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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Sachsen-Anhalt als Wirtschaftsstandort: Wie erfolgreich sind das Land und seine Regionen?
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Geographische Rundschau,
2005
Abstract
The article examines the economic performance and the conditions for future economic development in the German Land of Saxony-Anhalt. After the integration of Saxony-Anhalt into the market economy since 1989, strong structural changes have taken place. Nevertheless, agriculture, coal mining and the chemical industry as some of the traditional sectors of the Land’s economy have remained their importance. The weak points of the economy are the low number of entrepreneurs and a low tendency for innovations in the private sector. The Magdeburg region and the Halle region have better conditions for (inter-) national competitiveness than the Altmark region and the Dessau region. But the potentials of the urban centers Magdeburg and Halle are - as compared to other East German cities - not very strong. For improving the eonomic conditions, new instruments for stimulating entrepreneurship and for strengthening the position of the two urban centers should be installed. In addition, innovation activities of private firms could be improved by new linkages between the private sector and Saxony-Anhalt’s public research units.
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Wirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen Leipzigs
Peter Franz
Leipzig 2020. Europäische Metropole oder mitteldeutsche Provinzperle? - alternative Visionen -, Beiträge des Workshops in Leipzig am 11. Juni 2005,
2005
Abstract
In comparing important economic indicators of several German city regions the economic future of the East German city of Leipzig is discussed . A special feature of the population in this region is the optimistic attitude with regards to the future regional development.
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Property networks of corporations as cause of abusive behaviour – A stock market analysis based on institutional economics
Makram El-Shagi
Applied Financial Economics Letters,
No. 5,
2005
Abstract
The present study deals with the fact that it seems as if executive boards have developed a self-service-mentality concerning the corporations they are meant to manage. The surprise about this is not the attempt of exploitation (rather the opposite would be surprising from an economic point of view) but the apparent absence of sanctions imposed by the owners. This study shows that this behaviour of corporations’ owners is at least to a main part due to the fact, that the reciprocal property of corporations prevents the exercise of certain property rights by the ‘true’ holders.
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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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Analysis of statements made in favour of and against the adoption of competition law in developing and transition economies
Johannes Stephan, Franz Kronthaler, Frank Emmert
One-off Publications,
No. 9,
2005
Abstract
The paper is concerned with documenting and assessing statements made by policymakers, opinion formers, and other stakeholders in favour and against the adoption of competition laws with particular reference to transition and developing countries which have not yet enacted these kind of laws. For example, claims that competition enforcement might reduce the inflow of foreign direct investment, or that other policies are successfully used as substitutes for competition law, are assessed. In a first step, the method of generalized analysis structures the list of statements around core issues of common features to make them accessible to further interpretation and assessment. The paper shows that some claims are in fact country or region specific, and specific to the development level of the respective countries. In a second step, the core issues are assessed according to economic and legal criteria. Since the analysis focuses on transition and developing countries, the criteria for economic assessment are predominantly economic growth and development issues, but also include the economic coherency of a set of claims submitted by stakeholders in a given country. The criteria for legal assessment include whether claims are problematic in light of WTO-principles, or are even born out of a political objective which is incompatible with the spirit, if not the letter of WTO-rules.
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The Role of Regional Knowledge Sources for Innovation – An Empirical Assessment
Michael Fritsch, Viktor Slavtchev
Freiberg Working Papers, Nr. 15-2005,
No. 15,
2005
Abstract
We investigate the contribution of different inputs, particularly different knowledge sources, on regional patenting output in the framework of a knowledge production function. The knowledge sources included are R&D employment, size of public research institutions by field of research (budget), amount of university external research funds from private firms, public departments, German Science Foundation (DFG), and from other sources. The contribution of these knowledge sources is tested systematically on the level of German districts (Kreise) by including the respective information for the particular region and for adjacent regions. One main finding is that the quality of the university research makes some contribution to regional innovation while the mere size of the universities is unimportant. Differences in the effect on innovative output can be found according to academic disciplines and type of university.
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The Impact of Technology and Regulation on the Geographical Scope of Banking
Hans Degryse, Steven Ongena
Oxford Review of Economic Policy,
No. 4,
2004
Abstract
We review how technological advances and changes in regulation may shape the (future) geographical scope of banking. We first review how both physical distance and the presence of borders currently affect bank lending conditions (loan pricing and credit availability) and market presence (branching and servicing). Next we discuss how technology and regulation have altered this impact and analyse the current state of the European banking sector. We discuss both theoretical contributions and empirical work and highlight open questions along the way. We draw three main lessons from the current theoretical and empirical literature: (i) bank lending to small businesses in Europe may be characterized both by (local) spatial pricing and resilient (regional and/or national) market segmentation; (ii) because of informational asymmetries in the retail market, bank mergers and acquisitions seem the optimal route of entering another market, long before cross-border servicing or direct entry are economically feasible; and (iii) current technological and regulatory developments may, to a large extent, remain impotent in further dismantling the various residual but mutually reinforcing frictions in the retail banking markets in Europe. We conclude the paper by offering pertinent policy recommendations based on these three lessons.
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The effects of demographic changes on the level and structure of private consumption - a forecast for Germany until 2050 -
Harald Lehmann
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 195,
2004
Abstract
This thesis analyzes the impact of different demografic scenarios on level and composition of private consumption in Germany. The analysis is based on the current household budget survey (Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe 1998) whose datas are adapted to the concepts of national accounting. Therefore households have to be defined by demografic aspects to investigate their consumption behavior. In the next step this will be used to forecast the effects of an aging population on private consumption by utilize a shift share analysis. The results lay open that the demografic impact is minor compared to economic factors influencing the composition of private consumption. This holds also in regard to the development of the absolute level of private consumption.
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Growth in biotechnology industry has come to a halt - is the industry still the great white hope?
Walter Komar
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 11,
2004
Abstract
With the modern biotechnology a new industry has appeared worldwide. In Germany, the boom of the foundation of new companies started about 1996/1997. Meanwhile the growth of the biotechnology sector has come to a hold. The biotechnology industry experiences a phase of the consolidation. This paper shows that due to consolidation a core of successful companies will develop, which continue to grow and can support the development of the new industry. Also economically less advanced regions have a chance in the modern biotechnology.
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