Of late, media coverage of anxiety and insecurity proliferating among the German population has been considerable. However, the social sciences have only recently explored these tendencies more profoundly, e.g. with respect to fears about social decline among the middle classes or immigration...

This paper proposes a new approach to evaluate the macroeconomic effects of the "Hartz IV" reform, which reduced the generosity of long-term unemployment benefits. We propose a model with different unemployment durations, where the reform initiates both a partial effect and an equilibrium...

The functioning of the labour market and the impact of labour market policies are a long-standing issue in social and political debate. In this respect, labour market research acquires the necessary knowledge and often receives impulses from labour market policy. Conversely, progress in the...

The Ingreso Mínimo Vital (Minimum Vital Income), Spain's nationwide minimum income scheme introduced in 2020, offers beneficiaries a unique national guaranteed income as a last-resort benefit. However, the scheme's design featured a lack of work incentives for low earners, potentially leading...

Recent changes in New Zealand law decreased the cost of dismissing employees within their first 3 months with an employer, with the aim of encouraging firms to increase hiring by reducing the associated risk. We use monthly linked employer-employee data and exploit the staggered introduction of...

Over the last two decades, national development agencies have committed to results-based approaches and to putting evidence at the centre of their decision-making. For evidence “optimists”, this is a much-needed corrective to past practice; in contrast, “pessimists” worry about ideology...

In the past, both researchers and policymakers have often underlined the important role cities have to play in reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meanwhile, city networks have become increasingly active in approaching international...

The article treats the history of Germany’s Great Inflation from 1914 to 1923. It focusses on explaining the turning points of wholesale price trends. It demonstrates that these were mostly triggered by national and international political decisions immediately impacting the mark exchange...