@techreport{Nastansky2019, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Nastansky, Andreas}, title = {Topologische Datenanalyse}, series = {Statistische Diskussionsbeitr{\"a}ge}, journal = {Statistische Diskussionsbeitr{\"a}ge}, number = {53}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43142}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-431420}, pages = {38}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Bei der Analyse von h{\"o}herdimensionalen Daten kann deren Gestalt wichtige Informationen {\"u}ber den Datensatz liefern. Bei einer gegebenen Punktwolke, die aus einem unbekannten topologischen Raum ausgew{\"a}hlt wurde, versucht die Topologische Datenanalyse (TDA) den urspr{\"u}nglichen Raum zu rekonstruieren. Dieser Beitrag soll eine Einf{\"u}hrung in die Topologische Datenanalyse geben und konzentriert sich dabei auf zwei wichtige Aspekte: die Persistente Homologie und den Mapper. Dabei werden zuerst die notwendigen theoretischen Grundlagen vorgestellt und anschließend wird die Methodik bei der Visualisierung von Daten eingesetzt. Die Persistente Homologie ist eines der Standardwerkzeuge in der TDA. Sie findet ihre Anwendung beispielsweise in den Bereichen Formerkennung und -beschreibung. Der Mapper als zweites wichtiges Konzept der TDA wandelt umfangreiche, h{\"o}herdimensionale Datens{\"a}tze in Simplizialkomplexe um und kann dadurch geometrische und topologische Eigenschaften der Daten bestimmen. Des Weiteren ist die Mapper-Methode ein brauchbares Werkzeug zur Visualisierungen von mehrdimensionalen Daten, woran statistische Verfahren scheitern.}, language = {de} } @techreport{MuellerWrohlich2019, type = {Working Paper}, author = {M{\"u}ller, Kai-Uwe and Wrohlich, Katharina}, title = {Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply?}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {9}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42772}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427727}, pages = {50}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Expanding public or publicly subsidized childcare has been a top social policy priority in many industrialized countries. It is supposed to increase fertility, promote children's development and enhance mothers' labor market attachment. In this paper, we analyze the causal effect of one of the largest expansions of subsidized childcare for children up to three years among industrialized countries on the employment of mothers in Germany. Identification is based on spatial and temporal variation in the expansion of publicly subsidized childcare triggered by two comprehensive childcare policy reforms. The empirical analysis is based on the German Microcensus that is matched to county level data on childcare availability. Based on our preferred specification which includes time and county fixed effects we find that an increase in childcare slots by one percentage point increases mothers' labor market participation rate by 0.2 percentage points. The overall increase in employment is explained by the rise in part-time employment with relatively long hours (20-35 hours per week). We do not find a change in full-time employment or lower part-time employment that is causally related to the childcare expansion. The effect is almost entirely driven by mothers with medium-level qualifications. Mothers with low education levels do not profit from this reform calling for a stronger policy focus on particularly disadvantaged groups in coming years.}, language = {en} } @techreport{BlockKritikosPriemetal.2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Block, J{\"o}rn and Kritikos, Alexander and Priem, Maximilian and Stiel, Caroline}, title = {Emergency-Aid for Self-employed in the Covid-19 Pandemic}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {55}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-56268}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-562688}, pages = {41}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The self-employed faced strong income losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many governments introduced programs to financially support the self-employed during the pandemic, including Germany. The German Ministry for Economic Affairs announced a €50bn emergency-aid program in March 2020, offering one-off lump-sum payments of up to €15,000 to those facing substantial revenue declines. By reassuring the self- employed that the government 'would not let them down' during the crisis, the program had also the important aim of motivating the self-employed to get through the crisis. We investigate whether the program affected the confidence of the self-employed to survive the crisis using real-time online-survey data comprising more than 20,000 observations. We employ propensity score matching, making use of a rich set of variables that influence the subjective survival probability as main outcome measure. We observe that this program had significant effects, with the subjective survival probability of the self- employed being moderately increased. We reveal important effect heterogeneities with respect to education, industries, and speed of payment. Notably, positive effects only occur among those self-employed whose application was processed quickly. This suggests stress-induced waiting costs due to the uncertainty associated with the administrative processing and the overall pandemic situation. Our findings have policy implications for the design of support programs, while also contributing to the literature on the instruments and effects of entrepreneurship policy interventions in crisis situations.}, language = {en} } @techreport{MarcusSiedlerZiebarth2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Marcus, Jan and Siedler, Thomas and Ziebarth, Nicolas R.}, title = {The Long-Run Effects of Sports Club Vouchers for Primary School Children}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {34}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-50897}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-508978}, pages = {72}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Starting in 2009, the German state of Saxony distributed sports club membership vouchers among all 33,000 third graders in the state. The policy's objective was to encourage them to develop a long-term habit of exercising. In 2018, we carried out a large register-based survey among several cohorts in Saxony and two neighboring states. Our difference-in-differences estimations show that, even after a decade, awareness of the voucher program was significantly higher in the treatment group. We also find that youth received and redeemed the vouchers. However, we do not find significant short- or long-term effects on sports club membership, physical activity, overweightness, or motor skills.}, language = {en} } @techreport{LudolphŠedova2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Ludolph, Lars and Šedov{\´a}, Barbora}, title = {Global food prices, local weather and migration in Sub-Saharan Africa}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {26}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49494}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-494946}, pages = {53}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In this paper, we study the effect of exogenous global crop price changes on migration from agricultural and non-agricultural households in Sub-Saharan Africa. We show that, similar to the effect of positive local weather shocks, the effect of a locally-relevant global crop price increase on household out-migration depends on the initial household wealth. Higher international producer prices relax the budget constraint of poor agricultural households and facilitate migration. The order of magnitude of a standardized price effect is approx. one third of the standardized effect of a local weather shock. Unlike positive weather shocks, which mostly facilitate internal rural-urban migration, positive income shocks through rising producer prices only increase migration to neighboring African countries, likely due to the simultaneous decrease in real income in nearby urban areas. Finally, we show that while higher producer prices induce conflict, conflict does not play a role for the household decision to send a member as a labor migrant.