This dissertation consists of five distinct empirical papers covering two large areas of research that are rather independent from each other: the economics of ageing and the economics of innovation. The first three chapters cover the impact of intergeneration interaction on the parents of adult...

In this analysis, we compare the determinants of the first-level and the second-level digital divide for private internet use in Germany. Our work offers three important innovations. First, we use the exact weekly duration of internet use to explain inequalities in internet intensity, explicitly...

The prevalence and importance of children's physical health problems have been increasingly recognized in recent years. Physical health problems of children such as obesity, motor impairment and chronic diseases cause social costs. Further, they can lead directly to adult physical health...

The prevalence and importance of children's physical health problems have been increasingly recognized in recent years. Physical health problems of children such as obesity, motor impairment and chronic diseases cause social costs. Further, they can lead directly to adult physical health...

In this analysis, we compare the determinants of the first-level and the second-level digital divide for private internet use in Germany. Our work offers three important innovations. First, we use the exact weekly duration of internet use to explain inequalities in internet intensity, explicitly...

This paper uses evidence from German-speaking central Europe to address open questions about the Consumer and Industrious Revolutions. Did they happen outside the early-developing, North Atlantic economies? Were they shaped by the “social capital” of traditional institutions? How were they...

Demographic behaviour is influenced not just by attributes of individuals but also by characteristics of the communities in which those individuals live. A project on ‘Economy, Gender, and Social Capital in the German Demographic Transition’ is analyzing the longterm determinants of...

Human skills are formed throughout multiple stages over the life cycle. Different types of skills are manipulable at different ages. This paper investigates whether and how the adolescent environment affects individuals' noncognitive skills. We exploit the "Up to the Mountains and Down to the...

The healthcare industry is a growth driver. However, the health system is facing a crisis, affected by the financial development in Europe. An almost completely regulated market is just as little use, as a largely deregulated market such as in the U.S.A. Both lead to gaps in the sustainable and...

In the early 19th century coal mining in the region of Aachen (Prussian Rhine Province) developed to an industrial scale within few decades production was mechanised and new types of industrial organization emerged that allowed for concentration on production and economies of scale. The region...