While a widespread consensus exists among macroeconomists that the German labour market reforms in 2003-2005 have successfully contributed to the decline of the unemployment rate, critics claim that the reforms led to wage restraint and consequently consumption dampening accompanied by...

We analyse measures of internal flexibility taken to safeguard employment during the Coronavirus Crisis in comparison to the Great Recession. Cyclical working-time reductions are again a major factor in safeguarding employment. Whereas during the Great Recession all working-time instruments...

The article examines the macroeconomic effects of the recent labour market reforms in Germany. The reforms increased the downward pressure on wages and led to rising income inequality. Many German economists welcomed this effect, because they consider lower wages and higher wage dispersion major...