Coal-fired power stations are responsible for around a third of Germany's carbon emissions. Failure to reduce the persistently high level of coal-fired power generation threatens Germany's climate targets for 2020 and 2050 and undermines a sustainable energy transition. Calculations by DIW Berlin and other expert opinions prove that, in the long term, lignite, in particular, is no longer relevant for ...
Coal-fired power stations are responsible for around a third of Germany’s carbon emissions. Failure to reduce the persistently high level of coal-fired power generation threatens Germany’s climate targets for 2020 and 2050 and undermines a sustainable energy transition. Calculations by DIW Berlin and other expert opinions prove that, in the long term, lignite, in particular, is no longer relevant for ...
Abstract: In 2004 Germany announced an unemployment insurance (UI) reform that involved reductions to the maximum period over which workers could collect UI benefits. The reductions varied by age and were quite substantial; workers in their 50s and above stood to lose up to 14 months of benefits. The effects of this reform differed dramatically by age and time period.
Taking a cross-national comparative perspective, this study analyses differences in individual determinants of the low-wage risk across institutional settings. It builds on previous research that dealt with the impact of labour market reform measures on the distribution of labour market risks in advanced economies. It is widely held that such reforms have a particularly adverse effect on labour market ...
The idea of higher wealth taxes to finance the mounting public debt in the wake of the financial crisis is gaining ground in several OECD countries. We evaluate the revenue and distributional effects of a one-time capital levy on personal net wealth that is currently on the political agenda in Germany. We use survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and estimate the net wealth distribution ...
While the health benefits of breastfeeding for both mothers and children are well known, breastfeeding may make it difficult for mothers to return early to the labor market. Maternity and parental leave regulations have been designed to reduce this conflict. In 2007, Germany put into effect a new parental leave benefit (Elterngeld). The related reform increased the number of parents eligible for benefits ...
This paper estimates the causal effect of retirement on health, health behavior, and healthcare utilization. Using Regression Discontinuity Design to exploit financial incentives in the German pension system for identification, I investigate a wide range of health behaviors (e.g. alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical activity, diet and sleep) as potential mechanisms. The results show a long-run ...
