This paper provides evidence based guidance for practical survey work, namely choosing interviewers and their workload. Analyzing a survey of 3568 households obtained through computer assisted personal interviews (CAPI) we find that interviewers learn considerably while the survey progresses....

Increasing labor migration and simultaneous aging of societies are two important demographic developments many poor countries face. Elderly people who are left behind may experience a decrease in welfare when their children migrate. This paper investigates the e ect of migration on various...

In many poor countries with high emigration rates elderly people are left behind without care when their children migrate. Without a functioning market in private care migrants face a difficult trade-off between working their way out of poverty and providing informal care once their parents...

This paper analyses the wage premia associated with workers' occupational use of foreign languages in Germany. After eliminating time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity and other confounding factors, sizable returns of about 10 percent to applying fluent English skills are found. Returns to...

This paper analyzes the wage premia associated with workers' occupational use of foreign languages in Germany. After eliminating time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity and other confounding factors, sizable returns of about 0.12 log points to applying fluent English skills are found in the...

Increasing labor migration and simultaneous aging of societies are two important demographic developments many poor countries face. Elderly people who are left behind may experience a decrease in welfare when their children migrate. This paper investigates the effect of migration on various...

Greece is standing at a crossroads. The need for a third rescue package has now become a critical issue. The Greek government is calling for another de facto-public debt restructuring. An alternative option presented here would be to convert existing GLF loans into GDP-linked loans. Interest...

In 2014, the German economy is expected to grow by 1.8 %. Next year, GDP will increase by 2.1 %. The output gap will decline significantly this year, but will only be fully closed in the coming year. Inflation will remain low in this environment. The upward momentum of the global economy...

In 2013 the German economy will grow at 0.4 percent which is below the growth rate of potential output. The output gap is 0.5 percent. In 2014 gross domestic product will expand at 1,6 percent and the output gap will nearly be closed. In 2015 the economy will grow above trend at a rate of 2...

In the course of the economic and financial crisis, investment activity, which was not very strong to begin with, in Europe and especially the Eurozone caved in. In relation to gross domestic product, fixed capital formation declined by four percentage points since 2008. Already prior to the...