There are only few estimates of the returns on contributions to the German public pension System (GPPS). Those that are published ränge between nominal rates of future returns between about 4,5 % and 48 %, indicating that GPPS treats different groups of people differently. The authors develop a...

Das Umlage- und das Kapitaldeckungsverfahren werden verglichen. Das Kapitaldeckungsverfahren hat eine größere Rendite für den einzelnen und bringt gesamtwirtschaftliche Effizienzgewinne mit sich: Es wird mehr Kapital gebildet, und Verzerrungen am Arbeitsmarkt werden beseitigt. Bei einem...

Although there is a host of literature on the locational choice of traditional economy firms, relatively little is known about the locational needs and preferences of new economy firms. Therefore, the current paper provides an empirical analysis of the factors determining the regional...

The present paper aims at explaining the regional deconcentration of economic activities in (West) Germany during the past two decades. Using an idea-based endogenous growth model that encloses several innovative sectors, that subjects economic activity to externalities of agglomeration, and...

Based on a standard idea-based model of endogenous growth we test the hypothesis that regional innovative activity is path-dependent, and investigate the geographical scope of knowledge spillovers. Using data for West-German regions, two alternative indicators of the stock of knowledge are...

This paper examines the resource curse and its transmission channels by resource type. We review and synthesize existing theories of the transmission channels of the curse. This synthesis suggests that (1) relating the transmission channels to the characteristics of different types of resources,...

The paper proposes an econometric approach for quantifying jointly the geographical scope of commuting as well as the various forms of agglomeration economies originating from metropolitan centers. Adopting an urban economics perspective, and using land prices to measure their aggregate effects,...

In this paper I discuss the general statistical relationships between beta- and sigmaconvergence (for a definition see section 2) and the implications of the Solow-Swan and Ramsey-Cass model for an OLS-estimation of beta- and sigma-convergence of the log of per capita GDP over a cross section of...

This paper examines the role of the health gradient – the positive correlation between household income and health – in individual retirement behavior, using data from the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP). We first estimate agegroup-specific health gradients and find their slope increases...