How important is cultural background for the level of intergenerational mobility?

Using results on brother correlations of different groups of second generation immigrants based on administrative data from Denmark, this note analyzes the role of cultural background in the determination of the level of intergenerational mobility. The estimated correlations indicate that cultural background is not an important factor for the level of intergenerational mobility. --Intergenerational mobility,Sibling correlations

How Important Is the Family?: Evidence from Sibling Correlations in Permanent Earnings in the US, Germany and Denmark

This paper is the first to analyze intergenerational economic mobility based on sibling correlations in permanent earnings in Germany and to provide a cross-country comparison of Germany, Denmark, and the US. The main findings are as follows: the importance of family and community background in Germany is higher than in Denmark and comparable to that in the US. This holds true for brothers and sisters. In Denmark 20 percent of the inequality in permanent earnings can be attributed to family and community factors shared by brothers while the corresponding estimates are 43 percent in Germany and 45 percent in the US. For sisters the estimates are 19 percent for Denmark, 39 percent for Germany and 29 percent for the US. This ranking is shown to be robust against alternative approaches.Sibling correlations, intergenerational mobility, inequality, REML

Wage Mobility in East and West Germany

This article studies the long run patterns and explanations of wage mobility as a characteristic of regional labor markets. Using German administrative data we describe wage mobility since 1975 in West and since 1992 in East Germany. Wage mobility declined substantially in East Germany in the 1990s and moderately in East and West Germany since the late 1990s. Therefore, wage mobility does not balance recent increases in cross-sectional wage inequality. We apply RIF (recentered influence function) regression based decompositions to measure the role of potential explanatory factors behind these mobility changes. Increasing job stability is an important factor associated with the East German mobility decline.wage mobility, earnings mobility, income mobility, Germany, East Germany, inequality, transition matrix, Shorrocks index, administrative data

Competition and Cooperation in Divisible Good Auctions: An Experimental Examination

An experimental approach is used to examine the performance of three different multi-unit auction designs: discriminatory, uniform-price with fixed supply, and uniform-price with endogenous supply. We find that the strategies of the individual bidders and the aggregate demand curves are inconsistent with theoretically identified equilibrium strategies. The discriminatory auction is found to be more susceptible to collusion than are the uniform-price auctions, and so contrary to theoretical predictions and previous experimental results the discriminatory auction provides the lowest average revenue. Consistent with theoretical predictions, bidder demands are more elastic with reducible supply or discriminatory pricing than in the uniform-price auction with fixed supply. Despite a lack of a priori differences across bidders, the discriminatory auction results in significantly more symmetric allocations.

Verbunden über Generationen: Struktur und Ausmaß der intergenerationalen Einkommensmobilität in Deutschland (Structure and extent of intergenerational income mobility in Germany)

"The paper examines the structure and the extent of intergenerational income mobility in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel it is possible to look at both, father-son and father-daughter pairs. In the present case the intergenerational income elasticity is 0.26 for father-son pairs and 0.36 for father-daughter pairs. A more detailed analysis is carried out, applying a quantile regression approach. In a third step I estimate the transition matrices of sons. Although there is some persistence at both ends of the income distribution, the results show a high level of intergenerational mobility in Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Einkommen, Intergenerationsmobilität, Töchter, Söhne, Väter

Competition and Cooperation in Divisible Good Auctions: An Experimental Examination

An experimental approach is used to examine the performance of three different multi-unit auction designs: discriminatory, uniform-price with fixed supply, and uniform-price with endogenous supply. We find that the strategies of the individual bidders and the aggregate demand curves are inconsistent with theoretically identified equilibrium strategies. The discriminatory auction is found to be more susceptible to collusion than are the uniform-price auctions, and so contrary to theoretical predictions and previous experimental results, the discriminatory auction provides the lowest average revenue. Consistent with theoretical predictions, bidder demands are more elastic with reducible supply or discriminatory pricing than in the uniform-price auction with fixed supply. Despite a lack of a priori differences across bidders, the discriminatory auction results in significantly more symmetric allocations.Divisible good, Auctions, Experimental economics

