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Research Project
Gender inequality remains a pressing issue in our society. Women are underrepresented in many decision-making positions and the gender pay gap remains at 16%. Whether or how language contributes to forming and transporting gender stereotypes has sparked intense scientific and public debate. In German, masculine role nouns are still often used in a generic sense to address people of unknown gender ...
Current Project| Gender Economics, Public Economics
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Research Project
This project investigates the underlying causes of gender gaps in the labor market, emphasizing skill mismatches, task divisions, social norms, and implicit gender biases.
By employing quasi- and survey-experimental methods with data from Germany and OECD countries, the research examines policies like parental leave and public child care.
It explores the effects of these factors on skill...
Current Project| Gender Economics, Public Economics
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DIW Weekly Report 27/28 / 2025
The previous federal government coalition had planned to pay private households a climate dividend to offset rising carbon prices; a payout process was even prepared. However, the climate dividend is nowhere to be seen in the new federal government’s coalition agreement. In the long term, a social compensation mechanism will be important, as prices for fossil and heating fuels will continue to rise ...
2025| Stefan Bach, Rebecca Engelhardt, Lars Felder, Peter Haan, Renke Schmacker
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Refereed essays Web of Science
Individuals vary considerably in how much they earn during their lifetimes. This study examines the role of the tax‐and‐transfer system in mitigating such inequalities, which could otherwise lead to disparities in living standards. Utilizing a life‐cycle model, we determine that the tax‐and‐transfer system offsets 45% of lifetime earnings inequality attributed to differences in productive abilities ...
In:
Quantitative Economics
16 (2025), 2, S. 565–613
| Peter Haan, Daniel Kemptner, Victoria Prowse, Maximilian Schaller
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DIW Weekly Report 18/19 / 2025
The average gender pay gap in Germany is 16 percent according to the most recent data. On the occasion of the 2025 Equal Pay Day, this Weekly Report using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data shows that considerable differences according to age and level of education are hiding behind this average gap. For example, the gender pay gap increases significantly with age for people of all educational backgrounds ...
2025| Fiona Herrmann, Katharina Wrohlich
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DIW Weekly Report 12/13 / 2025
The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for mothers and childless women differ greatly. Pension-related childcare credits, which were introduced in 1986 ...
2025| Peter Haan, Michaela Kreyenfeld, Sarah Schmauk, Tatjana Mika
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Refereed essays Web of Science
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 ...
In:
The British Journal of Sociology
76 (2025),1, S. 180-187
| Jule Adriaans, Carsten Sauer, Katharina Wrohlich
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Cluster-Seminar Öffentliche Finanzen und Lebenslagen
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...
06.11.2024| Carola Stapper, University of Cologne
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Diskussionspapiere 2104 / 2024
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 ...
2024| Camille Remigereau, Clara Schäper
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Diskussionspapiere 2102 / 2024
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. ...
2024| Stefan Bach, Charlotte Bartels, Theresa Neef