External refereed essays

A Modern Statistical Infrastructure for Excellent Research and Policy Advice: Report on the German Council for Social and Economic Data during Its First Period in Office (2004-2006)

Fiscal Competition and the Composition of Public Spending: Theory and Evidence

We consider fiscal competition between jurisdictions. Capital taxes are used to finance a public input and two public goods: one that benefits mobile skilled workers and one that benefits immobile unskilled workers. We derive the jurisdictions' reaction functions for different spending categories. We then estimate these reaction functions using data from German communities. Thereby we explicitly allow ...

Ethnic Self-Identification of First-Generation Immigrants

This paper uses the concept of ethnic self-identification of immigrants in a two-dimensional framework. It acknowledges that attachments to both the country of origin and the host country are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There are three possible paths of adjustment from separation at entry, namely the transitions to assimilation, integration, and marginalization. We analyze the determinants ...

Impact Assessment of Emissions Stabilization Scenarios with and without Induced Technological Change

The main aim of this paper is to investigate quantitatively the economic impacts of emissions stabilization scenarios with and without the inclusion of induced technological change (ITC). Improved technological innovations are triggered by increased research and development (R&D) expenditures that advance energy efficiencies. Model results show that ITCs due to increased investment in R&D reduce compliance ...

Measuring Left-Right Political Orientation: The Choice of Response Format

Although left-right items are a standard tool of public opinion research, there is little agreement about the optimal response format. Two disputes can be identified in the literature: (1) whether to provide respondents with a small or large number of answer categories, and (2) whether or not to administer the response scale including a midpoint. This study evaluatesthe performance of the 101, 11, ...

A Cartel Analysis of the German Labor Institutions and Its Implications for Labor Market Reform

This paper offers a cartel explanation for the stability of German collective bargaining institutions. We show that a dense net of legal safeguards has been woven around the wage-setting cartel. These measures make deviation by cartel insiders less attractive and simultaneously erect entry barriers for alternative unions. As we argue, many recent labor policy measures, which make wages more flexible, ...

The Diverse Structures of Passenger Car Taxation in Europe and the EU Commissions Proposal for Reform

In this study we first analyze duties on passenger cars in 27 European countries. Taxes and fees related to the registration, ownership and use of cars are assessed differently across Europe, and their rates vary significantly. We find that the annual taxes levied on specific types of cars differ across countries by a factor of up to four, while the variouskinds of duties levied account for extremely ...

Trade Union Membership and Works Councils in West Germany

Generationen- oder Parteienkonflikt? Eine empirische Analyse der deutschen Hochschulausgaben

Wage Flexibility and Labour Market Institutions: A Meta-Analysis

Evidence during the nineties about the response of real wages to shocks highlights that this response is substantially lower in European countries than in the United States and that there are important differences among European countries. Which are the reasons that explain these different reactions? In this paper, we apply meta-analytical techniques in order to provide a quantitative summary of the ...

Zur Politischen Ökonomie öffentlicher Infrastrukturausgaben

Attitudes towards the Euro: An Empirical Study Based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

This paper investigates changing attitudes towards the euro over time in Germany using longitudinal micro-data from the German Socio Economic Panel Study. We observe that a large part of the German population was worried about the new currency both before and after its introduction. Social psychological theories provide insight into these attitudes. Concerns regarding the euro are apparently connected ...

The Environmental and Economic Effects of European Emissions Trading

In this article, we analyse the effects of emissions trading in Europe, with special reference to Germany. We look at the value of the flexibility gained by trading compared to fixed quotas. The analysis is undertaken with a modified version of the GTAP-E model using the latest GTAP version 6 database. It is based on the national allocation plans (NAP) as submitted to and approved by the EU. We find ...

Belastungswirkungen der ökologischen Steuerreform in den Produktionsbereichen: Steuervergünstigungen reduzieren ökologische Anreize

Familie im Lebensverlauf: Akzente für eine nachhaltige Familienpolitik

Apply with Caution: Introducing UK-Style In-Work Support in Germany

Estimates of the labour supply effects of recent UK reforms in the area of direct taxes and benefits show that policy can have significant influence on the level of employment. We confirm this in a simulation of an in-work support system introduced into the German tax and benefit system. Our simulation results suggest that introducing in-work tax credits in Germany would increase the employment of ...

Ein Zehn-Punkte-Plan für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik in Deutschland

The European Electricity and Climate Policy: Complement or Substitute?

Testing the Effectiveness of French Work-sharing Reform: A Forecasting Approach

The macroeconomic impact of the French work-sharing reform of 2000 (a reduction of standard working hours in combination with wage subsidies) is analysed. Using avector error correction model (VECM) for several labour market variables, as well as inflation and output, out-of-sample forecasts for 2000/2001 are produced. A comparison of these forecasts - which serve as a benchmark simulation without ...

German Exports to the Euro Area

This paper analyzes the determinants of German exports to the euro area, which is the biggest market for German products. Three conditional error-correction models based on regionally disaggregated data are developed. One specification includes EMU industrial production and a real external value based on consumer prices, the other two use different EMU investment aggregates, the orresponding real external ...