Public disclosure laws on politicians' outside income aim to enhance electoral accountability, but their effects remain unclear and may backfire. Using a German disclosure reform, administrative tax data, and a difference-in-difference design, we show that MPs increased their outside income...

How do students’ earnings expectations differ by being the first in their family to attend university (FiF) and how do they affect field of study choice? We leverage unique survey and administrative data from a German university to document sizable gaps in expected earnings between FiF and...

Die Studie untersucht den Beitrag der unterschiedlichen Einkommensarten, insbesondere der Einkommen aus unselbständiger Beschäftigung zur Finanzierung der öffentlichen Haushalte im Jahr 2019. Neben dem typischerweise dargestellten Aufkommen aus direkten Abgaben (Sozialbeiträge und...

How do students' earnings expectations differ by being the first in their family to attend university (FiF) and how do they affect field of study choice? We leverage unique survey and administrative data from a German university to document sizable gaps in expected earnings between FiF and...

Since 1972, the General Social Survey has periodically asked whether people are happy with Yes, Maybe or No type answers. Here I use a net "happiness" measure, which is percentage Yes less percentage No with Maybe treated as zero. Average happiness is around +20 on this scale for all respondents...

We use variation in marginal tax rates and in tax bracket thresholds at which they apply in order to identify the substitution and income effects of tax reforms. We use a triple-difference estimator that exploits variation from subnational tax reforms, for which behavioral responses to taxes are...

We study how population variation in testosterone levels impacts male labour market earnings using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study between 2011 and 2013. We exploit genetic variation between individuals as instrumental variables following a Mendelian Randomization approach to...

Using Social Security records between 2000 and 2020, we provide a comprehensive analysis of labor earnings inequality and its dynamics over the course of Lithuania’s economic development. Since 2000, there has been a substantial decline in earnings inequality, largely driven by the rapid...

This study employs 2011 Census data linked to population-based administrative datasets to explore disparities in educational attainment and earnings trajectories among Australian-born children of diverse parental migration backgrounds from mid-adolescence to early adulthood. Non-English Speaking...

I study the labor market risks associated with being self-employed. I document that the self-employed are subject to larger earnings fluctuations than employees and that they frequently transition into unemployment. Given the self-employed are not eligible to unemployment insurance, I analyze...

Der Artikel gibt einen Überblick über verbesserte Methoden, neue Basisdaten und Ergebnisse der Generalrevision 2024 der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen für den Zeitraum 1991 bis 2023. Er stellt die wichtigsten Revisionsänderungen und ihre Auswirkungen auf Wirtschaftsbereiche...

Women born later experience greater earnings growth volatility at given ages than the next older cohort. This alone would imply a welfare loss due to increased earnings risk. However, using German registry data for the years 2001-2016, we document a moderation in higher-order earnings risk: Both...

This paper aims to analyze trends in income and consumption inequality for paid and self-employed households and examine to what extent changes in aggregate consumption and income inequality can be explained by changes in their permanent and transitory components over time using data from the...

We present evidence on the extent of measurement error in German longitudinal earnings data. Qualitatively, we confirm the main result of the international literature: longitudinal earnings data are relatively reliable in a cross section but much less so in first differences. Quantitatively, in...

In most disability insurance programs beneficiaries lose some or all of their benefits if they earn above an earnings threshold. While intended to screen out applicants with high remaining working capacity, earnings limits can also distort the labor supply of beneficiaries. We use a reduction in...

We use inflation and income growth expectations from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey to measure the subjective expected pass-through of inflation to income in the main euro area countries. By aggregating consumers' responses to probabilistic questions, we obtain significantly higher...

This paper analyzes the distribution and composition of pre-tax national income in Germany since 1992, combining personal income tax returns, household survey data, and national accounts. Inequality rose from the 1990s to the late 2000s due to falling labor incomes among the bottom 50% and...

This paper studies the impact of globalization on intergenerational income mobility. Exploiting U.S. data, we find that stronger trade exposure at the commuting zone level lowers the intergenerational income mobility of residents. In particular, higher exposure to Chinese import competition...

This study explores how basic income for elderly (non-contributory pension program) affects the health of self-employed and salaried workers differently, which is particularly interesting given the greater social protection and lower income volatility of the latter. The study uses a...

This paper examines the extent to which fiscal policy protected household incomes in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic in EU countries. Using microsimulation techniques and detailed Eurostat data, we analyse this impact separately for employees and the selfemployed. We show that while on...

Fertility rates have fallen below replacement levels in many economies. We examine the relationship between female incomes and fertility for college graduates in the United States. Female income is likely endogenous to fertility, and candidate instrumental variables are likely imperfect. We use...

Women born later experience greater earnings growth volatility at given ages than older cohorts. This implies a welfare loss due to increased earnings risk. However, German registry data for the years 2001-2016 reveal a moderation in higher-order earnings risk: Men and women born later face...

This paper analyzes the distribution and composition of pre-tax national income in Germany since 1992, combining personal income tax returns, household survey data, and national accounts. Inequality rose from the 1990s to the late 2000s due to falling labor incomes among the bottom 50% and...

We decompose earnings risk into contributions from hours and wage shocks. To distinguish between hours shocks, modeled as innovations to the marginal disutility of work, and labor supply reactions to wage shocks we formulate a life-cycle model of consumption and labor supply. For estimation we...

The economic literature has shown that exogenous transitory shocks affect education by changing the opportunity cost of children. We argue that this is only part of the explanation. When permanent, shocks may change contracts and the organization of labour by eroding the productive structure and...

Using 20 years of nationally representative panel data in South Korea, we estimate how life satisfaction responds to income shocks. We document that unexpected income changes significantly impact an individual's life satisfaction, and the magnitudes depend on the persistence of income shocks. We...