In this article we analyse the individual effects of becoming disabled on key aspects of labour market outcomes in Germany. The German Socio Economic Panel (1984-2002) collects socio-economic and health data. This data is organized such that the potential problems for such an estimation that may arise from disability not being a random event are considerably reduced. Using matching methods, we find a reduction of individual employment chances of about 9 to 13%, the level depending on the degree of disability. We find no statistically significant evidence for a reduction in income or an increase in unemployment due to disability. We interpret these findings as an indication that the German social security systems appear to successfully mitigate or at least reduce the economic hardship that comes with the event of disability.

AIDS continues to have a devastating effect on developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of a proven effective vaccine to stop HIV transmission has led to much of public policy putting an emphasis on information campaigns in order to reduce HIV-prevalence. In this paper we examine the impact of HIV/AIDS-knowledge from two sides. First, we examine to what extent the campaigns have been successful at inducing the expected behavioural change with regards to HIV-related attitudes. Second, we examine the impact of HIV/AIDS knowledge on HIV status. The basic policy issue can be expressed as follows: even if individuals have acquired sufficient and necessary information on the basic facts about AIDS, factors such as innate risk attitudes or cultural background could undermine the effects of the campaigns. Using the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2003) we elicit empirical evidence on the relation between declared HIV/AIDS-knowledge, behavioural attitudes related to HIV/AIDS situations and the relation between knowledge and observed HIV-status. Overall, our empirical findings suggest that information campaigns have been effective at equipping the adult population in Kenya with the required knowledge to avoid becoming HIV-positive. However, when HIV-status is measured objectively we find that the relation between correctly declared

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