This paper investigates the long-term trend and the underlying determinants of public sector centralization in Germany from 1871 until today. The institutional and the quantitative review of the German history provides no conclusive evidence for a continuous process of government centralization...

Wenn von arbeitslosen Jugendlichen die Rede ist, denkt man zumeist an jene, die beim Übergang von der (Pflicht-)Schule in den Beruf Schwierigkeiten haben. Dabei wird aber übersehen, dass Jugendliche im Alter von 20 bis 25 Jahren neben Personen ab 55 die höchsten Arbeitslosenquoten im...

Many modern trade and growth models are characterized by multiple equilibria. In theory the analysis of multiple equilibria is possible, but in practice it is difficult to test for the presence of multiple equilibria. Based on the methodology developed by Davis and Weinstein (2004) for the case...

In the famous debate between Keynes and Ohlin on the transfer problem, the interaction between non-traded goods and unemployment complicates the analysis considerably. We analyze these issues using four different models to conclude that Keynes's concern regarding the large burden imposed on...

While risk selection within the German public health insurance system has received considerable attention, risk selection between public and private health insurers has largely been ignored. This is surprising since - given the institutional structure - risk selection between systems is likely...

This paper explores the relationship between risk attitude and asset diversification in household portfolios. We first examine the impact of manifested risk aversion on the total number of distinct assets held in a portfolio (naive diversification). The second part of the paper focuses on a more...

With banking sectors worldwide still suffering from the effects of the financial crisis, public discussion of plans to place toxic assets in one or more bad banks has gained steam in recent weeks. The following paper presents a plan how governments can efficiently relieve ailing banks from toxic...

This document provides an overview of the long-term care system, the number and develop-ment of beneficiaries and the long-term care policy in Germany. The report is part of the first stage of the European project ANCIEN (Assessing Needs of Care in European Nations), commissioned by the European...

Bei dem vorliegenden Pflegeheim Rating Report 2009 handelt es sich um den zweiten seit 2007. Hauptziel ist die Verbesserung der Transparenz im deutschen Pflegemarkt - mit Fokus auf der stationären Pflege. Daraus abgeleitet ergibt sich der Anspruch, den Entscheidungsträgern auf den...

Several approaches for subset recovery and improved forecasting accuracy have been proposed and studied. One way is to apply a regularization strategy and solve the model selection task as a continuous optimization problem. One of the most popular approaches in this research field is given by...