Current trends – The economic situation in the Euro area – Turnaround still in 2001?
Also in this issue
IWH Industry Survey July 2001: East German industry increasing experiences economic slackening
in: Wirtschaft im Wandel, No. 11, 2001
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Climate protection policy in the housing sector: Lacking impact and need for action
in: Wirtschaft im Wandel, No. 11, 2001
Abstract
Energy savings in the rental housing sector may contribute to the reduction of global greenhouse gas emission. However, emissions have gone up since the early nineties despite of large energy saving potentials. In general the effects of energy saving regulations and support programmes were overestimated. Unfortunately, these programmes ignore market specific restraints. Markets do not provide optimal incentives to prevent emissions since the costs of greenhouse gas emissions are not fully internalised in fuel prices. Special characteristics of rental housing market in Germany enhance this deficit. Consequently profitable measures of saving energy are neglected. Overall the effectiveness of regulations and support programmes suffers. Therefore it is necessary to strengthen energy saving incentives. Suitable instruments would include a gradual rise in fuel taxes (Öko-Steuer), a reduction of rental housing market control and measures to improve the transparency of energy consumption.
Municipal labor market policy - Marshalling yard or escape from public assistance dependency?
in: Wirtschaft im Wandel, No. 11, 2001
Abstract
Due to an increasing fiscal burden by welfare payments, municipalities tend more and more to initiate employment and training programs under their own responsibility besides the Federal Labor Agency. However, critics object that this might predominantly be viewed as an attempt to shift fiscal burdens to the Federal Labor Agency rather than a policy option towards labor market integration of low-wage workers. In order to investigate this issue, the IWH carried out a country-wide survey within twelve municipalities and rural districts. The sample comprises 200 employable welfare recipients, among them participants of labor market programs as well as a reference group of non-participants. The results of the IWH welfare survey are at best suggesting a moderate success of program participation with regard to labor market integration. Nevertheless, the programs appear to be profitable for municipalities, since they succeed in bringing participants out of welfare dependency. In many cases, however, welfare is replaced by unemployment support, which means that only the fiscal responsibility changes. A shortcoming of the results has to be seen in the fact that municipalities tend to assign especially those people for program participation, who are already better fitting into requirements of the labor market. This seriously impairs the comparability of participants and non-participants. In view of the remarkable amount of expenditures it seems therefore advisable to put more attention on the effectiveness of the programs than has been done in the past. This could be achieved by a stronger orientation towards an experimental design of assignment for program participation.
The new discussion on public assistance should finally trigger top-to-bottom reform! - A commentary
in: Wirtschaft im Wandel, No. 11, 2001
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Housing vacancies in East Germany: There is more than one way to look at it
in: Wirtschaft im Wandel, No. 11, 2001
Abstract
New up-to-date data about housing vacancies in East German cities allow a more differentiated interpretation of the disparities in the East German housing market. The data show that the cities in Saxony and in Saxony-Anhalt are disproportionally affected by this problem. They also show that the modernizing and renovating activities of the housing associations and cooperatives themselves contribute to the rising vacancy rate.
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