The dissertation examines various factors influencing the financing costs of countries. The euro crisis, commodity prices, and climate change are identified as three key factors, and their empirical significance is examined statistically. Another article deals with the integration of financial markets and its impact on the spread of economic cycles.

Im Sommer 2021 expandiert die weltwirtschaftliche Produktion kräftig, hauptsächlich dank rasch voranschreitender Impfkampagnen in den fortgeschrittenen Volkswirtschaften des Westens. Geld- und Finanzpolitik bleiben dort expansiv, und die konjunkturelle Dynamik wird auch in den kommenden Quartalen hoch sein. In vielen Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländern wird die Pandemie hingegen das ganze Jahr 2021 über noch auf der Wirtschaft lasten. In Deutschland sind die konjunkturellen Aussichten günstig, weil die Corona-Restriktionen nach und nach aufgehoben werden. Das BIP wird 2021 um 3,9% und 2022 um 4,0% zunehmen. Die Produktion in Ostdeutschland dürfte in beiden Jahren um jeweils 3% zulegen.

This paper investigates the impact of international bank flows from G10 lender countries on income inequality in 74 borrower countries over 1999–2013. Specifically, we examine the role of international bank flows contingent upon the Basel 2 capital regulation and the level of financial market development in the borrower countries. First, we find that improvements in the borrower country risk weights due to rating upgrades under the Basel 2 framework significantly increase bank flows, leading to improvements in income inequality. Second, we find that the level of financial market development is also important. We report that a well-functioning financial market helps the poor access credit and thereby reduces inequality. Moreover, we employ threshold estimations to identify the thresholds for each of the financial development measures that borrower countries need to reach before realizing the potential reductions in income inequality from international bank financing.

Climate change projections show that the average global temperature will very likely increase further. Policymakers need to implement suitable mitigation policy measures. This thesis uses dynamic general equilibrium models (DGEs) to analyse the potential economic effects of mitigation policy. Chapter 2 documents the forecasting performance of standardly estimated macroeconomic models and compare them to extended versions. It turns out that neither alternative expectation formation behaviour nor financial frictions can systematically increase the forecasting performance of macroeconomic models. Chapter 3 studies potential economic consequences of a coal phase-out in Germany, using a spatial dynamic general equilibrium model. A phase-out until 2035 is not worse in terms of welfare compared to a coal exit until 2040. Chapter 4 develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with risky capital and oil as production factors. The contribution of financial market frictions and oil market disturbances to the US business cycle are low. An oil tax increase, to reduce crude oil consumption by 10% can cause a contraction of GDP by 1 to 2%.

This study examines whether and to what extend global equity offerings at the IPO stage may affect issuing firms' ability to borrow in the domestic debt market. Tracking bank loans taken by U.S. IPO firms in the domestic syndicated loan market, we observe that global equity offering firms experience more favorable loan price than that offered to their domestic counterparts. This finding holds for a set of robustness tests of endogeneity issues. We also find that, compared with their domestic counterparts, global equity offering firms are less likely to have financial distress, engage more in international diversification, and are more likely to wait a longer time to apply for syndicated loans.

Die globale Produktion hat nach dem dramatischen Einbruch vom vergangenen Frühjahr wieder deutlich zugelegt. Vor allem Ostasien erholt sich rasch, während das BIP im Euroraum zuletzt zurückging. Von Seiten der Wirtschafts politik sind die Bedingungen für eine Erholung der Weltwirtschaft insgesamt günstig. In Deutschland dürfte mit fortschreitender Impfkampagne und schrittweiser Aufhebung der Beschränkungen eine Normalisierung des Konsumverhaltens privater Haushalte die Konjunktur beflügeln. Im Jahr 2021 wird das BIP um 3,7% zunehmen, nach einem Rückgang um 4,9% im Jahr 2020. In Ostdeutschland fällt sowohl der Rückgang als auch der Wiederanstieg deutlich geringer aus.

The European Commission’s Scoreboard of Macroeconomic Imbalances is a rare case of a publicly released early warning system. It was published first time in 2012 by the European Commission as a reaction to public debt crises in Europe. So far, the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure takes a one-size-fits-all approach with regard to the identification of thresholds. The experience of Central and Eastern European Countries during the global financial crisis and in the resulting public debt crises has been largely different from that of other European countries. This paper looks at the appropriateness of scoreboard of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure of the European Commission for this group of catching-up countries. It is shown that while some of the indicators of the scoreboard are helpful to predict crises in the region, thresholds are in most cases set too narrow since it largely disregarded the specifics of catching-up economies, in particular higher and more volatile growth rates of various macroeconomic variables.

Während die Weltwirtschaft zweigeteilt ist – die Wirtschaft in Ostasien und in den großen Schwellenländern hat sich zügig erholt, für Nordamerika und Europa ist mit einem schwachen Winterhalbjahr zu rechnen –, lässt der Shutdown die Produktion in Deutschland zum Jahresende zurückgehen. Nach Lockerung der Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen, dank Impfkampagnen und milder Witterung dürfte die Erholung ab dem Frühjahr langsam wieder in Gang kommen. Im Jahr 2021 wird das BIP um 4,4% zunehmen, nach einem Rückgang um 5% im Jahr 2020. In Ostdeutschland fällt sowohl der Rückgang als auch der Wiederanstieg deutlich geringer aus.

Capital inflow surges destabilise the economy through a maturity shortening mechanism. The underlying reason is that firms have incentives to redeem their debt on demand to accommodate the potential liquidity needs of global investors, which makes international borrowing endogenously fragile. Based on a theoretical model and empirical evidence at both the firm and macro levels, our main findings are twofold. First, a significant association exists between surges and shortened corporate debt maturity, especially for firms with foreign bank relationships and higher redeployability. Second, the probability of a crisis following surges with a flattened yield curve is significantly higher than that following surges without one. Our study suggests that debt maturity is the key to understand the financial instability consequences of capital inflow bonanzas.

Using a global sample, this paper investigates the determinants of wealth inequality capturing various economic, financial, political, institutional, and geographical indicators. Using instrumental variable Bayesian model averaging, it reveals that only a handful of indicators robustly matters and finance plays a key role. It reports that while financial depth increases wealth inequality, efficiency and access to finance reduce inequality. In addition, redistribution and education are associated with lower inequality whereas wars and openness to international trade contribute to greater wealth inequality.