Thema Ungleichheit

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Punching up or Punching down? How Stereotyping the Rich and the Poor Impacts Redistributive Preferences in Germany

Redistribution and the welfare state have been linked by academic discourse to narratives that portray specific societal groups as ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’. The present analysis contributes to this scholarship in a twofold manner. First, it provides a holistic view on the beneficiaries and benefactors of welfare and asks how the public perception of the rich and the poor drives redistributive preferences. ...

Gender Pay Gap und Gender Care Gap steigen bis zur Mitte des Lebens stark an

Der Gender Pay Gap, also die Verdienstlücke zwischen Frauen und Männern, beträgt in Deutschland nach wie vor 18 Prozent. Dieser Durchschnittswert ist allerdings nicht für alle Beschäftigten gleich. Große Unterschiede finden sich insbesondere nach dem Alter: Ab einem Alter von 30 Jahren steigt der Gender Pay Gap stark an und bleibt bis zum Ende des Erwerbslebens mit über 20 Prozent konstant hoch. Damit ...

Gleichberechtige Aufteilung von Sorgearbeit könnte auch helfen, den Gender Pay Gap zu verringern: Interview

Gender Care Gap and Gender Pay Gap Increase Substantially until Middle Age

While the gender pay gap between men and women in Germany remains at 18 percent, this figure is not the same for all employees. There are, for example, major differences by age. Beginning at age 30, the gender pay gap increases sharply and remains constantly high at 20 percent until retirement. Closely related to this is the gender care gap, the difference in unpaid care work between women and men. ...

The Role of Carbon Pricing in Promoting Material Recycling: A Model of Multi-Market Interactions

Recycling of raw material can make a significant contribution to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Carbon pricing can encourage material recycling by making it more competitive with waste incineration and primary material production. However, accounting for the interactions among different markets in a theoretical model, this paper finds that carbon pricing on material manufacturing alone does ...

A Tale of Two Data Sets: Comparing German Administrative and Survey Data Using Wage Inequality as an Example

The IAB’s Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) are the two data sets most commonly used to analyze wage inequality in Germany. While the SIAB is based on administrative reports by employers to the social security system, the SOEP is a survey data set in which respondents self-report their wages. Both data sources have their specific advantages and ...

Midijob-Reform: Mehr Umverteilung in der Rente – spürbare Kosten entlasten nicht zielgenau

Die Bundesregierung hat die Förderung von Beschäftigung mit niedrigen Bruttoarbeitsentgelten (Midijobs) zum 1. Januar 2023 ausgeweitet und die Verdienstobergrenze auf 2 000 Euro brutto monatlich angehoben. Rund 6,2 Millionen Menschen mit einem Midijob profitieren von reduzierten Sozialbeiträgen. Zudem erhalten sie die vollen Rentenansprüche, obwohl sie verminderte Rentenbeiträge zahlen. Möglich wird ...