The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the most significant trade policy initiative since the Uruguay Round (1986 to 1994). It would create a free trade zone covering 45% of world GDP. However, critics dismiss the possible welfare gains as small compared to the...

We develop a simple methodology to estimate monthly aggregate supply and demand conditions from bilateral international trade data for about 180 countries and 40 years. We apply our method to measure the short-run effects of natural disasters. In line with theoretical considerations, we find...

We estimate the short-run trade effects of natural disasters using monthly trade data and data on the physical intensity of earthquakes and storms. We find large negative effects for heavily indebted poor, least developed or landlocked developing countries but only small effects for other...

We estimate the short-run trade effects of natural disasters using monthly trade data and data on the physical intensity of earthquakes and storms. We find large negative effects for heavily indebted poor, least developed or landlocked developing countries but only small effects for other...

Eine Bestandsaufnahme der aktuellen Tarifstruktur im deutschen Einzelhandel zeigt, dass die Bedeutung von Kollektivverträgen deutlich zurückgegangen ist: Während 2000 noch knapp drei Viertel aller Beschäftigten im Handelsgewerbe an einen Tarifvertrag gebunden waren, sind es im Jahr 2010 nur...

We analyze the most important drivers of the recent rise in overall German wage dispersion and pin down the relative contribution of central establishment and worker characteristics. Moreover, we separately investigate the drivers of between as well as within establishment wage dispersion. Using...

In this paper we try to provide an overview of a series of simple descriptive facts on recent trends in economic inequality in Germany. We believe that it is important to be precise in the way in which we define the inequality measure and the sample we use, to avoid generating vague messages...

Eine Untersuchung des ifo Instituts zeigt, dass schon die Hartz-Reformen durch den Abbau der Arbeitslosigkeit zu einer Verringerung der Ungleichheit auf dem Arbeitsmarkt geführt haben. Selbst bei ausschließlicher Betrachtung der Beschäftigten zeigt sich eine deutliche Trendwende um das Jahr...