"'The vitality and stability of our democracy - as well as the economy - eventually depend on the social permeability of our society.' (Horst Köhler, German Federal President, 29. 12. 2007, authors' own translation) This statement draws attention to the strong meritocratic beliefs concerning...

Geselligkeit und soziale Interaktion sind wichtige Dimensionen menschlichen Daseins, deren Konsequenzen für die Verteilung der beruflichen Tätigkeiten und der Löhne noch wenig erforscht sind. In dieser Studie werden daher, unseres Wissens erstmals für Deutschland, die Bedeutung von...

In this paper, human capital investments are evaluated by assuming heterogeneous returns to schooling. We use the potential outcome approach to measure the causal effect of human capital investments on earnings as a continuous treatment effect. Empirical evidence is based on a sample of West...

This paper investigates the role of early life adversity and home resources in terms of competence formation and school achievement based on data from an epidemiological cohort study following 364 children from birth to adolescence. Results indicate that organic and psychosocial risks present in...

Many children grow up with parents working abroad. Economists are interested in the achievement and well-being of these home alone children to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration...

This study explores the intergenerational transmission of time preferences and focuses on the question which specific aspects of mother's time preference are related to her preschool child's ability to delay gratification. We provide a new procedure for assessing the parameters of a...

This paper investigates the role of early life adversity and home resources in terms of competence formation and school achievement based on data from an epidemiological cohort study following 364 children from birth to adolescence. Results indicate that organic and psychosocial risks present in...

In this paper, human capital investments are evaluated by assuming heterogeneous returns to schooling. We use the potential outcome approach to measure the causal effect of human capital investments on earnings as a continuous treatment effect. Empirical evidence is based on a sample of West...

This study investigates institutional and economic reasons for downward wage rigidity regarding three occupational skill groups. Based on a survey of 801 firms in Germany and an econometric analysis, we find strong support for explanations based on the effects of labour union contracts and...