We consider the cyclical properties of the German economy prior and after reunication in 1990 from the perspective of a real business cycle model. The model provides the framework for the selection and consistent measurement of the variables whose time series properties characterize the cycle....

This paper assesses the role of risk constraints in households’ production decisions. Using representative panel data for Andhra Pradesh, India, it analyses the effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) on households’ crop choices. This paper shows that the...

We study the returns to apprenticeship and vocational training for three early labor market outcomes all measured at age 25 for East and West German youths: non-employment (i.e., unemployment or out of the labor force), permanent fulltime employment, and wages. We find strong positive effects of...

Auf Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (Wellen 1993-2012) untersuche ich die Veränderung der Zeitallokationen von Ehemännern und Ehefrauen, wenn die Ehemänner unfreiwillig in Arbeitslosigkeit geraten. Für die Ehemänner in Ost- und Westdeutschland lassen sich eindeutige Anpassungen...

Utilising a large representative data set for Germany, this study contrasts absenteeism of self-employed individuals and paid employees. We find that absence from work is clearly less prevalent among the self-employed than among paid employees. Only to a small extent, this difference can be...

This paper is the first to show theoretically and empirically how firms' production technology affects the choice of their preferred wage formation regime. Our theoretical framework predicts, first, that the larger the total factor productivity of a firm, the more likely it is to opt for...

Using a large data set for Germany, we show that both the raw and the unexplained gender earnings gap are higher in self-employment than in paid employment. Applying an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, more than a quarter of the difference in monthly self-employment earnings can be traced back to...

Using a large administrative dataset and methods of survival analysis, I analyze for the period 1994-2008 whether new establishments' survival chances differ between East and West Germany and whether they converged over time. I find that new establishments in East Germany had relatively good...

This paper investigates the behaviour of employers' monopsony power and workers' wages over the business cycle. Using German administrative linked employer employee data for the years 1985-2010 and an estimation framework based on duration models, we construct a time series of the firm-level...

Using a representative establishment data set for Germany, we show that, in line with the existing literature for several countries, firms' adjustment costs for employment are characterized by a fixed and convex functional form. Furthermore, they are asymmetric with dismissal costs exceeding...