The dissertation investigates determinants of the decision to enter tertiary education. Three essays analyze different aspects related to the topic. The first essay compares the effect of parental education and parental income in the relevant age for access to tertiary education. Econometric...

This thesis provides important empirical evidence on the German labor market which faces tremendous challenges by ongoing demographic changes. With an expected decrease in its labor force and an aging society, Germany has to find ways to maintain its economic stability and the functioning of its...

This thesis consists of three empirical studies on different aspects of household behavior: labor supply, fertility decisions, and investments in children’s human capital. The first study analyses the labor supply behavior of individuals above normal retirement age. Using data from the German...

This dissertation studies the economics of well-being using modern microeconometric techniques and focuses on two specific domains, health and life satisfaction. The thesis first frames the analysis by discussing relevant issues in conceptualising and measuring well-being and by outlining the...

We study the intergenerational transmission of welfare benefit receipt in Germany. We first describe the correlation between welfare receipt experienced in the parental household and subsequent own welfare receipt of young adults. In a second step, we investigate whether the observed...

We investigate the wage assimilation of East Germans who migrated to West Germany after reunification (1990–99). We compare their wage assimilation to that of ethnic German immigrants from Eastern Bloc countries and international immigrants to West Germany who arrived at the same time. The...

Die Grohmann-Vorlesung des Jahres 2023 beschäftigt sich mit dem Phänomen der „kleinen Jobs“ in Deutschland. Zunächst wird der institutionelle und historische Hintergrund von Minijobs erläutert und die Intensität ihrer Nutzung beschrieben. Anschließend fasst der Text die Inhalte von...

We study the short-, medium-, and long-run employment effects of a substantial change in Germany's parental leave benefit program. In 2007, a means-tested parental leave transfer program that paid benefits for up to 2 years was replaced with an earnings-related transfer that paid benefits for up...

Multiple job holding (MJH) is increasingly frequent in industrialized countries. Individuals holding a secondary job add to their experience, skills, and networks. We study the long-run labor market outcomes after MJH and investigate whether career effects can be validated. We employ...

Multiple job holding (MJH) is increasingly frequent in industrialized countries. Individuals holding a secondary job add to their experience, skills, and networks. We study the long-run labor market outcomes after MJH and investigate whether career effects can be validated. We employ...