}, language = {en} } @techreport{GraeberKritikosSeebauer2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Graeber, Daniel and Kritikos, Alexander and Seebauer, Johannes}, title = {COVID-19: a crisis of the female self-employed}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {27}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49810}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-498108}, pages = {72}, year = {2021}, abstract = {We investigate how the economic consequences of the pandemic, and of the government-mandated measures to contain its spread, affect the self-employed - particularly women - in Germany. For our analysis, we use representative, real-time survey data in which respondents were asked about their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate that among the self-employed, who generally face a higher likelihood of income losses due to COVID-19 than employees, women are 35\% more likely to experience income losses than their male counterparts. Conversely, we do not find a comparable gender gap among employees. Our results further suggest that the gender gap among the self-employed is largely explained by the fact that women disproportionately work in industries that are more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis of potential mechanisms reveals that women are significantly more likely to be impacted by government-imposed restrictions, i.e. the regulation of opening hours. We conclude that future policy measures intending to mitigate the consequences of such shocks should account for this considerable variation in economic hardship.}, language = {en} } @techreport{HaenselFranksKalkuhletal.2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {H{\"a}nsel, Martin C. and Franks, Max and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Edenhofer, Ottmar}, title = {Optimal carbon taxation and horizontal equity}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {28}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-49812}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-498128}, pages = {51}, year = {2021}, abstract = {We develop a model of optimal carbon taxation and redistribution taking into account horizontal equity concerns by considering heterogeneous energy efficiencies. By deriving first- and second-best rules for policy instruments including carbon taxes, transfers and energy subsidies, we then investigate analytically how horizontal equity is considered in the social welfare maximizing tax structure. We calibrate the model to German household data and a 30 percent emission reduction goal. Our results show that energy-intensive households should receive more redistributive resources than energy-efficient households if and only if social inequality aversion is sufficiently high. We further find that redistribution of carbon tax revenue via household-specific transfers is the first-best policy. Equal per-capita transfers do not suffer from informational problems, but increase mitigation costs by around 15 percent compared to the first- best for unity inequality aversion. Adding renewable energy subsidies or non-linear energy subsidies, reduces mitigation costs further without relying on observability of households' energy efficiency.}, language = {en} } @techreport{GraeberSchikora2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Graeber, Daniel and Schikora, Felicitas}, title = {Hate is too great a burden to bear}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {31}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-50797}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-507972}, pages = {53}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Against a background of increasing violence against non-natives, we estimate the effect of hate crime on refugees' mental health in Germany. For this purpose, we combine two datasets: administrative records on xenophobic crime against refugee shelters by the Federal Criminal Office and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees. We apply a regression discontinuity in time design to estimate the effect of interest. Our results indicate that hate crime has a substantial negative effect on several mental health indicators, including the Mental Component Summary score and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 score. The effects are stronger for refugees with closer geographic proximity to the focal hate crime and refugees with low country-specific human capital. While the estimated effect is only transitory, we argue that negative mental health shocks during the critical period after arrival have important long-term consequences. Keywords: Mental health, hate crime, migration, refugees, human capital.}, language = {en} } @techreport{BacheletKalkuhlKoch2022, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Bachelet, Marion and Kalkuhl, Matthias and Koch, Nicolas}, title = {What if working from home will stick?}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {41}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-53238}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-532384}, pages = {28}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The COVID-19 pandemic created the largest experiment in working from home. We study how persistent telework may change energy and transport consumption and costs in Germany to assess the distributional and environmental implications when working from home will stick. Based on data from the German Microcensus and available classifications of working-from-home feasibility for different occupations, we calculate the change in energy consumption and travel to work when 15\% of employees work full time from home. Our findings suggest that telework translates into an annual increase in heating energy expenditure of 110 euros per worker and a decrease in transport expenditure of 840 euros per worker. All income groups would gain from telework but high-income workers gain twice as much as low-income workers. The value of time saving is between 1.3 and 6 times greater than the savings from reduced travel costs and almost 9 times higher for high-income workers than low-income workers. The direct effects on CO₂ emissions due to reduced car commuting amount to 4.5 millions tons of CO₂, representing around 3 percent of carbon emissions in the transport sector.}, language = {en} } @techreport{KritikosSchierschStiel2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Kritikos, Alexander and Schiersch, Alexander and Stiel, Caroline}, title = {The productivity puzzle in business services}, series = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, journal = {CEPA Discussion Papers}, number = {37}, issn = {2628-653X}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-51453}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-514536}, pages = {37}, year = {2021}, abstract = {In Germany, the productivity of professional services, a sector dominated by micro and small firms, declined by 40 percent between 1995 and 2014. This productivity decline also holds true for professional services in other European countries. Using a German firm-level dataset of 700,000 observations between 2003 and 2017, we analyze this largely uncovered phenomenon among professional services, the 4th largest sector in the EU15 business economy, which provide important intermediate services for the rest of the economy. We show that changes in the value chain explain about half of the decline and the increase in part-time employment is a further minor part of the decline. In contrast to expectations, the entry of micro and small firms, despite their lower productivity levels, is not responsible for the decline. We also cannot confirm the conjecture that weakening competition allows unproductive firms to remain in the market.}, language = {en} }