The import and export price indices of an economy are usually compiled by some Laspeyres type index. It is well known that such an index formula is prone to substitution bias. Therefore, also the terms of trade (ratio of export and import price index) are likely to be distorted. The underlying...

Recent developments on German real estate markets show a striking increase of rents, especially in larger towns. This development is, however, not homogeneous: The market dynamics vary between different parts of cities and prices develop highly heterogeneously. Therefore, small-scale results are...

Religion Predicting Fertility Behaviour of Young Women in Contemporary GermanyReligion in contemporary Germany is marked by institutionalized outreach as well as increased pluralisation. Religion can thus play a decisive role in fertility behaviour, despite of secularizing tendencies. Religion...

Innovations in statistical methodology is often accompanied by Monte-Carlo studies. In the context of survey statistics two types of inferences have to be considered. First, the classical randomization methods used for developments in statistical modelling. Second, survey data is typically...

Multi-stage cluster sampling is a common sampling design of social surveys because populations of interest are often structured by, or partitioned into, disjoint organizational and administrative units. The need to use cluster sampling can conflict with survey planners' goal to select a sample...

In this paper, we derive a modification of a forward-looking Taylor rule, which integrates two variables measuring the uncertainty of inflation and GDP growth forecasts into an otherwise standard New Keynesian model. We show that certainty-equivalence in New Keynesian models is a consequence of...

Using panel data from German establishments, this study finds that performance pay is associated with increased productivity only when it is coupled with a high-wage policy. This holds for individual-based performance pay, group-based performance pay and profit sharing.

In this paper, we analyze the effect of US economic sanctions on the target countries' poverty gap during the period 1978-2011. Econometrically, we employ a nearest neighbor matching approach to account for differences in the countries' economic and political environment and the likelihood of...

This paper focuses on the German labor market for older workers. It does so in comparison with other countries and with a unique focus on the role of employer incentives for retaining and hiring older workers. It argues that while employment of older German workers has improved due to changes in...

We analyze the impact of the pro-Russian conflict on stock returns in Russia and the Ukraine during the period November 21, 2013 to September 29, 2014. We utilize a newly created indicator for the degree of (de-)escalation based on an Internet search for conflict-related news. We find that...