This paper estimates a medium-scale open economy DSGE model for Germany and the rest of the Euro Area (REA). The parameter estimates indicate that there is a modest degree of structural heterogeneity between Germany and the rest of the Euro Area. In particular, (i) the private sector in Germany...

I investigate how political uncertainty influences corporate investment decisions employing a unique panel dataset of German manufacturing firms. I use data on firms' self-reported investment realizations, plans and revisions. The firm-specific user cost of capital captures the current...

Using microdata that serve as the foundation of the ifo Business Climate Index, Germany's leading business cycle indicator, I examine whether political uncertainty influences how firm owners perceive their present state and future development of business. I use state election months as...

We analyze the most important drivers of the recent rise in overall German wage dispersion and pin down the relative contribution of central establishment and worker characteristics. Moreover, we separately investigate the drivers of between as well as within establishment wage dispersion. Using...

In this paper we try to provide an overview of a series of simple descriptive facts on recent trends in economic inequality in Germany. We believe that it is important to be precise in the way in which we define the inequality measure and the sample we use, to avoid generating vague messages...

Based on high-quality skill data from PIAAC, this paper provides evidence on the effect of schooling on labor-market relevant cognitive skills. For identification, I exploit the staggered introduction of a compulsory ninth grade in basic track schools across German states, as well as a...

We study the short- to medium-run effects of starting a career on a fixed-term contract on subsequent fertility outcomes. We focus on the career start since we expect that temporary contracts and their inherent economic uncertainty implies a path dependency which might have spill-over effects on...

Information about teachers' effectiveness at the hiring stage is particularly scarce despite its importance for personnel decisions. Using the German setting of teacher training, I investigate the relationship of teachers' pre-service cognitive and pedagogical skills as measured by two state...

We analyze the extent to which sales prices for residential housing react to rent-price regulation. To this end, we exploit changes in apartment prices across the regulation treatment threshold. We examine a quasi-natural design in the German federal state of Brandenburg using transaction price...