Benefit sanctions imposed on non-compliant welfare recipients are a new element in the German welfare system. In practice, the sanction policy and the application of sanctions vary considerably across the 439 welfare agencies. Based on combined administrative and survey data, these differences...

This paper establishes that individuals with an internal locus of control, i.e., who believe that reinforcement in life comes from their own actions instead of being determined by luck or destiny, earn higher wages. However, this positive effect only translates into labor income via the channel...

The 2005 reform of the German welfare system introduced two competing organizational models for welfare administration. In most districts, a centralized organization was established where local welfare agencies are bound to central directives. At the same time, 69 districts were allowed to opt...

The aim of this paper is to introduce a new model selection mechanism for cross sectional spatial models. This method is more flexible than the approach proposed by Florax et al. (2003) since it controls for spatial dependence as well as for spatial heterogeneity. In particular, Bayesian and...

This paper examines the role of venture capital on a firm's innovation activities by using a data set of German technology-based firms founded between 1996 and 2005. Innovation is proxied by patent counts and an index of innovativeness which reflects the degree to which a young firm has...

Im Oktober 1998 befragte das ZEW rund 250 Finanzexperten aus Banken, Versicherungen, Kapitalanlagegesellschaften und großen Industrieunternehmen nach ihren Empfehlungen zur Gestaltung eines Vermögensportfolios zur Altersvorsorge. Dieses Papier untersucht in einem ersten Schritt, ob in...

In this paper, I contrast the quality of part-time jobs - in terms of hourly wage rates - with those of full-timers. Using the Netherlands as a benchmark, helps to assess the size and seriousness of the estimated wage differentials in Germany. Based on two comparable household surveys, I...

We investigate the effect of Europe's largest multilateral subsidy program for R&D-performing, small and medium-sized enterprises on firm growth. The program was organized under a specific budget allocation rule, referred to as Virtual Common Pot (VCP), which is designed to avoid...

The literature on treatment effects focuses on gross benefits from program participation. We extend this literature by developing conditions under which it is possible to identify parameters measuring the cost and net surplus from program participation. Using the generalized Roy model, we...

Diese Studie versucht Eigenschaften zu identifizieren, die das Beschäftigungswachstum junger deutscher Unternehmen in den neunziger Jahren beeinflussen. Um für die unterschiedlichen wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen zu kontrollieren, werden die empirischen Analysen getrennt für Ost- und...