We reassess the empirical effects of income and employment on self-reported well-being. Our analysis makes use of a two-step estimation procedure that allows applying instrumental variable regressions with ordinal observable data. As suggested by the theory of incomplete markets, we...

This article provides empirical evidence of interregional risk sharing in unified Germany. The focus is on two related questions. First, to what extent do private institutions and the public sector provide insurance against idiosyncratic shocks to individual regions? Second, to what extent does...

This paper provides empirical evidence of interregional risk sharing in reunified Germany. The focus is on two related questions: First, to what extent do private institutions and the public sector provide insurance against asymmetric shocks to individual regions? Second, to what extent does the...

Differences in regional unemployment rates are often used to describe regional economic inequality. This paper asks whether changes in regional unemployment differences in West Germany are persistent over time. Understanding the persistency of regional unemployment differences helps us to assess...

We propose a new explanation for differences and changes in labor supply by gender and marital status, and in particular for the increase in married women’s labor supply over time.We argue that this increase as well as the relative constancy of other groups’ hours are optimal reactions to...