We use a dynamic framework and panel methodology to investigate the determinants of a firms' time-varying capital structure. Our sample comprises 706 European firms from France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. over the period from 1983 to 2002. If capital structure adjustment is costly, firms may...

High rates of unemployment entail substantial costs to the working population in terms of reduced subjective well-being. This paper studies the importance of individual economic security, in particular job security, in workers' well-being by exploiting sectorspecific institutional differences in...

Die Strategien und Praxis der Arbeitsvermittlung gleichen sich immer stärker aneinander an, wie diese Studie zeigt. Im Zuge der zentralistischen ‚Hartz-Reformen’ nimmt die Vielfalt der Implementationsmodelle der deutschen Arbeitsagenturen ab. Die Angleichungsprozesse verringern die Vielfalt...

We investigate the matching algorithm used by the German central clearinghouse for university admissions (ZVS) in medicine and related subjects. This mechanism consists of three procedures based on final grades from school ("Abiturbestenverfahren", "Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen") and on...