This paper investigates how changing the length of school year, leaving the basic curriculum unchanged, affects learning and subsequent earnings. I use variation introduced by the West-German short school years in 1966-67, which exposed some students to a total of about two thirds of a year less...

The deteriorating competencies of pupils in recent years and the increasing inequality of educational opportunities threaten to re-duce the supply of skilled labour and innovative strength in Germany. The diminishing educational opportunities begin with the fact that parents from educationally...

The effect of school closures and distance learning during the COVID19 pandemic on student achievement is still the subject of discussion. After the end of the pandemic-related restrictions, learning losses of students are being assessed and state programs were launched to help students catch up...

Die Forschung und in deren Folge auch die Lehre zu nationalen und europäischen Fragen und Problemen stehen vor einem Dilemma. In vielen Fächern findet die weltbeste Forschung nicht nur in den USA statt, sondern vor allem auch über die USA, ihre Fragestellungen und Probleme mit amerikanischen...

This paper investigates how precisely short-term, job-search oriented training programs as opposed to long-term, human capital intensive training programs work. We evaluate and compare their effects on time until job entry, stability of employment, and earnings. Further, we examine the...

Alleinerziehende Eltern und ihre Kinder profitieren besonders von frühkindlichen Bildungs- und Betreuungsangeboten. Dennoch erhalten in Deutschland knapp ein Drittel der Alleinerziehenden mit Betreuungsbedarf für ihre unter dreijährigen Kinder keinen Betreuungsplatz. Obwohl rund 70 % der...

Innovation is crucial to economic development. Innovation expenditures in Germany's business sector as well as public funding for science and research have been increasing in the past decade. However, the share of businesses with innovations - especially among the small- and medium-sized ones -...

Applying the theory of yardstick competition to the schooling system, we show that it is optimal to have central tests of student achievement and to engage in benchmarking because it raises the quality of teaching. This is true even if teachers? pay (defined in monetary terms) is not performance...

Empirical research on the determinants of right and left-wing extremist election successes is still dominated by descriptive statistical methods. The existing literature in political economy and political science mainly relies on interviews and survey results as well as on qualitative analyses...