This paper analyses the contribution of capital income to income inequality in a cross-national comparison. Using micro-data from the Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF) for three prominent panel studies, namely the BHPS for Great Britain, the SOEP for West Germany, and the PSID for the USA, a...

We link life-satisfaction data to inequality of the pre- and post-government income distribution at the regional level, to estimate the degree of inequality aversion. Three different inequality measures are used. In addition, we investigate whether a reduction in inequality by the state...

This paper examines the effect of smoking behavior on earnings. Using data from the GSOEP, both cross-sectional and longitudinal models are estimated separately for males and females. Results for the cross-sectional models confirm prior analyses inasmuch as smoking has a negative effect on...

The question that this paper addresses is whether or not parents are altruistic towards their children. A new approach will be introduced, where the life satisfaction data of parents will be regressed onto the living conditions of their children who now live independently. After controlling for...

This paper analyzes the determinants of secondary jobholding in Germany and the UK. Although differing in labor market regulations, moonlighting is a persistent phenomenon in both countries. Using panel data from the BHPS and the SOEP, reduced form participation equations are estimated for male...

Much progress has been made in recent years on developing and applying a direct measure of utility using survey questions on subjective well-being. In this paper we explore whether this new type of measurement can be fruitfully applied to the study of interdependent utility in general, and...

In this paper a new method to estimate the equivalence scale elasticity using individual panel data on income satisfaction will be developed. In contrast to other subjective approaches, the present one benefits from the fact that no direct cardinal individual welfare function has to be...

This paper makes two contributions to the empirical matching literature. First, a recent study by Anderson and Burgess (2000) testing for endogenous competition among job seekers in a matching frame-work, is replicated with a richer and more accurate data set for Germany. Their results are...

This paper deals with empirical matching functions. The paper is innovative in several ways. First, unlike in most of the existing literature, matching functions are estimated not only on aggregate, but also on disaggregate levels which is unusual due to the scarcity of appropriate data....

This paper assesses the potential of ?workplace training? with reference to German Apprenticeship. When occupational matching is important, we derive conditions under which firms provide ?optimal? training packages. Since the German system broadly meets these conditions, we evaluate the...