Sebastian Seitz

Bio: Sebastian Seitz is an academic researcher from University of Mannheim. The author has contributed to research in topics: Per capita & Transparency (behavior). The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 6 publications receiving 81 citations.

Social capital and the spread of Covid-19: Insights from European countries

Abstract: We explore the role of social capital in the spread of the recent Covid-19 pandemic in independent analyses for Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Exploiting within-country variation, we show that a one standard deviation increase in social capital leads to 12% and 32% fewer Covid-19 cases per capita accumulated from mid-March until mid-May. Using Italy as a case study, we find that high-social-capital areas exhibit lower excess mortality and a decline in mobility. Our results have important implications for the design of local containment policies in future waves of the pandemic.

Does pay transparency affect the gender wage gap? Evidence from Austria

Abstract: We study the 2011 Austrian Pay Transparency Law, which requires firms above a size threshold to publish reports on the gender pay gap. We exploit variation across firm size and time, to study the effects of transparency on the gender wage gap and individual wages, using the universe of Austrian social security records. Our results show that the policy had no discernible effects on male and female wages, and therefore no significant effects on the gender wage gap. The effects are precisely estimated and we can rule out that the policy narrowed the gender wage gap by more than half a percentage point. We find no evidence for wage compression at the establishment level. The policy led to an increase in the retention rate of workers, which points towards higher job satisfaction due to pay transparency.

Social Capital and the Spread of Covid-19: Insights from European Countries

Abstract: We explore the role of social capital in the spread of the recent Covid-19 pandemic in independent analyses for Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Exploiting within-country variation, we show that a one standard deviation increase in social capital leads to 12% and 32% fewer Covid-19 cases per capita accumulated from mid-March until mid-May. Using Italy as a case study, we find that high-social-capital areas exhibit lower excess mortality and a decline in mobility. Our results have important implications for the design of local containment policies in future waves of the pandemic.

Adaptive Update Propagation for Low-Latency Massively Multi-User Virtual Environments

Abstract: Massively Multi-User Virtual Environments (MMVEs) are highly interactive systems. They require the propagation of state updates to users with little delay. In this paper we propose a novel update propagation approach for MMVEs that enables such low-latency propagation while offering the scalability needed to support MMVEs with massive user numbers. Our approach combines peer-based and server- based update propagation into a hybrid system. It adapts itself dynamically to the available system resources and the current situation in the virtual world. We describe our approach in detail, evaluate it and discuss further steps towards a low-latency update propagation system. I. INTRODUCTION Massively Multi-User Virtual Environments (MMVEs) al- low thousands of users worldwide to interact with each other in a common virtual environment in real-time. Such systems are highly interactive. Users expect the virtual environment to react to their actions immediately. Thus, updates of the state of an MMVE must be propagated with little delay. To do so, a suitable update propagation subsystem is needed, which ensures that all users receive all updates they require in time. Current MMVEs are based on client/server-architectures. A central server cluster collects all user actions and sends update messages containing an updated state of the virtual world to all clients. However, this approach introduces an additional delay for update propagation since updates are first sent to the server and then back to the clients. Lower delays are possible by using directly connected peer computers. Peers send updates directly to each other. Unfortunately, due to the limited upload bandwidth of the peers, this approach is not scalable enough to be usable for MMVEs with massive user numbers. In this paper we propose an update propagation subsystem for MMVEs that combines both of these approaches into a hybrid system. Based on a central server we dynamically shift the responsibility for update propagation between the server and individual peers such that the resulting propagation delay is minimized. At the same time we maintain the scalability of the server-based architecture. Our approach is based on the notion of so-called Areas of Propagation (AoP). An AoP determines the area in the virtual world for which a peer can distribute updates directly. That is, if an update occurs on a peer, the peer first checks if the update will influence only peers that are in its own AoP. If so, it delivers the update to them directly. Otherwise, it notifies the server. The size of a peer's AoP is selected dynamically depending on the peer's available bandwidth and the density of peers in the virtual world. This allows to communicating directly with the maximum possible number of peers in the virtual environment, while maintaining the scalability of previous approaches. Our contributions in this paper are as follows: first, we introduce AoPs, our concept to integrate peer-to-peer-based and server-based update propagation. Second, we present an approach to create and maintain AoPs at runtime. Third, we show how to use AoPs to create a scalable and low delay update propagation system. Finally, we give a short evaluation of our approach and compare it to pure P2P-based and pure server-based update propagation. Our work is part of the peers@play project (3), a cooperative project of the Universities of Mannheim, Duisburg-Essen and Hannover to develop protocols and algorithms for highly scalable and interactive MMVEs. We build upon existing functionality from this project to realize our approach. Where necessary, we describe this functionality briefly.

Civic Capital as the Missing Link

Abstract: This chapter reviews the recent debate about the role of social capital in economics. We argue that all the difficulties this concept has encountered in economics are due to a vague and excessively broad definition. For this reason, we restrict social capital to the set of values and beliefs that help cooperation - which for clarity we label civic capital. We argue that this definition differentiates social capital from human capital and satisfies the properties of the standard notion of capital. We then argue that civic capital can explain why differences in economic performance persist over centuries and discuss how the effect of civic capital can be distinguished empirically from other variables that affect economic performance and its persistence, including institutions and geography.

A Literature Review of the Economics of COVID-19

Abstract: The goal of this piece is to survey the developing and rapidly growing literature on the economic consequences of COVID-19 and the governmental responses, and to synthetize the insights emerging from a very large number of studies. This survey: (i) provides an overview of the data sets and the techniques employed to measure social distancing and COVID-19 cases and deaths; (ii) reviews the literature on the determinants of compliance with and the effectiveness of social distancing; (iii) the macroeconomic and financial impacts, including the modelling of plausible mechanisms; (iv) summarizes the literature on the socio-economic consequences of COVID-19, focusing on those aspects related to labor, health, gender, discrimination, and the environment, and v) summarizes the literature on public policy responses.

Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses

Abstract: We discuss and review literature on the macroeconomic effects of epidemics and pandemics since the late 20th century. First, we cover the role of health in driving economic growth and well-being and discuss standard frameworks for assessing the economic burden of infectious diseases. Second, we sketch a general theoretical framework to evaluate the tradeoffs policymakers must consider when addressing infectious diseases and their macroeconomic repercussions. In so doing, we emphasize the dependence of economic consequences on (i) disease characteristics; (ii) inequalities among individuals in terms of susceptibility, preferences, and income; and (iii) cross-country heterogeneities in terms of their institutional and macroeconomic environments. Third, we study pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical policies aimed at mitigating and preventing infectious diseases and their macroeconomic repercussions. Fourth, we discuss the health toll and economic impacts of five infectious diseases: HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, influenza, and COVID-19. Although major epidemics and pandemics can take an enormous human toll and impose a staggering economic burden, early and targeted health and economic policy interventions can often mitigate both to a substantial degree.