Die Ausgestaltung des Transferentzugs in der Interdependenz mit dem Bürgergeld, der Kindergrundsicherung und dem Wohngeld

The design of the transfer withdrawal and its interaction with the citizen's income, basic child benefit and housing benefit

This study examines the interactions between the different elements of the German social safety net, i.e. the social assistance for the long-term unemployed (Bürgergeld), the planned additional child benefit (Kindergrundsicherung) and the housing benefit (Wohngeld), in order to analyze reform options for improving work incentives in the area of basic income support. A microeconometric behavioral model based on representative microdata is used to  model the labor supply and transfer take-up behavior of affected households. The results show that the current system suffers from considerable inefficiencies that lead to distorted incentives to work, in particular due to widely varying and sometimes extremely high marginal costs. Integrating housing benefits into social assistance and adjusting the allowances for working people could reduce these problems, increase transparency and improve incentives to take up and expand employment. The reform proposals aim at structurally simplifying and optimizing basic income support systems.