Thema Verteilung

The Long Reach of Class Origin on Financial Investments and Net Worth

In this study, we argue that parents' class position may influence the type and timing of their offspring's investments in financial assets. These investments may facilitate net worth accumulation beyond direct transfers, contributing to the intergenerational reproduction of social positions. We test these expectations using retrospective life history and prospective panel data for 14 countries from ...

Can a Federal Minimum Wage Alleviate Poverty and Income Inequality? Ex-post and Simulation Evidence from Germany

Minimum wages are increasingly discussed as an instrument against (in-work) poverty and income inequality in Europe. Just recently the German government opted for a substantial ad-hoc increase of the minimum-wage level to euro12 per hour mentioning poverty prevention as an explicit goal. We use the introduction of the federal minimum wage in Germany in 2015 to study its redistributive impact on disposable ...

The Short- and Medium-term Distributional Effects of the German Minimum Wage Reform

This study quantifies the distributional effects of the minimum wage introduced in Germany in 2015. Using detailed Socio-Economic Panel survey data, we assess changes in the hourly wages, working hours, and monthly wages of employees who were entitled to be paid the minimum wage. We employ a difference-in-differences analysis, exploiting regional variation in the “bite” of the minimum wage. At the ...

Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed

We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these ...

Wir brauchen eine andere Erbschaftssteuer

Markus Söder und Christian Lindner verteidigen die Hochvermögenden gegen die Erbschaftssteuer. Dabei bräuchte es eigentlich eine ganz andere Reform. Kaum ein Thema emotionalisiert die Menschen in Deutschland so sehr wie Erbschaften und die Frage, wie hoch die Steuern sind, die dafür fällig werden. Zum 1. Januar erhöht die Bundesregierung die Erbschaftssteuer, und einige Politikerinnen, Politiker und ...

8th BCCP Forum

Leibniz ScienceCampusBerlin Centre for Consumer Policies (BCCP) Forum The Forum will bring together all BCCP fellows in law and economics who are engaged in the activities of the science campus. We will have the opportunity to learn about each other’s research during short presentations by the different partner institutions followed by open discussion. The objective of the meeting is to encourage...

Neue Vierteljahrshefte 2 bis 4/2022 zum Thema Epochenbruch erschienen

Drei neue Vierteljahrshefte sind erschienen, jeweils zum Thema Epochenbruch. Die Herausgeber*innen sind: Andreas Pfingsten (Finance Center, Universität Münster), Dorothea Schäfer (DIW Berlin), Andreas Stephan (Linnaeus University) und Mitherausgeber*innen. Vierteljahresheft 2-2022 - Epochenbruch – Wiedergeburt der Inflation? analysiert die neue gesamtwirtschaftliche Situation, insbesondere aber ...

Spendenverhalten in Deutschland: Animierte Infografik

Generational Wealth Inequality Across the Distribution: Trends in the U.S. since 1949

Using recently published U.S. long-run microdata (SCF+), we document that — for people born in the first half of the 20th century — median wealth used to increase from one ten-year birth cohort to another. For people born in the second half, median wealth successively declined from cohort to cohort and wealth inequality within birth cohorts has markedly increased. Shifts in...

Die falschen Behauptungen über das Bürgergeld sind gefährlich

Dieser Beitrag erschien bei Zeit Online. Einige Kritiker des Bürgergelds schüren eine Neiddebatte und haben teilweise ein deprimierendes Menschenbild. Drei Missverständnisse befeuern den Streit. Der Streit um das Bürgergeld spaltet das Land. Die Diskussion wird jedoch mit vielen falschen Informationen oder fragwürdigen Behauptungen geführt. Schlimmer noch: Einige Politikerinnen und Politiker scheinen ...