Umfang und Folgen der Nichtinanspruchnahme von Urlaub in Deutschland

Rund 37 Prozent der abhängig Vollzeitbeschäftigten haben den ihnen zustehenden Urlaub im letzten Jahr nicht voll in Anspruch genommen. Die Zahl der tatsächlich genommenen Urlaubstage lag für jeden Arbeitnehmer im Durchschnitt um drei Tage unter seinem eigentlichen Urlaubsanspruch. Demnach werden etwa zwölf Prozent des Gesamtanspruchsvolumens an Urlaub nicht genutzt. Dies belegen die vom DIW Berlin zusammen mit TNS Infratest Sozialforschung erhobenen Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP). Es zeigt sich, dass jüngere Arbeitnehmer ihren Urlaub weniger ausschöpfen als ältere. Auch schöpfen vor allem Arbeitnehmer in kleineren Betrieben und Personen mit kurzer Betriebszugehörigkeit ihren Urlaub nicht voll aus. Die Unterausschöpfung von Urlaub geht mit kurzfristigen Einkommenszuwächsen einher. Es zeigen sich aber auch Einschränkungen der Lebensqualität.Vacation, SOEP, labour supply

Inter- and intragenerational economic mobility: Germany in international comparison

Die Ungleichheit der Lohneinkommen in Deutschland verschärft sich seit geraumer Zeit deutlich. Umso mehr muss zumindest die Gleichheit der Chancen in unserer Gesellschaft gewährleistet sein. Die Höhe des Einkommens sollte - aus gesellschaftlichen wie ökonomischen Gründen - von der individuellen Leistungsfähigkeit abhängen, nicht vom Status der Eltern. Doch wie ist es um die Gleichheit der Chancen in Deutschland tatsächlich bestellt? Ist das hiesige Einkommensgefüge so durchlässig, dass auch Menschen aus sozial schwachen Familien eine realistische Aufstiegschance haben? Wie hoch ist in Deutschland die ökonomische Mobilität zwischen sowie innerhalb von Generationen? Und wie schneidet Deutschland im Vergleich zu anderen Ländern ab? Der Autor untersucht diese Fragen mit neuen methodischen Ansätzen und analysiert die Ursachen für das unterschiedliche Ausmaß an ökonomischer Mobilität im internationalen Vergleich.For a considerable time now, the lack of equality in wage incomes in Germany has been getting clearly worse. Hence it is all the more important to at least guarantee equal opportunities in our society. The level of income - both for social and economic reasons - should be dependent on individual performance and not on one's parents' status. But what shape is equality of opportunity in Germany actually in? Is the income structure here so permeable that people from socially weak families also have a realistic chance of advancement? How high is economic mobility in Germany both between and within generations? And how does Germany do in comparison with other countries? The author examines these questions using new methodological approaches and analyzes the causes of differing extents of economic mobility in international comparison

Verbunden über Generationen: Struktur und Ausmaß der intergenerationalen Einkommensmobilität in Deutschland

Das vorliegende Discussion Paper untersucht die Struktur und das Ausmaß der intergenerationalen Einkommensmobilität in Deutschland. Anhand der Daten des deutschen sozioökonomischen Panels ist es möglich, sowohl Vater-Sohn als auch Vater-Tochter Paare zu untersuchen. In einem ersten Schritt geschieht dies anhand einer Einkommensgleichung, die mittels OLS geschätzt wird. Für die Vater-Sohn Paare ergibt sich dabei eine Elastizität des väterlichen Einkommens von 0,17 und für Vater-Tochter Paare von 0,2. Das bedeutet, in Deutschland werden im Durchschnitt 17 % bzw. 20 % des elterlichen Einkommensvorteils bzw. -nachteils vererbt. Im nächsten Schritt erfolgt eine detailliertere Analyse der intergenerationalen Einkommensmobilität anhand einer Quantilsregression und anhand einer geschätzten Übergangsmatrix sowohl für Söhne als auch für Töchter. Die Ergebnisse belegen für Deutschland ein hohes Maß an intergenerationaler Mobilität.Intergenerational Mobility, Germany

Are we Architects of our own happiness? The Importance of Family Background for Well-Being

This paper analyzes whether individuals have equal opportunity to achieve happiness (or well-being). We estimate sibling correlations and intergenerational correlations in self-reported life satisfaction, satisfaction with household income, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with health. We find high sibling correlations for all measures of well-being. The results suggest that family background explains, on average, between 30% and 60% of the inequality in permanent well-being. The influence is smaller when the siblings' psychological and geographical distance from their parental home is larger. Results from intergenerational correlations suggest that parental characteristics are considerably less important than family and community factors. © 2016 by De Gruyter 2016