In a two-period model with agent heterogeneity we analyze a pension reform toward a stronger link between contributions and benefits (as recently observed in several countries) in a pension system with a Bismarckian and a Beveridgian component. We show that such a policy change reduces the...

In this survey, we compare the history and status of immigration of a traditional immigration county (the US) with the experiences of a new immigration country (Germany). This reveals differences in the immigration policy as in the immigration population in the respective countries. We resume...

Dynamics of Balance of Payment developments are still barely researched. Chapter 1 tries to summarize empirical evidence between institutional determinants and BoP movements and proposes a framework for the role of institutions in a debt cycle. It is found that “good” institutions do help a...

This paper proposes a simultaneous-equation approach to the estimation of the contribution of transport infrastructure accumulation to regional growth. We model explicitly the political-economy process driving infrastructure investments; in doing so, we eliminate a potential source of bias in...