Press releases

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. “Unfortunately, more recent figures aren’t available,” says ifo researcher Andreas Peichl. Over the same period, the poorest 50 percent’s share of income fell from 19.3 percent to 15.9 percent. “Differences in income within municipalities account for more than 95 percent of national inequality.

A disintegration of the European Union would mean a massive loss of prosperity for the member states, finds a study conducted by the ifo Institute and EconPol Europe. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would fall by almost 9 percent in Ireland, by 5.2 percent in Germany, by 7.7 percent in the Netherlands, and by 10.2 percent in Belgium. France and Italy would each lose 4.1 percent. Smaller economies such as Malta (19.4 percent), Luxembourg (18.1 percent), and Estonia (11.8 percent) would be hit the hardest.

Tax relief for home maintenance services is not an effective means of tackling tax evasion. In Germany, it would cost the government a great deal of money while only marginally improving tax compliance. This is the finding of a survey of just under 2,000 private households in Germany by the Ludwig Erhard ifo Center for Social Market Economy and Institutional Economics.

One-fifth of the refugees who have settled in Germany after fleeing Ukraine report that they have found employment. This is a finding from a survey the ifo Institute conducted among 1,461 Ukrainian refugees for the EconPol Europe research network. Of those employed, over half say they are working below their formal qualifications. “The willingness of Ukrainian refugees to work is very high. Only very few are not interested in finding a job,” says ifo researcher Tetyana Panchenko.

Older employees can catch up on digital skills through appropriate training. This is shown in a new study by the EconPol research network, which examines these skills among different age brackets in industrialized countries. Two-thirds of the international differences can be explained by differences in the extent to which countries invest in equipping this group with digital skills.