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Distributional and Behavioral Effects of the Gender Wage Gap

The gender wage gap is a persistent labor market phenomenon. Most research focuses on the determinants of these wage differences. We contribute to this literature by exploring a different research question: if wages of women are systematically lower than male wages, what are the distributional consequences (disposable income) and what are the labor market effects (labor supply) of the wage gap? We ...

The Impact of Job Loss on Risk-taking

Using German panel data and plant closure as an exogenous unemployment shock, we show that job loss affects individual risk-taking in very heterogeneous ways: Those who experience involuntary job loss and quick reemployment report a significant rise in risk aversion. We also find some evidence that individuals who stay unemployed report a drop in risk aversion. In addition, we observe strong...

Secular Stagnation in the Global Economy

The DIW Europe Lecture is a lecture series by leading policy-makers and academics on the future of Europe. The series aims at fostering and informing the debate on key European policy issues, and at bringing this debate to the heart of Germany's policy-making in Berlin.  The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the American Academy in Berlin cordially invite you to the...

Why Did Self-Employment Increase so Strongly in Germany?

Compulsory Military Service and Personality Development

Compulsory military service is a uniformed life event disrupting the lives of young men (and sometimes women) in countries with conscription. Consequently, the development of personality and subjective well-being during service was investigated using representative population data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. In line with previous findings, men who chose military service revealed descriptively ...

Television Role Models and Fertility: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

In this paper we study the effect of television exposure on fertility. We exploit a natural experiment that took place in Germany after WWII. For topographical reasons, Western TV programs, which promoted one/no child families, could not be received in certain parts of East Germany. Using an IV approach, we find robust evidence that watching West German TV results in lower fertility. This conclusion ...

Health Consequences of Childhood and Adolescence Shocks: Is There a "Critical Period"?

Individual health is not only determined by genetic factors, but also by negative or positive events during the life course. For example, children exposed to natural disasters or violent conflicts are more likely to have poor health as adults. Positiveexternal factors, such as nutritional programs, will, instead, improve individual health in the long-term. In turn, health can directly affect education ...

How Job Changes Affect People's Lives: Evidence from Subjective Well-Being Data

For representative German panel data, we document that voluntary job switching is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, though only for some time, whereas forced job changes do not affect life satisfaction clearly. Using plant closures as an exogenous trigger of switching to a new employer, we find that job mobility turns out to be harmful for satisfaction with family life. By investigating ...

Estimating Benefits from Regional Amenities: Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction

This paper is the first to link economic theory with empirical life-satisfaction analyses referring to internal migration. We derive an extension of the Roback (1982) model to account for benefits from regional amenities in the utility function, while controlling for income, housing costs, and migration costs. Using highly disaggregated spatial panel information on people’s migration decisions and ...

Determinants of Chinese Direct Investments in the European Union

This paper analyses the determinants of Chinese direct investment (DI) in the European Union (EU). Evidence is based on panel Poisson models drawing on two investment monitors for individual projects. We distinguish between the numbers of greenfield investments (GIs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The findings indicate that market size and trade relationships with China are the primary factors ...