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Issues. Figures. People. German Institute for Economic Research

Contracts for difference against electricity price risks

Corona Monitoring Nationwide (RKI-SOEP-2): Seroepidemiological Study on the Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Across Germany

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus, spread across Germany within just a short period of time. Seroepidemiological studies are able to estimate the proportion of the population with antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infection (seroprevalence) as well as the level of undetected infections, which are not captured in official figures. In the seroepidemiological study Corona Monitoring Nationwide (RKI-SOEP-2), biospecimens ...

The Effect of Unemployment on Care Provision

In this paper we estimate the effect of unemployment on informal care provision. For the identification we use plant closures as a source of exogenous variation and combine difference-in-differences with matching based on entropy balancing. The analysis is based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We find that there is a time conflict between employment and informal care provision. ...

Let's Switch to the Cloud: Cloud Adaption and Its Effect on IT Investment and Productivity

The advent of cloud computing promises to improve the way firms utilize IT solutions. Firms are expected to replace large and inflexible fixed-cost investments in IT with more targeted variable spending in cloud solutions. In addition, cloud usage is expected to increase the productivity of firms, as it allows them to quickly customize the IT they require to their specific needs. We assess these assertions ...

Contracts for Difference Support the Expansion of Renewable Energy Sources while Reducing Electricity Price Risks

The German Federal Government passed the “Easter Package” in July 2022, which envisages a number of measures for the expansion of renewable energy sources. The package retains sliding market premiums as a remuneration mechanism, which protect electricity producers unilaterally, while contracts for difference (CfDs), which also protect electricity customers, are only used in the offshore wind sector. ...

Bidirectional Coupling of a Long-term Integrated Assessment Model with an Hourly Power Sector Model

Integrated assessment models (IAMs) are the central tool for the quantitative analysis of climate change mitigation strategies. However, due to their global, cross-sectoral and centennial scope, IAMs cannot explicitly represent the temporal and spatial detail required to properly analyze the key role of variable renewable electricity (VRE) for decarbonizing the power sector and enabling emission reductions ...

Big Five Personality and Religiosity: Bidirectional Cross-Lagged Effects and Their Moderation by Culture

Objective: Personality has long been assumed to be a cause of religiosity, not a consequence. Yet, recent research suggests that religiosity may well cause personality change. Consequently, longitudinal research is required that examines the bi-directionality between personality and religiosity. The required research must also attend to cultural religiosity—a critical moderator in previous cross-sectional ...

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 ...

Forecasting and Economic Policy Team

Forecasting and Economic Policy Team