10.04.2025 • 14/2025
In East Germany, as in the west, the economy is in crisis - Implications of the Joint Economic Forecast Spring 2025 and new data for the East German economy
In 2024, the economy in East Germany shrank by 0.1% and in Germany as a whole by 0.2%. The Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) expects stagnation for East Germany in 2025 and growth of 1.1% in 2026. According to the IWH forecast, the unemployment rate is expected to be 7.8% in both 2025 and 2026, after 7.5% in 2024.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Understanding CSR Champions: A Machine Learning Approach
Alona Bilokha, Mingying Cheng, Mengchuan Fu, Iftekhar Hasan
Annals of Operations Research,
Vol. 347 (April),
2025
Abstract
In this paper, we study champions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance among the U.S. publicly traded firms and their common characteristics by utilizing machine learning algorithms to identify predictors of firms’ CSR activity. We contribute to the CSR and leadership determinants literature by introducing the first comprehensive framework for analyzing the factors associated with corporate engagement with socially responsible behaviors by grouping all relevant predictors into four broad categories: corporate governance, managerial incentives, leadership, and firm characteristics. We find that strong corporate governance characteristics, as manifested in board member heterogeneity and managerial incentives, are the top predictors of CSR performance. Our results suggest policy implications for providing incentives and fostering characteristics conducive to firms “doing good.”
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Research Articles
Research Articles Explore cutting-edge research based on CompNet’s micro-aggregated firm-level data and related analytical tools. These articles cover empirical and theoretical…
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15th Annual IWH-CompNet Conference
15th Annual IWH-CompNet Conference 22-23 October 2026 - Brussels, Belgium Center for Business and Productivity Dynamics – CompNet, the Halle Institute for Economic Research, and…
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Trade and Competitiveness
Trade and Competitiveness The investigation delves into the mechanisms through which productivity diffuses within Global Value Chains (GVC), assessing how national firms respond…
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MDI Research Lab
Extended MDI Output The Extended MDI Output research projects encompass diverse areas, including Trade and Competitiveness, investigating productivity diffusion within Global…
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A Multi-Model Assessment of Inequality and Climate Change
Marie Young-Brun, et al.
Nature Climate Change,
Vol. 14 (12),
2024
Abstract
Climate change and inequality are critical and interrelated issues. Despite growing empirical evidence on the distributional implications of climate policies and climate risks, mainstream model-based assessments are often silent on the interplay between climate change and economic inequality. Here we fill this gap through an ensemble of eight large-scale integrated assessment models that belong to different economic paradigms and feature income heterogeneity. We quantify the distributional implications of climate impacts and of the varying compensation schemes of climate policies compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement. By 2100, climate impacts will increase inequality by 1.4 points of the Gini index on average. Maintaining global mean temperature below 1.5 °C reduces long-term inequality increase by two-thirds but increases it slightly in the short term. However, equal per-capita redistribution can offset the short-term effect, lowering the Gini index by almost two points. We quantify model uncertainty and find robust evidence that well-designed policies can help stabilize climate and promote economic inclusion.
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Department Profiles
Research Profiles of the IWH Departments All doctoral students are allocated to one of the four research departments (Financial Markets – Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets –…
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CompNet & ECB Annual Conference
CompNet & ECB Annual Conference On 22 September 2020, a short online event took place. Please find all material below to be downloaded from the online conference. The coronavirus…
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Workshop on Firm Dynamism in Japan
Workshop on Firm Dynamism in Japan 12 May 2025 Tokyo This international workshop was held at Gakushuin University and supported by KAKENHI grant 25K05112, and brought together…
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