Upcoming events of DIW Berlin https://www.diw.de/en/diw_01.c.621973.en/calendar.html Events en https://www.diw.de/sixcms/media.php/37/diw_logo_farbe_mini.jpg DIW Berlin https://diw.de/ Trade Barriers and Market Power: Evidence from Argentina’s Discretionary Import Restrictions http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.924138.en 11:30 - 12:30

Countries are increasingly turning to non-tariff barriers that are hard to measure and often illegal under WTO rules. What are the impacts of these policies, and what do they reveal about market power in international trade? We study a comprehensive system of discretionary import licenses imposed by Argentina, where we observe the universe of transaction-level requests and approval decisions between 2013 and 2015. Approvals varied across firms and products in a manner consistent with the government’s trade and investment objectives, and over time to safeguard the current account. Interacting these sources of variation to construct an instrument, we estimate that stricter restrictions increased the prices paid by importers, a result that runs counter to competitive price-setting behavior. Informed by a model and a classifier-Lasso, the price and quantity responses identify—for each combination of importer, narrow product, and origin—which side (importer or exporter) holds market power. We find that larger importers are more likely to hold market power, and those trading with richer countries are less likely to. The market-power distribution strongly shapes the effects of quantitative restrictions and the magnitude of optimal tariffs. Import prices rose by 4% as a result of Argentina’s import restrictions, but would have risen by 13% (fallen by 8%) had all foreign firms (Argentinian firms) held market power.

(with David Atkin, Joaquin Blaum, and Pablo Fajgelbaum)


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Working Longer: The Effects of a Higher Retirement Age on Work-Related Health Investments During the Working Life http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.936194.en

Health investments are vital for maintaining physical and mental well-being throughout working life, and their importance is amplified with rising retirement ages due to demographic aging. This is the first study to examine if a longer working life causally increases institutionalized health investments. We explore the impact of a German pension reform that raised the retirement age by three years and extended the working life. Utilizing detailed administrative data from the German pension insurance on work related rehabilitation measures, we apply a sharp regression discontinuity design based on birth cohort cut-offs introduced by the reform. We find no evidence of increased health investments for enhancing work capacity. This null effect holds across various specifications and persists for specific diagnoses and measures. These findings challenge the predictions of the standard human capital model, which suggests that work-related health investments should rise as the working life extends in aging societies.


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http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.936194.en
Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.925532.en Monday, 24.2.: 11:00 - 12:30 and 14:00 - 17:00

Tuesday, 25.2.: 11:00 - 12:30 and 14:00 - 17:00


What this course is about:

These are many ways to analyse individual well-being. We will start from the traditional approach followed in the Social Sciences based on command over economic resources and discuss the individual attitudes towards an unequal distribution of resources. We will then enrich this traditional approach with insights from Biology looking at variables related to DNA Methylation and study the role that poverty plays on aging.

Monday 24.2: Time 11.00-12.30

Income Distribution: traditional concepts of individual well-being

This lecture reviews the standard indices and orderings for measuring individual well-being, such as income inequality and poverty.

Monday 24.2: Time 14.00-17.00

Other measures of individual well-being (a): polarization and income deprivation.

Starting from income inequality and its best-known index, the Gini coefficient, this class will present the modification of the latter by Esteban and Ray (1994) to measure polarization. The alternative approach to capturing the shrinking middle class proposed by Wolfson (1994) will follow. The Gini coefficient turns out to be also a measure of income deprivation. Deprivation will be discussed and analyzed.

Tuesday 25.2: Time 11.00-12.30

Attitudes to income inequality: experimental and survey evidence

This lecture reviews some survey and experimental findings in the literature on attitudes to income inequality. We follow Clark and D’Ambrosio (2015) and classify these findings into two broad types based on the role played by the reference group: the normative and the comparative view.

Tuesday 25.2: Time 14.00-17.00

Other measures of individual well-being (b): social exclusion and material deprivation.

Building on the concept of relative poverty, the class aims to analyze other measures of well-being in EU countries, such as social exclusion and material deprivation. These measures are at the heart of the EU social agenda. The lecture will end with an analysis of the recent initiatives aimed at “going beyond GDP”.

The role of poverty in aging

There is an extensive literature in Biology that has shown how poverty get under the skin, leaving biological traces. This lecture introduces the recent biological approach to measuring aging – the epigenetic clocks – and discusses how poverty matters.


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http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.925532.en
Seminar of the Macro Department http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.925691.en

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Seminar of the Macro Department http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.929233.en

Fiscal Policy under the Eyes of Wary Bondholders


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Digital Economy Workshop Berlin, 2025 http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.928980.en

The workshop aims to bring together researchers from Economics, Information Systems, Law, Marketing, Strategy, and related fields who study Digitization.

For inquiries, please send an e-mail to dew2025@diw.de.

Event page


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The 18th Berlin IO Day http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.928952.en 9:15 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The Berlin IO Day is a one-day workshop sponsored by the Berlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) and supported by the Berlin's leading academic institutions, including DIW Berlin, ESMT Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Technische Universität Berlin. The aim is to create an international forum for high quality research in Industrial Organization in the heart of Berlin, one of Europe's most vibrant and intellectually lively cities.


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Dynamic Models of Individual and Household Behaviors in Education and the Labor Market http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.927869.en May , 9-12 a.m.

This masterclass offers an in-depth exploration of dynamic models used to analyze individual and household decision-making processes in education, retirement, and the labor market. Participants will gain a strong conceptual understanding of dynamic structural models, including the key motivations for their use and critical considerations in their formulation.

The course adopts a data-driven perspective, focusing on estimation techniques such as indirect inference and strategies for validating model parameters using external data sources. We will also discuss how to leverage structural estimation results and address some of the limitations of these models. While no programming knowledge is required, demonstrations and examples using Stata and/or MATLAB will be provided.

The masterclass aims to equip participants with the skills to interpret and apply dynamic models in their research. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to present their own research or research proposals, regardless of topic, empirical method, or stage of development.

Schedule

Day 1 – Foundations of Dynamic Structural Models

Session 1: May 7th, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Introduction to static and dynamic structural models of individual and household behavior, using individual labor supply as an example
  • Key challenges, limitations, and opportunities in dynamic modeling
  • Applications in education, retirement, and labor market decisions

Session 2: May 7th, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM

  • Estimation methods, including maximum likelihood and simulation-assisted techniques
  • Strategies for model assessment and validation
  • Student research presentations and discussions

Day 2 – Policy Applications and Counterfactual Analysis

Session 3: May 8th, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

  • Counterfactual analysis in dynamic structural models
  • Leveraging dynamic structural models for evaluating behavioral, revenue, and welfare effects of policy interventions
  • Student research presentations and discussions

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