Publikationssuche

Perceived Discrimination Among Migrants in Germany: Does Social Capital Moderate Harmful Effects on Mental Health?

Background The harmful mental health effects of perceived discrimination for migrant populations are well established. The potential buffering effect of regional-level social capital, however, has not previously been explored. Methods Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP; 2009–2018) we apply multilevel models to assess the effect of frequent or infrequent perceived discrimination on ...

Impact of ESG Performance on the Cost of Capital in the Energy, Utilities, and Basic Materials Sectors

This paper explores the presence of an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) premium for firms operating in the energy, utilities, and basic materials sectors. Specifically, we examine the influence of ESG performance on firms’ cost of capital in both debt and equity markets. We apply a measure of the ex ante implied cost of equity and the cost of debt to a global sample of over 24,000 firm-year ...

Wage Risk and Portfolio Choice: The Role of Correlated Returns

From standard portfolio-choice theory, it is well-understood that background risk, primarily due to wage risk, is one of the central determinants of individuals’ portfolio composition: higher background risk reduces risky investments. However, if background risk is negatively correlated with financial market risk, higher background risk implies a more risky investment. We quantify the influence of ...

Disentangling Structural Change, Servitization, and Skill-Biased Change

This paper analyzes three key labor market trends – structural change, servitization, and skill-biased change – using German data from 1975 to 2017. Through a decomposition analysis, we discern their individual impacts on employment shifts, revealing their distinct roles in the German labor market’s evolution. Servitization and skill-biased change significantly influence employment growth alongside ...

Let's Switch to the Cloud: Cloud Usage and Its Effect on Labor Productivity

The advent of cloud computing promises to improve the way firms use IT solutions. Firms are expected to replace large and inflexible fixed-cost investments in IT with more targeted, variable spending on cloud solutions. This is also expected to increase firms' productivity by allowing them to quickly adapt their IT infrastructure to their specific needs. We assess this claim using firm-level data provided ...

Is Russian Gas Still Needed in the European Union? Model-Based Analysis of Long-Term Scenarios

Aligned with the war in Ukraine, Russia has significantly withheld natural gas exports to Europe since 2021. As there are no EU-wide sanctions on imports of Russian natural gas, the Ukraine transit as well as imports via Turkey and LNG have remained active during 2022–24. However, the Russian-Ukrainian transit agreement expires at the end of 2024 and discussions about new sanctions on natural gas as ...

Long-Term Effects of Equal Sharing: Evidence from Inheritance Rules for Land

Immigration, Female Labour Supply and Local Cultural Norms

We study the local evolution of female labour supply and cultural norms in West Germany in reaction to the sudden presence of East Germans who migrated to the West after reunification. These migrants grew up with high rates of maternal employment, whereas West German families mostly followed the traditional breadwinner-housewife model. We find that West German women increase their labour supply and ...

Brothers in Arms: The Value of Coalitions in Sanctions Regimes

This paper examines the impact of coalitions on the economic costs of the 2012 Iran and 2014 Russia sanctions. By estimating and simulating a quantitative general equilibrium trade model under different coalition setups, we (1) dissect welfare losses for sanctions senders and target; (2) compare prospective coalition partners; (3) investigate ‘optimal’ coalitions that maximize payoff from sanctions; ...

Did Religious Well-Being Benefits Converge or Diverge During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany?

A large body of literature highlights the benefits of being religious in terms of subjective well-being. We examine changes to these so-called religious well-being benefits during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and address the role of (formal and informal) social integration when explaining these changes. We empirically test two contrasting scenarios: The first scenario predicts ...