Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well-documented: after childbirth, mothers’ employment and earnings drop persistently compared to fathers. Beyond gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers’ longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section ...
In 2023, heating energy prices increased by substantial 31 percent compared to the previous year, following a 33 percent increase already seen in 2022. Calculations based on data from the energy service provider ista show average price increases were the highest in the German state of Rhineland- Palatinate, and the lowest in Hamburg. Owing to these price hikes and ongoing energy-saving efforts, the ...
Variable renewable energy droughts, also referred to as "Dunkelflaute", emerge as a challenge for realizing climate-neutral energy systems based on variable wind and solar power. Using data on 38 historic weather years and an advanced identification method, we characterize European drought events for on- and offshore wind power, solar photovoltaics, and policy-relevant renewable technology portfolios. ...
Coping with prolonged periods of low availability of wind and solar power, also referred to as "Dunkelflaute", emerges as a key challenge for realizing a decarbonized European energy system fully based on renewable energy sources. Here, we investigate the role of long-duration electricity storage and geographical balancing in dealing with such variable renewable energy droughts. To this end, we combine ...
