The negative effect of childbirth on mothers’ labour supply is well documented, though most studies examine only the short-term effects. This study uses retrospective life history data for Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain to investigate the long-term effects of childbirth on...

The purpose of the paper is to assess the theory that the downside risk insurance provided by more generous welfare states generates long run efficiency gains, which counterbalance the short run efficiency losses caused by work disincentives in these states (Feldstein 1974, 1976; Sinn 1995, 1996)....

The 1980s and 1990s have been decades of quite good economic growth in North America and much of Western Europe. But how have the fruits of growth been shared? This paper reviews changing income distributions in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. These three countries may be taken as...

This paper reviews changing income distributions in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, treating the three countries as leading economic performers in ' the three worlds of welfare capitalism.' Previous analyses have shown that earnings dispersion is increasing. The potential impact...

The increasing availability of longitudinal data on income in Europe greatly facilitates the analysis of income and poverty dynamics. In this paper, the results of longitudinal data- analyses on income and poverty in three European welfare states are reported. Using panel data for Germany, the...

The paper studies the long-term effect of part-time employment on the wage career using panel data for three countries. The main idea is to study the possible scarring effect of part-time employment on future hourly wages up to ten years later in the career

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Dry statistics / real lives -- 1.2 Welfare states / welfare regimes -- 1.3 Our aims and methods: ethics, institutions and panels -- 1.4 Our focus: three countries, ten years -- 1.5 The...