This paper indicates that East Germany's unemployment originates primarily in the labor market, caused by the fast wage adjustment after German reunification. We model the resulting labor market traps in a search and matching framework, show that they are difficult to overcome, and provide...

Nicht zuletzt durch eine Reihe spektakulärer Unternehmenszusammenschlüsse ist die Frage nach den Ursachen, den Folgen und den Möglichkeiten bzw. Notwendigkeiten staatlicher Eingriffe im Rahmen der Wettbewerbspolitik erneut in das Zentrum der wirtschaftspolitischen Diskussion geraten....

Rationalisierungsmaßnahmen sind bei steigenden Ausgaben in einem vor allem durch Umlagen finanzierten Gesundheitssystem wichtige Mittel zur Erreichung einer effizienten Produktion und Allokation der Ressourcen. In diesem Artikel werden verschiedene deutsche Regulierungsansätze zur Stärkung...

The aim of this paper is to analyze and estimate salient characteristics of unemployment dynamics. Movements in unemployment are viewed as "chain reactions" of responses to labour market shocks, working their way through systems of interacting lagged adjustment processes. In the context of...

The empirical literature on unemployment almost exclusively focuses on the duration of distinct unemployment spells. In contrast, we use a large German administrative micro data set for the time span 1975-2004 to investigate individual lifetime unemployment (defined as the total length of all...

The expansion of Western European production accelerated in the first half of 1997. Exports were the main engine, driven by a devaluation of European currencies and strong growth abroad. Domestic demand also picked up somewhat led by investment in machinery and equipment. Inflation remained at...

An Englishman once watched his first American football game. He looked intently as the team gathered into a huddle after each play. His American host asked him what he thought of the proceedings. “Not a bad sport,” remarked the visitor, “but they do seem to engage in an excessive number of...