15.03.2017 • 13/2017
The German Economy: Employment Boom in Germany, but no Overheating of the Economy
Employment in Germany continues to increase healthily, and private consumption expands due to rising real incomes. Investment in equipment, however, remains modest. Overall, economic demand is expanding at roughly the growth rate of potential Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the output gap is nearly closed. “In 2017, GDP will increase by 1.3% and thus at a lower rate than in the previous year, but this is only due to fewer working days and not to sliding demand,” says Oliver Holtemoeller, Head of the Department Macroeconomics and IWH vice president.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Gender Wage Discrimination: Does the Extent of Competition in Labor Markets Explain why Female Workers are Paid Less than Men?
Boris Hirsch
IZA World of Labor,
No. 310,
2016
Abstract
There are pronounced and persistent wage differences between men and women in all parts of the world. A significant element of these wage disparities can be attributed to differences in worker and workplace characteristics, which are likely to mirror differences in worker productivity. However, a large part of these differences remains unexplained, and it is common to attribute them to discrimination by the employer that is rooted in prejudice against female workers. Yet recent empirical evidence suggests that, to a large extent, the gaps reflect “monopsonistic” wage discrimination—that is, employers exploiting their wage-setting power over women—rather than any sort of prejudice.
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Ökonomisches Wachstum in Ostdeutschland seit der Wiedervereinigung: Eine empirische Perspektive
Maike Irrek
Hochschulschrift, Juristische und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg,
2015
Abstract
Der schleppende Konvergenzprozess zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland und der fortdauernde Produktivitätsrückstand der ostdeutschen Wirtschaft sind die Motivation einer Vielzahl an Studien und Analysen. Öffentliches Sachkapital und Humankapital spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Es liegen jedoch keine passenden Zeitreihen vor, mit deren Hilfe die in der Literatur diskutierten Thesen in empirischen Untersuchungen überprüft werden könnten. Daher werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation das öffentliche und private Sachkapital sowie das Humankapital für Ost-und Westdeutschland geschätzt. Erst mit diesen Daten sind zudem genauere Schätzungen der Totalen Faktorproduktivität in beiden Regionen möglich.
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The Levelling Effect of Product Market Competition on Gender Wage Discrimination
Boris Hirsch, Michael Oberfichtner, Claus Schnabel
IZA Journal of Labor Economics,
No. 19,
2014
Abstract
Using linked employer–employee panel data for West Germany that include direct information on the competition faced by plants, we investigate the effect of product market competition on the gender pay gap. Controlling for match fixed effects, we find that intensified competition significantly lowers the unexplained gap in plants with neither collective agreements nor a works council. Conversely, there is no effect in plants with these types of worker codetermination, which are unlikely to have enough discretion to adjust wages in the short run. We also document a larger competition effect in plants with few females in their workforces. Our findings are in line with Beckerian taste-based employer wage discrimination that is limited by competitive forces.
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Aktuelle Trends: Einkommen und Produktivität: Ostdeutschland holt kaum noch auf – größere regionale Unterschiede im Westen
Gerhard Heimpold
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2014
Abstract
Die Befunde zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) je Einwohner und zur Produktivität Ostdeutschlands sind fast ein Vierteljahrhundert nach dem Fall der Berliner Mauer ambivalent: Verglichen mit der Ausgangssituation konnte die Ost-West-Lücke deutlich verringert werden. Lag das BIP je Einwohner 1991 in Ostdeutschland (ohne Berlin) erst bei einem Drittel des westdeutschen Niveaus, sind im Jahr 2013 zwei Drittel erreicht. Bei der Produktivität startete Ostdeutschland (ohne Berlin) mit 35% und weist im Jahr 2013 immerhin 76% des westdeutschen Niveaus auf.
