When the centre-left government came into power in Germany in 1998, a core promise of the new Chancellor, Schroeder, was to reduce the lack of jobs and to increase welfare. Facing persistently increasing unemployment rates from then on, the government finally launched “Hartz IV” in 2004; the...

Until 2004, German long-term unemployed received a tax-financed benefit (Arbeitslosenhilfe)which exceeded social assistance for the disabled (Sozialhilfe). This has beenchanged by the recent reform known as “Hartz IV”: Effective from 2005, long-termunemployed on the one hand (who are no more...

Our questionnaire survey finds that most fund managers rely on the strategies ofbuy-&-hold, momentum and contrarian trading. These strategies are typically appliedmutually. Their use is rooted in the attributes and beliefs of the respective fund managers:buy-&-hold traders behave fundamentally...

Empirical research has shown that inexperienced fund managers yield significantly higherreturns than their more experienced colleagues. If the portfolios of inexperienced are not morerisky, this result would contradict the hypothesis of market efficiency. Therefore, it is animportant question...