WZB - Berlin Social Science Center
Whether income influences ethical behavior is a topic of much debate. One approach holds that ethical acts are limited to those who can ‘afford’ them. Poverty, in this view, causes individuals to behave immorally. Empirically, the question has thus far remained unanswered. A research team around WZB economist Agne Kajackaite is now shedding new light on this relation.
Travel restrictions implemented early on in the pandemic have been crucial in slowing the spread of the coronavirus and keeping death rates low. A new study published by Ruud Koopmans shows that countries that had travel restrictions in place by February or early March suffered fewer COVID-19 fatalities by mid-year than countries that acted later.
New working paper
In a new project, a team from the Institutions and Political Inequality Research Unit explores how country and government features relate to Covid-19 mortality. They find that over time, measures of government effectiveness and institutional trust become powerful predictors of the distribution of Covid-19 deaths.
The Brexit vote has led to a massive increase of British citizens emigrating to European Union countries. Since the June 2016 referendum, the increase has amounted to an average migration of around 17,000 persons per year, or 30 percent more compared to the average migration between years 2008 to 2015. These are findings from a new study co-authored by WZB researcher Daniel Auer and Daniel Tetlow of the “Oxford in Berlin” research group.
WZB-Mitteilungen
The new issue of WZB-Mitteilungen shows how far-reaching the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are. This issue is unusually comprehensive; it collects articles on democracy and the working world, on social conditions, on digitization as well as on science's part in all of this.
Fair treatment at work is not the norm for everyone. This is especially the case within the gig economy, where secure employment is lacking and trade unions have little influence. Now, the WZB and the Oxford Internet Institute intend to study the gig economy in a joint research project in order to develop fairness ratings for digital platforms, that are used as a lever to improve working conditions.
Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government an der Harvard University, has been appointed as director at the WZB, he will head the new Transformations of Democracy research unit.
Rike_ / iStock / Getty Images Plus Wearing a mask increases the distance people keep to each other, a team from the Economics of Change research unit at WZB report in a recent Dicussion Paper.
How does global warming impact on the health of populations affected by climate change? A study by Daniel Meierrieks reveals how rising temperatures both increase infant mortality and decrease life expectancy.
New Publication
The global success of populist parties has spurred a discourse on the „losers of globalization”. Consequently, discussions often focus on the role of economic, social or cultural grievances. So far however, public debate as well as most of scientific research has lacked a systematic approach. By using representative data for Germany, Heiko Giebler, Magdalena Hirsch, Benjamin Schürmann and Susanne Veit have subjected one such theory to rigorous testing.
WZB series
A series of analyses, considerations and hypotheses by WZB researchers.
Tarik Kizilkaya / E+ / Getty Images During the pandemic in Latin America, civil society began to initiate many digital democratic innovations, as Thamy Pogrebinschi analyses in our Corona series.
Job offers
Site structure
Description
Center for Civil Society Research
Site structure
Description
Research Group Globalization, Work, and Production
Description
Research Group Politics of Digitalization
Description
Research Group Digital Mobility and Social Differentiation
Site structure
Description
Präsidialbereich Präsidialstab
More Job offers
Research
The WZB Berlin Social Science Center investigates fundamental societal issues. Our focus is on education and work, markets and choice, migration, democracy and autocracy, international politics and law. At the WZB researchers from various disciplines work together – mainly from sociology, political science, economics, law and psychology.
