29.09.2016 • 40/2016
Joint Economic Forecast: German Economy on Track – Economic Policy needs to be Realigned
Thanks to a stable job market and solid consumption, the German economy is experiencing a moderate upswing. The GDP is expected to increase by 1.9 percent this year, 1.4 percent in 2017, and 1.6 percent in 2018, according to the Gemeinschaftsdiagnose (GD, joint economic forecast) that was prepared by five of Europe’s leading economic research institutes on behalf of the Federal Government. The most recent GD, which was released in April, predicted a GDP growth rate of 1.6 percent for 2016 and 1.5 percent for 2017.
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02.09.2016 • 35/2016
The German Economy: Still Robust Despite Sliding Sentiment
The prospects for the German economy are still quite favorable. While sentiment indicators suggest that growth will slow at the end of the year, domestic demand will continue on an upward trend. The German GDP should increase by 1.9% in 2016. For 2017 we expect a lower growth rate of 1.2%“Weaker export volumes and higher growth of imports are the relevant factors for the slowdown”, says Prof Oliver Holtemöller, IWH Vice president. Unemployment will rise a bit as more refugees enter the labor market. Consumer price inflation remains moderate. The general government balance (cyclically ad¬justed as well as unadjusted) will be in surplus in both 2016 and 2017.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Evidence on the Effects of Inflation on Price Dispersion under Indexation
Juliane Scharff, S. Schreiber
Empirical Economics,
No. 1,
2012
Abstract
Distortionary effects of inflation on relative prices are the main argument for inflation stabilization in macro models with sticky prices. Under indexation of non-optimized prices, those models imply a nonlinear and dynamic impact of inflation on the cross-sectional price dispersion (relative price or inflation variability, RPV). Using US sectoral price data, we estimate such a relationship between inflation and RPV, also taking into account the endogeneity of inflation by using two- and three-stage least-squares and GMM techniques, which turns out to be relevant. We find an effect of (expected) inflation on RPV, and our results indicate that average (“trend”) inflation is important for the RPV-inflation relationship. Lagged inflation matters for indexation in the CPI data, but is not important empirically in the PPI data.
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The Quantity Theory Revisited: A New Structural Approach
Makram El-Shagi, Sebastian Giesen
Abstract
While the long run relation between money and inflation is well established, empirical evidence on the adjustment to the long run equilibrium is very heterogeneous. In this paper we show, that the development of US consumer price inflation between 1960Q1 and 2005Q4 is strongly driven by money overhang. To this end, we use a multivariate state space framework that substantially expands the traditional vector error correction approach. This approach allows us to estimate the persistent components of velocity and GDP. A sign restriction approach is subsequently used to identify the structural shocks to the signal equations of the state space model, that explain money growth, inflation and GDP growth. We also account for the possibility that measurement error exhibited by simple-sum monetary aggregates causes the consequences of monetary shocks to be improperly identified by using a Divisia monetary aggregate. Our findings suggest that when the money is measured using a reputable index number, the quantity theory holds for the United States.
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Evidence on the effects of inflation on price dispersion under indexation
Juliane Scharff, S. Schreiber
IMK Working Paper, No. 12/2008,
2008
Abstract
Distortionary effects of inflation on relative prices are the main argument for inflation stabilization in macro models with sticky prices. Under indexation of non-optimized prices those models imply a nonlinear and dynamic impact of inflation on the cross-sectional price dispersion (relative-price variability, RPV). Using US sectoral prices we estimate (a generalized form of) the theoretical relationship between inflation and RPV. We confirm the impact of inflation fluctuations but find hitherto neglected endogeneity biases, and our IV and GMM estimates indicate that average (“trend“) inflation is significant for indexation. Lagged inflation is less important.
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Using multivariate statistical methods to identify municipality clusters
Dirk Trocka
Теоретические основы и опыт стратегическ,
2008
Abstract
The monthly calculation of the Consumer Price Index is based on a sample survey in different municipalities. This study intends to evaluate and improve the representativity of the municipalities within the sample in Saxony-Anhalt with respect to their number and type applying multivariate analysis. The analysis uses variables representing both demand and supply conditions in the municipalities that determine market outcomes. It also considers the importance of a municipality for the neighbouring area.
