Big Banks and Macroeconomic Outcomes: Theory and Cross-Country Evidence of Granularity
Franziska Bremus, Claudia M. Buch, K. Russ, Monika Schnitzer
NBER Working Paper No. 19093,
2013
Abstract
Does the mere presence of big banks affect macroeconomic outcomes? In this paper, we develop a theory of granularity (Gabaix, 2011) for the banking sector, introducing Bertrand competition and heterogeneous banks charging variable markups. Using this framework, we show conditions under which idiosyncratic shocks to bank lending can generate aggregate fluctuations in the credit supply when the banking sector is highly concentrated. We empirically assess the relevance of these granular effects in banking using a linked micro-macro dataset of more than 80 countries for the years 1995-2009. The banking sector for many countries is indeed granular, as the right tail of the bank size distribution follows a power law. We then demonstrate granular effects in the banking sector on macroeconomic outcomes. The presence of big banks measured by high market concentration is associated with a positive and significant relationship between bank-level credit growth and aggregate growth of credit or gross domestic product.
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German Economy Recovering – Long-Term Approach Needed to Economic Policy: Joint Economic Forecast Spring 2013
Dienstleistungsauftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie,
2013
Abstract
An upwards tendency re-emerged in the German economy in spring 2013. The situation in the financial markets has eased thanks to subsiding uncertainty regarding the future of the European Monetary Union. The headwind in the world economy has also tailed off somewhat. The institutes expect gross domestic product in Germany to increase by 0.8% this year (68%-projection interval: 0.1% to 1.5%) and by 1.9% next year. The number of unemployed should continue to fall to an annual average of 2.9 million this year and 2.7 million in 2014. The inflation rate is expected to drop to 1.7% this year and edge up to 2.0% next year on the back of rising capacity utilisation. The public budget will be almost balanced in 2013 and should show a surplus of 0.5% in relation to gross domestic product in 2014 thanks to more favourable economic conditions. It is now time to readopt a longer-term approach to economic policy. Although structural adjustment processes implemented in the crisis-afflicted countries have started to deal with institutional problems in the euro area, they are far from resolved. The German public budget also faces massive long-term burdens related to demographic factors.
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Die Europäische Schulden- und Vertrauenskrise: Ursachen, Politikmaßnahmen, Aussichten
Oliver Holtemöller, Tobias Knedlik, Axel Lindner
IWH Online,
No. 3,
2013
Abstract
Die Schulden- und Vertrauenskrise in Europa ist das Ergebnis einer ineffizienten Kapitalallokation und unzureichender Institutionen für die Reaktion auf die sich dadurch ergebenden Folgen. Im Zuge des europäischen Integrationsprozesses haben internationale Kapitalströme in einigen Ländern zu Übertreibungen im Privatsektor geführt und in anderen haben sie eine übermäßige Staatsverschuldung begünstigt. Das Platzen der Preisblasen auf Vermögensmärkten hat schließlich auch in Ländern mit ehemals soliden Staatsfinanzen vor allem aufgrund der Maßnahmen zur Stützung des Finanzsystems die öffentliche Verschuldung aus dem Ruder laufen lassen. Die europäische Politik hat den Reformbedarf erkannt, aber wichtige Weichenstellungen und Umsetzungen fehlen noch. Die innerhalb einer Währungsunion vergleichsweise schwierigen und langsamen Anpassungsprozesse zur Wiederherstellung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit nach einer Krise sind in den derzeitigen Krisenländern ansatzweise erkennbar. Dieser Befund stützt die derzeitigen Prognosen bezüglich eines bald einsetzenden Erholungsprozesses in diesen Ländern. Die Aussichten auf eine Überwindung der Krisen würden den Fortbestand der Währungsunion sichern.
