ZEW Discussion Papers

Highly progressive tax systems entail disincentives for private economic activity and, thus, may hamper potential growth. Nevertheless, attempts to introduce alternative tax schedules regularly encounter…

The tragedy of little Madeleine in 2007 did not only catch the headlines of the public media but was also followed with interest by researchers after the remarkably successful donation acquisition of the…

Since the late 1970s and continuing through the mid-2000s, overall wage inequality has been increasing in the U.S., Germany, and the UK as well as in other countries. As possible explanations of these trends,…

Wage inequality has been increasing in many industrialized countries over the past decades. Parallel to this trend, coverage by collective wage bargaining has declined strongly in many economies (OECD, 2004).…

We examine in this paper whether owner controlled banks or manager controlled banks suffered larger losses during the financial crisis. We show that banks operating in countries with better shareholder rights…

This paper gives an overview of the German Social Long-term Care Insurance (Soziale Pflegeversicherung, SLTCI). In the current state, Germany provides a universal, non meanstested contribution-financed social…

In international comparison, German university graduates are elder on average when they enter the labor market. Apart from the longer duration time of study at university, one fundamental reason is the long…

The Alps have long posed challenges to European transport infrastructure planners. Overcoming this immense bottleneck is only possible via arduous travels across high-altitude Alpine passes or through road and…

In a market in which firms have market power, the impact of a change in wages on labour demand is not easily determined. Indeed, if after a decrease in wages one firm chooses to increase labour demand for…