"We reconsider the evidence of Lechner, Miquel and Wunsch (2004, 2005) on the effectiveness of training programmes for the unemployed conducted in East and West Germany in the period 1993-1994 by investigating whether, and if so, how overall policy conclusions depend on the particular choice of...

The economic dynamics deteriorated considerably throughout the world in 2001. The German economy, too, was seized by this. The dampening effects of the world economy were intensified by the consequences of the animal epidemics and a rather restrictive monetary policy. In addition economic growth...

"In 2000 Germany experienced a strong economic upswing. The engine driving this development was the vigorous foreign demand. In total a 3.1% growth in real gross domestic product could be recorded. The number of employed persons rose in the annual average for 2000 by almost 600,000. Marginal...

"After looking back at the development of the economy and the labour market over the past few years, a prediction regarding the trends in 2003 and 2004 is made based on alternative assumptions of overall economic growth. After this, selected topics are dealt with in more detail (foreign trade...

"In this paper the question as to the determinants of the search for self-employment instead of a job in dependent employment is analysed. Among other things it is tested whether in the group of jobseekers, the unemployed are more likely than the economically active or other non-active people to...

"The prospects for Germany's economic development are good at present. Nonetheless there are also uncertainties and downsides. For this reason our labour market forecast for 2000 is based on a range of assumptions for the actual economic growth. The overview includes the basic data of these...

"We estimate short, medium, and long-run individual labor market effects of training programs for unemployed by following program participation on a monthly basis over a ten-year period. Since analyzing the effectiveness of training over such a long period is impossible with experimental data,...

"Between 1991 and 1997 West Germany spent on average about 3.6 bn Euro per year on public sector sponsored training programmes for the unemployed. We base our empirical analysis on a new administrative data base that plausibly allows for selectivity correction by microeconometric matching...

"'The vitality and stability of our democracy - as well as the economy - eventually depend on the social permeability of our society.' (Horst Köhler, German Federal President, 29. 12. 2007, authors' own translation) This statement draws attention to the strong meritocratic beliefs concerning...

We reconsider the evidence of Lechner, Miquel and Wunsch (2004, 2005) on the effectiveness of training programmes for the unemployed conducted in East and West Germany in the period 1993-1994 by investigating whether, and if so, how overall policy conclusions depend on the particular choice of...