The idea of higher wealth taxes to finance the mounting public debt in the wake of the financial crises is gaining ground in several OECD countries. We evaluate the revenue and distributional effects of a one-time capital levy on personal net wealth that is currently on the German political...

The idea of higher wealth taxes to finance the mounting public debt in the wake of the financial crises is gaining ground in several OECD countries. We evaluate the revenue and distributional effects of a one-time capital levy on personal net wealth that is currently on the German political...

The discussion of the support for renewable energy must consider the distributional impact of cost allocation. The public is sensitive to social imbalances caused by rising power prices that might jeopardize the acceptance of energy transformation. By the end of 2012 about 19 percent of German...

Following a Federal Constitutional Court sentence, wealth tax has not been levied in Germany since 1997. A possible revival has since regularly been the subject of political debate. Several German federal states are currently preparing to submit a bill to the Bundesrat. A basic scenario...

2013 will see a significant increase in the surcharge stipulated by the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and paid by power consumers to promote the use of renewable energies. This will equate to a rise in the share of private households' consumer spending on electricity from around 2.3 percent...

Wie reagieren private Haushalte auf eine Veränderung der Verbraucherpreise oder des Zinsniveaus? Reduzieren sie gegenwärtigen Konsum und sparen stattdessen für die Zukunft, wenn Preise oder Zinssätze steigen? Oder lassen sie ihren einmal gewählten Konsumpfad unverändert? Nur wer die...

The life-cycle hypothesis implies that consumption would not decline at retirement. However, several studies found relevant declines in food consumption after retirement for the United States. Others concluded that this contradiction of the life-cycle hypothesis is solved by allowing for broader...