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Life After Divorce: Effects of Joint Custody on Parents and Children

Divorce reshapes family life, yet little is known about one of its most consequential features: the allocation of child custody. We study the impact of joint versus sole custody on both parents and children using rich administrative data from Sweden linked to over 25 years of newly-collected court custody rulings. To address selection concerns, we exploit random assignment of custody disputes to judges ...

Government Consumption Stabilizes the Economy in the Short Run; Tax Cuts Have a Stronger albeit Delayed Effect

The reform of the debt brake and the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality have considerably expanded Germany’s fiscal space. The associated fiscal policy shift not only opens up opportunities for additional public investment: The new funds can also be used for more government consumption. At the same time, the federal government has also provided revenue-side stimulus through tax ...

Government Consumption Stabilizes the Economy in the Short Run

Globalized Consumption Undermines Efficiency-driven Sustainability Gains across Planetary Boundaries

Despite decades of ambitious environmental policy, German consumption has continuously exceeded planetary-boundary thresholds in six of seven environmental dimensions since 1995, with little improvement over time. Combining environmentally extended multiregional input–output tables with life-cycle impact assessment, we develop a consumptionbased sustainability indicator across seven impact categories, ...

Historical Changes in Control Beliefs 

A recent SOEP study of more than 42,000 respondents by a research team led by Theresa M. Entringer shows that younger birth cohorts in Germany are more likely to believe that they can influence their lives and maintain this sense of control into older age. While differences between genders and income groups have narrowed, disparities between people in East and West Germany have widened. Major life ...

COVID-19 Has Little Influence on Risk Preferences

A new analysis by Daniel Graeber, Ulrich Schmidt, Carsten Schröder, and  Johannes Seebauer, based on SOEP data and regional variation in infection rates, shows that individual risk preferences remain largely stable despite rising financial worries and anxiety. The findings suggest that a pandemic primarily changes the immediate decision-making environment rather than individuals’ underlying preferences. Graeber, ...

China’s Dominance in Shipbuilding and U.S. Trade Policy Create New Risks for Europe and Other Trading Partners

China is now the dominant builder of the world's commercial shipping fleet, building more than half of new ships in 2025. Using new data combining maritime transaction records, ship registries, and vessel positions, this report shows how deeply Chinese-built ships are now embedded in global trade. With new US port fees on Chinese-built vessels potentially starting in November 2026, this report further ...

Berlin Macro Seminar

Berlin Macro Seminar

Alexander Nützenadel (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Jochen Streb (University of Mannheim) will present their book Contingent Expectations: Uncertainty, Risk, and Economic Behavior in Historical Perspective. More information about the program will follow.

The Intergenerational Association between Migration and Early Childhood Development in Germany: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study of Forced and Voluntary Migrant Families (2004–2021)

Background: Family migration shapes early childhood development (ECD), but the link between parental voluntary versus forced migration experiences and ECD remains underexplored. Germany, with its diverse migration streams, offers an opportunity to investigate this interrelation. Objective: This study examines the link between parental migration status and ECD of children aged 2–4 and investigates ...