This paper investigates whether mandatory activation programs for welfare receivers have effects on welfare participation, employment and disposable income. In contrast to earlier studies we are able to capture both entry and exit effects. The empirical analysis makes use of a Swedish welfare...

Previous literature shows that activation requirements for welfare participants decrease welfare participation. However, the dynamics have not been examined, and often only exit effects are analyzed. In this paper, we look more closely at the transition rates into and out of welfare. Using...

Seit 2005 müssen arbeitslose erwerbsfähige Hilfebedürftige dem Arbeitsmarkt zur Verfügung stehen. Aktivierungsmaßnahmen sollen sie hierbei unterstützen. Zahlenmäßig bedeutsam sind die kurzen Eignungsfeststellungs- und Trainingsmaßnahmen, die verschiedene Qualifikationen vermitteln oder...

This paper examines participation in labor market programs such as job subsidies, workfare, and training programs by lone mothers receiving means-tested unemployment benefits in Germany. Since the 2005 Hartz IV labor market policy reforms, expectations that non-employed parents responsible for...

Further vocational training for the unemployed aims at enhancing their job prospects. This paper analyses the effectiveness of such subsidized training programmes for means-tested unemployment benefit recipients in Germany. The empirical findings are based on rich administrative data of the...

This paper provides new estimates of the medium and long-term impacts of Head Start on the health and behavioral problems of its participants. We identify these impacts using discontinuities in the probability of participation induced by program eligibility rules. Our strategy allows us to...

Microsimulation studies typically assume that all entitlements to means-tested benefits are actually claimed by eligible households, despite a large body of research that suggests that take-up rates are substantially below 100%. The assumption of full take-up tends to exaggerate the simulated...

Similar to numerous other European countries, Germany's unemployment policy went through a paradigm shift in 2005, towards activation policy by tightening their monitoring and sanction regime. With our study, we aim to provide causal evidence for whether an intended positive effect of benefit...

Research on welfare participation often shows significant differences between immigrants and natives that are often attributed to immigrants' higher risk of welfare dependence. We study whether immigrants in Germany also differ from their German counterparts in their take-up behavior conditional...

Bringing welfare recipients into jobs is a major goal of German labour market policy since a reform of the year 2005. Direct job creation providing participants with tem-porary subsidized jobs mainly in the non-profit sector plays an important role for achieving this goal. There are three...