This paper compares the outcomes of corporate self-regulation and traditional ex-ante regulation of network access to monopolistic bottlenecks. In the model of self-regulation, the domestic gas supplier and network owner and the monopsonistic gas customer fix quantities and the network access...

We analyze the work incentives and labor supply effects of the so-called mini- jobs reform (subsidies of social security contributions to people with low-earnings jobs) introduced in Germany in April 2003. The analysis is based on a structural labor supply model embedded in a detailed...

Am 20. Oktober 2005 stellten die sechs Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute in Berlin ihr Herbstgutachten der Presse vor. Der Gemeinschaftsdiagnose zufolge expandiert die Weltwirtschaft im Herbst 2005 trotz des Anstiegs der Ölpreise weiter kräftig. Den dämpfenden Effekten durch die höheren Preise...

Am 26. April 2005 stellten die sechs Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute in Berlin ihr Frühjahrsgutachten der Presse vor. Sie kamen zu der Ansicht, dass sich die Expansion der Weltwirtschaft im Verlauf des vergangenen Jahres abgeschwächt hat, und sich die deutsche Wirtschaft im Frühjahr 2005 in...

This paper presents two new tools for the identification of faking interviewers in surveys. One method is based on Benford's Law, and the other exploits the empirical observation that fakers most often produce answers with less variability than could be expected from the whole survey. We focus...

We evaluate the effect of the federal students' financial assistance scheme (BAfoeG) on enrolment rates into higher education by exploiting the exogenous variation introduced through a discrete shift in the repayment regulations. Supported students had to repay the full loan until 1990....

This paper analyzes the distribution of technical efficiency within manufacturing industries. Using a representative sample of 35,000 firms in 255 industries of the German cost structure census, technical efficiencies are estimated by applying a deterministic frontier production function with...