"Societal changes, such as the increasing number of divorces and the high proportion of non-married couples, lead to a rising importance of individual old-age incomes above the poverty line for women. Although this goal seems increasingly attainable due to a rise in female employment...

"In Germany, temporary wage subsidies (Eingliederungszuschüsse) can be granted to employers if they hire workers with obstacles to placement. Based on the 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 waves of the IAB Establishment Panel, this paper looks into the following questions: Is there a connection between...

"This paper discusses methodological problems of standard errors and treatment effects. First, heteroskedasticity- and cluster-robust estimates are considered as well as problems with Bernoulli distributed regressors, outliers and partially identified parameters. Second, procedures to determine...

"On January 1st, 1997, minimum wages were introduced in the German main construction sector. We examine the effects of this wage regulation on various aspects of the labour market of this sector, particularly the effects on wages and employment. In East Germany, at the time of its introduction,...

"The introduction of a minimum wage in the care sector in August 2010 was the first time that a minimum wage was introduced in a health sector. Furthermore, in contrast to other industries with minimum wages, the care sector has continually increased in recent years. Our results show that...

"Empirical investigations with enterprise level data from official statistics often use the average wage as a proxy variable for the qualification of the workforce, mostly due to the lack of detailed information on the qualification of the employees. This paper uses unique newly available data...

"The introduction of the minimum wage in the German painter and varnisher trade in 2003 is used as a natural experiment to study the effects of minimum wages on wages and employment. We find a significant positive effect on the average hourly wage of skilled workers in East Germany, but not in...

Two very topical research questions are addressed in this book: Which are the determinants of new business formation and their survival, and will business start-ups, especially in the service sector, create employment and thereby generate growth? The analysis is based on a unique dataset...