Topic Inequality

Consequences of Forced Labor Conscription: Evidence from Dutch Civilians after WWII

Disruptions of labor market trajectories have lasting effects on later economic success. Displacement due to forced labor conscription is a disruption that remains understudied despite its continued prevalence in contemporary contexts. I investigate the consequences of exposure to forced labor conscription for individuals' long-term labor market outcomes. I exploit the fact that cohorts of Dutch...

No Lasting Increase in the Gender Care Gap in Germany after the Coronavirus Pandemic

The gender care gap, i.e., the difference between the amount of unpaid care work—such as childcare and housework—performed between men and women is comparatively high in Germany: Women take on much more unpaid care work than men. This gap increases consistently when starting a family. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, many feared that the gender care gap may grow even larger. In ...

The Women in Economics Index - Monitoring Women Economists' Representation in Leadership Positions

We contribute to the research on gender representation in economics by documenting the share of women among economists in a variety of leadership positions in the academic, but also in the private and public sectors, both globally and by region. For the years 2019 to 2023, we find women economists’ representation overall to be low in all sectors and no clear-cut trends over time. In academia, we find ...

The Heterogeneous Effects of Social Assistance and Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from a Life-Cycle Model of Family Labor Supply and Savings

We empirically analyze the heterogeneous welfare effects of unemployment insurance and social assistance. We estimate a structural life-cycle model of singles' and married couples' labor supply and savings decisions. The model includes heterogeneity by age, education, wealth, sex and household composition. In aggregate, social assistance dominates unemployment insurance; however, the opposite holds ...

The Distribution of National Income in Germany, 1992-2019

This paper analyzes the distribution and composition of pre-tax national income in Germany since 1992, combining personal income tax returns, household survey data, and national accounts. Inequality rose from the 1990s to the late 2000s due to falling labor incomes among the bottom 50% and rising incomes in the top 10%. This trend reversed after 2007 as labor incomes across the bottom 90% increased. ...

The Impact of Student Aid Eligibility on Higher Education Applications

This study examines how student aid eligibility influences application decisions to higher education using administrative data from France. We study the impact of a change in income thresholds for aid eligibility. We find that aid eligibility did not have a uniform effect on students’ applications but varied by gender and academic performance. Highperforming male students shifted their First-Ranked ...

Kindergeld oder Kinderfreibetrag? Ein steuer- und familienpolitischer Evergreen

Parental Leave and Discrimination in the Labor Market

Promoting fathers to take parental leave is seen as a promising way to advancegender equality. However, there is still a very limited understanding of its impact on fathers’ labor market outcomes. We conducted a correspondence study to analyze whether fathers who take parental leave face discrimination during the hiring process in three different occupations. Fathers who took parental leave in a female-dominated ...

Child Penalties in Labour Market Skills

Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well-documented: after childbirth, mothers’ employment and earnings drop persistently compared to fathers. Beyond gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers’ longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section ...

The Gender Gap in Fair Earnings Increases with Age Due to Higher Age Premium for Men

This study explores how gender and age interact in shaping beliefs about fair pay through a factorial survey experiment conducted with German employees. Respondents evaluated hypothetical worker descriptions varying in age, gender, and earnings. While no gender gap in fair earnings was found for the youngest hypothetical workers, a significant gap favoring men emerged with increasing age. This suggests ...