In the current literature uncertainty about the future course of the economy is identified as a possible driver of business cycle fluctuations. In fact, uncertainty surrounds the movements of all economic variables which gives rise to a monitoring problem. We identify the different dimensions of...

This paper is a dynamic extension of the well-known theory of trade in tasks by Grossman & Rossi-Hansberg (2008). In my model, a firm’s offshoring decision is governed by production cost savings, but also considers potential imitation risk. I show that such a consideration reduces the level of...

This paper focuses on the effect of experience within an industry on wages. I use a correlated random effects simultaneous equation model that allows individual and match heterogeneity to affect wages, job tenure and industry experience. I estimate my model separately for men and women using a...

This paper investigates the effect of co-worker characteristics on wages, measured by the average person effect of coworkers in a wage regression. The effect of interest is identified from within-firm changes in workforce composition, controlling for personeffects, firm effects, and...

This paper investigates the impact of occasional grandchild care on grandparent healthusing the pan-European dataset SHARE on elderly people. We find a small but statisticallysignificant positive correlation between grandchild care and physical health, cognitivefunctioning and mental health....

Die Europäische Währungsunion steckt in einer tiefen Zahlungsbilanzkrise. Privates Kapital fließt imgroßen Stil von den Peripherieländern in die Kernländer. Um den Fortbestand des Euro zugewährleisten treten öffentliche, intergouvernementale Kredite und Target-Kredite der...

Economies of scale and scope are typically modelled and estimated using cost functions that are common to all firms in an industry irrespective of whether they specialize in a single output or produce multiple outputs. We suggest an alternative flexible technology model that does not make this...

Using the recursive unit root test by Phillips et al. (2011) we show that the Target balances of the German Bundesbank have been explosive from the beginning of 2009 to the beginning of 2013. By implementing a full-allotment policy and reducing the required minimum quality of collaterals in...

In the present paper I examine tax revenue projections in Germany over the period 1968 to 2012 with a focus on forecasting rationality. I show that tax revenue forecasts for themedium-term are upward biased. Overoptimistic revenue projections are particularly pronounced after the German...