The long-run U-shaped patterns of economic inequality are standardly explained by basic economic trends (Piketty's rg), taxation policies, or 'great levelers,' like catastrophes. This paper argues that housing policy, in particular rent control, is a neglected explanatory factor in understanding...

We suggest to use Internet car sale price advertisements for measuring economic inequality between and within German regions. Our estimates of regional income levels and Gini indices based on advertisements are highly, positively correlated with the official figures. This implies that the...

In this paper, the extent of the shadow economy in OECD countries is investigated. The estimates of the size of the shadow economy are obtained using the panel-data techniques applied to the data on 38 OECD member states over the period 1991-2007. Our estimates tend to be somewhat lower than the...

I use the universe of tax returns in Germany and a regression kink design to estimate the impact of the benefit amount available to high-earning women after their first childbirth on subsequent within-couple earnings inequality. Lower benefit amounts result in a reduced earnings gap that...

Für das im Jahr 2025 stattfindende 100-jährige Jubiläum des DIW Berlin und dessen Geschichte ist die hier vorgelegte Dokumentation eines 1999 geführten Gesprächs zwischen den ehemaligen DIW-Abteilungsleitern Fritz Franzmeyer und Reinhard Pohl einerseits und Gert G. Wagner andererseits von...

The level of trust inherent in a society is important for a wide range of microeconomic and macroeconomic outcomes. This paper investigates how individuals? attitudes toward social and institutional trust are shaped by the political regime in which they live. The German reunification is a unique...

Using a research design that traces siblings' preferences for postmaterialistic values in Germany over two decades, this paper provides new evidence on the origins of value preferences. Focusing on Inglehart's thesis of value change, we test the combined socialization and scarcity hypothesis...

Using data from the long-running German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) 1984-2008, this paper analyses the effects of individual preferences and choices on subjective well-being (SWB). It is shown that preferences and choices relating to life goals/values, partner's personality, hours of work,...

Der vorliegende Beitrag ist eine Metaanalyse von 99 deutschen Bevölkerungssurveys aus dem GESIS-Datenarchiv, in denen die postmaterialistische Einstellung der Befragten ermittelt wird. Es wird anhand von Mehrebenenmodellen gezeigt, dass sich der Anteil der Postmaterialisten unter Kontrolle von...

This paper studies the long-term impact of societal socialization on values using the example of doping behavior in sports. We apply the German Reunification Approach to the microcosm of Berlin and exploit its 40-year long division into a capitalist and a communist sector. We deliberately chose...