We are calling for comparisons of banking and banking systems from a spatial perspective. Therefore, this paper develops a classification identifying decentralized and centralized banking according to two characteristics: geographical market orientation (regional vs. supraregional) - to...

This paper exploits rich SOEP microdata to analyze state-level variation in health care utilization in Germany. Unlike most studies in the field of the Small Area Variation (SAV) literature, our approach allows us to net out a large array of individual-level and state-level factors that may...

This paper studies the redistributive and revenue effects of bracket creep in Germany under various inflation scenarios and evaluates the feasibility to charge a rich tax to fight bracket creep for the income distribution in 2009. Using a tax micro-simulation model developed for the newly...

In this paper, we present a case study of the imputation in a complex household survey - the first wave of the German Panel on Household Finances (PHF). A household wealth survey has to be built on a questionnaire with rather complex logical structure mainly because the probes of many wealth...

This paper is a comment on the analysis of the German security industry by Stuchtey and Skrzypietz (2014). The comment focuses on two issues. Firstly, it argues that it is advantageous for the research agenda of the authors to conceptualize security as a human need and not as an economic good....

We study an investment experiment conducted with a representative sample of German households. Respondents invest in a safe asset and a risky asset whose return is tied to the German stock market. Experimental investments correlate with beliefs about stock market returns and exhibit desirable...

The digitalization of the every-day life also affects buying habits of customers. Changes that take place regarding these habits result in an increasing number of e-commerce retailers. Online-shops in the business-to-consumer field are especially successful with apparel and electronic products....

The increasing overload of information that bothers people is affecting businesses on online job boards as well. Although there is no doubt about the benefits of those platforms, companies are threatened to get lost in the sheer mass of similar advertisements. Considering the background of the...

After a period of hibernation, the development of pumped-hydro storage plants in Germany regains momentum. Motivated by an ever increasing share of intermittent renewable generation, a variety of energy players considers new projects, which could increase the available capacity by up to 60%...

Recently, the number of state interventions and of firm subsidies has largely increased. However, the possible outcome of such interventions is rather am-biguous. This paper investigates the impact of firm subsidies granted by Ger-man regional policy. The long experiences made with regional...