Homepage
High Public Deficits not only due to the Pandemic – Options for Fiscal Policy According to the IWH’s medium-term...
See page
East Germany
East Germany Rearguard Only investments in education will lead to a further catch-up ...
See page
The New Europe
The new Europe The financial crisis is largely over, yet confidence in the ECB and EU...
See page
Demographic Change
Demographic Change Dossier ...
See page
The European Refugee Crisis and the Natural Rate of Output
Katja Heinisch, Klaus Wohlrabe
Applied Economics Letters,
No. 16,
2017
Abstract
The European Commission follows a harmonized approach for calculating structural (potential) output for EU member states that takes into account labour as an important ingredient. This article shows how the recent huge migrants’ inflow to Europe affects trend output. Due to the fact that the immigrants immediately increase the working population but effectively do not enter the labour market, we illustrate that the potential output is potentially upward biased without any corrections. Taking Germany as an example, we find that the average medium-term potential growth rate is lower if the migration flow is modelled adequately compared to results based on the unadjusted European Commission procedure.
Read article
Aktuelle Trends: Große Unterschiede zwischen den Bundesländern bei der Arbeitsmarktintegration Geflüchteter
Oliver Holtemöller
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 1,
2017
Abstract
Die Integration Geflüchteter in den Arbeitsmarkt ist angesichts ihrer stark gestiegenen Anzahl eine große Herausforderung in allen Regionen Deutschlands. Es gibt allerdings große Unterschiede bezüglich des Erfolgs der Arbeitsmarktintegration zwischen den Bundesländern.
Read article
The European Refugee Crisis and the Natural Rate of Output
Katja Heinisch, Klaus Wohlrabe
Abstract
The European Commission follows a harmonized approach for calculating structural (potential) output for EU member states that takes into account labor as an important ingredient. This paper shows how the recent huge migrants inflow to Europe affects trend output. Due to the fact that the immigrants immediately increase the working population but effectively do not enter the labor market, we illustrate that the potential output is potentially upward biased without any corrections. Taking Germany as an example, we find that the average medium-term potential growth rate is lower if the migration flow is modeled adequately compared to results based on the unadjusted European Commission procedure.
Read article
11.10.2016 • 44/2016
New look and feel for IWH website
The relaunched website of the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association goes live today. After the successful launch of a new corporate design at the beginning of the year, IWH now presents itself also digitally in a new and adjusted way. The redesigned website focuses on IWH’s core issues and provides information tailored to each target group. Due to the responsive design, the new website can be perfectly read and navigated on smartphones and tablets as well.
Read press release
On the Distribution of Refugees in the EU
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Oliver Holtemöller, Axel Lindner, Andreas Schmalzbauer, Götz Zeddies
Intereconomics,
No. 4,
2016
Abstract
The current situation regarding the migration of refugees can only be handled efficiently through closer international cooperation in the field of asylum policy. From an economic point of view, it would be reasonable to distribute incoming refugees among all EU countries according to a distribution key that reflects differences in the costs of integration in the individual countries. An efficient distribution would even out the marginal costs of integrating refugees. In order to reach a political agreement, the key for distributing refugees should be complemented by compensation payments that distribute the costs of integration among countries. The key for distributing refugees presented by the EU Commission takes account of appropriate factors in principle, but it is unclear in terms of detail. The compensation payments for countries that should take relatively high numbers of refugees for cost efficiency reasons should be financed by reallocating resources within the EU budget.
Read article
09.06.2016 • 22/2016
The German Economy Benefits from Strong Domestic Demand
In 2016, the moderate upswing of the German economy continues. Incomes grow due to the steady expansion in employment, and the fall in energy prices has propped up the purchasing power of private households. As a consequence, private consumption expands healthily; investment in housing is additionally stimulated by very low interest rates. Exports, however, expand only moderately, as the world economy is rather weak. All in all, the IWH forecasts the German GDP to expand by 1.8% in this year and by 1.6% in 2017.
Oliver Holtemöller
Read press release