Thema Ungleichheit

Reformoptionen für ein nachhaltiges Steuer- und Abgabensystem: Wie Lenkungssteuern effektiv und gerecht für den Klima- und Umweltschutz ausgestaltet werden können

Steuern und Abgaben auf Produkte oder Verbrauch mit gesellschaftlichen Folgekosten (externe Kosten) – sogenannte Pigou- oder Lenkungssteuern – sind ein gesellschaftliches „Win-Win-Instrument“. Sie verbessern die Wohlfahrt und schützen gleichzeitig die Umwelt und das Klima. Dies wird erreicht, indem umweltschädigende Aktivitäten einen Preis bekommen, der möglichst exakt der Höhe des Schadens entspricht. ...

Inequality over the Business Cycle: The Role of Distributive Shocks

This paper examines how wealth and income inequality dynamics are related to fluctuations in the functional income distribution over the business cycle. In a panel estimation for OECD countries between 1970 and 2016, although inequality is, on average countercyclical and significantly associated with the capital share, one-third of the countries display a pro- or noncyclical relationship. To analyze ...

The Long Reach of Class Origin on Financial Investments and Net Worth

In this study, we argue that parents' class position may influence the type and timing of their offspring's investments in financial assets. These investments may facilitate net worth accumulation beyond direct transfers, contributing to the intergenerational reproduction of social positions. We test these expectations using retrospective life history and prospective panel data for 14 countries from ...

The Gender Division of Unpaid Care Work throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

The COVID-19 pandemic and related closures of day care centres and schools significantly increased the amount of care work done by parents. There has been much speculation over whether the pandemic increased or decreased gender equality in parental care work. Based on representative data for Germany from spring 2020 and winter 2021 we present an empirical analysis that shows that although gender inequality ...

Can a Federal Minimum Wage Alleviate Poverty and Income Inequality? Ex-post and Simulation Evidence from Germany

Minimum wages are increasingly discussed as an instrument against (in-work) poverty and income inequality in Europe. Just recently the German government opted for a substantial ad-hoc increase of the minimum-wage level to euro12 per hour mentioning poverty prevention as an explicit goal. We use the introduction of the federal minimum wage in Germany in 2015 to study its redistributive impact on disposable ...

The Short- and Medium-term Distributional Effects of the German Minimum Wage Reform

This study quantifies the distributional effects of the minimum wage introduced in Germany in 2015. Using detailed Socio-Economic Panel survey data, we assess changes in the hourly wages, working hours, and monthly wages of employees who were entitled to be paid the minimum wage. We employ a difference-in-differences analysis, exploiting regional variation in the “bite” of the minimum wage. At the ...

Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed

We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these ...

Das sind die größten Wirtschaftsrisiken 2023

Dieser Kommentar erschien am 27. Dezember 2022 in der WELT. Treffen die Konjunkturprognosen für 2023 zu, dann steht Deutschland und dem Rest Europas kein schlechtes Jahr bevor. Erwartet wird ein Jahr der Stagnation trotz Kriegs in der Ukraine, Energiekrise und geopolitischer Konflikte. Dieses Bild ignoriert jedoch zwei wichtige Aspekte: Es gibt fünf große Risiken, die jedes für sich genommen die deutsche ...

Für Haushalte mit geringem Einkommen und ohne Hochschulbildung sind private Schulen offenbar keine Option“: Interview mit Felix Weinhardt

Die Schüler*innenschaft an Privatschulen