Trade Shocks, Labour Markets and Elections in the First Globalisation
Richard Bräuer, Wolf-Fabian Hungerland, Felix Kersting
Abstract
This paper studies the economic and political effects of a large trade shock in agriculture – the grain invasion from the Americas – in Prussia during the first globalisation (1871-1913). We show that this shock accelerated the structural change in the Prussian economy through migration of workers to booming cities. In contrast to studies using today’s data, we do not observe declining per capita income and political polarisation in counties affected by foreign competition. Our results suggest that the negative and persistent effects of trade shocks we see today are not a universal feature of globalisation, but depend on labour mobility. For our analysis, we digitise data from Prussian industrial and agricultural censuses on the county level and combine it with national trade data at the product level. We exploit the cross-regional variation in cultivated crops within Prussia and instrument with Italian trade data to isolate exogenous variation.
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Switching to Good Policy? The Case of Central and Eastern European Inflation Targeters
Andrej Drygalla
Macroeconomic Dynamics,
No. 8,
2020
Abstract
The paper analyzes how actual monetary policy changed following the official adoption of inflation targeting in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland and how it affected the volatilities of important macroeconomic variables in the years thereafter. To disentangle the effects of the policy shift from exogenous changes in the volatilities of these variables, a Markov-switching dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model is estimated that allows for regime switches in the policy parameters and the volatilities of shocks hitting the economies. Whereas estimation results reveal periods of high and low volatility for all three economies, the presence of different policy regimes is supported by the underlying data for the Czech Republic and Poland, only. In both economies, monetary policy switched from weak and unsystematic to strong and systematic responses to inflation dynamics. Simulation results suggest that the policy shifts of both central banks successfully reduced inflation volatility in the following years. The observed reduction in output volatility, on the other hand, is attributed more to a reduction in the size of external shocks.
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Dekarbonisierung in Europa: Regionalwirtschaftliche Effekte in ausgewählten Kohleregionen und kohlenstoffintensiven Regionen Europa
Katja Heinisch, Oliver Holtemöller, Christoph Schult
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2023
Abstract
Die EU hat mit dem „Fit for 55“-Paket zwei große klimapolitische Ziele festgelegt: die Senkung der Treibhausgasemissionen um 55% bis zum Jahr 2030 und Treibhausgasneutralität ab dem Jahr 2050. Im Rahmen des EU-Horizon-2020-Projekts ENTRANCES werden die gesellschaftlichen Effekte der Dekarbonisierung und besonders des Kohleausstiegs in verschiedenen europäischen Regionen interdisziplinär analysiert und darauf basierend Handlungsempfehlungen für die Politik abgeleitet. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt erste analytische Ergebnisse vor.
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The Characteristics and Geographic Distribution of Robot Hubs in U.S. Manufacturing Establishments
Erik Brynjolfsson, Catherine Buffington, Nathan Goldschlag, J. Frank Li, Javier Miranda, Robert Seamans
Abstract
We use data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures to study the characteristics and geography of investments in robots across U.S. manufacturing establishments. We find that robotics adoption and robot intensity (the number of robots per employee) is much more strongly related to establishment size than age. We find that establishments that report having robotics have higher capital expenditures, including higher information technology (IT) capital expenditures. Also, establishments are more likely to have robotics if other establishments in the same Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) and industry also report having robotics. The distribution of robots is highly skewed across establishments’ locations. Some locations, which we call Robot Hubs, have far more robots than one would expect even after accounting for industry and manufacturing employment. We characterize these Robot Hubs along several industry, demographic, and institutional dimensions. The presence of robot integrators and higher levels of union membership are positively correlated with being a Robot Hub.
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The Characteristics and Geographic Distribution of Robot Hubs in U.S. Manufacturing Establishments
Erik Brynjolfsson, Catherine Buffington, Nathan Goldschlag, J. Frank Li, Javier Miranda, Robert Seamans
American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings,
May
2023
Abstract
We use establishment-level data from the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures to study the characteristics and geographic locations of investments in robots. We find that the distribution of robots is highly skewed across locations. Some locations, which we call Robot Hubs, have far more robots than one would expect even after accounting for industry and manufacturing employment. We characterize these Robot Hubs along several industry, demographic, and institutional dimensions. The presences of robot integrators, which specialize in helping manufacturers install robots, and of higher levels of union membership are positively correlated with being a Robot Hub.
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What Makes the Difference? Microfinance Versus Commercial Banks
Afsheen Abrar, Iftekhar Hasan, Rezaul Kabir
Borsa Istanbul Review,
No. 4,
2023
Abstract
We make a comparison of microfinance banks (MBs) and commercial banks (CBs) in terms of efficiency, business orientation, stability, and asset quality by analyzing a large sample of banks from 60 countries around the world. Our findings indicate that microfinance banks have higher intermediation, non-interest income, wholesale funding and liquidity, but lower efficiency and asset quality. These significant variations are influenced by smaller microfinance banks and are driven mostly to African and Latin American microfinance banks.
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Exploring Accounting Research Topic Evolution: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Approach
June Cao, Zhanzhong Gu, Iftekhar Hasan
Journal of International Accounting Research,
No. 3,
2023
Abstract
This study explores the evolution of accounting research by utilizing an unsupervised machine learning approach. We aim to identify the latent topics of accounting from the 1980s up to 2018, the dynamics and emerging topics of accounting research, and the economic reasons behind those changes. First, based on 23,220 articles from 46 accounting journals, we identify 55 topics using the latent Dirichlet allocation model. To illustrate the connection between topics, we use HistCite to generate a citation map along a timeline. The citation clusters demonstrate the “tribalism” phenomenon in accounting research. We then implement the dynamic topic model to reveal the dynamics of topics to show changes in accounting research. The emerging research trends are identified from the topic analytics. We further explore the economic reasons and in-depth insights into the topic evolution, indicating the economic development embeddedness nature of accounting research.
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Aktuelle Trends: Insolvenzanträge als Frühindikator für den IWH-Insolvenztrend
Steffen Müller
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2023
Abstract
Insolvenzanträge werden vom Schuldner oder Gläubiger beim Insolvenzgericht gestellt. Es vergehen in der Regel mehrere Monate, bis Gerichte entscheiden, ob der Antrag zulässig ist. Der IWH-Insolvenztrend erfasst genau wie die amtliche Statistik erst dann Insolvenzfälle, wenn ein Insolvenzgericht eine formale Eröffnungsentscheidung – also entweder die Eröffnung des Verfahrens oder eine Abweisung mangels Masse – zum jeweiligen Insolvenzverfahren gefällt hat. Das bedeutet, dass im entsprechenden Berichtsmonat in der Regel nicht der Insolvenzantrag gestellt, sondern erstmalig über ihn entschieden wurde.
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07.11.2023 • 28/2023
IWH-Insolvenztrend: Viertes Quartal beginnt mit Anstieg der Insolvenzzahlen
Die Zahl der Insolvenzen von Personen- und Kapitalgesellschaften stieg im Oktober leicht an und lag erneut deutlich über dem Niveau vor der Corona-Pandemie. Für die kommenden Monate rechnet das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) wieder mit erheblich steigenden Insolvenzzahlen.
Steffen Müller
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06.11.2023 • 27/2023
Presseeinladung: Tagung zum Strukturwandel in den Braunkohlerevieren
Presseeinladung Tagung zum Strukturwandel in den Braunkohlerevieren,
Termin: 9. und 10. November 2023,
Tagungsort: Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg,
Zentrales Hörsaalgebäude, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 3, 03046 Cottbus
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