21.02.2012 • 4/2012
PPP in Deutschland – Der Schwung lässt nach
Mit dem Begriff „Public Private Partnership“ (PPP) oder „Öffentlich-Private Partnerschaft“ (ÖPP) wird eine moderne Form der Erfüllung öffentlicher Aufgaben bezeichnet, bei der eine Gebietskörperschaft das gewünschte Niveau der öffentlichen Leistungen definiert, aber deren Produktion (gegen ein Entgelt) für eine langfristig festgelegte Vertragslaufzeit auf ein privates Unternehmen überträgt. Dabei umfasst die privat produzierte Leistung nicht nur die physische Herstellung von Infrastruktur (z. B. Bau einer Schule), sondern auch ihren laufenden Betrieb. Nahezu 78% aller bislang in Deutschland vergebenen PPP betreffen Projekte der Kommunen, speziell der größeren Städte. Knapp 31% aller PPP wurden im Schulsektor vergeben, weitere knapp 30% sind im Bereich „Gesundheit, Sport, Erholung“ angesiedelt.
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Towards Unrestricted Public Use Business Microdata: The Synthetic Longitudinal Business Database
John M. Abowd, Ron S. Jarmin, Satkartar K. Kinney, Javier Miranda, Jerome P. Reiter, Arnold P. Reznek
International Statistical Review,
No. 3,
2011
Abstract
In most countries, national statistical agencies do not release establishment-level business microdata, because doing so represents too large a risk to establishments’ confidentiality. One approach with the potential for overcoming these risks is to release synthetic data; that is, the released establishment data are simulated from statistical models designed to mimic the distributions of the underlying real microdata. In this article, we describe an application of this strategy to create a public use file for the Longitudinal Business Database, an annual economic census of establishments in the United States comprising more than 20 million records dating back to 1976. The U.S. Bureau of the Census and the Internal Revenue Service recently approved the release of these synthetic microdata for public use, making the synthetic Longitudinal Business Database the first-ever business microdata set publicly released in the United States. We describe how we created the synthetic data, evaluated analytical validity, and assessed disclosure risk.
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Municipality Size and Efficiency of Local Public Services: Does Size Matter?
Peter Bönisch, Peter Haug, Annette Illy, L. Schreier
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 18,
2011
published in: FinanzArchiv
Abstract
Similarly to western Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, the eastern part of Germany has experienced a still ongoing process of numerous amalgamations among counties, towns and municipalities since the mid-1990s. The evidence in the economic literature is mixed with regard to the claimed expenditure reductions and efficiency gains from municipal mergers. We therefore analyze the global efficiency of the municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt, for the first time in this context, using a double-bootstrap procedure combining DEA and truncated regression. This allows including environmental variables to control for exogenous determinants of municipal efficiency. Our focus thereby is on institutional and fiscal variables. Moreover, the scale efficiency is estimated to find out whether large units are necessary to benefit from scale economies. In contrast to previous studies, we chose the aggregate budget of municipal associations (“Verwaltungsgemeinschaften”) as the object of our analysis since important competences of the member municipalities are settled on a joint administrative level. Furthermore, we use a data set that has been carefully adjusted for bookkeeping items and transfers within the communal level. On the “eve” of a mayor municipal reform the majority of the municipalities were found to have an approximately scale-efficient size and centralized organizational forms (“Einheitsgemeinden”) showed no efficiency advantage over municipal associations.
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A Systemic View on Knowledge-based Development Metrics
Mirko Titze, Michael Schwartz, Matthias Brachert
International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development,
No. 1,
2012
Abstract
Drawing on the systems perspective of innovation processes, this article proposes a conceptual approach for a comprehensive analysis of regional knowledge generation and transfer. Instead of focusing on one single indicator, the approach emphasizes the importance to take multiple channels of knowledge transfer into account. This provides valuable insights into the spatial structure of innovation processes on different levels. We disentangle the innovation process and consider four different layers: i.) publications in peer-reviewed journals, ii.) patent applications, iii.) formal R&D collaboration projects, the iv.) localized input-output relations. Further, we demonstrate the relevance of the „multi-layer approach‟ by applying it empirically to a specific regional innovation system: The Free State of Saxony – a federal state in Germany. We argue that the approach could be a valuable tool to inform policy-makers about knowledge-based regional development strategies.
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Selektivität, soziale Bindung und räumliche Mobilität - Eine Analyse der Rückkehrpräferenz nach Ostdeutschland
Lutz Schneider, Alexander Kubis, D. Wiest
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie,
No. -1,
2011
Abstract
Selectivity, social ties and spatial mobility. An analysis of preferences for return migration to East Germany. In the public debate, brain drain from East Germany is supposed to be the most critical trend regarding the development and catching up of the New Länder. Therefore, potential for in- and re-migration has attracted much attention at least in the political context. Our contribution analyses the remigration potential on basis of data from a DFG research project focussing on the re-migration intentions of people formerly emigrated from Saxony-Anhalt. The analysis concentrates on the following aspects: the effect of job market success after emigration; the impact of social ties to the origin and the host region and on the selectivity of re-migration preferences. The econometric results confirm several expected effects: On the one hand an individual’s job market success reduces the intention to return. Likewise, the re-migration preference increases for people whose expectations were disappointed. On the other hand, the relevance of social ties to the origin region for re-migration dispositions is confirmed by the estimations. Yet, regarding selectivity of re-migration preferences in terms of human capital econometric results are somewhat ambiguous.
