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Financial Education: Measures, Experiences, Evaluation and Outlook

Housing Expenditures and Income Inequality

In this paper, we show that, in terms of real disposable income, changes in housing expenditures dramatically exacerbate the trend of income inequality that has risen sharply in Germany since the mid-1990s. More specifically, whereas the 50/10 ratio of net household income increasesby 22 percentage points (pp) between 1993 and 2013, it increases by 62 pp for income net of housing expenditures. At the ...

Growing up in Ethnic Enclaves: Language Proficiency and Educational Attainment of Immigrant Children

Does a high regional concentration of immigrants of the same ethnicity affect immigrant children’s acquisition of host-country language skills and educational attainment? We exploit the exogenous placement of guest workers from five ethnicities across German regions during the 1960s and 1970s in a model with region and ethnicity fixed effects. Our results indicate that exposure to a higher own-ethnic ...

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Entrepreneurs' Job Satisfaction and the Intersection of Gender and Migration Background

Migrant enterprises comprise about 10% of all enterprises in Germany and are therefore a crucial part of the German economy and its entrepreneurial ecosystems. Relatedly, migrant entrepreneurship is a highly recognized topic within political discussions as well as within entrepreneurship research. While there is already an impressive body of work regarding the nature and quality of migrant enterprises, ...

Prediction Based on Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profiles: Sometimes Worse Than the Toss of a Coin

The human personality predicts a wide range of activities and occupational choices—from musical sophistication to entrepreneurial careers. However, which method should be applied if information on personality traits is used for prediction and advice? In psychological research, group profiles are widely employed. In this contribution, we examine the performance of profiles using the example of career ...

Home Ownership and Monetary Policy Transmission

We present empirical evidence on the heterogeneity in monetary policy transmission across countries with different home ownership rates. We use household-level data together with shocks to the policy rate identified from high-frequency data. We find that housing tenure reacts more strongly to unexpected changes in the policy rate in Germany and Switzerland –the OECD countries with the lowest home ownership ...

University Tuition Fees and High School Students’ Educational Intentions

This paper studies whether higher education tuition fees influence the intention to acquire a university degree among high school students and, if so, whether the effect on individuals from low-income households is particularly strong. We analyze the introduction and subsequent elimination of university tuition fees in Germany across states and over time in a difference-in-differences setting. Using data ...

US Monetary Policy and the Euro Area

This study documents empirically that contractionary US monetary policy may generate short-term expansionary spillover effects. In individual Euro Area (EA) member countries, economic activity increases, mainly via the trade channel. Also, domestic credit and stock markets expand, highlighting the importance of the financial channel. However, the international repercussions are transitory and distributed ...

Central Business District of St. Petersburg 1869–2017: From a Market Economy to a Centrally Planned One and Back Again

The city center is at the core of urban and housing economics. Many models crucially depend on it. In a market economy, the location of urban amenities, especially eating establishments, closely correlates with that of the city center and, more generally, with the Central Business District (CBD). In a centrally planned economy, the spatial distribution of those amenities is determined by the central ...

Construction Industry Momentum Continues – State Stimulus Impacts Prices

According to the German Institute for Economic Research construction volume forecast, the country’s construction industry will continue to flourish in the coming years. Companies can count on a rise in the nominal construction volume of around 7.5 percent in 2019 and 6.5 percent next year. The industry’s business cycle continues to be supported by the flourishing residential construction sector, which ...