Zur räumlichen Verteilung von Flüchtlingen im Föderalstaat
Oliver Holtemöller, Matthias Wieschemeyer
ifo Schnelldienst 04/2016,
No. 4,
2016
Abstract
The current refugee crisis is creating a huge challenge for the European Union. Germany in particular is currently experiencing a flood of people, who are seeking safety and economic prospects. These individuals include a growing number of refugees: an estimated one million refugees came to Germany in 2015. And the flow of refugees continues. Can Germany’s economy capitalise on the opportunities offered by immigration? What are the costs of integration? These questions are discussed by the presidents of Germany’s leading economic research institutes, as well as other migration experts.
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16.12.2015 • 45/2015
German Economy: Strong domestic demand compensates for weak exports
The upturn of the German economy is expected to gain further momentum as a consequence of strong domestic demand. Real gross domestic product is expected to increase by 1.6% in 2016. Consumer prices are expected to rise by 0.9%. Unemployment is expected to rise slightly because it will take time to integrate refugees into the labour market.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Green Technologies as Industrial Policy Concept? The South of Saxony-Anhalt as a Case Example
Jörg Döpke, Philip Maschke, C. Altmann, D. Bieräugel
List Forum für Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik,
No. 1,
2015
Abstract
The federal action called Energiewende and the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) as part of it have produced hopes in Saxony-Anhalt which were particularly connected with the promotion of green technologies. This paper is composed of an impact analysis of subsidies in general and addresses the impacts of the EEG on companies. Therefore, results of a survey among companies are used that has been conducted in 2013 by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Halle-Dessau in the south of the German State of Saxony-Anhalt.
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Corporate Taxation and Firm Location in Germany
Götz Zeddies
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
German Fiscal Federalism is characterized by a high degree of fiscal equalization which lowers the efficiency of local tax administration. Currently, a reform of the fiscal equalization scheme is on the political agenda. One option is to grant federal states the right to raise surtaxes on statutory tax rates set by the central government in order to reduce the equalization rate. In such an environment, especially those federal states with lower economic performance would have to raise comparatively high surtaxes. With capital mobility, this could further lower economic performance and thus tax revenues. Although statutory tax rates are so far identical across German federal states, corporate tax burden differs for several reasons. This paper tries to identify the impact of such differences on firm location. As can be shown, effective corporate taxation did seemingly not have a significant impact on firm location across German federal states.
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Investitionsbedarfe und finanzielle Handlungsspielräume in Ostdeutschland
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher
One-off Publications,
2015
Abstract
In seinem Vortrag anlässlich der Tagung „Stärkung der Investitionsfähigkeit in Thüringen – Investitionstätigkeit des Landes und der Kommunen“ am Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und digitale Gesellschaft stellt Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher die finanziellen Spielräume zur Finanzierung von öffentlichen Investitionen in den deutschen Bundesländern und Gemeinden dar. Besondere Herausforderungen ergeben sich für die ostdeutschen Länder durch das Auslaufen der Zuweisung aus dem Solidarpakt II und dem Inkrafttreten der Schuldenbremse im Jahr 2020.
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Interrelationship between Industrial and Innovation Development in East Germany
Gerhard Heimpold
Region: Ekonomika i Soziologija,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
The article demonstrates that the most important reason for the slowdown and stagnation of economic convergence in East Germany is the weakness in terms of research and development and innovation. It analyzes the interrelationship between industrial and innovative development in the East German federal states since 1990. The article shows how the East German industry sector and its R&D activities looked like in the late 1980s and which transition it had undergone in the course of privatization. The industrial development of the new federal states after 1990 is analyzed. The paper reveals structural shortcomings in East Germany's economy and considers their impact on the progress in R&D.
