Gesamtwirtschaftliche Effekte der Förderung regenerativer Energien, insbesondere der Biomasse - Eine kritische Beurteilung vor dem Hintergrund modelltheoretischer Konzeptionen
Götz Zeddies
Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht 2/2006,
No. 2,
2006
Abstract
Renewable energies are largely promoted in the Federal Republic of Germany by means of political instruments by the federal government as well as by the federal states. However, the effects of promoting renewable energies on growth and employment are politically controversial. On the part of the scientists, the macroeconomic effects of the promotion of renewable energies were already analysed in different studies by various authors. At first sight, even the scientific results do not allow definite conclusions. The reasons for this may be seen in the diversity of the applied empirical methods and models with respect to their closeness and the model assumptions. Against the background of these difficulties, the aim of this paper is to discuss the general problems of macroeconomic policy analyses, to formulate methodical model requirements and to examine important existing scientific studies with respect to these requirements and to evaluate their results.
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Wie steht es in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern um die Ballung wirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten? - Eine Untersuchung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Städte des Landes
Gerhard Heimpold, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Rostocker Beiträge zur Regional- und Strukturforschung, Heft 18,
No. 18,
2006
Abstract
Urban and regional economics put great emphasis on urban spaces and, in general, on the importance of agglomeration forces, which is of great importance for the development perspectives of structurally weak regions. This in mind, the contribution investigates the extent and the structures of economic agglomeration characteristics, using the example of the cities in the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In this context, the question is raised whether the potential given there might be better used to achieve economic progress. The contribution starts with a brief theoretical overview on the importance of agglomeration forces for urban and regional development. The empirical section comprises, first, an analysis how the cities under consideration are endowed with factors being regarded as important for economic growth; second, two essential elements of agglomeration of economic activities are investigated more in-depth: spatially concentrated industries and business networks. The investigation is based on a method which was already in use within an East-Germany wide study on Economic Development Spots (project on behalf of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning - BBR, finished in 2004). Finally, the contribution draws implications for the economic policy at the Laender level as well as at the municipal level.
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A note on GMM-estimation of probit models with endogenous regressors
Joachim Wilde
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 4,
2005
Abstract
Dagenais (1999) and Lucchetti (2002) have demonstrated that the naive GMM estimator of Grogger (1990) for the probit model with an endogenous regressor is not consistent. This paper completes their discussion by explaining the reason for the inconsistency and presenting a natural solution. Furthermore, the resulting GMM estimator is analyzed in a Monte-Carlo simulation and compared with alternative estimators.
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Analysis of statements made in favour of and against the adoption of competition law in developing and transition economies
Franz Kronthaler, Johannes Stephan, Frank Emmert
IWH-Sonderhefte,
No. 1,
2005
Abstract
The paper is concerned with documenting and assessing statements made by policy-makers, 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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Quality of Service, Efficiency, and Scale in Network Industries: An Analysis of European Electricity Distribution
Christian Growitsch, Tooraj Jamasb, Michael Pollitt
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 3,
2005
Abstract
Quality of service is of major economic significance in natural monopoly infrastructure industries and is increasingly addressed in regulatory schemes. However, this important aspect is generally not reflected in efficiency analysis of these industries. In this paper we present an efficiency analysis of electricity distribution networks using a sample of about 500 electricity distribution utilities from seven European countries. We apply the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method on multi-output translog input distance function models to estimate cost and scale efficiency with and without incorporating quality of service. We show that introducing the quality dimension into the analysis affects estimated efficiency significantly. In contrast to previous research, smaller utilities seem to indicate lower technical efficiency when incorporating quality. We also show that incorporating quality of service does not alter scale economy measures. Our results emphasise that quality of service should be an integrated part of efficiency analysis and incentive regulation regimes, as well as in the economic review of market concentration in regulated natural monopolies.
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Factors accounting for the enactment of a competition law – an empirical analysis
Franz Kronthaler, Johannes Stephan
One-off Publications,
No. 6,
2005
Abstract
The paper is concerned with the factors that account for decisions to enact a national competition law. In a first step, the paper updates and enlarges the existing data bases of countries that have enacted a competition law. The paper then identifies and discusses possible factors that influence the decision to enact a competition law. In a third step, the method of panel-data logit analysis is employed to test a set of hypothesis pertaining to the factors across the time dimension and across countries. The results of this analysis are interpreted in terms of significance and in terms of the sign of their influence on the probability of a country to enact. Given generality of the analysis, the results can shed light on the probability of individual countries, and in particular developing countries, to actually take the step of enactment.
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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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Promotion of investment in East Germany - Results of an empirical study of effectiveness
Harald Lehmann, Andreas Stierwald
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2004
Abstract
In Germany considerable amounts of public funds are being spent on business development programs. In order to do so economic reasoning is needed. In particular the programs for supporting investment lack microeconometric empirical evaluation. To close this gap the special program „Gemeinschaftsaufgabe zur Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur“ (GA) is exemplarily analyzed. This program is intended to strengthen the capital stock of the East German economy, so firms of the East German manufacturing industries will be studied. A comparison of the two fundamental methods for microeconometric evaluation shall demonstrate the general problems in analyzing the effectiveness of development programs. The matching estimator provides more stable results then a sample selectivity model. The results suggest that the GA generates considerable extra investment activities.
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