On 3 June 2020, the German government announced a temporary value added tax (VAT) rate reduction. VAT rates were reduced on 1 July 2020 and went back to their previous level on 1 January 2021. We study the price effects of the temporary VAT rate reduction using a web-scraped data set covering...

On 3 June 2020, the German government announced a temporary value added tax (VAT) rate reduction. VAT rates were reduced on 1 July 2020 and went back to their previous level on 1 January 2021. We study the price effects of the temporary VAT rate reduction using a web-scraped data set covering...

Die Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit gehört zu den wichtigsten wirtschaftspolitischen Herausforderungen. Von dieser Arbeitslosigkeit sind gering qualifizierte Arbeitnehmer in besonderer Weise betroffen. Ziel des von uns entwickelnden Kombilohn-Verfahrens für den Niedriglohnsektor ist es,...

The introduction of a flat tax is supposed to have several advantages. Administration and compliance costs are reduced, as well as incentives for tax evasion. Furthermore, positive employment and growth effects are expected. Despite these advantages, a flat rate tax is not very popular in most...

In der ökonomischen Literatur wird oft argumentiert, dass Kombilohnmodelle und Grundeinkommenskonzepte im Prinzip nur Varianten einer negativen Einkommenssteuer seien. Dabei wird oft übersehen, dass diese Konzepte sehr unterschiedliche Gruppen der Bevölkerung einbeziehen. Dieser Beitrag...

Despite the apparent stability of the wage bargaining institutions in West Germany, aggregate union membership has been declining dramatically since the early 90's. However, aggregate gross membership numbers do not distinguish by employment status and it is impossible to disaggregate these...