1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-42 // 1998

    Minimum Wages and Poverty

    The principal justification for minimum wage legislation resides in improving the economic condition of low-wage workers. Most previous analyses of the distributional effects of minimum wages have been confined…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-41 // 1998

    Job Search Methods and Outcomes

    In this paper we investigate the process of job search, using a unique, large-scale data set for Portugal that allows us to assess the effect of job search methods on escape rates from unemployment and, in a new…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-40 // 1998

    Empirical Macromodels Under Test - A Comparative Simulation Study of the Employment Effects of a Revenue Neutral Cut in Social Security Contributions

    In the paper we simulate a revenue-neutral cut in the social security contribution rate using five different types of macro- / microeconomic models, namely two models based on time-series data where the labour…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-39 // 1998

    Central Wage Bargaining and Local Wage Flexibility: Evidence from the Entire Wage Destribution

    We argue that in labor markets with central wage bargaining wage flexibility varies systematically across the wage distribution: local wage flexibility is more relevant for the upper part of the wage…

  5. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-25 // 1998

    Advantage through Training? A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Employment Effects of Active Labour Market Programmes in Poland

    We estimate the employment effects of training, intervention works (subsidised employment), and public works programmes in Poland. The analysis is based on retrospective monthly calendar information on the…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-22 // 1998

    Industrial Change, Stability of Relative Earnings, and Substitution of Unskilled Labor in West-Germany

    The differential labor market developments in Germany and in the United States are often cited to support the hypothesis of a trade-off between more jobs for unskilled workers on the one hand, and a less equal…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-16 // 1998

    Socio-economic and demographic factors of crime in Germany: Evidence from panel data of the German States

    Our study is based on the traditional Becker-Ehrlich deterrence model, but we analyse the model in the face of currently discussed factors of crime like demographic changes, youth-unemployment and income…

  8. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 98-07 // 1998

    Do Public Works Programs Work? Some Unpleasant Results from the East German Experience

    We analyze the effectiveness of public works programs (PWP, Arbeitsbeschaffungs-maßnahmen) in east Germany as measured by their effects on individual future re-employment probabilities in regular jobs. These are…

  9. ZEW-Schriftenreihe Umwelt- und Ressourcenökonomie // 1998

    Handelbare SO2-Zertifikate für Europa