We characterize regional inequality in gross incomes at the municipality level in Germany using data from administrative tax returns for the period 1998-2016. More unequal municipalities are more likely to be urban and located in West Germany. Decomposing the increase in inequality in the last...

This paper estimates the causal effect of corporate tax hikes on firm investment based on more than 1,400 local tax changes. By observing planned and realized investment volumes in a representative sample of German manufacturing firms, we can study how tax hikes induce firms to revise their...

This policy brief provides novel empirical evidence on the causal effect of increasing corporate taxes on firm investment. The study combines unique data on investment plans and their realizations of firms in the German industrial sector and data on more than 1,400 local tax changes in the...

This paper estimates the causal effect of corporate tax hikes on firm investment based on more than 1,400 local tax changes. By observing planned and realized investment volumes in a representative sample of German manufacturing firms, we can study how tax hikes induce firms to revise their...

Are the United States still a land of opportunity? We provide new insights on this question by invoking a novel measurement approach that allows us to target the joint distribution of income and wealth. We show that inequality of opportunity has increased by 77% over the time period 1983-2016....

Die Zukunftsfähigkeit des gesetzlichen Rentensystems wird durch Familien mit Kindern sichergestellt. Anders als im Steuerrecht existieren in der Sozialversicherung jedoch keine Kinderfreibeträge, sodass Erwerbstätige mit und ohne Kinder die gleichen Rentenversicherungsbeiträge zahlen. Dieser...

[Überblick] Das derzeitige System der Grundsicherung für Erwerbsfähige in Deutschland gilt als ineffizient und zu komplex und ist zahlreichen Kritikpunkten ausgesetzt (siehe Blömer, Fuest und Peichl 2019b, für einen Überblick). Die Transferleistungen des SGB II sind unzureichend mit den...

This paper describes the ifo Tax and Transfer Behavioral Microsimulation Model (ifoMSM-TTL), a policy microsimulation model for Germany. The model uses household microdata from the German Socio-Economic Panel and firm data from the German Linked Employer-Employee Dataset. This microsimulation...

In this article, we discuss reform elements of "Hartz IV". This includes, on the one hand, merging unemployment benefits with housing benefits and the additional child benefits (Kinderzuschlag) and, on the other hand, reducing disincentives which prevent the recipients from earning higher...

In dieser Studie werden die Verteilungseffekte der Steuerpolitik in der 19. Legislaturperiode untersucht. Im ifo Mikrosimulationsmodell ifo-MSM-TTL werden Be- und Entlastungen verschiedener Haushaltstypen und Einkommensgruppen sowie die Veränderung der Ungleichheits- und Armutsmaße durch...