Inequality trends for Germany in the last two decades: A tale of two countries

In this paper we first document inequality trends in wages, hours worked, earnings, consumption, and wealth for Germany from the last twenty years. We generally find that inequality was relatively stable in West Germany until the German reunification, and then trended upwards for wages and market incomes, especially after about 1998. Disposable income and consumption, on the other hand, display only a modest increase in inequality over the same period. These trends occurred against the backdrop of lower trend growth of earnings, incomes and consumption in the 1990s relative to the 1980s. In the second part of the paper we further analyze the differences between East and West Germans in terms of the evolution of levels and inequality of wages, income, and consumption.     

Where Does Education Pay Off in Sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Two Cities of the Republic of Congo

Using first-hand data from the 2009 Employment and Informal Sector Survey (EESIC) in the two largest cities of the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, we analyze the impact of education on labour market outcomes, and identify the segments where education pays off the most. Multivariate analyses of the risk of unemployment and sectoral choice indicate that young people face serious difficulties in the labour market: for most of them, their only choice is to remain unemployed or to join the informal sector. To measure the specific impact of schooling on earnings, we address issues related to sample selection and endogeneity of education in the earnings function. The results shed light on heterogeneity in the returns to schooling across the two main cities and institutional sectors. An important finding is that the informal sector does not systematically lag behind the formal sectors in terms of returns to education. We emphasize convex returns to education, meaning that the last years in secondary and tertiary schooling yield the highest returns, while those of primary education are generally lower. This convexity is also apparent in the informal sector, where education (albeit on another scale) again appears as an important determinant of earnings.     

The Laffer curve revisited

Laffer curves for the US, the EU-14 and individual European countries are compared, using a neoclassical growth model featuring “constant Frisch elasticity” (CFE) preferences. New tax rate data is provided. The US can maximally increase tax revenues by 30% with labor taxes and 6% with capital taxes. We obtain 8% and 1% for the EU-14. There, 54% of a labor tax cut and 79% of a capital tax cut are self-financing. The consumption tax Laffer curve does not peak. Endogenous growth and human capital accumulation affect the results quantitatively. Household heterogeneity may not be important, while transition matters greatly.     

构建合理的地理标志保护国际法律框架的方案——对TRIPS协议第23条保护的扩展

将《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》(简称TRIPS协议)第二十三条规定的地理标志保护延伸到除葡萄酒和烈性酒以外的产品(以下简称:地理标志延伸)是世界贸易组织所讨论的主要的知识产权问题之一。它是当前在国际层面上寻求适当的解决方案以确保对所有产品地理标志进行有效保护的最有效的方法,同时,也为在国家层面上的操作提供了足够的灵活性。     

Reviews

Book Reviews in This Article: W. E. Wightman . The Lacy Family in England and Normandy, 1066-1194. H. S. Bennett . Life on the English Manor: A Study of Peasant Conditions, 1150-1400. Margaret Wood . The English Mediaeval House. D. Portman . Exeter Houses, 1400-1700. Patrick Collinson . The Elizabethan Puritan Movement. Calendar of the Patent Rolls. Preserved in the Public Record Office. Elizabeth I. Margaret Cash (Ed.). Devon Inventories of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. P. E. Jones (Ed.). The Fire Court: Calendar to the Judgments and Decrees of the Court of Judicature appointed to determine differences between landlords and tenants as to rebuilding after the Great Fire. G. E. Fussell . The English Dairy Farmer, 1500-1900. A. Andréadès . History of the Bank of England, 1640-1903. P. G. M. Dickson . The Financial Revolution in England. A Study in the Development of Public Credit, 1688-1756. Robert Munter . The History of the Irish Newspaper, 1685-1760. W. A. Mc Cutcheon . The Canals of the North of Ireland. J. D. Williams . Audley End. The Restoration of 1762-1797. W. E. Minchinton (Ed.). Politics and the Port of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century. Stanley D. Chapman . The Early Factory Masters. The Transition to the Factory System in the Midlands Textile Industry. Phyllis Deane . The First Industrial Revolution. J. Child . Industrial Relations in the British Printing Industry. The Quest for Security. Werner von Siemens . Inventor and Entrepreneur: Recollections of Werner von Siemens. Kurt Grunwald . Türkenhirsch: A Study of Baron Maurice de Hirsch, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist. J. D. Bailey . A Hundred Tears of Pastoral Banking. A History of the Australian Mercantile Land and Finance Company, 1863-1963. F. B. Smith . The Making of the Second Reform Bill. W. R. Powell (Ed.). A History of the County of Essex. Peter Mathias . Retailing Revolution. A History of Multiple Retailing in the Food Trades based upon the Allied Suppliers Group of Companies. Marc Bloch . French Rural History: an Essay on its Basic Characteristics. J. P. Nettl . Rosa Luxemburg. Erich Gruner and Karl Frei . Die schweizerische Bundesversammlung, 1848-1920 L'Assemblée fédérale suisse, 1848-1920. Richard Colebrook Harris . The Seigneurial System in Early Canada. Geographical Study. Ashin Das Gupta . Malabar in Asian Trade, 1740-1800. David Birmingham . Trade and Conflict in Angola.     

Financial Globalization,International Business Cycles and Consumption Risk Sharing*

In spite of two decades of financial globalization, consumption‐based indicators do not seem to signal more international risk sharing. We argue that the fraction of idiosyncratic consumption risk that gets shared among industrialized countries has actually increased considerably over the period 1980–2000 and, in particular, during the 1990s—from around 30 to more than 60 percent. However, standard consumption‐based measures of risk sharing—such as the volatility of consumption conditional on output or international consumption correlations—have been unable to detect this increase because consumption has also been affected by the concurrent decline in the volatility of output growth in most industrialized countries since the 1980s. First, the volatility of output at business‐cycle frequencies has declined by more than has the volatility of permanent fluctuations. Since consumption reacts mainly to permanent shocks, it appears more volatile in relation to current changes in output. This effect seems to have offset the tendency of financial globalization to lower the volatility of consumption conditional on output. Second, because the variability of permanent global shocks has also fallen, international consumption correlations have also generally not increased as financial markets have become more integrated.     

Öffentliche Sportförderung: eine ordnungspolitische Betrachtung

An unmittelbaren Transferleistungen flie?en j?hrlich rund 3,9 Mrd. Euro in die staatliche Sportf?rderung. Wie ist die ?ffentliche Sportf?rderung ordnungspolitisch zu bewerten? Welche Wirkungen hat sie auf die Sportanbieter und den Wettbewerb?