Social inequality is one of the fundamental themes of sociology and has received increasing attention in recent years, not only in economics but also in the public debate. Alongside the attempt to locate this topic in the context of the current social science research, this paper seeks to introduce broader normative dimensions of social inequality and discuss questions regarding its legitimacy. In ...
This thesis analyzes the determinants of university enrollment and successful completion of university studies. The main questions analyzed are: What are the enrollment effects of different tuition fee schemes? How does taxation of future earnings affect enrollment? What is the impact of student aid on the success of studies? To answer the first two questions, I develop a structural university enrollment ...
We analyze the impact on schooling outcomes of growing up in a non-intact family in Germany. We find that this experience is associated with worse outcomes according to estimates from models that do not control for possible correlations between common unobserved determinants of family structure and educational performance. Evidence of adverse effects emerges also when endogeneity is accounted for. ...
We provide first evidence on the relationship between cognitive abilities and earnings in Germany using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) Study. The estimates suggest that mechanics abilities are positively related to wages of West German workers, even when educational attainment is controlled for. Pragmatics of cognition are not related to earnings. In line with studies for other countries, ...
This paper conducts a cross-national econometric analysis of intra-family location and caregiving patterns. First, we assess, from an international perspective, the relationship between family structure and the geographic proximity between adult children and their parents. We then examine whether differences in family structure affect the amount of informal care adult children provide to their elderly ...
It is well known that individuals' risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and also educational attainment, but there is barely any evidence on whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of dependent children. We add to this literature and examine children's secondary school track choice in Germany where tracking occurs at age ten ...
