Eastern Germany in the process of catching-up: the role of foreign and Western German investors in technological renewal
Jutta Günther, Oliver Gebhardt
Eastern European Economics,
No. 3,
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment as a means to support system transformation and the ongoing process of catching-up development has caught researcher’s attention for a number of Central and Eastern European countries. Not much research, however, has been carried out for East Germany in this respect although FDI plays an important role in East Germany too. Descriptive analysis by the use of unique survey data shows that foreign and West German affiliates perform much better with respect to technological capability and labor productivity than domestic companies in East Germany. The results of the regression analysis, however, show that it is not the status of ownership as such that forms a significant determinant of innovativeness in East Germany but rather general firms specific characteristics attached to it such as firm size, export-intensity, technical state of the equipment, and R&D activities. Due to the fact that foreign and West German affiliates perform better with respect to exactly all of these characteristics, they can be considered as a means to support the process of technological renewal and economic development.
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Licht und Schatten nach 15 Jahren wirtschaftlicher Transformation in Ostdeutschland
Udo Ludwig
Deutschland-Archiv,
No. 3,
2005
Abstract
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Wirtschaftswunder, Planwirtschaft, Vereinigung und Transformation
Rüdiger Pohl
Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Band 8 Unternehmen und Märkte,
2004
Abstract
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Investment, Financial Markets, New Economy Dynamics and Growth in Transition Countries
Albrecht Kauffmann, P. J. J. Welfens
Economic Opening Up and Growth in Russia: Finance, Trade, Market Institutions, and Energy,
2004
Abstract
The transition to a market economy in the former CMEA area is more than a decade old and one can clearly distinguish a group of relatively fast growing countries — including Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia — and a majority of slowly growing economies, including Russia and the Ukraine. Initial problems of transition were natural in the sense that systemic transition to a market economy has effectively destroyed part of the existing capital stock that was no longer profitable under the new relative prices imported from world markets; and there was a transitory inflationary push as low state-administered prices were replaced by higher market equilibrium prices. Indeed, systemic transformation in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have brought serious transitory inflation problems and a massive transition recession; negative growth rates have continued over many years in some countries, including Russia and the Ukraine, where output growth was negative throughout the 1990s (except for Russia, which recorded slight growth in 1997). For political and economic reasons the economic performance of Russia is of particular relevance for the success of the overall transition process. If Russia would face stagnation and instability, this would undermine political and economic stability in the whole of Europe and prospects for integrating Russia into the world economy.
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Wage Increases are no “Productivity Whip“: An Analysis of the East German Manufacturing Sector
Harald Lehmann
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 1,
2003
Abstract
In this paper the results of a microeconomic approach will be analysed. The study consists of the purposition that there could be an onesided relation between the increase in the wage rate and the time-laged increase of productivity. This is of special relevancy for a transforming economy like the east german one. The sample contains firm data of the east german manufacturing sector. The findings are that there is not such a presumed relation. Instead of this you can find a negative relation between changes in wage rate and productivity. This is only valid for a subgroup of firms with rising unit labor costs in the past. These firms deteriorate in contrast to the other firms.
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Die Transformation in Ostdeutschland als entwicklungsökonomisches Phänomen
Ulrich Blum, Simone Scharfe
List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik 28,
2002
Abstract
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Unilaterale Euroisierung als eine alternative Wechselkursstrategie in den mittel- und osteuropäischen Ländern
Tomas Slacik
IWH-Sonderhefte,
No. 4,
2002
Abstract
Gegenwärtig gibt es 13 Länder, die als offizielle Kandidaten für den Beitritt zur EU und anschließend zur EWU gelten. Mit Ausnahme der Türkei wurden mit 12 Beitrittsverhandlungen eröffnet. Die Mehrzahl der Beitrittsaspiranten sind mittel- und osteuropäische Länder (MOEL) aus dem ehemaligen sowjetischen Block, die sich seit dessen Auflösung in einer Übergangsphase von der zentralen Planwirtschaft zu einer funktionierenden Marktwirtschaft befinden. Eine der wichtigen Fragen, mit der die Regierungen in den MOEL nach wie vor konfrontiert werden, ist die Wahl eines möglichst adäquaten Wechselkursarrangements. Mitte 2002 wird von den Ländern ein breites Spektrum an Arrangements vom relativ freien Floaten in Polen bis zum Currency board in Estland oder Bulgarien abgedeckt. Eine der Ursachen dieser Heterogenität ist darin zu sehen, dass die Beitrittskandidaten den bestmöglichen Ausweg aus einem Spannungsfeld suchen, dem sie sich infolge der Transformation gegenübersehen. Dieses Spannungsfeld liegt zwischen der Vermeidung einer Finanzkrise und der Erfüllung der Konvergenzanforderungen der EU und mittelfristig auch der EWU
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Causes of the retarded integration of EU and CIS-countries
Bogdan Gorokhovskij
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2002
Abstract
Die wirtschaftliche Integration zwischen der EU und den drei GUS-Ländern Russland, Ukraine und Belarus (GUS-3) befindet sich auf einem vergleichsweise niedrigen Entwicklungsstand. Verantwortlich dafür ist ein nur enger handelspolitischer Rahmen der Liberalisierung in Form von Partnerschafts- und Kooperationsabkommen. Dieser Rahmen wurde zudem von den drei Ländern nicht ausreichend umgesetzt. Gründe dafür waren erstens die noch unzureichende institutionelle Transformation in den Ländern, zweitens der geringe Anreiz, den diese Abkommen für die Länder bieten, und drittens die mangelnde Einbettung in längerfristige strategische Ziele. Eine Intensivierung der Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit den GUS-Ländern ist aber erforderlich, wenn die erweiterte Union ihrem Ziel, das Wohlstandsgefälle zwischen ihr und der GUS zu verringern, näherkommen möchte. Die erste Voraussetzung dazu ist die Fortführung der institutionellen und marktwirtschaftlichen Transformation in den GUS-Ländern. Aber auch unter diesen günstigeren Bedingungen würden sich die Partnerschafts- und Kooperationsabkommen als wenig effektiv erweisen. Angesichts der bereits erreichten Reformfortschritte in Russland und der Ukraine wäre zu überlegen, die bisherigen Abkommen durch einen umfassenden Zollabbau zu ergänzen.
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Korean unification and banking system - An analysis in view of German experiences and Korean differences
Ralf Müller
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 139,
2001
Abstract
One of the reforms that have to be launched in a future unification process in Korea, which seems possible after the political negotiations last year, is the transformation of the North Korean banking system. The question arises whether Korea could profit from the German experience where banking transformation was one of the rather few success stories in unification. In 1990 the East German banking transformation was achieved relatively fast and uncomplicated due to considerable direct investments of the West German banks compounded with state guarantees for bad loans resulting from the credit business with existing GDR-corporations. Unfortunately, South Korea currently lacks some major prerequesites that contributed to the German banking unification, among them – and probably the most important one – is the lack of a sound and efficient banking
system that could become active in the North. Consequently, depending on the circumstances of a future Korean unification either a more gradual process is recommended or, if inner-Korean migration requires a more dynamic transition, considerable investment by foreign banks and assistance from international organisations is recommended.
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The Export Orientation of East German Manufacturing Industry in the Process of Economic Transformation: Evidence from Company Panel Data
Udo Ludwig, Brigitte Loose
Economics of Transformation – Theory, Experiences and EU-Enlargemnet. INFER Annual Conference 2001,
2001
Abstract
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