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Cost Structure Surveys for Germany

Household Taxation, Income Splitting and Labor Supply Incentives: A Microsimulation Study for Germany

We analyze potential labor supply effects of a shift from the current German system of joint taxation of married couples to a system of limited real income splitting on the basis of an econometric household labor supply model embedded in a tax benefit model. Our simulation results show relatively small labor supply effects of a shift from the current system to one of limited real income splitting system. ...

Konfliktuelle Integration? Die sozialen Konsequenzen der Lage der türkischen Bevölkerung in Deutschland und der nordafrikanischen Bevölkerung in Frankreich

Seit den 1980er Jahren gehören Konflikte mit einem ethnischen Hintergrund zur Alltagsrealität in Frankreich. In Deutschland fehlen dagegen weitgehend solche Konflikte. Ausgehend von Unterschieden im institutionellen Kontext der Integration von Zuwanderern in Deutschland und Frankreich untersucht der vorliegende Artikel die soziale Lage der türkischen Immigranten in Deutschland und der maghrebinischen ...

Complexity and Progressivity in Income Tax Design: Deductions for Work-Related Expenses

We analyze optimal income taxes with deductions for work-related or consumptive goods. We consider two cases. In the first case (called a complex tax system) the tax authorities can exactly distinguish between consumptive and work-related expenditures. In the second case (called a simple tax system) this distinction is not exact. Assuming additively separable utility functions, we show that work-related ...

Kinderbetreuung und Fertilität in Deutschland

Immigrants in the UK and in West Germany: Relative Income Positions, Income Portfolio, and Redistribution Effects

Based on data from the BHPS and the SOEP, we analyse the economic performance of various ethnic groups in the UK and West Germany, as well as the effects of income redistribution on these populations. Taking the indigenous population of each country as the reference category, we find that, as a whole, the non-indigenous population in the UK fares much better than the immigrant population in Germany. ...

Stricter Enforcement May Increase Tax Evasion

This paper shows that stricter enforcement may increase tax evasion. Individuals vote on a linear income tax, which is used to finance lump sum transfers. Individuals may evade taxes, but they have to pay fines when caught. Stricter enforcement may make redistributive taxation more attractive to the decisive voter. The tax rate and transfer may rise, which in turn may increase tax evasion. The paper ...

Expert Opinion Leaders' Impact on Voter Turnout: The Case of the Internet Chess Match Kasparov vs. World

This paper investigates empirically for the first time the impact of experts' agreement on voter turnout. Data were obtained when voters, advised by four independent experts, had to decide on the next move against a chess world champion. Analyzing total voter turnout as well as individual voters' behavior in a panel data subsample, and employing OLS median and ARMAX regression techniques, we find that ...

Incentives for Basic Research in a Large Institution: Some General Considerations and a Case Study

Discusses incentives for basic research, which were recently introduced in the German Institute for Economic Research, including both team and individual incentives. Possible problems arise from focussing on the measurable, crowding out intrinsic motivation and undesirable externalities. Furthermore, provides survey evidence on the perception of the incentives by the institute's researchers.

Alternative Measures of the Explanatory Power of General Multivariate Regression Models

In this paper R 2-type measures of the explanatory power of multivariate linear and categorical probit models proposed in the literature are reviewed and their deficiencies discussed. It is argued that a measure of the explanatory power should take into account the components which are explicitly modelled when a regression model is estimated while it should be indifferent to components not explicitly ...