We provide new evidence on the effectiveness of West German labour market programmes by evaluating training and employment programmes that have been conducted 2000 - 2002 after the first large reform of German labour market policy in 1998. We employ exceptionally rich administrative data that...

Labour market policies for the unemployed combine passive income support with active measures that aim at improving jobseekers' employment prospects. This paper extends the theoretical framework developed by Pavoni and Violante (2005a) for the optimal choice between different active and passive...

Understanding the mechanisms through which treatment effects come about is crucial for designing effective interventions. The identification of such causal mechanisms is challenging and typically requires strong assumptions. This paper discusses identification and estimation of natural direct...

This paper investigates the average effects of (firm-provided) workplace health promotion measures in form of the analysis of sickness absenteeism and health circles/courses on labour market out­comes of the firms' employees. Exploiting linked employer-employee panel data that consist of rich...

In this study we experimentally investigate whether solidarity, which is a crucial base for informal insurance arrangements in developing countries, is sensitive to the extent to which individuals can influence their risk exposure. With slum dwellers of Nairobi our design measures subjects'...

Negative income shocks can either be the consequence of risky choices or random events. A growing literature analyzes the role of responsibility for neediness for informal financial support of individuals facing negative income shocks based on randomized experiments. In this paper, we show that...

We evaluate a wage subsidy program that is targeted at long-term unemployed workers in Germany. We use an alternative identification procedure compared to empirical studies con­ducted so far. Exploiting the particular program regulations and large administrative data we estimate the impact of...

In this paper, we assess the impact of firms introducing part-time work schemes for gradual labour market exit of elderly workers on their employees' labour market outcomes. The analysis is based on unique linked employer-employee data that combine high-quality survey and administrative data....

This paper investigates the link between variation in the supply of workers who participate in spe­cific types of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and firm performance using a new exceptionially informative German employer-employee data base. For identification we exploit that German local...

The generosity of social insurance coverage often increases with the beneficiary's age and their contribution time to social security, but existing policies vary considerably. We study the differentiation of unemployment insurance (UI) generosity by evaluating how the insurance-incentive...