This contribution gives an overview of the main results of our theoretical research on the stability and change of labour market institutions. We use so-called models of unionised oligopolies which are borrowed from the theory of industrial organization in order to analyse the effects of...

Using German data from the Institute for Employment Research Establishment Panel, this paper constructs two main measures of outsourcing and examines their determinants and consequences for employment. There are some commonalities in the correlates of the two measures of outsourcing, as well as...

An emerging literature argues that changes in the allocation of workplace 'tasks' between capital and labor, and between domestic and foreign workers, has altered the structure of labor demand in industrialized countries and fostered employment polarization - that is, rising employment in the...

Globalization is transforming the German manufacturing production model. German manufacturing MNCs are shifting from servicing global demand via exports to a strategy of 'produce where you sell' FDI expansion in emerging global markets. This strategy is generating recursive dynamics that are...

Zur Vorbereitung des Jahresgutachtens 2022/2023 des Sachverständigenrats zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung wurde das IAB um seine Expertise gebeten zur Einschätzung der Bedingungen bei der betrieblichen Rekrutierung von ausländischen Fachkräften in Deutschland. Ein...

In a duopoly market, aspiration levels express how much sellers want to earn given their expectations about the other's behavior. We augment the sellers' decision task by eliciting their profit aspiration. In a first experimental phase, whenever satisficing is not possible, sales choices, point...

From a theoretical point of view, greater trade openness affects firm-level volatility by changing the exposure and the reaction of firms to macroeconomic shocks. The net effect is ambiguous, though. This paper provides firm-level evidence on the link between openness and volatility. Using two...

The relationship between individual firms? export behaviour and firm performance has been studied extensively in the economic literature. However, most studies from the field of economics only distinguish between exporting and non-exporting companies, using the firms? export status as a binary...