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 ...
In Deutschland ist jedes fünfte Kind arm, in Großbritannien fast jedes dritte. Alleinerziehende und deren Kinder haben ein besonders hohes Armutsrisiko. In Großbritannien leben etwa 15 % aller Kinder bei Alleinerziehenden, in Westdeutschland sind es etwa 9 %. Aber auch innerhalb dieser besonders gefährdeten Gruppe ist die Armutsquote in Großbritannien höher als hierzulande. Die Aufnahme einer Erwerbstätigkeit ...
We analyze the effects of three alternative proposals to reform the taxation of families relative to the current German system of joint taxation of couples and child allowances: a French-type family splitting and two full family splitting proposals. The empirical analysis of the effects of these proposals on the income distribution and on work incentives is based on a behavioral micro-simulation model ...
In normative public economics it is crucial to know how fast the marginal utility of income declines as income increases. One needs this parameter for cost-benefit analysis, for optimal taxation and for the (Atkinson) measurement of inequality. We estimate this parameter using four large cross-sectional surveys of subjective happiness and two panel surveys. Altogether, the data cover over 50 countries ...
This paper analyses how increased offshoring impacts on labor income risk. It is therefore distinct from a large number of studies explaining the level effects of globalization on the labor market in that it takes a look at effects on the variability of incomes. It provides an assessment that directly connects labor income risk and offshoring trends in a panel setting at the industry level. Importantly, ...
People gain utility from occupying a higher ranked position in the income distribution of the reference group. This paper investigates whether these gains depend on an individual's set of non-cognitive skills. Using the 2000-2008 waves of the German Socioeconomic Panel dataset (SOEP), a subjective question on Life Satisfaction, and three different sets of non-cognitive skills indicators, we find significant ...
This study aims to explore poverty measures, its dynamics and determinants using Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and consumption poverty. Our results show that the two measures assign similar poverty status to about 52 percent of households and that both approaches confirm poverty is mainly transient in rural Ethiopia. However, we find that the trend in adjusted head count poverty is different ...
This paper summarizes the micro-level survey evidence from Central Asia generated and analyzed in the period 1992-2012. We provide an exhaustive overview over all accessible individual and household-level surveys undertaken inKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - and of all academic papers published using these datasets. We argue that Central Asia is a fascinating region ...