This paper focuses on the determinants of self-employment among rural to urban migrants in China. Two self-selection mechanisms are analysed: the first relates to the manner in which migrants choose self-employment or paid work based on the potential gains from either type of employment; the...

Short-time work was the "German answer" to the economic crisis. The number of short-time workers strongly increased in the recession and peaked at more than 1.5 million. Without the extensive use of short-time work, unemployment would have risen by approximately twice as much as it actually did....

Die Schuldenstände sind in vielen Industrieländern auf Rekordhöhen angestiegen. Dies erfordert disziplinierte Konsolidierungsanstrengungen, die im derzeitigen wirtschaftlichen Umfeld allerdings zu einem vermeintlich ungünstigen Zeitpunkt kommen. Die G20-Länder sind aufgefordert, die...

Wegen der zunehmenden Lebenszeit und der Schrumpfung der Arbeitsbevölkerung steigt künftig der gesellschaftliche Bedarf für Ältere im Arbeitsmarkt. Dies wird auch in Deutschland möglich sein. Dafür spricht nicht nur, dass die Erwerbsquoten im internationalen Vergleich noch gering sind....

Debt-to-GDP ratios have grown to unprecedented levels in many industrialized economies. This requires disciplined consolidation efforts which are, however, supposed to come now at the wrong time with the economic recovery being fragile. The countries forming the G20 need to make sure the...

We present the operationalized Toll Index, which is a new type of early indicator for the German business cycle. We present the basic idea and document the power of the indicator for the purpose of nowcasting. The data will be regularly available at the IDSC, the data bank center of IZA and will...