• Economists analyze Dutch pension reform

• First evidence of unintended consequences on three generations revealed

Bonn, Mannheim, 08.07.2024 – Reforming the pension system has knock-on effects for families across generations: In the Netherlands, for every hour that grandmothers work longer, their adult daughters with young children work 40 minutes less. This widens existing gender gaps within families and in society at large. Furthermore, the performance of children at school is affected by the reform. These findings are published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim in the discussion paper “Spillover Effects of Old-Age Pension across Generations: Family Labor Supply and Child Outcomes”.

• Researchers survey around 2,000 finance professionals worldwide (CFA)

Bonn, Mannheim, 01.07.2024 – 68 percent of international finance experts think that stock prices currently do not reflect climate risks adequately. This is the result of an online survey of nearly 2,000 international investment experts conducted by economists. The researchers also find that the political leanings of finance professionals influence their climate risk evaluations. These findings are published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim in the discussion paper “Mental Models in Financial Markets: How Do Experts Reason About the Pricing of Climate Risk?”.

• New billionaire channel owner shifted political coverage

• EPoS team analyzed about 262,000 guests on TV and radio shows (2002-2020)

Bonn, Mannheim, 27.06.2024 – The coverage that media outlets give to political parties changes when a new owner takes over: Three French TV channels from the Canal Plus Group gave about 50 percent more air time to the far right after being bought by French billionaire Vincent Bolloré in 2015. These are findings of the discussion paper “Hosting Media Bias: Evidence from the Universe of French Broadcasts” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) has proved effective

• Economists analyze data of 252 ETS-regulated industrial companies

Bonn, Mannheim, 30.05.2024 – In France, pricing carbon dioxide has proved to be an effective tool for reducing producers’ emissions: According to a new study, the manufacturing sector cut this harmful greenhouse gas by an estimated 15 percent during the first eight years of the EU Emissions Trading System (2005-2012, estimated 5.4 m tonnes per year). In total, this exceeds the CO2 emissions that Sweden emits in one year (38 m tonnes). Output was unaffected by the costs of complying with this policy. These results are obtained in a study by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim, forthcoming in the Review of Economic Studies under the title “Does Pricing Carbon Mitigate Climate Change? Firm-Level Evidence from the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme“.

• Privacy policies from 75,000 German companies analyzed

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 15.05.2024 – The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires companies to disclose in plain language how they process personal data. A recent study shows that companies in Germany have indeed published considerably more information since then. However, readability - and therefore easy user access to information - has not improved significantly. These study results are published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim in the discussion paper “Regulatory Compliance with Limited Enforceability: Evidence from Privacy Policies”.

• Empirical analysis of 380,000 women in Norway

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 07.05.2024 – Artificial intelligence, self-driving cars or smart robots are rapidly changing the way we work. People are more and more afraid of being replaced by machines. Research shows that the outlook is not necessarily negative. A new study analyzes the careers of young rural women who were being pushed out of agriculture in the 1950s upon the adoption of milking machines in Norway. Upskilling and education are the key to long-term success for the human workforce when technology automates tasks. These results are published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• Representative surveys of 5,000 individuals

• Increasing hours worked by mothers counteracts skills shortage

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 25.03.2024 – Almost half of the women in Germany work part-time, compared to only about 10 percent of men. New research reveals that perceptions of women drive their work-related decisions: Even in a best-case scenario of high-quality, full-day childcare, only 55 percent of women would want to work full-time – 40 percent would work part-time when having a child. These are findings of the discussion paper “Beliefs About Maternal Labor Supply” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• OECD warns of old-age poverty

• German government subsidy for low-income pensions analyzed

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 11.03.2024 – Subsidizing pensions of low-income retirees has important health benefits and lowers the risk of dying early. The analysis of German administrative data shows: A government subsidy of 100 Euros per month (13% increase of pension benefits) reduces the probability of dying before age 65 by 23.5 percent, before age 70 by 8 percent and before age 75 by 2 percent. These are findings of the discussion paper “Live Longer and Healthier: Impact of Pension Income for Low-Income Retirees” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• Higher risk of losing the job prevents stock investment

