We estimate the effects of hiring subsidies for older workers on transitions from unemployment to employment in Germany. Using a natural experiment, our first set of estimates is based on a legal change extending the group of eligible unemployed persons. A subsequent legal change in the opposite...

Ergänzend zu den im ifo Schnelldienst 24/2006 veröffentlichten Beiträgen stellt Peter Friedrich (em.), Universität der Bundeswehr München und Universität Tartu, ein Modell zur Beurteilung der volkswirtschaftlichen Effekte eines PPP-Projektes vor, da sich seiner Meinung nach die bisherigen...

Political risk represents an important hidden transaction cost that reduces international trade. This paper investigates the claim that German public export credit guarantees (Hermes guarantees) mitigate this friction to trade flows and hence promote exports. We employ an empirical trade gravity...

In Germany, many labour laws and regulations apply only in establishments above a critical size, and usually these thresholds are defined by the number of employees. The existing 160 thresholds are complex and defined inconsistently, making it difficult for firms to obey the law. Moreover,...