Using data from the first eleven waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel this study investigates the dynamic effects of health shocks on employment and economic well-being of older workers. A health shock trebles the probability of leaving the labor force and almost doubles the unemployment...

In Germany, a large proportion of new retirees--at times, more than half of them--have taken disability retirement. This study investigates the role of expected benefits in determining that choice. The author finds that among German men in 1984-91, age, health, and prior wages were much stronger...

This study investigates whether the incidence of continued vocational education has changed as the German workforce commenced an aging process which is expected to intensify. As the lifespan in productive employment lengthens human capital investments for older workers become increasingly...

Employment protection systems are known to generate significant distortions in firms' hiring and firing decisions. We know much less about the impact of these regulations on worker effort. The goal of this paper is to fill in this gap and in particular to assess whether the provision of...

We investigate the unemployment pathway to retirement in Germany and study the causal effects of two early retirement reforms. Reform 1 (NRA) increased normal retirement age stepwise from 60 to 65. Simultaneously, it became possible to use early retirement with benefit discounts. Reform 2 (ERA)...

We study the short, medium, and longer run employment effects of a substantial change in the parental leave benefit program in Germany. In 2007, a means-tested parental leave transfer program that had paid benefits for up to two years was replaced by an earnings related transfer which paid...