Noise pollution is detrimental to health and to cognitive development of children. This is not only true for extreme levels of noise in the neighborhood of an airport but also to traffic noise in urban areas. Using a census of preschool children, we show that children who are exposed to...

High rates of student attrition in tertiary education are a major concern for universities and public policy, as dropout is not only costly for the students but also wastes public funds. To successfully reduce student attrition, it is imperative to understand which students are at risk of...

This paper adds to the literature on extracurricular early childhood education and child development by exploiting unique data on an educational project in Germany, the Junior University (JU). Utilizing a quasi-experimental study design, we estimate the causal short-term effect of JU enrollment...

In this paper we look at school choice in primary schools in Germany. The data used is from Wuppertal, a major city in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), where school districts were abolished in 2008 to allow for free school choice. Here we look at the situation before 2008 to learn more about choice...

Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich der Frage, ob die begünstigte Besteuerung nicht ent-nommener Gewinne gem. § 34a EStG dazu geeignet ist, Personenunternehmen steuerlich ver-gleichbar zu belasten wie Kapitalgesellschaften. Durch die Einführung des virtuellen Tren-nungsprinzips wird den...

Aufgrund einer Schulgesetzänderung wurden in NRW für das Schuljahr 2008/2009 die Grundschuleinzugsbezirke aufgehoben. Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welchen Einfluss Merkmale der Wohnumgebung auf das Schulwahlverhalten von Eltern mit unterschiedlichen ökonomischen und kulturellen Ressourcen...

This paper analyzes the effect of the abolition of school districts in North-Rhine Westphalia on ethnic segregation in primary schools, using data from the school statistics from 2006/07 to 2008/09. The effect of the new policy is not easily identified, because several additional changes to the...

In 2008, school districts were abolished in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federal state. Critics have argued that free school choice will lead to increased segregation and educational disparities. The data used is from Wuppertal, a major city in NRW. Since the Turkish...

In response to PISA, all German federal states but one have adopted central exit examinations (CEEs) at the end of all secondary school tracks. Theoretically, the advantages of CEEs are fairly undisputed. CEEs make teaching and learning output observable and comparable across schools, and...

Der Beitrag simuliert mit den Daten1 der Kostenstrukturerhebung des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes sowie des Bergbaus und der Gewinnung von Steinen und Erden von 2006, wie sich die Neuregelung der Gewerbesteuer in der Unternehmensteuerreform 2008 auf die steuerliche Belastung der Unternehmen auswirkt....