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Being and Consciousness: Fiscal Attitudes according to HANK

Attitudes toward fiscal policy differ: fiscal conservatism and fiscal liberalism vary in their willingness to tolerate budget deficits. We challenge the view that such attitudes reflect national preferences. Instead, we offer an economic explanation based on a two-country Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian model, bringing its implicit political economy dimension to the forefront. We compute the welfare ...

Social and Regional Inequalities in the Sense of Safety in Germany

The public’s perceived sense of safety influences many domains in significant ways: It impacts individual behavior, life quality, consumption behavior, and even political views as well as government action. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the German Federal Government’s 2024 Gleichwertigkeitsbericht (Equivalence Report), the development as well as the regional and social distribution ...

Public Communication and Collusion: New Screening Tools for Competition Authorities

Competition authorities increasingly rely on economic screening tools to identify markets where firms deviate from competitive norms. Traditional screening methods assume that collusion occurs through secret agreements. However, recent research highlights that firms can use public announcements to coordinate decisions, reducing competition while avoiding detection. We propose a novel approach to screening ...

The Boomer Solidarity Surcharge: An Important Tool for Stabilizing Pensions Without Directly Burdening Younger Generations

As the baby boomer generation enters retirement, the payas- you-go pension system in Germany is under an increasing amount of pressure. Relevant changes, in particular higher contribution rates or lower pension levels, are causing tension between generations: Either the financial burden on the younger generations is increased or the risk of insufficient pensions and old-age poverty for the elderly ...

Socio-Economic Panel at a glance

Das SOEP kurz vorgestellt Forschung Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Berlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) Politikberatung Wissenstransfer Videos Interviews Infografiken Kooperationen und Netzwerke Research Affiliates & Fellows Netzwerke Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP) ist eine der größten und am längsten laufenden multidisziplinären Panelstudien weltweit, für die derzeit jährlich etwa 30.000 Menschen ...

Climate Policy department at a glance

Die Abteilung kurz vorgestellt Forschung Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Berlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) Politikberatung Wissenstransfer Videos Interviews Infografiken Kooperationen und Netzwerke Research Affiliates & Fellows Netzwerke Die Abteilung Klimapolitik analysiert den regulatorischen Rahmen für den Übergang zu einer klimafreundlichen Volkswirtschaft. Wie können dazu CO2 Bepreisung, ...

Comparing External and Internal Instruments for Vector Autoregressions

In conventional proxy VAR analysis, the shocks of interest are identified by external instruments. This is typically accomplished by considering the covariance of the instruments and the reduced-form residuals. Alternatively, the instruments may be internalized by augmenting the VAR process by the instruments or proxies. These alternative identification methods are compared and it is shown that the ...

Felix Schmidt has successfully defended his dissertation

Felix Schmidt, Research Associate in the Energy, Transportation, Environment Department, successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Modeling variable renewable energy systems. The role of weather uncertainty, heating and long-duration storage” with summa cum laude on July 18, 2025. He was supervised by Christian von Hirschhausen. Congratulations!

Policy Uncertainty, Misinformation and Statutory Retirement Age Reform

This study examines the impact of Statutory Retirement Age (SRA) reforms on individual behavior and welfare in the presence of policy uncertainty and misinformation. We develop a structural life-cycle model in which individuals are uncertain about the future evolution of the SRA and misinformed about its importance. We derive individuals’ expectations and information on the SRA from self-elicited...

Berlin Macro Seminar