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Do Women Benefit from Competitive Markets? Product Market Competition and the Gender Pay Gap in Germany
Boris Hirsch, Michael Oberfichtner, Claus Schnabel
Economics Bulletin,
No. 2,
2012
Abstract
Using a large linked employer–employee dataset for Germany with a direct plant-level measure of product market competition and controlling for job-cell fixed effects, we investigate whether relative wages of women benefit from strong competition. We find that the unexplained gender pay gap is about 2.4 log points lower in West German plants that face strong product market competition than in those experiencing weak competition, whereas no such link shows up for East Germany.
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Did the Crisis Affect Potential Output?
Makram El-Shagi
Applied Economics Letters,
No. 8,
2011
Abstract
Conventional Phillips-curve models that are used to estimate the output gap detect a substantial decline in potential output due to the present crisis. Using a multivariate state space model, we show that this result does not hold if the long run role of excess liquidity (that we estimate endogeneously) for inflation is taken into account.
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On the Economic Architecture of the Workplace: Repercussions of Social Comparisons among Heterogeneous Workers
Oded Stark, Walter Hyll
Journal of Labor Economics,
No. 2,
2011
Abstract
We analyze the impact on a firm’s profits and optimal wage rates, and on the distribution of workers’ earnings, when workers compare their earnings with those of co-workers. We consider a low-productivity worker who receives lower wage earnings than a high-productivity worker. When the low-productivity worker derives (dis)utility not only from his own effort but also from comparing his earnings with those of the high-productivity worker, his response to the sensing of relative deprivation is to increase the optimal level of effort. Consequently, the firm’s profits are higher, its wage rates remain unchanged, and the distribution of earnings is compressed.
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Is East Germany Catching Up? A Time Series Perspective
Bernd Aumann, Rolf Scheufele
Post-Communist Economies,
2010
Abstract
This article assesses whether the economy of East Germany is catching up with the West German region in terms of welfare. While the primary measure for convergence and catching up is per capita output, we also look at other macroeconomic indicators such as unemployment rates, wage rates and production levels in the manufacturing sector. In contrast to existing studies of convergence between regions of the reunified Germany, our approach is based purely upon the time series dimension and is thus directly focused on the catching up process in East Germany as a region. Our testing set-up includes standard ADF unit root tests as well as unit root tests that endogenously allow for a break in the deterministic component of the process. We find evidence of catching up for East Germany for most of the indicators. However, the convergence speed is slow, and thus it can be expected that the catching up process will take further decades until the regional gap is closed.
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Challenges for Future Regional Policy in East Germany. Does East Germany really show Characteristics of Mezzogiorno?
Mirko Titze
A. Kuklinski; E. Malak-Petlicka; P. Zuber (eds), Souther Italy – Eastern Germany – Eastern Poland. The Triple Mezzogiorno? Ministry of Regional Development,
2010
Abstract
Despite extensive government support the gap between East and West Germany has still not been successfully closed nearly 20 years post German unification. Hence, some economists tend to compare East Germany with Mezzogiorno – underdeveloped Southern Italy. East Germany is still subject to sever structural problems in comparison to West Germany: lower per capita income, lower productivity, higher unemployment rates, fewer firm headquarters and fewer innovation activities. There are East German regions with less than desirable rates of development. Nevertheless, the new federal states have shown some evidence of a convergence process. Some regions have developed very positively – they have improved their competitiveness and employment levels. As such, the comparison of East Germany with Mezzogiorno does not seem applicable today.
According to Neoclassical Growth Theory, regional policy is targeted enhancing investment (hereafter the notion ‘investment policy’ is used). has been the most important instrument in forcing the ‘reconstruction of the East’. Overall, the investment policy is seen as having been successful. It is not, however, the only factor influencing regional development – political policy makers noted in the mid 1990s that research and development (R&D) activities and regional concentrated production networks, amongst other factors, may also play a part. The investment policy instrument has therefore been adjusted. Nevertheless, it cannot be excluded that investment policy may fail in particular cases because it contains potentially conflicting targets. A ‘better road’ for future regional policy may lie in the support of regional production and innovation networks – the so-called industrial clusters. These clusters would need to be exactingly identified however to ensure effective and efficient cluster policies.
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