The key to economic reform in Germany is a significant reduction in the high costs of labour.The main factor driving up German labour costs is the funding of the extensive German welfare state through social insurance contributions that in effect operate like payroll taxes on employment. The...

The progress of markets erodes traditional relations of social solidarity that are essential for the stability and performance of societies. As markets advance, pressures build on the state to replace informal social obligations with formal ones. Regulation may fail, however, which tends to give...

The paper presents some of the ideas underlying the current research program of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG). It begins with a discussion of how the institute's programmatic orientation has evolved since it was founded in 1984. Programmatic change over the years...

Der Beitrag thematisiert zunächst die Rahmenbedingungen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt und die spezifische Krise des deutschen Beschäftigungssystems (stabile Koinzidenz hoher Arbeitslosigkeit mit einer niedrigen Erwerbsquote). Ziel der Arbeitsmarkt- und Beschäftigungspolitik müsste es sein, eine auch...