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DFG Research Unit "Labour Market Transformation: Labor Scarcity, Skill Mismatch, and Policy" TP 7 "Increasing the labour supply of older workers"

Labor shortages and skills mismatches pose significant challenges for Germany and other advanced economies, which are further exacerbated by the retirement of the baby boomer generation, the digital transformation and the ecological transformation of the economy. These developments are fundamentally changing labor demand, task structures and skill requirements, leading to a growing mismatch...

Insurance, Redistribution, and the Inequality of Lifetime Income

Individuals vary considerably in how much they earn during their lifetimes. This study examines the role of the tax‐and‐transfer system in mitigating such inequalities, which could otherwise lead to disparities in living standards. Utilizing a life‐cycle model, we determine that the tax‐and‐transfer system offsets 45% of lifetime earnings inequality attributed to differences in productive abilities ...

Economic Outlook

2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 Overview of DIW Economic Outlook The economic outlook describes the current economic situation and the risks facing the economy. The outlook enables the government, for example, to plan its spending and take measures to prevent certain predicted developments from occurring. Every quarter, DIW Berlin publishes current economic outlook for the current and following year: ...

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, ...

SOEP Research Infrastructure Team

All Employees Researchers at SOEP by Topics Inequality and Mobility Dynamics of Well-Being and Health Migration and Integration Survey Methodology and Data Science SOEP Research Support Team Key Contact Persons at SOEP SOEP Research Infrastructure Team

Broadband and Productivity: Structural Estimates for Germany

We employ a control function methodology, complemented by various identification strategies, to causally estimate the heterogeneous effects of broadband availability on firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) across 46 two-digit manufacturing and service industries in Germany from 2010 to 2015. Throughout this period, the availability of broadband, defined as access to transmission rates of at least ...

Lab² Incubator for Collaborative and Transparent Economic Sciences

Lab2 (Lab Square) is a hub for replicability and meta-science. Its mission is to enhance the credibility of scientific findings in economics and to support the field in conducting collaborative research grounded in best scientific practices. To achieve this, the project group engage in research, education, and knowledge transfer. These activities are carried out in close collaboration with a...

Active pension provides tax relief for working pensioners

Active Pension Mainly Relieves Higher-Earning Pensioners; Employment Effects Are Uncertain

The new German federal government coalition is planning a significant tax break for workers of retirement age: the active pension (Aktivrente). With the active pension, workers who have reached the statutory retirement age may earn up to 2,000 euros a month tax-free, a move that the government is hoping will motivate more pensioners to work longer to counteract the skilled worker shortage. Microsimulation ...

Scientific Workshop on Productivity

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the German Council of Economic Experts (SVR Wirtschaft), in its role as the German National Productivity Board, are jointly organizing the third Scientific Workshop on Productivity, which will take place on 25 and 26 September 2025. The event offers researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their recent contributions to the...