"Researchers in Germany have nowadays access to confidential micro data compiled from official statistics in a way that could not have been dreamt of just a few years ago. This paper describes the new institutions that grant data access - most importantly the research data centers located inside...

In empirical studies often the values of some variables for some observations are much larger or smaller than the values for the other observations in the sample. These extreme observations, or outliers, often have a large impact on the results of statistical analyses. Conclusions based on a...