"This paper deals with the strategic reorientation concerning the instruments of active labor market policy in Germany which came into force at January 1st 2009. The main objective of this reform was to streamline the portfolio of existing instruments and make it more transparent and clearly...

Many social policy reforms have been carried out in Europe in the last fifteen years. Most of these reforms are marginal. Often they are mutually inconsistent. Yet, something is changing in the European social policy landscape and not in the direction implied by the presence of a 'race to the...

This proposal involves the establishment of ‘welfare accounts’ for every person in a country. There are four accounts: a retirement account (covering pensions), an unemployment account (covering unemployment support), a human capital account (covering education and training), and a health...

"A major unemployment and welfare benefit reform took place in Germany in 2005. One objective of this reform was to more strongly encourage an adult worker model of the family, with an emphasis on activating the formerly inactive. Our hypothesis is, however, that assignments to activation...

We explore the far-reaching implications of replacing current unemployment benefit (UB) systems by an unemployment accounts (UA) system. Under the UA system, employed people are required to make ongoing contributions to their UAs and the balances in these accounts are available to them during...

"This paper investigates the selectivity of vocational training courses on Germany's labor market. We consider the case of a special program ('IFlaS'), which provides vocational training for low-skilled unemployed. The program aims at alleviating the foreseeable shortage of skilled workers in...

"This paper investigates the selectivity of vocational training courses on Germany's labor market. We consider the case of a special program ('IFlaS'), which provides vocational training for low-skilled unemployed. The program aims at alleviating the foreseeable shortage of skilled workers in...

This paper provides a direct test of the causal link from electoral rules to economic policy. Our theoretical model delivers unambigous predictions on the interaction between institutions and a time varying event, namely the unemployment rate in pivotal and non-pivotal districts. We use local...

"This article deals with the role of caseworkers in Germany's Federal Employment Agency ('Bundesagentur für Arbeit') in the process of implementing administrative reforms. We argue that a successful outcome of reforms depends heavily on how caseworkers understand and interpret innovations. Our...

"This article deals with the role of caseworkers in Germany's Federal Employment Agency ('Bundesagentur für Arbeit') in the process of implementing administrative reforms. We argue that a successful outcome of reforms depends heavily on how caseworkers understand and interpret innovations. Our...