Die Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit gehört zu den wichtigsten wirtschaftspolitischen Herausforderungen. Von dieser Arbeitslosigkeit sind gering qualifizierte Arbeitnehmer in besonderer Weise betroffen. Ziel des von uns entwickelnden Kombilohn-Verfahrens für den Niedriglohnsektor ist es,...

The introduction of a flat tax is supposed to have several advantages. Administration and compliance costs are reduced, as well as incentives for tax evasion. Furthermore, positive employment and growth effects are expected. Despite these advantages, a flat rate tax is not very popular in most...

In der ökonomischen Literatur wird oft argumentiert, dass Kombilohnmodelle und Grundeinkommenskonzepte im Prinzip nur Varianten einer negativen Einkommenssteuer seien. Dabei wird oft übersehen, dass diese Konzepte sehr unterschiedliche Gruppen der Bevölkerung einbeziehen. Dieser Beitrag...

This paper estimates the effect of innovation on employment at the firm level. Our uniquely long innovation panel data set of German manufacturing firms covers more than 20 years and allows us to use various innovation measures. We can distinguish between product and process innovations as well...

This paper analyses the effectiveness of the corporate income tax as an automatic stabilizer. It employs a unique firm-level dataset of German manufacturers combining financial statements with firm-specific information about credit market restrictions. The results show that approximately 20 per...

This paper analyses the effects of education signals for Ethnic Germans and Germans without a migration background (Native Germans"). We base our analysis on a sorting model with productivity enhancing effects of education. We compare whether the signalling value differs between the migrants and...

This paper presents a micro data approach to the identification of credit crunches. Using a survey among German firms which regularly queries the firms' assessment of the current willingness of banks to extend credit we estimate the probability of a restrictive credit supply policy by time...

The German Income Tax Reform 2000, which announced a reduction in income tax rates to be implemented in a series of three stages, was welcomed by the public as a step towards unleashing lurking growth potentials. Nonetheless, in the course of the year 2001 a dispute arose, centering around the...