In the German wastewater sector, innovations are often regarded to be the key to both more efficient service provision and reduction of environmental and health-related problems. However, it is unclear what factors foster these innovations. One possible candidate factor is increased competition...

In this paper we use a reform in the applicability of the Protection Against Dismissal Act or Kündigungsschutzgesetz in Germany to identify employment effects of the legislation for small establishments. Using a panel of establishments for the period 1997-2001, we find some evidence that a...

Utilizing a new survey of employers, this paper examines how and why establishments differ in their willingness to permit an older full-time white-collar worker to take phased retirement. Phased retirement means that an older worker remains with his or her employer while gradually reducing work...

Investigation of the correlation between technological heterogeneity, scale efficiency and establishment size, based on data for the West Malaysian manufacturing industry in 1973. Technological heterogeneity is found to exist in such a way that there is a switch in scale efficiency: small and...

We study the link between illness severity and the use of public health care services by the privately insured under a public health system. Our theoretical model shows that this relationship will depend on the prioritization established by the public health authorities, the cost of waiting and...

Intergenerational mobility is a subject of a large literature in social science. It focuses on the association between parents' and children's economic wellbeing and receives significant attention because it speaks to the question of equality of opportunity (Torche, 2015), which many consider an...

The functioning of the labour market and the impact of labour market policies are a long-standing issue in social and political debate. In this respect, labour market research acquires the necessary knowledge and often receives impulses from labour market policy. Conversely, progress in the...

Parental investments significantly impact children's outcomes. Exploiting panel data covering individuals from birth to retirement, we estimate child skill production functions and embed them into an estimated dynastic model in which altruistic mothers and fathers make investments in their...