How Unemployment Shapes Stated Locus of Control

Due to its extraordinary explanatory power for individual behavior, the interest in the concept of locus of control (LOC) has increased substantially within applied economic research. But, even though LOC has been found to affect economic behavior in many ways, the reliability of these findings is at risk as they commonly rely on the assumption that LOC is stable over the life course. While absolute stability has been generally rejected, the extent to which LOC and thus personality changes is, nonetheless, strongly debated. We contribute to this discussion by analyzing the effect of unemployment on LOC. Based on German panel data, we apply a difference-in-difference approach by using an involuntary job loss as trigger for unemployment. Overall, we find a significant shift in stated LOC due to unemployment. Because the effect is observable during unemployment only and not heterogeneous with respect to individual characteristics or unemployment duration, we conclude that only the stated LOC is biased during unemployment but the underlying personality trait itself is not affected

How Losing Employment Affects the Willingness to Take Risks

Using German panel data, we assess the causal effect of job loss, and thus of an extensive income shock, on risk attitude. In line with predictions of expected utility reasoning about absolute risk aversion, losing one’s job reduces the willingness to take risks. This effect strengthens in previous hourly wage, begins to manifest itself as soon as an employee perceives the threat of job loss and is of a transitory nature. The change in stated risk attitude matches observable job finding behaviour, confirming the behavioural validity of our results

The short- and medium-term distributional effects of the German minimum wage reform

This study quantifies the distributional effects of the minimum wage introduced in Germany in 2015. Using detailed Socio-Economic Panel survey data, we assess changes in the hourly wages, working hours, and monthly wages of employees who were entitled to be paid the minimum wage. We employ a difference-in-differences analysis, exploiting regional variation in the “bite” of the minimum wage. At the bottom of the hourly wage distribution, we document wage growth of 9% in the short term and 21% in the medium term. At the same time, we find a reduction in working hours, such that the increase in hourly wages does not lead to a subortionate increase in monthly wages. We conclude that working hours adjustments play an important role in the distributional effects of minimum wages

Automatisiertes Fahren auf der Schiene - Rechtlicher und betriebliche Randbedingungen für den vollautomatischen Bahnbetrieb

Getrieben durch akuten Fachkräftemangel besteht im Fernbahnbetrieb Bedarf an einer durchgreifenden Automatisierung unter Einsatz modernster Technologien. Chancen für eine wirtschaftliche Umsetzung bietet ein hochassistierter Betrieb, mit dem die Anforderungen an die Ausbildung von Triebfahrzeugführern radikal reduziert werden. In der vorliegenden Analyse werden die derzeitigen Tätigkeitsfelder eines Triebfahrzeugführers denen in einem vollautomatischen bzw. hochassistierten Bahnbetrieb hinsichtlich der rechtlichen und betrieblichen Randbedingungen gegenübergestellt. Dabei stellt der vollautomatische Bahnbetrieb in der regulatorischen Fragestellung den komplexesten Betrachtungsfall dar

Regulatorischer Anpassungsbedarf für das automatische Fahren im Bahnbetrieb

Die fortschreitende Entwicklung der Technik erlaubt es in immer neuen Anwendungsgebieten ehemals manuell durchzuführende Aufgaben zu automatisieren. Getrieben durch einen akuten Fachkräftemangel werden auch im Bahnbetrieb immer wieder Ideen und Überlegungen hinsichtlich zunehmender Automatisierung bis hin zum fahrerlosen Bahnsystem angestellt. Neben einem hohen systemtechnischen Entwicklungsbedarf bei der Automatisierung im Bahnsystem dürfen die regulatorischen Fragestellungen nicht außer Acht gelassen werden