Abstract The economic policy forum deals with the question of whether economic policies need economic forecasts. Principally, all three authors agree on their usefulness. However, while Ernst Helmstädter argues that such forecasts can improve the decisions of economic policy-makers, he...

Abstract Sickness benefit income reduces an employee’s opportunity costs of absence from work. In the Federal Republic of Germany the institutional arrangement was changed several times during the 1951-1999 period. This paper investigates the effects on sick leave behavior. According to the...

Abstract Tax reform in Germany is proposed by political parties as well as by specific research groups. The gross wage income distributions for different groups of taxpayers are used to find out the consequences of introducing alternative rules of taxation for the wage income tax revenues. The...