Am 24. November 2013 stimmen die Schweizer Stimmbürgerinnen und Stimmbürger über die Volksinitiative "1:12 - Für gerechte Löhne" ab. Dieser Bericht leistet insbesondere empirische Grundlagenarbeit und analysiert die tatsächliche Lohnspanne in Schweizer Unternehmen mithilfe der Daten der...

From a theoretical perspective, the output gap is probably the most comprehensive and convincing concept to describe the cyclical position of an economy. Unfortunately, for practical purposes, the concept depends on the determination of potential output, which is an inherently unobservable...

The discussion about the long-run evolution of labor productivity in Switzerland is flawed because the available data on the input of labor is incoherent and incomplete. It is the aim of this paper to establish a consistent aggregate series of total hours worked covering 1950-2010. The new data...

German Abstract: In ihrer Studie «Der bilaterale Weg – eine ökonomische Bestandsaufnahme» untersucht die KOF in acht Kapiteln die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der bilateralen Abkommen («Bilaterale») mit der Europäischen Union. Im Fokus steht dabei das Personenfreizügigkeitsabkommen...

While Switzerland's recent growth of employment was high in historical and international perspective, the reasons for this “job miracle” were not well understood. As the “miracle” was not anticipated by economic forecasters, it consequently resulted in systematic and persistent forecast...

This paper estimates intertemporal labor supply responses to two-year long income tax holidays staggered across Swiss cantons. Cantons shifted from an income tax system based on the previous two years' income to a standard annual pay as you earn system, leaving two years of income untaxed. We...

We study how a reform that granted EU workers free access to the Swiss labor market affected Swiss firms. Our firm-level Differences-in-Differences estimations exploit the fact that the reform incidentally affected firms close to the border more strongly. We find that the reform increased...

We study a reform that granted European cross-border workers free access to the Swiss labor market and had a stronger effect on regions close to the border. The greater availability of cross-border workers increased foreign employment substantially. Although many cross-border workers were highly...