income distribution. However, it has become increasingly recognised, both at the academic and political level, that focusing … purely on income provides a limited picture of social progress. We illustrate how ex-ante policy evaluation can be performed …

erences in the distribution of income and wages using county-level data from Germany. Chapter 2 analyzes the impact of the so …-called Hartz reforms on income inequality in German regions. Chapter 3 investigates the long-term effect of university openings on … the wage distribution in the surrounding area. Chapters 4 and 5 turn to the political consequences of regional income …

an increase in (full-time) wage inequality nor via an increase in the number of income earners per household. … were affected by the reforms to estimate the causal effect of the Hartz reforms on income inequality. My results suggest … that the Hartz reforms have led to a small increase in income inequality. Testing for potential transmission channels, I …