• Capital gains widen racial income disparities (+15%, 1980-2020)

Bonn, Mannheim, 01.03.2024 – Black Americans face a higher risk of losing their job than white Americans, especially during economic recession. That is why Black Americans invest less in the stock market, worsening the racial wealth gap in the US. Had the risk of unemployment been the same for Black and white Americans in the period 1980-2020, the wealth gap would have risen by 3 percent, whereas it actually grew by 15 percent. These are findings of the discussion paper “Unemployment risk, portfolio choice, and the racial wealth gap” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• Women anticipate unequal treatment and accumulate salary losses

• EPoS study analyzes data from 15,000 students

Bonn, Mannheim, 29.02.2024 – A new EPoS study on the gender pay gap shows that female students expect to earn significantly less than men throughout their professional careers. All in all, they expect to earn more than half a million euros less in their working life. In line with their expectations, women demand lower wages, so that the gender pay gap persists. These are findings of the discussion paper “Gender Differences in Wage Expectations and Negotiation” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center.

• Acquisition of firms for hiring eliminates labor market competition

Bonn, Mannheim, 31.01.2024 – Large tech firms such as Facebook and Google claim to buy small startups to get specialized talent. Yet, the economic analysis suggests a different rationale: Acquiring a startup and hiring its staff suppresses competition in the labor market. This harms workers’ wages. These are findings of the discussion paper “Acquihiring for Monopsony Power” published by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• Experiment studied the acceptance and response rate to Black and White profiles
• Young and female users discriminate most
• Field study on LinkedIn in the U.S.

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 15.12.2023 – Black Americans face higher initial barriers when using online business networks compared to White Americans. Contact requests from Black profiles on LinkedIn are rejected more often compared to White profiles. These are findings of the discussion paper “LinkedOut? A Field Experiment on Discrimination in Job Network Formation” by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

EPoS Economic Research Center analyses German social security data

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 15.12.2023 – Interactions between generous unemployment insurance and retirement rules can lead to higher unemployment particularly for older workers close to retirement. The reason: The joint effect of both schemes creates an incentive to build a “bridge-to-retirement”. This is the main finding of the discussion paper “When Institutions Interact: How the Effects of Unemployment Insurance are Shaped by Retirement Policies” by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

Bonn, Mannheim, 23.11.2023 - Die Energiepreisbremsen bei Strom und Gas in Deutschland werden mit dem jüngsten Gerichtsurteil aus Karlsruhe auf den Prüfstand gestellt. Ökonomen sehen die Entlastungen für Unternehmen in Form von Transferzahlungen und Subventionen kritisch: Eingriffe dieser Art, wie die geplante Absenkung der Stromsteuer für Unternehmen, sind keine sinnvolle Nutzung von Steuergeldern – so ein Fazit einer Studie des EPoS Economic Research Center der Universitäten Bonn und Mannheim. Im aktuellen Diskussionspapier „Hicks in HANK: Fiscal Responses to an Energy Shock“ werden die Wechselwirkungen staatlicher Eingriffe als Reaktion auf Energiepreisschocks untersucht.

• Wirtschaftsforscher untersuchen Wechselwirkungen staatlicher Eingriffe

Bonn, Mannheim, Germany, 21.11.2023 – The fear of losing office in the next election provides a strong incentive for political leaders to satisfy voters. Those in power are particularly prepared to change their political course if the potential successor may belong to a populist party. The threat of voters to switch to populists has a serious impact. These are findings of the discussion paper “Shaking Up the System: When Populism Disciplines Elite Politicians” by the EPoS Economic Research Center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim.

• EPoS Economic Research Center of the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim publishes new paper
• Swing voters examined with equilibrium model

Financial Dollarisation in emerging market economies does not necessarily lead to more vulnerability in the respective financial system, according to a recently published study with the participation of the University of Mannheim. “The common view that financial dollarisation is a source of fragility is overstated,” the authors said.