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Deeper, Wider and More Competitive? Monetary Integration, Eastern Enlargement and Competitiveness in the European Union
Gianmarco Ottaviano, Daria Taglioni, Filippo di Mauro
ECB Working Paper,
No. 847,
2008
Abstract
What determines a country’s ability to compete in international markets? What fosters the global competitiveness of its firms? And in the European context, have key elements of the EU strategy such as EMU and enlargement helped or hindered domestic firms’ competitiveness in local and global markets? We address these questions by calibrating and simulating a conceptual framework that, based on Melitz and Ottaviano (2005), predicts that tougher and more transparent international competition forces less productive firms out the market, thereby increasing average productivity as well as reducing average prices and mark-ups. The model also predicts a parallel reduction of price dispersion within sectors. Our conceptual framework allows us to disentangle the effects of technology and freeness of entry from those of accessibility. On the one hand, by controlling for the impact of trade frictions, we are able to construct an index of ‘revealed competitiveness’, which would drive the relative performance of countries in an ideal world in which all faced the same barriers to international transactions. On the other hand, by focusing on the role of accessibility while keeping ‘revealed competitiveness’ as given, we are able to evaluate the impacts of EMU and enlargement on the competitiveness of European firms. We find that EMU positively affects the competitiveness of firms located in participating economies. Enlargement has, instead, two contrasting effects. It improves the accessibility of EU members but it also increases substantially the relative importance of unproductive competitors from Eastern Europe. JEL Classification: F12, R13.
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Ein kubischer Spline zur temporalen Disaggregation von Stromgrößen und seine Anwendbarkeit auf Immobilienindizes
Albrecht Kauffmann, A. Nastansky
Statistische Diskussionsbeiträge der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät, Universität Potsdam, Nr. 22,
No. 22,
2006
Abstract
Das Geschehen auf den regional sehr heterogenen Immobilienmärkten ist vor dem Hintergrund stark steigender Preise für Wohn- und Gewerbeimmobilien in den letzten Jahren in weiten Teilen Europas und der Welt stärker ins das Blickfeld der Allgemeinheit sowie der wirtschaftspolitisch Handelnden, insbesondere der Zentralbank, gerückt. Mit einem Anteil von rund 50% nimmt das in Immobilien gebundene Vermögen eine dominierende Stellung im Brutto-Volksvermögen der privaten Haushalte in Deutschland ein. Schwankungen im Wert dieses Eigentums beeinflussen das Verhalten der Haushalte auf den Faktor- und Gütermärkten. So können Vermögenseffekte – hervorgerufen durch steigende oder fallende Immobilienpreise – den Konjunkturverlauf über die Konsumnachfrage positiv wie negativ stimulieren. Überdies kann die Stabilität des Finanzsystems infolge übermäßiger Bewegungen in den Immobilienpreisen und damit einhergehenden Forderungsausfällen von Hypothekendarlehen gefährdet werden. Angesichts der herausragenden volkswirtschaftlichen Bedeutung zeichnet sich jedoch der deutsche Immobilienmarkt auf Grund eines fehlenden amtlichen Berichtssystems durch eine geringe Transparenz aus. Die amtliche Statistik beschränkt sich auf die Erhebung und Veröffentlichung von Preisen für Bauland, Baupreise für Wohngebäude sowie die Mietpreisentwicklung von Wohnimmobilien. Privatwirtschaftliche Institutionen versuchen diese Nische durch die Erhebung eigener Daten und Veröffentlichung von Indizes zu besetzen. Ein Index, der das Preisgeschehen auf den Wohn- und Gewerbeimmobilienmärkten in Deutschland auch unterjährig abbildet, fehlt aber weiterhin.
Die temporale Disaggregation von Jahresdaten kann mittels Regression auf Zeitreihen, die die geforderte Periodizität aufweisen, erfolgen. Soll aber auf die Zuhilfenahme weiterer Daten verzichtet werden, bieten sich deterministische Verfahren an. Diesen sind auch die kubischen Splines zuzurechnen, deren Verwendung in der Literatur gelegentlich – ohne Erläuterung der Methodik und ohne Diskussion der mit ihrer Anwendung verbundenen Probleme, bzw. entsprechende Verweise auf die existierende Literatur – erwähnt wird.
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Real income – An inter-regional comparison; The influence of the price level on regional income disparities by using the statistical and the economic index concept
Andreas Mehnert
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 66,
1997
Abstract
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