Search

The Economic Incidence of Social Security Contributions: A Discontinuity Approach with Linked Employer-Employee Data

We estimate economic incidence of social security contributions (SSC) on the basis of cross-sectional earnings distributions. The approach exploits discontinuities in earnings distributions at kinks in the budget set which are informative about tax incidence. Contrary to most research on SSC incidence, it does not rely on policy reforms, panel data, or hours information. When the location of kinks ...

Indirect Fiscal Effects of Long-Term Care Insurance

Informal care by close family members is the main pillar of most longterm care systems. However, due to demographic ageing the need for long-term care is expected to increase while the informal care potential is expected to decline. From a budgetary perspective, informal care is often viewed as a cost-saving alternative to subsidized formal care. This view, however neglects that many family carers ...

The Role of Sickness in the Evaluation of Job Search Assistance and Sanctions

Unemployment insurance agencies may combat moral hazard by punishing refusals to apply to assigned vacancies. However, the possibility to report sick creates an additional moral hazard, since during sickness spells, minimum requirements on search behavior do not apply. This reduces the ex-ante threat of sanctions. We analyze the effects of vacancy referrals and sanctions on the unemployment duration ...

Indirect Fiscal Effects of Long-Term Care Insurance

Informal care by close family members is the main pillar of most longterm care systems. However, due to demographic ageing the need for long-term care is expected to increase while the informal care potential is expected to decline. From a budgetary perspective, informal care is often viewed as a cost-saving alternative to subsidized formal care. This view, however neglects that many family carers ...

Eine Arbeitslosenversicherung für den Euroraum als automatischer Stabilisator: Grenzen und Möglichkeiten

The Distribution of Pension Wealth and the Process of Pension Building: Augmenting Survey Data with Administrative Pension Records by Statistical Matching ; Dissertation

The overhaul of the German system of old-age provision raises concerns about the future distribution of pension rights. Therefore, it is critical to gain a thorough understanding of the role pension wealth plays in the individual's total wealth holdings, but also what individual-level and institutional factors facilitate or impede successful pension building that allow individuals to retire with a ...

Consumption-Savings Decisions under Upward Looking Comparisons: Evidence from Germany, 2002-2011

We demonstrate that interpersonal comparisons lead to "keeping up with the Joneses"-behavior. Using annual household data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we estimate the causal effect of changes in reference consumption, defined as the consumption level of all households who are perceived to be richer, on household savings and consumption. When controlling for own income, an increase in reference ...

Longevity, Life-Cycle Behavior and Pension Reform

How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this question, we use micro data to estimate a structural life-cycle model of individuals' employment, retirement and consumption decisions. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, an increase of 3.76 years in the pension age thresholds or a cut of 26.8% in the per-year value ...

Income Uncertainty, Savings, and Asset Allocation of Private Households: Effects of Differential Income Taxation and Policy Reform Evaluation for Germany ; Dissertation

Japanese Welfare State Reforms in the 1990s and Beyond: How Japan is Similar to and Different from Germany

Beginning with a review of Japanese welfare state reform in 1990s, we discuss similarities and differences between Japan and Germany in the implementation of three major reforms: public pension reform, health care reform and introduction of long-term care insurance. The latest public pension reform in both countries has the same aim: to establish middle- and long-term stability of the system against ...