Since a court decided that bonuses paid to the former top management at Mannesmann AG were unjustifiable there has been widespread public discussion over fair pay in Germany. This has been against the background of big increases in the salaries paid to top executives at a time when the economy...

At least half of all employees in Germany described their wages in all three survey years under consideration here - 2005, 2007, and 2009 - as just. Still, major changes occurred over this period in how people perceived their earnings. Data from the Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP) Study show that...

Inequality with respect to personal earned income has increased in recent years. This trend has gone hand in hand with changes in both the employment constellations of households and the labor market activity of individuals (e.g. through 'minijobs'). In particular, the years since 2000 have seen...

Income disparities between poorer and richer households in Germany have been widening since reunification. Although this income polarisation is reduced during economically favourable periods by strong growth in employment, once the good times are over, it rises all the faster. The longer-term...

A popular theory of value change states that "postmaterialistic" values such as emancipation and personal development are steadily replacing traditional "materialistic" values such as social advancement and economic security as a result of the ongoing improvement of living conditions since the...

Individuals with a migration background represent a steadily increasing percentage of Germany's population. Although the majority of individuals with migration background lack German citizenship and are therefore unable to vote, the number of naturalized immigrants continues to rise....

The proportion of middle income earners in Germany has shrunk significantly in recent years: from 62 percent of the total population in the year 2000 to only 54 percent in 2006. Correspondingly, the proportion of the population at the margins of the income distribution has increased as well,...

Individual net wealth in Germany totaled an average of around 88,000 Euros at the beginning of 2007 which was about 10 percent higher than in 2002. Decisive for this development was an increase in monetary wealth as well as wealth from private insurance. In connection with the overall quite...

Entitlements from old-age pension schemes - statutory, company, and private - represent a considerable source of wealth. For data-related reasons, analyses of the personal wealth distribution have so far failed to take this into account, however. According to recent calculations based on the...

It is not possible to provide a scientific answer to questions regarding the 'fairness' of taxation. Nonetheless, empirical economics and social science research can still yield helpful information for legislators charged with deciding on the level and structure of the tax system. Such research...