https://hdl.handle.net/10419/51248 2026-10-23T01:14:53Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339357 Title: Fog or smog? The impact of uncensored reporting on pollution on individuals' environmental preferences Authors: Hartmann, Sven Alfred Abstract: This paper analyzes the causal effect of exposure to uncensored environmental reporting on individuals' environmental preferences and pro-environmental behavior. We exploit a natural experiment occurring in the German Democratic Republic, where geographic characteristics determined access to Western TV. Western media provided information on environmental pollution, a topic censored in East German state media. Using individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find a positive and persistent effect of Western TV exposure on environmental concerns and participation in environmental organizations. Complementing these findings, the analysis of county-level data reveals additional changes in proenvironmental behavior. Specifically, we show that Western TV induced GDR citizens to submit complaint letters on environmental issues to local authorities. Furthermore, regions with Western TV access exhibited stronger electoral support for the Green Party in the first two federal elections of reunified Germany. These results highlight the influential role of mass media in shaping both environmental preferences and corresponding behavior. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/341580 Title: Councils of contentment: Works councils and income perceptions Authors: Goerke, Laszlo; Hartmann, Sven Alfred; Huang, Yue Abstract: Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we provide a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between workplace co-determination in the form of works councils and income satisfaction. Controlling for a wide range of individual, job-related, and firm-level characteristics in OLS and fixed effects specifications, we observe that employees working in establishments with a works council report significantly higher income satisfaction compared to their counterparts in non-codetermined firms. The rank in the income distribution, the perceived fairness of the wage, and working conditions emerge as quantitatively relevant factors in explaining the positive correlation. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/341610 Title: Immigration and crimes against natives: The 2015 refugee crisis in Germany Authors: Huang, Yue; Kvasnicka, Michael Abstract: During the 2015 refugee crisis, nearly one million refugees arrived in Germany, raising widespread concern that crimes against natives would rise. Using novel county-level data, we study this question empirically in first-difference and 2SLS regressions. Our results do not support the view that Germans were victimized in greater numbers by refugees, as measured by their rate of victimization in crimes with refugee suspects. Our findings are of great policy and public interest, and also of material relevance for the broader literature on immigration and crime, which mostly considers crimes per capita or variants thereof. We show that such aggregate measures may be insufficiently informative about the actual victimization patterns of specific groups. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/341613 Title: The effects of monetary compensation on paid volunteers: Quasi-experimental evidence from Germany Authors: Tassi, Annalisa; Voorintholt, Lieke Abstract: In recent decades, volunteering has expanded from completely unpaid work to the possibility of receiving a small (tax-free) monetary compensation for the activity performed, with the goal of stimulating these activities. Since the relationship between monetary compensation and prosocial behavior may differ from standard labor market settings, the effectiveness of monetary and tax incentives in this context is an empirical question. Using data from German income tax returns, this paper investigates the effects of changes in monetary compensations on the duration of voluntary work, donations, and market labor income of paid volunteers. Our empirical analysis leverages a German policy change from 2013 that increased the tax-free threshold for volunteer compensations. Following a difference-in-differences approach in combination with a duration model, we do not find evidence that affected volunteers change the number of years they spend in a certain volunteer position. Our results also show that the compensation increase has no spillover effects on labor earnings or donations. Combining our null findings and insights from our theoretical model, we suggest exploring non-incentive-based measures rather than higher compensations to stimulate paid volunteering. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z