While the principle of delegation has become well established on the national level for monetary policy, fiscal policies remain in the hands of policy makers depending on rent-seeking interest groups. We argue that the Maastricht Treaty provides a unique international commitment that enables...

Using standard as well as recently developed univariate and bivariate count data models, this paper analyzes the determinants of workplace accidents using a firm data set for Germany. Given the tight system of public workplace safety regulation, introduced partly as early as in 1869, and the...

In Deutschland haben Menschen ohne ausreichende Berufsqualifikationen ein besonders hohes Arbeitsplatzrisiko. Gleichzeitig werden einfache Dienstleistungen in Privathaushalten wie Putzen, Gartenarbeiten und kleine Reparaturen in Deutschland überwiegend durch Schwarzarbeit erledigt....

We analyze the determinants of household work contracted in the German shadow economy. The German socio-economic household panel, which enumerates casual domestic employment, is used to estimate the demand for such household work. The regressors include regional wage rates, household income and...

The paper investigates the relative importance of trade and immigration for earnings and job mobility of German male workers. Using panel data, changes of workplaces within the firm as between the firms are separated from occupational changes. Various subgroups are investigated, differentiating...

Natives often fear labor market competition of foreigners, as they may induce declining wages and rising unemployment as in the case of natives and immigrants being substitutes. However, there is also the potential that they are complements, producing positive wage and employment effects. This...

Native blue collar wokers often fear the competition of foreigners, as they may induce declining wages and rising unemployment. This has to be expected if natives and immigrants were substitutes. Substitutability might even be greater between foreign labor already in Germany and those newly...

One cornerstone of current attempts to reform the German public health care system by introducing private insurance schemes is the assumption that economic incentives play an important role in individual decision-making about using medical help. This hypothesis is examined for the case of demand...