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Inequality of Opportunity in Wealth: Levels, Trends and Drivers in Germany

This paper studies inequality of opportunity (IOp) in individual net wealth in Germany from 2002 to 2019 using the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Applying the ex-ante IOp framework, we quantify the share of wealth inequality attributable to immutable circumstances and benchmark it against IOp in gross labour earnings. Relative IOp in net wealth is high—slightly above one half of total wealth inequality—and ...

Sustainable Finance Taxonomies – Designed to Support the Transition to a Net-Zero Economy?

A growing number of sustainable finance taxonomies aim to redirect capital towards climate change mitigation. Yet achieving net zero requires not only financing green economic activities but also transitional economic activities – hence activities that currently lack viable low-carbon alternatives but are required for a low carbon economy. Using comparative policy analysis, this article seeks to understand ...

Residential Heat Energy Savings During a Crisis: How much Do Retail Prices Matter?

The 2022 energy crisis led to sharp energy price surges and prompted public appeals and government programs to reduce energy consumption. This paper isolates energy savings driven by retail price increases from non-price driven savings attributable to other crisisrelated factors such as public appeals. Using German residential energy billing data and a DiD-PSM approach, we identify average price-driven ...

Berlin Macro Seminar

Social Origin, the Class Ceiling in Earnings, and Job Task Segregation: Evidence from Germany

Social class origin is closely linked to individuals' labor market outcomes. This study examines the class ceiling—the earnings disadvantage that those from lower-class origins experience within higher-class occupations. We propose that job task segregation, i.e., the non-random selection into different task profiles within granular occupations, contributes to the class ceiling. We study these dynamics ...

Mehr Fordern fördern? Einschätzungen von Jobcenter-Beschäftigten zu Kernelementen des Bürgergeldes

Während die öffentliche Diskussion über das Bürgergeld seit der Einführung kontrovers verlaufen ist, wurde die Perspektive der Jobcenter-Beschäftigten bislang vernachlässigt – obwohl sie als „street-level bureaucrats“ zentral für die Umsetzung der Reform sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund beleuchtet der Beitrag auf Basis von Daten einer bundesweiten standardisierten Online-Erhebung unter Jobcenter-Beschäftigten, ...

The Personal Is Political: Five Essays in Labor and Family Economics

Diese Dissertation besteht aus fünf unabhängigen Kapiteln, die zur Literatur der Arbeits- und Familienökonomik beitragen. Sie untersucht, wie individuelle Handlungen, die häufig als private Entscheidungen erscheinen, etwa ob und wo man studiert, wie viele Stunden man arbeitet, wie Betreuung innerhalb von Familien organisiert wird oder ob man eine gewalttätige Beziehung verlässt, durch öffentliche Politikmaßnahmen ...

The Supply-Side Effect of Immigration on Prices: Evidence from Nursing Homes

We study how immigration affects prices through changes in labor supply. Using policy-driven increases in immigration to Germany and administrative data covering the universe of nursing homes, we find that one additional foreign-born woman per 100 residents reduces nursing-home care prices by 2.6 percent. The price effects are concentrated in more competitive markets. Examining potential mechanisms, ...

DIW Economic Outlook Summer 2025

Tariff chaos overshadowing the global economy; fiscal package bolstering the German economy German Economy Global Economy Links and Downloads German economy is on the brink of recovery; growth of 0.3 percent and of 1.7 percent expected for 2025 and 2026; DIW Berlin is increasing its forecast Federal investment package to provide stimuli; effects in 2025 will be minimal due to planning delays, ...

Unconventional Fiscal Policy in a Heterogeneous-Agent New Keynesian Model

We show that in a New Keynesian model with household heterogeneity, fiscal policy can be a perfect substitute for monetary policy: three simple conditions for consumption taxes, labor taxes, and the government debt level are sufficient to induce the same consumption and labor supply of each household and, thus, the same allocation as interest rate policies. When monetary policy is constrained by a ...