This paper takes stock of German public support measures in favour of families. The database comprises benefits from family-specific norms of tax law as well as cash and in-kind transfers both from public budgets (federal, states’ and local layer) and from the social insurance system...

Tax expenditures are granted for a variety of purposes in Germany. The paper presents data on the extent and the structure of the tax expenditures in the period 2003 to 2010. Tax expenditures were reduced somewhat in the period 2003–2006. However, they increased again thereafter. --...

Tax expenditures are granted for a variety of purposes in Germany. They were significantly reduced in December 2003. After the general election in 2005, additional reductions of the tax expenditures were decided upon; however, new measures were introduced, too. The paper presents data on the...

Despite the single currency, yields on government bonds in the Euro Area deviate from German bond yields. These bond spreads are usually attributed to differing default and liquidity risks. Recent research points out that time-varying global factors, approximated by risk measures or short term...

Tax reform is a permanent topic of the economic policy debate in Germany. The paper presents a radical reform proposal (as well as a survey of other proposals) and describes some steps towards the realization of the proposal. The tax system proposed mainly consists of a value added tax, a flat...

The development of production, prices and employment in the EU electrical industry between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s is analysed in order to test the hypothesis that the competitive pressure from low-income countries has led to the observed decline of the employment share of low-skilled...

Im Juni 2002 hat der Deutsche Bundestag die Befreiung sämtlicher Biokraftstoffe von der Mineralölsteuer beschlossen. Eine solche Förderung von Biokraftstoffen wird von der Politik durch positive Effekte auf die Klima-, Energie- und Agrarpolitik gerechtfertigt. Das Arbeitspapier analysiert am...

Tax expenditures are granted for a variety of purposes in Germany. They were significantly reduced in December 2003. After the general election in 2005, additional reductions of the tax expenditures were decided upon; however, new measures were introduced, too. The paper presents data on the...

The prospects for labour supply in Europe are considered. The analysis begins with a so-called labour market balance covering the development on an aggregate level. Estimations to shed light on the relation between unemployment and labour force participation are given in the second part of the...