The Link between the Office Market and Labour Market in Germany

The article examines the link between the office market and labour market in Germany. In a first step the number of office employees is calculated by referring to occupational labour market statistics. Using a panel analysis with data for the biggest five German metropolises it is shown that office employment is a superior predictor for explaining adjustments in prime and average rents compared to total employment and unemployment rates. Taking vacancy rates also into account, the fit of the model can be further increased. Construction has only a minor impact on prime rents. The study is supplemented with single regressions for the five cities. While adjustments in Berlin and Dusseldorf can hardly be ascribed to office employment, office rents in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich react strongly to changes in the labour market.office employment, rental adjustment, panel analysis

A Perfect Marriage: Child-related Pensions and Public Education

In the present paper the effects of different pay-as-you-go pension systems on fertility decisions of a representative household are examined. Thereby, the analysis focuses especially on the interplay of parental quantity and quality decisions, introduced by Becker (1960). As it will be shown, a traditional pay-as-you-go system in either case distorts decisions of parents leading to an erosion of the financial basis of the system. In contrast, the assessment of a child-related pay-as-you-go system is ambiguous. If parents are solely responsible for expenditures on the quality of children, it is inefficient, too. However, if it is combined with a device like public education, optimality can be restored.Pay-as-you-go, child-related pension, quantity and quality of children

Qualitative und quantitative Aspekte einer Elternrente

On efficiency grounds, a social contract can be justified if not only pension payments but also the funding of education is taken into account. By introducing a pay-as-you system, which is a type of implicit social contract, each young generation can overcome its liquidity problems with regards to the financing of education and each older generation gains an attractive investment opportunity as funding human capital offers high returns and allows for an additional diversification of risks. As the marginal returns to education are decreasing, however, pension entitlements should be made contingent on educational investments and on the number of children. Given the tax-financed provision of education in Germany, especially the introduction of child pensions promises efficiency gains for the statutory pension systems. Additionally, it is shown how child pensions can be quantified. With reference to the concept of fiscal returns to education a relationship between child-rearing, education and income can be established. As the calculations suggest, one third of all pension entitlements in the German statutory pension scheme should be granted according to the number of children. Finally, the article shows how the institutional setting of the German pension system has to be changed in order to implement a child pension.pension reform, child pensions, returns to education

Eine steuerliche Lösung für die selbstgenutzte Immobilie

Selbstgenutzte Immobilien sind in der privaten Altersvorsorge über das Entnahmemodell bislang nur unzureichend berücksichtigt worden. Als ein wesentliches Hindernis für die vollständige Integration gilt dabei die Unvereinbarkeit von Konsumgutmodell und nachgelagerter Besteuerung. Wie kann die private Altersvorsorge flexibilisiert werden? Gibt es eine Lösung, die sowohl einfach, flexibel als auch steuerlich neutral ist? --

Ist eine makroprudenzielle Regulierung des deutschen Hypothekenmarktes geboten?

Die Bundesregierung hat neue Instrumente der makroprudenziellen Regulierung für den deutschen Hypothekenmarkt geschaffen. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die Notwendigkeit der Anwendung dieser Instrumente vor dem Hintergrund bestehender Finanzierungsgewohnheiten und Regulierungen. Angesichts der im internationalen Vergleich bereits als konservativ anzusehenden Ausgestaltung der Wohnimmobilienfinanzierung erscheint ein Einsatz makroprudenzieller Instrumente auf absehbare Zeit nicht erforderlich. Grundsätzlich sollten Entscheidungen hierüber regelgebunden auf Grundlage belastbarer Einzelkreditdaten erfolgen. Dafür bedarf es insgesamt eines besseren Monitorings des Immobilienfinanzierungsmarktes

Eine konstitutionelle Reform der Altersvorsorge

For decades, economists have been urging politicians to reform pension systems, but in many cases the proposals have been rejected by referring to unresolved questions of economic justice. This dilemma can be avoided by using the concept of constitutional economics, which allows us to address the issues of efficiency and justice at the same time. We conclude that a society behind a veil of uncertainty would settle for a compulsory pay-as-you-go which provides a minimum pension. However, to avoid the system being undermined by free-riding, such a benefit would only be granted to those individuals who contributed to the accumulation of human capital. Everyone else would be required to save individually to secure their minimum pension.

The Link between the Office Market and Labour Market in Germany

The article examines the link between the office market and labour market in Germany. In a first step the number of office employees is calculated by referring to occupational labour market statistics. Using a panel analysis with data for the biggest five German metropolises it is shown that office employment is a superior predictor for explaining adjustments in prime and average rents compared to total employment and unemployment rates. Taking vacancy rates also into account, the fit of the model can be further increased. Construction has only a minor impact on prime rents. The study is supplemented with single regressions for the five cities. While adjustments in Berlin and Dusseldorf can hardly be ascribed to office employment, office rents in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich react strongly to changes in the labour market

Using Geographically Referenced Data on Environmental Exposures for Public Health Research: A Feasibility Study Based on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)

Background: In panel datasets information on environmental exposures is scarce. Thus, our goal was to probe the use of area-wide geographically referenced data for air pollution from an external data source in the analysis of physical health. Methods: The study population comprised SOEP respondents in 2004 merged with exposures for NO2, PM10 and O3 based on a multi-year reanalysis of the EURopean Air pollution Dispersion-Inverse Model (EURAD-IM). Apart from bivariate analyses with subjective air pollution we estimated cross-sectional multilevel regression models for physical health as assessed by the SF-12. Results: The variation of average exposure to NO2, PM10 and O3 was small with the interquartile range being less than 10µg/m3 for all pollutants. There was no correlation between subjective air pollution and average exposure to PM10 and O3, while there was a very small positive correlation between the first and NO2. Inclusion of objective air pollution in regression models did not improve the model fit. Conclusions: It is feasible to merge environmental exposures to a nationally representative panel study like the SOEP. However, in our study the spatial resolution of the specific air pollutants has been too little, yet.SOEP, Geographically Referenced Data, Feasibility Study, Air Pollution, EURAD-IM, Physical Health