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A Collective Blueprint, Not a Crystal Ball: How Expectations and Participation Shape Long-Term Energy Scenarios

The development of energy systems is not a technocratic process but equally shaped by societal and cultural forces. Key instruments in this process are model-based scenarios describing a future energy system. Applying the concept of fictional expectations from social economics, we show how energy scenarios are tools to channel political, economic, and academic efforts into a common direction. To impact ...

Increasing disability benefits: selection and labor market effects.

We study the incentive and labor market effects of disability benefit programs using unique policy variation in Germany. In 2014, disability benefits of new recipients were increased considerably while eligibility criteria were not changed. We exploit this quasi-experimental policy variation to test the implications at two different margins. First, we analyze to what extent an increase in the...

Forward to the Past: Short-Term Effects of the Rent Freeze in Berlin

In 2020, Berlin introduced a rigorous rent-control policy responding to soaring prices by capping rents: the Mietendeckel (rent freeze). The German Constitutional Court revoked the policy only one year later. Although successful in lowering rents during its duration, the consequences for Berlin’s rental market and close-by markets are per se not clear. This article evaluates the short-term causal supply-side ...

No Evidence for Transactional Effects between Religiosity and Self-Esteem in a Secular Country

This research tests the unique predictions of three different theoretical perspectives on the self-esteem benefits of religiosity: the religiosity-as-a-personal-relationship-with-a-higher-power perspective, the religiosity-as-a-resource perspective, and the religiosity-as-social-value perspective. To do so, we used random-intercept cross-lagged panel models and examined the between- and within-person ...

Toward a Systemic Approach to Energy Transformation in Algeria

This paper examines the drivers of Algeria's energy transformation as well as the cross-cutting issues and challenges in the transformation process. It suggests a framework that accelerates sustainable transformation based on the ideologies of systemic reasoning. Interviews were conducted with 20 energy experts in Algeria, along with a content analysis of policy documents, reports, and previous studies. ...

Refugee women's labor market participation is increasing

Employment Opportunities of Refugee Women in Germany Are Improving Despite Starting at a Disadvantage

The majority of refugee women who arrived in Germany during the peak of the refugee crisis between 2013 and 2019 are unemployed. Using data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, this study investigates the contributing factors for refugee women’s limited labor market participation. Results show that a combination of low levels of education compared to the German population, slow progress in language ...

Matteo Targa has successfully defended his dissertation

Matteo Targa has successfully defended his dissertation "Empirical Essays on Inequality" supervised by Carsten Schröder at Freie Universität Berlin. Congratulations!

Mara Barschkett has successfully defended her dissertation

Mara Barschkett has successfully defended her dissertation titled "(Unintended) consequences of social and family policies on health and well-being: Five Essays in Health and Family Economics" supervised by C. Katharina Spieß (1. supervisor) and Peter Haan (2nd supervisor) at Freie Universität Berlin. Congratulations!

Annekatrin Schrenker has successfully defended her dissertation

Annekatrin Schrenker, recent Research Assistant in the Public Economics Department, received her doctorate from the Free University of Berlin on May 12. Georg Weizsäcker (formerly the Dean of Graduate Studies of the Graduate Center) and Peter Haan (Head of the Public Economics Department) supervised her dissertation titled "Essays in Applied Economics.” We warmly congratulate her!