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A Head-to-Head Comparison of Augmented Wealth in Germany and the United States

We examine the composition of augmented household wealth, the sum of net worth and pension wealth, in the United States and Germany. Pension wealth makes up a considerable portion of household wealth of about 48% in the United States and 61% in Germany. When pension wealth is included in household wealth, the Gini coefficient falls from 0.889 to 0.700 in the United States and from 0.755 to 0.508 in ...

Recall – a Way to Mitigate Adverse Effects of Unemployment on Earnings across Occupations?

We examine the reemployment earnings of workers reemployed by a former employer (known as recall) across different occupations. We first ask whether recalls represent a flexibilization strategy that mitigates adverse unemployment effects on workers’ earnings. And second, whether there are any differences in post-unemployment earnings of recalled workers across different occupations. The article contributes ...

Dynastic Inequality Compared: Multigenerational Mobility in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany

Using harmonized household survey data, we analyze long‐run social mobility in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and test recent theories of multigenerational persistence of socioeconomic status. In this country comparison setting, we find evidence against a universal law of social mobility. Our results show that the long‐run persistence of socioeconomic status and the validity of ...

Parental Background Matters: Intergenerational Mobility and Assimilation of Italian Immigrants in Germany

We investigate the hypothesis of failed integration and low social mobility of immigrants. An intergenerational assimilation model is tested empirically on household survey data and validated against registry data provided by the Italian Embassy in Germany. Although we confirm substantial disparities between educational achievements of immigrants and natives, we find that the children of Italian immigrants ...

The Preservation of Historic Districts - Is It Worth It?

I investigate the welfare effect of conservation areas that preserve historic districts by regulating development. Such regulation may improve the quality of life but does so by reducing housing productivity—that is, the efficiency with which inputs (land and non-land) are converted into housing services. Using a unique panel dataset for English cities and an instrumental variable approach, I find ...

In Germany, Younger, Better Educated Persons, and Lower Income Groups Are More Likely to Be in Favor of Unconditional Basic Income

by  Jule Adriaans, Stefan Liebig and Juergen Schupp Representative survey results have shown a stable approval rate for implementing unconditional basic income of between 45 and 52 percent in Germany since 2016/17. In European comparison, this approval rate is low. Younger, better educated persons, and those at risk of poverty support the concept of unconditional basic income in Germany. But ...

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German Public Utilities: Organisation and Productivity

Since 1998, public firms have had to adapt to a market environment that is verydifferent from the post-war era in Europe. The liberalisation of services of generaleconomic interest across Europe led to competition between public and privateproviders, while new technologies require infrastructure investment and innovativesolutions. In addition, urbanisation and population ageing pose new challenges ...

Happy Birthday? The Euro at 20: Monetary Dialogue January 2019

We analyse the first twenty years of the euro both from an economic and an institutional perspective. We find that in particular during the period since the financial crisis, convergence as measured by a variety of indicators has not improved. Design flaws in the Eurozone institutional architecture have contributed importantly to this lack of convergence. This is why further reforms are urgently needed. ...

Young Researchers

DIW Berlin's Graduate Center (GC) supports young researchers in a structured doctoral program in economics. For the subsequent postdoc phase, DIW Berlin also offers many opportunities for further training and the development of a research network. In addition to an excellent infrastructure at DIW Berlin, doctoral students and postdocs benefit from the GC's close cooperation with universities and research ...