Brown Bag Seminar
Brown Bag Seminar Financial Markets Department The seminar series "Brown Bag Seminar" was offered on a regular basis by members of the Financial Markets department and their…
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Projects
Our Projects 07.2022 ‐ 12.2026 Evaluation of the InvKG and the federal STARK programme On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, the IWH and the RWI…
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Mentoring Helps Highly Disadvantaged Adolescents
Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, Katharina Wedel, Simon Wiederhold, Ludger Woessmann
IEB Report "Education Policy: Quality and Equality of Opportunity",
2023
Abstract
In this report, we discuss the results of our randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a nationwide mentoring program designed to improve the labor-market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents in Germany (Resnjanskij et al., 2023). The study is motivated by the high persistence of inequality across generations present even in countries with comprehensive social welfare systems (Alvaredo et al., 2018). In particular, the school-to-work transition is a decisive moment that determines the differences in later labor-market outcomes of young adolescents.
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Exposure to Conflict, Migrations and Long-run Education and Income Inequality: Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Adnan Efendic, Dejan Kovač, Jacob N. Shapiro
Defence and Peace Economics,
No. 8,
2023
Abstract
We investigate the long-term relationship between conflict-related migration and individual socioeconomic inequality. Looking at the post-conflict environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), a former Yugoslav state most heavily impacted by the wars of the early 1990s, the paper focuses on differences in educational performance and income between four groups: migrants, internally displaced persons, former external migrants, and those who did not move. The analysis leverages a municipality-representative survey (n ≈ 6,000) that captured self-reported education and income outcomes as well as migration histories. We find that individuals with greater exposure to conflict had systematically worse educational performance and lower earnings two decades after the war. Former external migrants now living in BiH have better educational and economic outcomes than those who did not migrate, but these advantages are smaller for external migrants who were forced to move. We recommend that policies intended to address migration-related discrepancies should be targeted on the basis of individual and family experiences caused by conflict.
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DPE Course Programme Archive
DPE Course Programme Archive 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2023 Microeconomics several lecturers winter term 2023/2024 (IWH) Econometrics several…
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Department Profiles
Research Profiles of the IWH Departments All doctoral students are allocated to one of the four research departments (Financial Markets – Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets –…
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Discrimination in Universal Social Programs? A Nationwide Field Experiment on Access to Child Care
Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Fabian Mierisch, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 12,
2023
Abstract
Although explicit discrimination in access to social programs is typically prohibited, more subtle forms of discrimination prior to the formal application process may still exist. Unveiling this phenomenon, we provide the first causal evidence of discrimination against migrants seeking child care. We send emails from fictitious parents to > 18, 000 early child care centers across Germany, inquiring about slot availability and application procedures. Randomly varying names to signal migration background, we find that migrants receive 4.4 percentage points fewer responses. Replies to migrants contain fewer slot offers, provide less helpful content, and are less encouraging. Exploring mechanisms using three additional treatments, we show that discrimination is stronger against migrant boys. This finding suggests that anticipated higher effort required for migrants partly drives discrimination, which is also supported by additional survey and administrative data. Our results highlight that difficult-to-detect discrimination in the pre-application phase could hinder migrants’ access to universal social programs.
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How Early Childcare Can Boost the Labour Market Success of Lower-Educated Mothers
Henning Hermes, Marina Krauss, Philipp Lergetporer, Frauke Peter, Simon Wiederhold
VoxEU,
April
2023
Abstract
In most countries, childbirth has a negative impact on the labour market outcomes of mothers, especially for those with lower socioeconomic status. This column presents findings from a field experiment in Germany demonstrating that access to universal early childcare increases full-time employment and household income of mothers with lower socioeconomic status. To improve the labour market outcomes of these mothers, policymakers must provide easier access to early childcare and expand early childcare slots.
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The Effect of Bank Failures on Small Business Loans and Income Inequality
Salvador Contreras, Amit Ghosh, Iftekhar Hasan
Journal of Banking and Finance,
January
2023
Abstract
Using variation in the timing and location of branches of failed banks we analyze its effect on income inequality. Employing a difference-in-differences specification we find that bank failures increased the GINI by 0.3 units (or 0.7%). We show that the rise in inequality is due to a decrease in the incomes of the poor that outpaces declines of the rest. We further show that individuals with lower levels of education exhibit a relatively greater decline in real wages and weekly hours worked. Exploring channels of transmission, we find income inequality is explained by a general decline in small business loans. This in turn reduces net new small business formation and their job creation capacity, a sector that hires a substantial share of low-income earners.
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Banking Market Deregulation and Mortality Inequality
Iftekhar Hasan, Thomas Krause, Stefano Manfredonia, Felix Noth
Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers,
No. 14,
2022
Abstract
This paper shows that local banking market conditions affect mortality rates in the United States. Exploiting the staggered relaxation of branching restrictions in the 1990s across states, we find that banking deregulation decreases local mortality rates. This effect is driven by a decrease in the mortality rate of black residents, implying a decrease in the black-white mortality gap. We further analyze the role of mortgage markets as a transmitter between banking deregulation and mortality and show that households' easier access to finance explains mortality dynamics. We do not find any evidence that our results can be explained by improved labor outcomes.
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