"The paper explores wage setting practice in eastern Germany since unification. It gathers evidence to support the claim that economically non-viable collective agreements have fostered decentralized wage setting. First, we document the declining organization rates of both employers and...

"The paper simulates the labor market impact of a fixed allowance for social insurance contributions. Based on a discrete choice labor supply model estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we evaluate household utility changes triggered by the reform, including behavioral...

The paper explores wage setting practice in eastern Germany since unification. It gathers evidence to support the claim that economically non-viable collective agreements have fostered decentralized wage setting. First, we document the declining organization rates of both employers and...

The paper simulates the labor market impact of a fixed allowance for social insurance contributions. Based on a discrete choice labor supply model estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we evaluate household utility changes triggered by the reform, including behavioral...