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Wealth and Family Formation: Insights from First Cohabitation, Marriage, and Birth in Germany

Existing research has demonstrated that wealthier individuals differ in family formation. Potential explanations draw on wealth’s use and symbolic value as well as the relative economic bar of family formation. This study examines the relationship between wealth and three family formation events in Germany: first cohabitation, marriage, and birth. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002–2017) ...

Addressing the Weaknesses of the EU Economy through Competitionand Industrial Policy

The European Union's economy is at a crossroads, facing challenges that threaten its competitiveness, long-term growth, and security. Despite a strong industrial base and high potential in innovation-driven sectors, the EU has yet to fully capitalise on its strengths.

German economy returning to growth path

Scientific Workshop on Productivity

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR Wirtschaft), in its role as the German National Productivity Board, are jointly organizing the third Scientific Workshop on Productivity, which will take place on 25 and 26 September 2025. The event offers researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their recent contributions to the...

Divorce as a Liberation from Violence: The Role of Legal Protections and Women’s Shelters

Does increased legal infrastructure empower victims to leave abusive relationships? Structural barriers often prevent victims of intimate partner violence from seeking help and leaving their abuser, with two-thirds of female victims in Europe neither reporting incidents to the police nor accessing support services. I study the introduction of the 2002 Violence Protection Act in Germany, which...

Basic Income and Labor Supply: Evidence from an RCT in Germany

How does basic income (a regular, unconditional, guaranteed cash transfer) impact labor supply? We show that in search models of the labor market with income effects, this impact is theoretically ambiguous: Employment and job durations might increase or decrease, match surplus might be shifted to workers or employers, and worker surplus might be reallocated between wages and job amenities. We thus ...

SFB/Transregio 190: Rationality and Competition: The Economic Performance of Individuals and Firms Project A02: Biased beliefs in dynamic decisions: Extensions to policy and communication

The Collaborative Research Center Transregio “Rationality and Competition” combines the research programs of behavioral and neoclassical economists to study applied economic questions that are of high policy relevance. The focus CRC TRR 190 is on the economic behavior and performance of individuals and firms: How do systematic biases in expectations, decision processes, and preferences affect the...

Regional Climate Dividend Provides Relief to Rural Households, but Hardship Cases Remain

The previous federal government coalition had planned to pay private households a climate dividend to offset rising carbon prices; a payout process was even prepared. However, the climate dividend is nowhere to be seen in the new federal government’s coalition agreement. In the long term, a social compensation mechanism will be important, as prices for fossil and heating fuels will continue to rise ...

Clean Production, Dirty Sourcing: How Embodied Emissions Alter the Environmental Footprint of Exporters

This paper revisits the exporter’s environmental premium (EEP) by incorporating emissions embodied in domestically and internationally sourced intermediate inputs. Combining administrative firm-level data and customs records for German manufacturers with an environmentally extended input-output table and fuel specific emission factors, we document three stylized facts: (i) embodied emissions account ...

Negative labor supply shock and firms (joint with Peter Haan, Johannes Geyer, Jan Nimczik)

Part I: Lars Felder, "Negative labor supply shock and firms" (Joint with Peter Haan, Johannes Geyer, Jan Nimczik) In times of an increasing scarcity of workers, Germany has in a rare move decreased the retirement age for a sizeable section of the working force. This paper investigates the effect of this negative labor supply shock on firm and individual level outcomes using matched employer...