The occupational skill structure depends on the business cycle if employers respond to shortages of applicants during upturns by lowering their hiring standards. Devereux uses this implication to construct empirical tests for the notion of hiring standards adjustment (the so-called Reder...

Summary Arent and Nagl (2013) use the BA Employment panel 1998-2007 to identify effects of the German Hartz reform and find that it caused a considerable reduction of wages. Our replication study suggests that their clear and strong conclusions are based on implausible assumptions regarding the...

This article analyzes the impact of five major expansions in maternity leave coverage in Germany on mothers’ labor market outcomes after childbirth. To identify the causal impact of the reforms, we use a difference-in-difference design that compares labor market outcomes of mothers who give...

Using a regression analogue of the shift-share technique we address the explanatory power of various theories about regional differences in employment growth in eastern German districts from 1993 until 2001. We find that overly high regional wages are more important than differences in the...

This paper shows that wage inequality in West Germany has increased over the past three decades, contrary to common perceptions. During the 1980s, the increase was concentrated at the top of the distribution; in the 1990s, it occurred at the bottom end as well. Our findings are consistent with...