An analysis of household electricity price developments in Germany since liberalization
Christian Growitsch, Felix Müsgens
External Publications,
2005
Abstract
Despite the liberalization of energy markets in 1998, household electricity prices in 2004 are nearly the same as 1998, indicating a failure of market restructuring. However, such a general consideration is misleading for two main reasons. Firstly, the price development shows significant differences among the stages of the value chain. Secondly, the underlying cost structure might have changed from 1998 to 2004. While such effects can be expected to level out over time, they can distort the comparison of a small period of observation. For these reasons, we analyzed the different price components at a detailed level, finding a considerable price reduction of about 32% in generation and a much lower reduction of 13% in transmission and distribution tariffs. These decreases have been mostly compensated by a significant increase in taxes and subsidies (+56%).
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Demography and Consumption Structure in Germany
Harald Lehmann
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 16,
2004
Abstract
The impacts of demographic changes on the consumption structure of private households are of high overall economic relevance. The qualitative composition of consumption entails to a high degree a certain branch structure and hence influences labor demand. The underlying projection shows that aging and shrinking of the german population have only minor effects on the consumption structure other than changes in income growth and distribution. Above all the expenditures for health will double but from a relative low level.
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Effects of the new vote weighting system at EU Council of Ministers on structural fond resources for new members
Martina Kämpfe, Johannes Stephan
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2001
Abstract
At the recent Nice summit, the EU council of ministers decided on institutional adjustments for the European Union. Such reforms are of particular importance for an enlarged European Union in which up to 27 new members could participate. Amongst the reforms, two decisive changes concern the distribution of votes in an enlarged council and additional conditions which will be attached to majority decisions.
This redistribution of power within the council will effect in particular economic issues, as e.g. the size and distribution of structural funds budgets to be expected upon admittance as EU-member states. Such effects can be estimated by use of models of probability of coalition-building. The model used here predicts that the budget for structural funds for the ten accession countries will be lower than would have been under the old voting power regime. This highlights that the accession group in Central East Europe lost relative voting power via coalitions in comparison to the voting regime prior to Nice. Solely Poland enjoyed an increase in voting power which also suggests an increase in budgets Poland can now expect to receive in the framework of EU structural funds policy.
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