For two independent principles of intergenerational equity, the implied discount rate equals the growthrate of real per-capita income, say 2%, thus falling right into the range suggested by the U.S. Office ofManagement and Budget. To prove this, we develop a simple tool to evaluate small policy...

Die deutsche Arbeitsmarktpolitik ist im Zuge der Hartz-Reformen grundsätzlich neustrukturiert und systematisch evaluiert worden. Die vorliegenden Evaluationsberichte derersten drei Hartz-Gesetze belegen nun vielfach, welche Instrumente der aktivenArbeitsmarktpolitik sich durch ihre Wirksamkeit...

The fact that raising taxes can increase taxed labor supply through income effects is frequently used to justify greater public good provision than indicated by traditional, compensated analyses. We develop a model including multiple public goods and taxes and derive consistent measures of the...

This paper intends to provide an evaluation of where the economic research onhappiness stands and in which interesting directions it might develop...

Economic evaluation of projects involving changes in mortality risk conventionally assumesthat lives are statistical, i.e., that risks and policy-induced changes in risk are small andsimilar among a population. In reality, baseline mortality risks and policy-induced changes inrisk often differ...

In many countries environmental policies and regulations are implemented to improveenvironmental quality and thus individuals’ well-being. However, how do individuals valuethe environment? In this paper, we review the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA) representinga new non-market valuation...

The German government has spent between 7bn and 11bn Euro per year on active labor market policies (ALMP) in East Germany in the last decade. The effectiveness of the most important programs (in terms of participants and spending) such as job-creation schemes and vocational training has been...

This study analyzes the treatment effects of public training programs for the unemployed inGermany. Based on propensity score matching methods we extend the picture that has beensketched in previous studies by estimating treatment effects of medium-term programs fordifferent sub-groups with...

'Marginal employment', i.e. employment at low working hours and earnings not covered bysocial security, has been gaining importance in the German economy over the past decade.Using a large newly available panel data set and statistical matching techniques, we analysethe effects of marginal...

We use a new and exceptionally rich administrative data set for Germany to evaluate theemployment effects of a variety of public sponsored training programs in the early 2000s.Building on the work of Sianesi (2003, 2004), we employ propensity score matching methodsin a dynamic, multiple...