Prof. Dr. Andreas Peichl

Andreas Peichl und Lisa Windsteiger sprechen in ihrem Gastbeitrag von einem ersten kausalen Beweis dafür, dass unsere germanische Sprache die Einstellung gegenüber finanziellen Schulden beeinflusst und damit auch erhebliche wirtschaftliche Konsequenzen hat.

Ein neues Experiment belebt den Traum vom bedingungslosen Grundeinkommen. Doch es führt in die Irre, stattdessen braucht Deutschland endlich eine bedarfsorientierte Grundsicherung, die Arbeit nicht bestraft. 

Andreas Peichl, Regina T. Riphahn und Kerstin Schneider appellieren in ihrem Gastbeitrag an alle politischen Akteure, dass der deutschen Wissenschaft die notwendige Datenbasis fehlt. Um politischen Entscheidungsträgern zu ermöglichen, mit hoher Evidenz zielgerichtete politische Entscheidungen zu treffen, ist aus Sicht der Wissenschaft das Forschungsdatengesetz (FDG) der einzige Weg, um endlich voranzukommen.

Andreas Peichl beklagt, dass in Deutschland bei der Datenerhebung und -verfügbarkeit im Vergleich zu vielen anderen Ländern ein signifikanter Nachholbedarf besteht. Er sieht auf diesem Gebiet großen Handlungsbedarf, da durch eine bessere Datenqualität die gesellschaftliche Teilhabe verbessert, die wirtschaftliche Wertschöpfung erhöht sowie eine verbesserte Informationsgrundlage für politische Entscheidungen geschaffen wird.

Government relief measures during energy crises primarily benefit fossil fuels and therefore have a negative climate impact, as a new study by EconPol Europe shows. According to the study, the relief packages – in the form of tax cuts, price caps, or direct payments – during the crisis years 2022 and 2023 on average across the EU-27 amount to a permanent subsidy of roughly EUR 18 per metric ton of CO2 for natural gas and EUR 10 for oil. “In response to the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, Germany provided a total of up to EUR 187 billion. Of that amount, around EUR 71 billion went toward targeted relief for oil and natural gas customers,” says ifo researcher Andreas Peichl. 

There are currently more than 500 different social benefits in Germany. That’s according to a new research report by the ifo Institute, which documents all the social benefits at the federal level. “Originally, we wanted to calculate the extent and impact of all the social benefits, but the countless regulations and services made it an almost impossible task. Instead of quantifying, we initially simply produced an inventory of all the social benefits at the federal level,” says Andreas Peichl, Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys. 

Social mobility in Germany has declined significantly since the 1970s. This is shown by a new study by the ifo Institute looking at the development of income mobility for cohorts born between 1968 and 1987. According to the study, children born from the 1980s onward have fewer opportunities for advancement than previous generations. “The influence of parents’ income on their children’s education and later income doubled within one generation at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s,” says ifo researcher Julia Baarck.

With a suitable reform of basic social security, work can be more worthwhile for recipients of Germany’s citizen’s benefit (Bürgergeld). This is the result of an analysis of various options for a reform of basic income, housing benefit, and basic child allowance by the ifo Institute on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). “Integrating housing benefit into the basic income and simultaneously reforming the employment allowances could create more incentives to work and make the system more efficient,” says Andreas Peichl, Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys. The labor supply could increase by around 144,000 full-time equivalents compared to the current situation.

In Germany, people always have a higher income working than not working. People who work and take advantage of all the social benefits available to them always have more disposable income than people who do not work and receive only social benefits. This is according to the ifo Institute’s calculations.

Making smaller cuts to social benefits for recipients of Germany’s basic income (Bürgergeld) who work more would increase their participation in the labor market. This is the finding of a reform proposal by the ifo Institute and ZEW elaborated on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS).

The ifo Institute is calling for more data to be made available to researchers and hopes a proposed new law will help make this happen. “Improvements must be made to ensure fast access to high-quality, detailed research data,” said ifo researchers Andreas Peichl and Sebastian Wichert in Berlin on Friday. “This is essential for top research that is based on facts and thus suitable to inform policy decisions. Unfortunately, regulation of this area is considerably worse in Germany than in many other European countries.” For this reason, the ifo researchers are counting on the German government’s proposed new legislation on research data.

The ifo Institute is proposing a reform to Germany’s income tax and transfer system that would not lead to any additional costs for the government budget. “The reform would increase the number of hours worked by the equivalent of 184,000 full-time positions. At the same time, 172,000 people would enter the labor force,” says Andreas Peichl, Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys. Most notably, the number of people in full-time employment would go up. This is according to a study published in ifo Schnelldienst 09/2023.

Income inequality has increased in Germany between 1998 and 2016, according to tax data analyzed by the ifo Institute and EconPol Europe. This analysis shows that in 1998, the richest 10 percent of taxpayers earned 33.8 percent of total income. In 2016, that figure rose to 37.2 percent.

Higher corporate taxes lead to a decline in private investment in Germany, shows a study conducted by the EconPol research network. A 1 percentage point in-crease in local business tax leads to a 3 percent decrease in investment activity. “This means that every additional euro of tax revenue would cause companies to invest two euros less on average,” says Andreas Peichl, Director of the ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys.