We explore whether noncompetitive pricing prevails in Germany’s retail gasoline market by examining the influence of the crude oil price on the retail gasoline price, focusing specifically on how this influence varies according to the brand and to the degree of competition in the vicinity of the station. Our analysis identifies several factors other than cost—including the absence of nearby competitors ...
In the 2000s, a major educational reform in Germany reduced the academic high school duration by one year while keeping constant the total number of instructional hours before graduation. The instructional hours from the eliminated school year shifted to lower grade levels, which increased the time younger students spend at school. This study explores the impact of the reform on youth crime rates and ...
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We examine the distributional effect of Germany’s trade integration with China and Eastern Europe and show that there are considerable differences between the household level and the individual level impact. The trade shock increased inequality of individual earnings. At the household level, however, about 40% of this distributional effect is reduced by a simple insurance effect that occurs if partners ...
Dieser Beitrag entstand im Rahmen der wissenschaftlichen Beratung des Regierungsprojektes „Gut leben in Deutschland“, das von 2014 bis 2016 lief und das vorläufig mit einem Bericht der Bundesregierung zur „Lebensqualität in Deutschland“ abgeschlossen wurde (Bundesregierung 2016a, b; vgl. auch zum Beispiel Jochimsen und Raffer 2014, Sachverständigenrat 2013, Tiemann und Wagner 2013b, Dullien und van ...
The nuclear power industry is faced with profound challenges— not only in Germany, but throughout Europe as well. New nuclear power plants are very expensive to build and even at high carbon prices, nuclear power is not competitive. Nevertheless, the EU reference scenario assumes that within the next three decades, new nuclear power plants will be built with a total capacity of at least 50 gigawatts ...
Michaela Schmälzle joined the SOEP group this January to support in survey management of the SOEP-related study PIAAC-L. Michaela studied Sociology at the Universities of Konstanz and Mannheim. In her master’s thesis, she examined the relationship between different pathways to retirement and retirement adjustment in Germany. Her research interests include the development of social inequalities ...
Many advanced economies implemented labor market reforms over the past decades in order to encourage higher labor force participation rates. In this paper, we measure work incentives inherent in tax-benefit systems by computing Participation Tax Rates (PTRs) across the EU and subsequently identify the impact of these disperse PTRs on the probability of employment. We find that higher PTR-levels...
