Analyzing the under-consumption of benefits in the German means-tested Social Assistance program using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study we confirm recent high estimates of a non-take-up rate of more than 60 percent. In light of likely measurement errors in income and in our simulation of household needs, we provide a range of estimates yielding useful boundaries for the non-take-up rate. ...
It is well understood that children benefit educationally the greater the education of their parents. However, transfers of the benefits of human capital within the home occur between partners too. The more educated an individual the more able he or she is to provide a partner with effective career support. Individuals will on average earn more the higher the education of their partner. This reciprocal ...
This paper describes the different institutional frameworks for infrastructure policy in Germany and France. The economic effects of infrastructure are estimated econometrically for German and French regions. We find evidence that regional road infrastructure has a significant impact on regional output. Moreover, we find evidence that for Germany the priority of promoting equal living conditions throughout ...
This paper develops scenarios of electricity demand in China until 2010, at a national, a sectoral and a regional level. It takes into account the recent macroeconomic downturn in the Chinese economy and the potential effects of deregulation and price increases in the power sector. The medium-growth scenario hints at a gross electricity demand of 1500 TWh in 2010; should the structural change from ...
The speed at which immigrants assimilate is the subject of debate. Human capital formation plays a major role in this discussion. We compare second generation immigrants' educational attainments to those of similarly aged natives. Evidence from German data suggests ethnicity matters: ethnic network size has a positive effect on educational attainment, and a clear pattern is exhibited between countries-of-origin ...
This paper discusses the problems of adjustment of the Russian power sector to the challenges for building up a new institutional structure according to political and market requirements and uncovers the reasons why the implementation of a pool regulation model initiated in 1992 was not successful. It identifies the purely formal nature of implementation of the model as well as demonetarisation and ...
Decentralization has put increasing power at the disposal of regions to support conversion processes in Russia since 1992. There is, however, no clear-cut relation between the defense dependency of regions and their conversion success. Other factors, such as exports of any kind, the composition of regional industrial demand for nondefense goods, and the availability of shock absorbers - such as small ...
