A German policy experiment from 2012 allows me to identify the short-run and longrun causal effects of decentralization on the placement efficiency of public employment services (PES). I exploit variation over time and across districts with different types of PES in a difference-in-differences...

We demonstrate that almost one half of the observed wage gap between East and West Germany reflects differences in worker, establishment, and regional characteristics rather than differences in productivity at the establishment level. Regional price and establishment size differentials alone...

We empirically investigate how two-tier unemployment compensation schemes affect the profile of re-employment hazards. We exploit the aggravation of an existing two-tier scheme in Germany in 2005 and estimate its impact on re-employment rates at different durations. For the short-term...

In 2005, the unemployment benefits for long-term unemployed were reduced in Germany. We investigate the effect of this reform on the transition probability from unemployment to employment using a large German administrative spell data set (SIAB 1975 - 2010). We estimate that the daily transition...