This paper examines effects of reference pricing for prescription drugs in German social health insurance based on econometric panel data methods. We analyze the effect on ex-factory prices. Moreover, we investigate whether manufacturers adapt prices of their products not subject to reference...

This paper investigates gender differences in smoking behavior using data from the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP). We develop a Blinder- Oaxaca decomposition method for count data models which allows to isolate the part of the gender differential in the number of cigarettes daily smoked that...

In this paper, a decomposition method for Tobit-models is derived, which allows the differences in a censored outcome variable between two groups to be decomposed into a part that is explained by differences in observed characteristics and a part attributable to differences in the estimated...

In Germany, hard coal has been subsidized for almost half a century. Despite the declining significance of hard coal production for the domestic labor market, the magnitude of subsidies increased until the middle of the last decade. In 1996, they peaked at € 6.7 bill.While German hard coal...

Any researcher would certainly agree with Hamermesh’s (1993:34) intuition about separability that the ease of substitution between any two production factors should be unaffected by a third factor that is separable from the others. This paper emphasizes that such a notion of separability needs...

This paper illustrates two techniques for calculating the statistical significance of the marginal effects derived from Heckman’s sample selection model,an increasingly common econometric specification in political science. The discussion draws on an analysis by Sweeney (2003) of the incidence...

Using a panel of household travel diary data collected in Germany between 1997 and 2005, this study assesses the effectiveness of fuel efficiency improvements by econometrically estimating the rebound effect, describing the extent to which higher efficiency causes additional travel.Following a...

The results of the PISA 2000 study renewed the interest in the contribution of human capital to economic growth. So far the exploration of large country comparisons delivered rather mixed results. Concentrating on those OECD member countries which participated in PISA 2000, this paper uses panel...

Using an innovative dataset for ICT use for five countries in Europe, we examine the impact and association of ICT on socio-economic exclusion. Using OLS regression we find significant wage premiums for PC and internet usage at the workplace. Following Dinardo/Fortin/Lemieux (1997), we examine...

This paper analyzes the home-ownership gap between native and immigrant households in Germany, paying particular attention to the assimilation process of immigrant households.A double cohort approach is applied to investigate the effect of the duration of residence in Germany on the...