Using data from the 2006 wave of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this paper analyzes how a minimum wage affects employment, wage inequality, public expenditures, and aggregate income in the low-wage sector. It is shown that a statutory minimum wage of EUR 7.50 per hour would cost...

Using a German firm-level data set, this paper is the first to jointly study the cyclical properties of the cross-sections of firm-level real value added and Solow residual innovations, as well as capital and employment adjustment. We find two new business cycle facts: 1) The cross-sectional...

Is time-varying firm-level uncertainty a major cause or amplifier of the business cycle? This paper investigates this question in the context of a heterogeneous-firm RBC model with persistent firm-level productivity shocks and lumpy capital adjustment, where cyclical changes in uncertainty...

Die negative Entwicklung der Gesamtwirtschaft macht auch vor dem deutschen Einzelhandel nicht halt. Zwar läuft der private Konsum bisher relativ gut, die Einzelhandelsumsätze gingen in der ersten Jahreshälfte 2009 aber zurück. Die Einzelhandelsfirmen gehen davon aus, dass sich die negative...