Based on the individual-level data of the PISA 2000 study, this note provides a detailed econometric analysis of the way that reading test scores are associated with individual and family background information and with characteristics of the school and class of the 15 to 16 year old respondents...

Die europäische Schuldenkrise hat zentrale Defizite des Binnenmarkts offengelegt. Regulatorische Defizite haben Anreize geschaffen, eine zu hohe Verschuldung einzugehen. Zwar wurde eine einheitliche Geldpolitik verfolgt, gleichzeitig aber die Kompetenzen für die Aufsicht und Restrukturierung...

The European sovereign debt crisis has revealed severe flaws in the design of the internal market. Both, private and public borrowers had incentives for excessive borrowing, which have been created by deficits in the regulatory structure of financial markets. Capital requirements for banks were...

In Deutschland besteht seit dem Beschluss des Energiekonzepts der schwarz-gelben Koalition im Jahr 2010 und dem im Jahr 2011 erneut bestätigten Ausstieg aus der Kernenergie ein Konsens, die Stromerzeugung bis zum Jahr 2050 so umzubauen, dass die erneuerbaren Energien daran den Hauptanteil...

As part of its efforts to reach the targets of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission published in December 2008 a resolution on a new directive to reduce the per-kilometer CO2 emissions of newly registered automobiles. This paper critically assesses this resolution with respect to its...

This paper examines the patterns of educational assortative mating in East and West Germany. In the literature it is well known that individuals do not mate randomly with respect to social and cultural traits, and that highly assortative mating can lead to polarization and exacerbate economic...

This article revisits an analysis by Frondel, Ritter and Schmidt (2008) of Germany’s Renewable Energy Act, which legislates a system of feed-in tariff s to promote the use of renewable energies. As in the original article, we argue that Germany’s support scheme subsidizes renewable energy...

Volunteering plays a prominent role in the charitable provision of goods and services, yet we know relatively little about why individuals spend time and money to the charity. Assuming that volunteering is a consumption good, we analyze the determinants of individuals’ charitable cash...

In their seminal study on interindustry wage differentials, Krueger and Summers (1988) expressed estimated industry differences as deviations from a hypothetical employment-share weighted mean. Virtually the whole labor literature has followed their approach, yet most studies avoid calculating...