National Accounting revision certifies stronger growth of production for the New Laender
Udo Ludwig
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2006
Abstract
Nach der jüngsten Revision der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen wurde in den neuen Bundesländern in den Jahren 2001 bis 2004 mehr produziert als bislang bekannt war. Das Niveau der Wertschöpfung wurde stärker als im gesamtdeutschen Durchschnitt angehoben, obwohl es bei einigen Wirtschaftsbereichen, wie dem Kredit- und Versicherungsgewerbe und der Wohnungsvermietung, zu einer Absenkung kam. Auch das Wachstumsbild hat sich geändert. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist in den Jahren 2001 bis 2004 stärker gestiegen als zuvor berechnet worden war, darunter drei Jahre in Folge auch kräftiger als in den alten Bundesländern. Der Rückstand in der Pro-Kopf- Produktion wurde verringert Allerdings kam dieser Prozeß wegen der Produktionsschwäche im Jahr 2005 – zumindest vorübergehend – wieder zum Erliegen.
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The National German Innovation System - its Development in Different Governmental and Territorial Structures
Hariolf Grupp, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Monika Friedrich-Nishio
Economics, Evolution and the State: The Governance of Complexity,
2005
Abstract
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Business Cycles and FDI: Evidence from German Sectoral Data
Claudia M. Buch, A. Lipponer
Review of World Economics,
No. 4,
2005
Abstract
Globalization has affected business cycle developments in OECD countries and has increased activities of firms across national borders. This paper analyzes whether these two developments are linked. We use a new firm-level data set on the foreign activities of German firms to test whether foreign activities are affected by business cycle developments. We aggregate the data by the sector of the reporting firm, the sector of the foreign affiliate, and the host country. Data are annual and cover the period 1989–2002. We find that German outward FDI increases in response to positive cyclical developments abroad and in response to a real depreciation of the domestic currency.
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The integration of imperfect financial markets: Implications for business cycle volatility
Claudia M. Buch, C. Pierdzioch
Journal of Policy Modeling,
No. 7,
2005
Abstract
During the last two decades, the degree of openness of national financial systems has increased substantially. At the same time, asymmetries in information and other financial market frictions have remained prevalent. We study the implications of the opening up of national financial systems in the presence of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility. In our empirical analysis, we show that countries with more developed financial systems have lower business cycle volatility. Financial openness has no strong impact on business cycle volatility, in contrast. In our theoretical analysis, we study the implications of the opening up of national financial markets and of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility using a dynamic macroeconomic model of an open economy. We find that the implications of opening up national financial markets for business cycle volatility are largely unaffected by the presence of financial market frictions.
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Factors accounting for the enactment of a competition law – an empirical analysis
Franz Kronthaler, Johannes Stephan
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
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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Determinants and Effects of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from German Firm-Level Data
Claudia M. Buch, J. Kleinert, A. Lipponer
Economic Policy,
No. 41,
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment is an essential aspect of ‘globalization’ yet its empirical determinants are not well understood. What we do know is based either on poor data for a wide range of nations, or good data for the US and Swedish cases. In this paper, we provide evidence on the determinants of the activities of German multinational firms by using a newly available firm-level data set from the Deutsche Bundesbank. The specific goal of this paper is to demonstrate the relative role of country-level and firm-level determinants of foreign direct investment. We focus on three main questions: First, what are the main driving forces of German firms’ multinational activities? Second, is there evidence that sector-level and firm-level factors shape internationalization patterns? Third, is there evidence of agglomeration effects in the foreign activities of German firms? We find that the market access motive for internationalization dominates. Firms move abroad mainly to gain better access to large foreign markets. Cost-saving motives, however, are important for some manufacturing sectors. Our results strongly suggest that firm-level heterogeneity has an important influence on internationalization patterns – as stressed by recent models of international trade. We also find positive agglomeration effects for the activities of German firms that stem from the number of other German firms that are active on a given foreign market. In terms of lessons for economic policy, our results show that lowering barriers to the integration of markets and encouraging the formation of human capital can promote the activities of multinational firms. However, our results related to the heterogeneity of firms and agglomeration tendencies show that it might be difficult to fine-tune policies directed at the exploitation of synergies and at the creation of clusters of foreign firms.
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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 Contestable Markets Theory - Efficient Advice for Economic Policy
Christian Growitsch, Thomas Wein
Externe Publikationen,
2004
Abstract
During the nineties of the last century several formerly monopolistic markets (telecommunication, electricity, gas, and railway) have been deregulated in Germany based on European directives and theoretically inspired by the theory of contestable markets. The original contestable market theory implied three assumptions necessary to be satisfied to establish potential competition: Free market entry, market exit possible without any costs, and the price adjustment lag exceeding the entry lag. Our analysis shows that if the incumbent reduces its prices slowly (high adjustment lag) and the market entry can be performed quickly (low entry lag), a new competitor will be able to earn back sunk costs. Therefore it is not necessary that all three conditions be complied with for potential competition to exist. Applying this „revised“ contestable market theory to the deregulated sectors in Germany, natural monopolies can be identified in telecommunication sections local loops and local/regional connection networks, in the national electricity grid and the regional/local electricity distribution networks, in the national and regional/local gas transmission/distribution sections, and in the railroad network. These sections are not contestable due to sunk costs, expected high entry lags and a probably short price adjustment lag. They are identified as bottlenecks, which should be regulated. The function of system operators in energy and railroad are closely related to the non-contestable monopolistic networks.
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The Reform of Local Public Services of General Interest in Europe
Peter Haug, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Applied Economics Quarterly (Supplement),
2004
Abstract
The benefits of a reduced supply of local public services may more than outweigh the supposed welfare losses. This was suggested by various theoretical and empirical investigations in many fields of economics during the last decades. Nevertheless, local and national politicians, trade unionists, charities, and other lobbyists have succeeded in preventing further liberalisation of “services of general interest” in Europe. This article examines why these preserve agents have been and are still successful. The analysis is based on an institutional economic approach. Several policy measures and institutional changes are suggested to either reduce influence of preserve agents or to compensate them for their losses.
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Information or Regulation: What Drives the International Activities of Commercial Banks?
Claudia M. Buch
Journal of Money Credit,
No. 6,
2003
Abstract
Information costs and regulatory barriers distinguish international financial markets from national ones. Using panel data on bilateral assets and liabilities of commercial banks, I empirically determine the impact of information, costs and regulations, and I isolate intra-EU financial linkages. I confirm that information costs and regulations are important factors influencing international asset choices of banks, but their relative importance differs among countries.
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