In 2007 and 2008 Polish governments introduced a series of reforms which led to a substantial reduction in the tax "wedge" (in Polish: "klin") on labour. These consisted of reductions in the disability rate of social security contributions (SSCs) and an introduction of an income tax credit for families with children. We show that the SSCs reforms on their own brought much greater reductions in the ...
There is little known about the effects of staggered-hours programs that affect workers' working schedules to mitigate peak congestion. We examine the effect of workers' morning start times on their wages for Germany. In contrast to previous work based on cross-section data, we demonstrate that wages are not, or may be, a slight inverse U-shaped function of start time suggesting that staggered-hours ...
The 1/n problem potentially limits the effectiveness of profit sharing in motivating workers. While the economic literature suggests that reciprocity can mitigate this problem, it remains silent on the optimal degree of reciprocity. We present a representative model demonstrating that reciprocity may increase productive effort but may also increase unproductive effort such as socializing on the job. ...
Es ist in der Wissenschaft nahezu einhellige Ansicht, daß die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit ostdeutscher Unternehmen durch zu hohe Lohnkosten beeinträchtigt wird. Zu diesem Urteil gelangt man, wenn man die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit eines Unternehmens an Hand des in makroökonomischen Analysen üblichen Indikators der Lohnstückkosten mißt. In diesem Aufsatz wird zunächst der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit dieser Indikator ...
In this paper, we use a production function approach to examine the impact of ownership concentration, product market competition and financial pressure on German firm productivity. Additionally, we are interested in the influence of ownership identity and changes in ownership structure. We also test whether the specificity of assets affects productivity performance. Based on a panel of 361 German ...
Die ostdeutsche Industrie galt in der ersten Zeit der wirtschaftlichen Erneuerung noch als Sorgenkind. Nach der Überwindung des tiefgreifenden Einbruchs im Jahre 1992 hat sie sich jedoch immer mehr zum Wachstumsmotor entwickelt. Gleichwohl ist die industrielle Basis noch zu schmal. Um einen tieferen Einblick zu gewinnen, hat das DIW Berlin seit 1991 im Rahmen der von der Bundesregierung in Auftrag ...
The paper investigates the role of human capital on immigrants' ethnic ties towards their home and host countries. Pre-migration characteristics dominate ethnic self-identification. Human capital acquired in the host country does not affect the attachment to the receiving country