In January 2005, the German government enacted a substantial reform of the welfare system, the so-called Hartz IV reform. This book evaluates key characteristics of the reform from a microeconometric perspective. It investigates whether a centralized or decentralized organization of welfare...

Der Beitrag untersucht unter Verwendung der Daten des Sozio-ökonomischen Panels für Westdeutschland über den Zeitraum 1984-2005, ob und in welcher Form die individuelle Betriebszugehörigkeitsdauer von konjunkturellen Schwankungen beeinflusst wird. Als Analyseinstrument dient die...

Benefit sanctions imposed on non-compliant welfare recipients are a new element in the German welfare system. In practice, the sanction policy and the application of sanctions vary considerably across the 439 welfare agencies. Based on combined administrative and survey data, these differences...