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International Fragmentation of Production and the Labour Input into Germany’s Exports – An Input-Output-analysis
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Udo Ludwig
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 14,
2011
Abstract
The import penetration of exports has become a topic of public debate, particularly in the context of Germany’s position as one of the world’s leading exporters. The growth in the volume of intermediate products purchased from abroad for subsequent processing into export goods in Germany seems to be undermining the importance of exports as a driver of domestic production and employment. The gains that arise from an increase in exports seem to have been offset by the losses caused by the crowding out of local production by imports. Empirical evidence on the impact of this international integration of the goods market on the German labour market is ambiguous. Short-term negative effects on employment are claimed to be offset by the long-term benefit that the jobs lost in the short run will eventually be replaced by higher-skilled jobs with better
perspectives. Against this background, the following hypothesis is tested empirically: Germany is poor in natural resources, but rich in skilled labour. In line with the Heckscher- Ohlin theory, Germany should therefore specialize in the production of export goods and services that are relatively intensive in these factors and should import those goods and services that are relatively intensive in unskilled labour. The empirical part of the paper deals with the extent of the German export penetration by imports. At first, it analyses by what ways imports are affecting the exports directly and indirectly and shows the consequences of import penetration of exports for the national output and employment. Secondly, consequences for employment are split in different skill types of labour. These issues are discussed with the standard open static inputoutput- model. The data base is a time series of official input-output tables. The employment effects for Germany divided by skill types of labour are investigated using skill matrices generated by the authors.
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The Impact of Government Procurement Composition on Private R&D Activities
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of whether government procurement can work as a de facto innovation policy tool. We develop an endogenous growth model with quality-improving in-novation that incorporates industries with heterogeneous innovation sizes. Government demand in high-tech industries increases the market size in these industries and, with it, the incentives for private firms to invest in R&D. At the economy-wide level, the additional R&D induced in high-tech industries outweighs the R&D foregone in all remaining industries. The implications of the model are empirically tested using a unique data set that includes federal procurement in U.S. states. We find evidence that a shift in the composition of government purchases toward high-tech industries indeed stimulates privately funded company R&D.
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Government Banking in Russia: Magnitude and New Features
Andrei Vernikov
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 13,
2011
Abstract
State-controlled banks are currently at the core of financial intermediation in Russia. This paper aims to assess the magnitude of government banking, and to reveal some of its special features and arrangements. We distinguish between directly and indirectly state-controlled banks and construct a set of bank-level statistical data covering the period between 2000 and 2011. By January 2011 the market share of state-controlled banks reached almost 54 percent of all bank assets, putting Russia in the same league with China and India and widening the gap from typical European emerging markets. We show that direct state ownership is gradually substituted by indirect ownership and control. It tends to be organized in corporate pyramids that dilute public property, take control away from government bodies, and underpin managerial opportunism. Statecontrolled
banks blur the borderline between commercial banking and development
banking. Dominance of public banks has a bearing on empirical studies whose results might suggest state-owned banks’ greater (or lesser) efficiency or competitiveness compared to other forms of ownership. We tend to interpret such results as influenced by the choice of indicator, period of observations, sample selection, etc., in the absence of an equal playing field for all groups of players. We suggest that the government’s planned retreat from the banking sector will involve non-core assets mainly, whereas control over core institutions will just become more subtle.
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Macroeconomic Imbalances as Indicators for Debt Crises in Europe
Tobias Knedlik, Gregor von Schweinitz
Abstract
European authorities and scholars published proposals on which indicators of macroeconomic imbalances might be used to uncover risks for the sustainability of public debt in the European Union. We test the ability of four proposed sets of indicators to send early-warnings of debt crises using a signals approach for the study of indicators and the construction of composite indicators. We find that a broad composite indicator has the highest predictive power. This fact still holds true if equal weights are used for the construction of the composite indicator in order to reflect the uncertainty about the origin of future crises.
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Effects of Local Public Investment into Infrastructure for Tourism: The Example of Saxony
Albrecht Kauffmann
Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft,
No. 1,
2011
Abstract
Nach 1990 erfolgten in allen Neuen Ländern der Bundesrepublik Deutschland massive Investitionen in die touristische Infrastruktur. Dabei wurden sowohl das Ziel der Erhaltung bzw. Wiedererlangung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit traditioneller Tourismusgebiete als auch die Unterstützung eines dienstleistungsorientierten Strukturwandels in de-industrialisierten Regionen verfolgt. Ein Großteil dieser Investitionen wurde aus Mitteln des Programms der Gemeinschaftsaufgabe zur Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur, insbesondere der kommunalen wirtschaftsnahen Infrastruktur (GA-Infra) gefördert. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Wirkung derart geförderter Investitionen in die touristische Infrastruktur auf die Beschäftigung im Gastgewerbe in Sachsen auf der Ebene der Kommunen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass für bestimmte Investitionsarten für den Zeitraum von 2000 bis 2007 tatsächlich eine positive Korrelation mit der Entwicklung im Gastgewerbe bestand. Diese ist jedoch an bestimmte Voraussetzungen gebunden, z. B. das Vorhandensein komplementärer Faktoren und einer bereits bestehenden touristischen Tradition.
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