This volume was prepared by Jens Ruhose while he was working at the Ifo Institute. It was completed in December 2014 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It includes four self-contained chapters that contribute to the understanding of the...

Abstract: Since unemployment rates began to rise in the mid-1970s, reducing unemployment has become a central political challenge in Germany and other European countries. Despite the current improvement of the labor market situation and decreasing rates in Germany, unemployment is still one of...