leverages a novel survey among German senior government officials to investigate fiscal responses to monetary policy shocks. Using randomized vignette treatments, we present officials with scenarios of increased government interest costs and analyze their expected fiscal adjustments. Our findings reveal that officials predominantly adjust fiscal policy by increasing debt and reducing spending, with tax increases being the least ...Working Paper -
Climate variability can outweigh the influence of climate mean changes for extreme precipitation under global warming
(2024)EGUsphereAs global warming progresses, weather conditions like daily temperature and precipitation are changing due to changes in their means and distributions of day-to-day variability. In this study, we show that changes in variability have a stronger influence on the number of extreme precipitation days than the change in the mean state in many locations. We analyze daily precipitation and maximum temperatures at four levels of global warming ...Working Paper -
Inequality, social mobility and redistributive preferences
(2023)UNU-MERIT Working PapersPrevious studies on preferences for redistribution have shown that even though information on inequality changes concerns about inequality, it barely changes redistributive preferences. In an online experiment, we challenge previous results by showing US citizens a short video with facts on both inequality and social mobility and test the impact on different redistributive policies. Information on inequality of outcomes increases consensus ...Working Paper -
Investigating the influence of changing ice surfaces on gravity wave formation and glacier boundary-layer flow with large-eddy simulations
(2024)EGUsphereMountain glaciers are located in highly complex terrain and their local micro-climate is influenced by mountain boundary layer processes and dynamically-induced gravity waves. Observations (turbulence flux towers) and simulations (large-eddy simulation) over the Hintereisferner (HEF) glacier in the Austrian Alps have shown that down-glacier winds are often disturbed by cross-glacier flow from the North-West associated with gravity waves. ...Working Paper -
The Fertility Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Structural Change
(2023)IZA Discussion Paper SeriesDespite the recent economic growth in many countries on the African continent, the region has seen a slow fertility transition. In this study, we explore whether the lack of structural economic change can explain this slow fertility transition. We create a unique panel data set combining Demographic and Health Surveys, Household Income Surveys, and nighttime light intensity data, as an indicator for industrialization, from 57 countries ...Working Paper -
Learning to Steer Markovian Agents under Model Uncertainty
(2024)arXivDesigning incentives for an adapting population is a ubiquitous problem in a wide array of economic applications and beyond. In this work, we study how to design additional rewards to steer multi-agent systems towards desired policies \emph{without} prior knowledge of the agents' underlying learning dynamics. We introduce a model-based non-episodic Reinforcement Learning (RL) formulation for our steering problem. Importantly, we focus on ...Working Paper -
The Impact of Personalised Digital Information on the Efficiency of Vehicle Choices in Developing Countries
(2024)Economics Working Paper SeriesInformation on operating costs can enable potential buyers to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles. We test this hypothesis with a randomised controlled trial in a developing country, Nepal, using personalised information provision on a unique web based platform. We find that receiving information on five-year operating cost savings improved the fuel economy of motorcycles that respondents selected on the platform (stated preference), ...Working Paper -
The LvL UP Trial: Protocol for a Sequential, Multiple Assignment, Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Effectiveness of a Blended Mobile Lifestyle Intervention
(2024)OSF PreprintsBackground: Blended mobile health (mHealth) interventions – combining self-guided and human support components – could play a major role in preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and common mental disorders (CMDs). This protocol paper describes a sequential, multiple assignment, randomised trial aimed at (i) evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of LvL UP, an mHealth lifestyle intervention for the prevention of NCDs and ...Working Paper -
Meet me halfway
(2024)Arbeitsberichte Verkehrs- und RaumplanungHow far are you literally willing to go to meet your friends and loved ones? Our study breaks down the different factors that influence leisure destination choice between pairs of socially connected people - friends, family, acquaintances. Using a novel dataset of self-reported frequently visited leisure destinations in Zurich, Switzerland, we estimate two joint destination choice models that in addition to joint travel impedance and zonal ...Working Paper -
Labor Market Effects of a Dual-VET Apprenticeship
(2024)CES Working Paper SeriesThis paper analyzes the labor market effects of a Dual-VET Apprenticeship pilot in Nepal. The formal upper secondary education program usually lasts for two years. The program started in the end of 2019. It ended in spring 2022 after being heavily affected by COVID-19. We analyze labor market outcomes in 2023 and 2024 based on structured phone surveys among applicants of the program. We address endogeneity based on randomization of ...Working Paper -
Probabilistic routing for agent-based simulations
(2024)Arbeitsberichte Verkehrs- und RaumplanungTraditional route assignment approaches in agent-based models often rely on least-cost path algorithms, which may not accurately reflect the complex decision-making processes of cyclists. This research addresses these limitations by incorporating probabilistic elements into the routing model, thus accommodating the variability in route choices observed in real-world scenarios. The proposed model integrates a Recursive Logit framework to ...Working Paper -
Is "small" infrastructure the next factory for accessibility?
(2024)Arbeitsberichte Verkehrs- und RaumplanungDecades of investments into “large” transport infrastructure, such as highways and heavy rail have created immense welfare gains through increased accessibility. Today, however, further accessibility improvements in dense urban regions are only possible at rapidly growing costs. Also, the high volumes of car traffic resulting from large highway infrastructure programs conflict with the need for rapid decarbonization. In this paper, we ...Working Paper -
Towards fair roads
(2024)arXivTraffic engineering aims to control infrastructure and population behavior to achieve optimal usage of road networks. Fairness is fundamental to stimulate cooperation in large populations, and plays an important role in traffic engineering, as it increases the well-being of users, improves driving safety by rule-adherence, and overcomes public resistance at legislative implementation. Despite the importance of fairness, only a few works ...Working Paper -
Simulation of policies for automated ride-hailing and ride-pooling services
(2024)Arbeitsberichte Verkehrs- und RaumplanungAutomated vehicles are becoming more prevalent, and the disruption they would cause in combination with ride-hailing and ride-pooling services could be tremendous. Therefore, this study investigates the impacts of ride-hailing and ride-pooling automated fleets in two Swiss cities, Chur and Zurich, and potential policy measures to steer their operations towards more sustainable solutions. We employ the results of the stated preference ...Working Paper