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Eignung von Frühindikatoren für die Prognose des Produktionszuwachses in der Welt und in der Gruppe der Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer
Katja Drechsel, Sebastian Giesen, Oliver Holtemöller, Axel Lindner
IWH Online,
No. 2,
2013
Abstract
Das Gutachten untersucht, ob die IWF-Prognosen für den Zuwachs des Bruttoinlandsprodukts in der Welt und in der Gruppe der Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer mithilfe von gängigen Frühindikatoren verbessert werden können. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Prognosegüte der IWF-Prognosen mit abnehmendem Prognosehorizont deutlich besser wird. Vor allem erweist sich, dass die Nutzung von Frühindikatoren, die in höherer Frequenz veröffentlicht werden als die IWF-Prognosen, insbesondere in den ersten Monaten eines Jahres die Prognosegüte für das laufende Jahr deutlich erhöht. Prognosen mit Frühindikatoren schneiden aber verglichen mit den IWF-Prognosen auch für die Prognose des Folgejahres teilweise gut ab.
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Re-Municipalizing instead of Privatization: The Right Answer to Changing Conditions?
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Wirtschaftsdienst,
No. 2,
2013
Abstract
For explaining why local governments in Germany are presently thinking about re-municipalizing some services which had initially been privatized, a couple of years ago, several changing factors, in combination with given constraints at the local level (like the well-known deficiencies of the local revenue system), could be identified. But a closer look at the changing determinants makes clear that there are other – and often better – options to react than just re-municipalizing.
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Cooperation Events, Ego-Network Characteristics and Firm Innovativeness – Empirical Evidence from the German Laser Industry
Muhamed Kudic, Katja Guhr
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 6,
2013
Abstract
We study how firm innovativeness is related to individual cooperation events and the structure and dynamics of firms’ ego-networks employing a unique panel dataset for the full population of 233 German laser source manufactures between 1990 and 2010. Firm innovativeness is measured by yearly patent applications as well as patent grants with a two year time-lag. Network measures are calculated on the basis of 570 knowledge-related publicly funded R&D alliances. Estimation results from a panel data count model with fixed effects are suggestive of direct innovation effects due to individual cooperation events, but only as long as structural ego-network characteristics are neglected. Innovativeness is robustly related to ego-network size and ego-network brokerage whereas ego-network density reveals some surprising results.
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Cities and Regions in Locational Competition – New Tendencies, Effects and Policy Consequences
Albrecht Kauffmann, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Forschungs- und Sitzungsberichte der ARL, Bd. 238,
2012
Abstract
Due to ongoing globalisation tendencies and the increasing intensity of exchanges of information, goods and services, competition between regions seems likely to continue to intensify. Numerous changes in framework conditions also give rise to new approaches to planning and management. These range from various types of competition to questions relating to new strategies for regional and urban development policy. This volume uses various different issues to trace, order and specify the multiple dimensions and underlying causes of structural changes in competition between locations, supported by cross-sectional studies primarily based on existing investigations. As empirical proof of the concrete consequences of changed competitive conditions is largely lacking in the existing literature, explorative case-studies of chosen cities and regions are also used to investigate the extent to which changes expected to arise from new structures of locational competition can be verified and how the political actors responsible have reacted thus far.
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Predicting Financial Crises: The (Statistical) Significance of the Signals Approach
Makram El-Shagi, Tobias Knedlik, Gregor von Schweinitz
Journal of International Money and Finance,
No. 35,
2013
Abstract
The signals approach as an early-warning system has been fairly successful in detecting crises, but it has so far failed to gain popularity in the scientific community because it cannot distinguish between randomly achieved in-sample fit and true predictive power. To overcome this obstacle, we test the null hypothesis of no correlation between indicators and crisis probability in three applications of the signals approach to different crisis types. To that end, we propose bootstraps specifically tailored to the characteristics of the respective datasets. We find (1) that previous applications of the signals approach yield economically meaningful results; (2) that composite indicators aggregating information contained in individual indicators add value to the signals approach; and (3) that indicators which are found to be significant in-sample usually perform similarly well out-of-sample.
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