In Germany, a lively debate about the reform of the financial equalisation scheme between the member states (“Länder”) is under way. There is broad consensus that the member states’ financial responsibility has to be strengthened. A reduction of the transfer level of tax receipts from...

In Deutschland wird ein international überdurchschnittlicher Anteil des Bruttoinlandsprodukts für Gesundheitsleistungen aufgewendet. Gleichzeitig ist die Lebenserwartung der Deutschen im Vergleich der entwickelten Länder allenfalls durchschnittlich. Aus dieser Diskrepanz wird oft der Schluss...

We derive the shape of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) contracts when agents can exert search effort but face different search costs and have private information about their type. We derive a recursive solution of our dynamic adverse selection problem with repeated moral hazard. Conditions...

In this note we compare the laissez-faire steady-state solution in the Howitt and Aghion (1998) model to the social optimum. The analysis offers several new insights in comparison to the welfare analysis in Aghion and Howitt (1992). We find various new distortions between private and optimal...

Dieser Diskussionsbeitrag beleuchtet das Thema Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit aus der Perspektive neuerer wissenschaftlicher Forschung. Es wird einerseits ein Einblick in neuere empirische Fakten und Ergebnisse aus der Arbeitsmarktliteratur mit Fokus auf Deutschland gegeben. Andererseits werden...

We develop a general equilibrium stochastic OLG model with heterogenous households. Households differ with respect to their productivity. Productivity depends stochastically on parents' unobservable investment in their child's human capital and an aggregate productivity shock. We introduce a...

We examine the efficiency properties of labor taxation. A spatial model of an economy is introduced whose key feature is a new approach to restricted labor mobility. We characterize the efficient allocation of labor and properties of a decentralized equilibrium. An efficient allocation of labor...

In this note we compare the laissez-faire steady-state solution in the Howitt and Aghion (1998) model to the social optimum. The analysis offers several new insights in comparison to the welfare analysis in Aghion and Howitt (1992). We find various new distortions between private and optimal...