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Municipal Size, Administrative Structure and Election Turnout: Consequences of Municipal Reform for the Legitimisation of Political Decision-making Processes
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Claus Michelsen
Gebiets- und Verwaltungsstrukturen im Umbruch: Beiträge zur Reformdiskussion aus Erfahrungen in Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen,
No. 360,
2015
Abstract
In the political debate voices are repeatedly heard calling for municipal territories to be enlarged and to dispense with internal administrative sub-divisions of the municipal entities, hence realising the model of the so-called unitary municipality and not that of the federally conceived municipalities. The “costs“ in terms of the economic disadvantages of this centralised model are usually only mentioned in passing, not least due to the problems of quantifying these costs. This paper attempts such a quantification for one aspect of the economic disadvantages of larger and more centralised municipal entities, namely their negative effects on election turnouts. The results of the empirical investigations show that the theoretical suppositions are confirmed, demonstrating that (1.) the choice of the organisational form of municipal administrative entity affects turnout, and (2.) the unitary municipality form leads to a significantly lower election turnout than that found in federally organised types of municipality.
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The Efficiency of Municipal Service Provision: A Study on the Example of Saxony-Anhalt
Peter Haug, Annette Illy, Claus Michelsen
Gebiets- und Verwaltungsstrukturen im Umbruch: Beiträge zur Reformdiskussion aus Erfahrungen in Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen,
No. 360,
2015
Abstract
Against the background of the latest reforms of municipal territories in Sachsen-Anhalt, this paper aims to empirically investigate for this federal state whether the former, very small scale structure of municipal administration could generally be termed “inefficient“. It is of particular importance to determine whether decentralised forms of administration, such as the administrative associations that have been dissolved, are characterised by an efficiency disadvantage in comparison to more strongly centralised standard-municipalities, and whether the former municipalities were too small in terms of their “operational size“.
No justification for the creation of large municipal entities can be derived from the analysis conducted. Owing to the settlement structure and limited possible economies of scale, it is thus not only to be feared that territorially large municipalities in rural areas will fail to significantly improve cost efficiency in the provision of municipal services. Rather, it may also be the case that efficiency will actually decline, as such “giant municipalities“ are often attended by disincentive effects for citizens as well as for policy and administration (e.g. little civil society involvement arising from a lack of identification with the municipality, lack of control of political decision-makers, low levels of preference-justice in administrative action).
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Coordination between Municipalities and Local Non-Municipal Public Units (NMPUs) for Supporting Urban Economic Development: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Evidence for the Example of Universities in Germany
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, J. Hinz
Koordination raumwirksamer Politik: Mehr Effizienz und Wirksamkeit von Politik durch abgestimmte Arbeitsteilung,
2015
Abstract
In many European cities, policymakers are trying to change the local paths of economic development to head in new directions, e.g. by trying to become a location for Non-Municipal Public Units (NMPUs), like federal special agencies, state museums, military bases, universities or publicly funded research institutes. But as the competencies for such local NMPUs are allocated to higher levels of government, the municipal level has no direct formal institutional responsibilities for influencing their location. Once a NMPU has chosen a certain location, support from the municipality may, however, stabilize the NMPU. There are some categories of NMPUs that should have considerable interest in local conditions, as determined by the municipal level. This paper first theoretically categorizes NMPUs with regard to their importance for the urban economy, with regard to the importance of local conditions for the performance of NMPUs and with regard to their degree of fiscal autonomy. It is shown that universities are one example of NMPUs where the relevance of coordinating activities with the municipalities is fairly high. The benefits of universities for local economic development have often been discussed. From the point of view of universities, their capacity to attract human capital depends on factors which may be influenced by the municipalities. This means that there is a reciprocal relationship between municipalities and universities; coordination by cooperation between the partners could be useful for both – but in practice there is often a lack of cooperation. Information policy is one relevant field for coordination: the city should highlight publicly the advantages of local universities; the universities should highlight the advantages of their city. As information policy is a field for which empirical data is available, the empirical part of the paper presents results from an analysis based on the internet presentations of selected cities and universities. It is shown that in most cities the level of coordination in this field is so far quite low. One possible way to achieve a higher degree of coordination could be to introduce fiscal incentives for cities.
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