The German government plans to introduce a minimum wage from 2015. This must be understood as a response to the decline in collective bargaining coverage and the marked increase in employment in the low-wage sector. The authors discuss how many workers are affected by this new regulation and...

Looking around the world, one realizes that national minimum wages are not uncommon. Yet it is still very difficult to estimate what effects a minimum wage might have in Germany. This is not just a question of how high the minimum wage should be — its impacts would also depend on many details...

The German economy has veered back on an upward course, after weak growth in the summer semester 2014. In this projection, real GDP is estimated to grow by 1.5 percent in 2014, by 1.4 percent in 2015 and by 1.7 percent in 2016. Inflation is projected to remain low, with 0.9 percent in 2014, 0.7...

People’s expectations after the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and of reunification in 1990 were huge. The government promised to create “flourishing landscapes” within a few years. The euphoria of reunification came not only through the desire to finally become one country and one...

Die Erwartungen der Menschen nach dem Mauerfall vor 25 Jahren und der Wiedervereinigung 1990 waren enorm. Die Regierung versprach, innerhalb weniger Jahre „blühende Landschaften“ zu schaffen. Die Euphorie der Wiedervereinigung kam nicht nur durch den Wunsch zustande, endlich wieder ein Land...

Yet again, no significant economic stimulus is expected from this year’s World Cup. Investments in stadiums and infrastructure in Brazil have certainly resulted in high costs for the public sector, but no significantly positive overall economic impact is expected in the course of the next few...

The economic backlog of eastern Germany compared to western Germany is still sizeable, even 25 years after the fall of the Wall. In terms of GDP per inhabitant and productivity, eastern Germany has attained only 71 percent and threequarters of western German levels, respectively. The catch-up...

In 2012, almost five million people, or roughly 10 percent of the labor force in Germany, worked from home most or some of the time. Of these home workers, 2.7 million were employees, i.e., eight percent of the labor force. It is primarily highly qualified employees such as managers, academics,...

In Berlin führt kein Weg daran vorbei, die rigorose Konsolidierungspolitik fortzusetzen. Der strikte Sparkurs muss eingehalten werden, obwohl er die regionale Nachfrageentwicklung erheblich dämpft. In für die Zukunft entscheidenden Bereichen wie Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur darf jedoch...