We estimate household equivalence scales using income satisfaction data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. We extend … previous studies applying this approach by taking reference income into account. This allows separating needs-based from … reference effects in the determination of income satisfaction. We show that this adjustment helps to overcome a bias causing an …

This note provides evidence for the relationship between income comparisons and subjective well-being (SWB), using … novel German data on self-reported comparison intensity and perceived relative income for seven reference groups. We find … for other reference groups, such as neighbours. Work-related income comparisons are mostly upwards and there is a strong …

dispersion at the bottom of the wage distribution. We analyze the impact of three different policy options, currently discussed … burden by about EUR 4 billion per year, while poor households’ income rises only by EUR 1.1 billion per year. With pure wage … subsidies, the government can ensure more favorable employment and income effects. Combining a minimum wage with a wage subsidy …

This paper documents earnings dynamics over the life-cycle and income level using a large administrative database from … normality. For the bottom earners, large income changes are driven equally by hours and wages which is consistent with …, there is no evidence of an added-worker effect but government insurance and income pooling can mitigate the pass-through of …

German labor market and increasing labor supply. In the second part of the paper, we study the distribution of total income …We provide a comprehensive analysis of income inequality and income dynamics for Germany over the last two decades …. Combining personal income tax and social security data allows us - for the first time - to offer a complete picture of the …

will reach eighty percent of West Germany's income per capita between 20 and 30 years after unification and that actual …

by employing non-parametric techniques which focus on the evolution of the entire cross-sectional income distribution. In … to establish the statistical significance of our findings. This paper finds that the relative income distribution appears … German unification by drawing out and emphasising some stylised facts of regional per capita income dynamics. We achieve this …