Naturalization may be a relevant policy instrument affecting immigrant integration in host-country labor markets. We study the effect of naturalization on labor market outcomes of immigrants in Germany. We apply recent survey data and exploit a reform of naturalization rules in an instrumental...

We investigate whether a cut in unemployment benefit payout periods affected older workers’ labor market transitions. We apply rich administrative data and exploit a difference-indifferences approach. We compare the reference group of 40-44 year olds with constant benefit payout periods to...

The book summarises the major lessons from the East German labor market in transition and puts them into context with the first experiences in the other transition countries. After an introduction to the subject and an overview of labor market developments in East Germany, part 1 of this volume...

German family policy underwent a reform in 2007, when the new instrument of "Elterngeld" replaced the previous "Erziehungsgeld". The transfer programs differ in various dimensions. We study the effects on the labor supply of young mothers, by comparing behavior before and after the reform. We...

We apply German Mikrozensus data for the period 1996 to 2004 to investigate the employment status of mothers. Specifically, we ask whether there are behavioral differences between mothers in East and West Germany, whether these differences disappear over time, and whether there are differences...

The authors investigate the effect of managerial performance evaluation styles on employee work effort. Using panel data on 4,080 employees in a Swiss unit of an international company for the period 1999-2002, they test two hypotheses using paid and unpaid overtime work as effort indicators. The...

We investigate the responsiveness of individual retirement decisions to changes in financial incentives. A reform increased women's normal retirement age (NRA) in two steps from age 62 to age 63 first and then to age 64. At the same time retirement at the previous NRA became possible at a...

We use Swiss data to test whether intergenerational educational mobility is affected by the age at which children enroll in kindergarten. Taking advantage of heterogeneity across cantons we find that early kindergarten enrollment significantly increases educational mobility

An immigrant-native wage gap can result from various mechanisms. This paper studies the relevance of cultural similarity. We investigate the wage assimilation of East Germans who migrated to West Germany after unification (1990-1999). We compare their wage assimilation to that of international...