Due to demographic changes, housing markets in Germany differentiate notably. Frequently, shrinking and booming cities are located closely to each other, as in the cases of Wuppertal, Cologne and Dusseldorf. In order to enhance economic efficiency and prevent the demolition of buildings in some...

Regulation of the residential real estate market is in general enacted to provide social benefits to the tenant, who is perceived to be the weaker partner in the landlord-tenant relationship. Academic literature has been able to document and quantify economic gains for the tenants. An...

The residential rental real estate market is subject to several types of regulation. Their economic impact is generally thought to be substantial; however their perceived benefits are controversial. This study tries to shed new light on the perceived impact by comparing the regulation of the...

For decades, economists have been urging politicians to reform pension systems, but in many cases the proposals have been rejected by referring to unresolved questions of economic justice. This dilemma can be avoided by using the concept of constitutional economics, which allows us to address...

On efficiency grounds, a social contract can be justified if not only pension payments but also the funding of education is taken into account. By introducing a pay-as-you system, which is a type of implicit social contract, each young generation can overcome its liquidity problems with regards...