The so-called Hartz reform has introduced fundamental changes for publicly sponsored training in Germany. This concerns primarily the emission of training vouchers as an exclusive allocation device, allowing potential participants free choice among training providers within a given training...

The German Legislator has partially opened the handicraft market with the beginning of 2004. The fear of a declining availability of traineeships was the decisive political argument to prevent a stronger deregulation of this market. From theoretical viewpoint it is unclear in which direction the...