A growing proportion of employees are working under fixed-term contracts. This paper empirically analyzes whether this strategy actually improves firm productivity. To this end, a large dataset of German manufacturing firms and various panel data models are used in order to reveal the expected...

This paper addresses the relationship between the utilization of temporary agency workers by firms and their competitiveness measured by unit labor costs, using a rich, newly built, data set of German manufacturing enterprises. The analysis is conducted by applying different panel data models...

Wirtschaftsleistung und Produktivität sind in Deutschland regional sehr unterschiedlich verteilt. Insgesamt ist das Effi zienzniveau in Ballungszentren höher als in ländlichen Gebieten. Das gilt für Ostdeutschland wie für Westdeutschland. Ostdeutschland ist aber deutlich stärker ländlich...

Prices for energy and food are currently rising extraordinarily sharply. Households with low net incomes in particular are being burdened by the price increases, in some cases dramatically. According to current inflation forecasts, price increases for the lowest-income ten percent would mean a...