ZEW Discussion Papers

Researchers at the ZEW participate in scientific debates by publishing their papers. The papers are predominantly in English (marked). For the German papers an English abstract is available. The contributions are intended for a final publication in special interest titles. The discussion papers can be downloaded as PDF or PostScript files starting from 1.1.1998. They aimed at national and international target groups.

  1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-041 // 2026

    Why Don’t Donors Deduct? Social Norms and the Limits of Tax Incentives

    Many donors leave tax benefits unclaimed even when doing so requires minimal effort and yields meaningful financial rewards. Findings from our representative survey point to confusion about how to deduct…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-040 // 2026

    The Cost of Fairness in Electricity Markets

    European policymakers argue that bidding zones with uniform prices ensure fairness in electricity markets. Since the outcome of such a fair spot market is often infeasible due to network constraints, a second…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-038 // 2026

    Injunction Frameworks and the Licensing of Standard-Essential Patents

    We develop a licensing-litigation model to analyze how different injunction frameworks affect bargaining behavior, equilibrium royalties, and litigation out comes in standard-essential patent (SEP) disputes.…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-037 // 2026

    Market Creation Without Market Authority: Ex-Ante Evidence from European Emissions Trading

    By extending carbon pricing to buildings and road transport through ETS2, the European Union is undertaking a major policy experiment in market creation. ETS2 overlaps national emissions budgets and technology…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-036 // 2026

    Critical Peak Rebates for Residential Gas: Effectiveness and Selection During the European Energy Crisis

    The abrupt shortage of natural gas imports during the 2022/2023 energy crisis following Russia’s war against Ukraine forced European countries to rapidly cut consumption. In response, governments and energy…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-035 // 2026

    When Facts Fail: Experimental Evidence on Perceptions and Preferences toward Chinese Investments in Germany

    Can correcting large misperceptions about foreign economic exposure change preferences over economic integration? We study this question in a high-stakes setting, Chinese direct investment in Germany, with a…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-034 // 2026

    From Lion Rock to Locked Gates: The Decline of Upward Mobility in Hong Kong

    Using Hong Kong census data from 1976 to 2021, this paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of absolute intergenerational mobility (AIM) in a transitioning Asian economy. We introduce two innovations:…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 26-033 // 2026

    Staying for Discovery, Monetizing Elsewhere: Platform Governance and Complementor Bypassing

    Digital platforms govern not only how ecosystem value is created, but also how complementors capture it. In this paper, we study how content creators respond when a dominant platform restricts monetization while…