Despite a sequence of labor market reforms in recent years, employment of older workers in Germany is still lower than in many other European countries. The paper explains this by institutional factors that affect labor supply, labor demand and matching, i.e. labor market regulation, human...

Despite a sequence of labor market reforms in recent years, employment of older workers in Germany is still lower than in many other European countries. The paper explains this by institutional factors that affect labor supply, labor demand and matching, i.e. labor market regulation, human...

Die Beschäftigung älterer Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland hat in den letzten Jahren merklich zugenommen. Die Studie untersucht diese jüngste Verbesserung der Arbeitsmarktsituation Älterer und analysiert den Beitrag, den die arbeitsmarkt- und sozialpolitischen Reformen der letzten Jahre dabei...

This paper provides new evidence on the sustainability of public finances in German states (Laender) by exploiting a newly compiled database covering the years 1950 - 2011. Unlike previous studies on Germany, we analyze fiscal sustainability by applying "gsecond generation" panel cointegration...

The European Employment Strategy has set the goal of raising the retirement age of workers in the EU through a strategy of active ageing. Yet despite some progress over the last decade, empirical data show persistent diversity across EU member states. Institutional arrangements of social and...

This paper assesses the existence and the extent of austerity‐oriented policies in Germany in the aftermath of the 2008‐9 recession. In contrast to the intensive phase of labour market and welfare state reforms in the early 2000s aimed at 'welfare readjustment', we do not see austerity...

The European Employment Strategy has set the goal of raising the retirement age of workers in the EU through a strategy of "active ageing". Yet despite some progress over the last decade, empirical data show persistent diversity across EU member states. Institutional arrangements of social and...

Despite a deep recession in 2009 and weak growth in subsequent years, Hungary’s fiscal position compares favourably with many other OECD countries. Nonetheless, the underlying fiscal balance started deteriorating in 2010 and 2011. Recognising this, Hungary’s government launched an ambitious...

There is an intensive debate about old-age poverty in Germany that has induced political parties to develop proposals for higher pensions of poor pensioners in light of the federal elections of September 2013. In addition, several proposals from economists aim at reforming the pension system in...

In den letzten zwanzig Jahren hat die Bedeutung internationaler Vergleiche für die Bewertung der Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik deutlich zugenommen. Weniger eindeutig ist jedoch die Frage zu beantworten, ob und unter welchen Bedingungen von ausländischen Erfahrungen für die Gestaltung von...