11.02.2019 • 3/2019
No-deal Brexit would hit the German labour market particularly hard
The United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a deal would have consequences for international trade and labour markets in many countries, including outside Europe. Calculations by the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) indicate: More than 600,000 jobs may be affected worldwide, but nowhere as many as in Germany.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Potential International Employment Effects of a Hard Brexit
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Oliver Holtemöller
Abstract
We use the World Input Output Database (WIOD) to estimate the potential employment effects of a hard Brexit in 43 countries. In line with other studies we assume that imports from the European Union (EU) to the UK will decline by 25% after a hard Brexit. The absolute effects are largest in big EU countries which have close trade relationships with the UK like Germany and France. However, there are also large countries outside the EU which are heavily affected via global value chains like China, for example. The relative effects (in percent of total employment) are largest in Malta and Ireland. UK employment will also be affected via intermediate input production. Within Germany, the motor vehicle industry and in particular the “Autostadt” Wolfsburg are most affected.
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The Effect of the Single Currency on Exports: Comparative Firm-level Evidence
Tibor Lalinsky, Jaanika Meriküll
IWH-CompNet Discussion Papers,
No. 1,
2019
Abstract
We investigate how adopting the euro affects exports using firm-level data from Slovakia and Estonia. In contrast to previous studies, we focus on countries that adopted the euro individually and had different exchange rate regimes prior to doing so. Following the New Trade Theory we consider three types of adjustment: firm selection, changes in product varieties and changes in the average value of the exports that compose the exports of individual firms. The euro effect is identified by a difference in differences analysis comparing exports by firms to the euro area countries with exports to the EU countries that are not members of the euro area. The results highlight the importance of the transaction costs channel related to exchange rate volatility. We find the euro has a strong pro-trade effect in Slovakia, which switched to the euro from a floating exchange rate, while it has almost no effect in Estonia, which had a fixed exchange rate to the euro prior to the euro changeover. Our findings indicate that the euro effect manifested itself mainly through the intensive margin and that the gains from trade were heterogeneous across firm characteristics.
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Statistical presentation of international trade in the course of German unification
Udo Ludwig, Klaus Voy
Klaus Voy (Ed.): Außenhandel und Globalisierung in gesamtwirtschaftlicher Sicht. Marburg: Metropolis,
2018
Abstract
Wie hat sich die deutsche Vereinigung auf die Entwicklung und statistische Darstellung der kontemporären Handelsströme Ost- und Westdeutschlands ausgewirkt? Nur der Doppelnachweis des Bruttoinlandsprodukts und seiner Verwendungskomponenten für Ost- und Westdeutschland in den Jahren 1991 bis 1994 vermittelt ein reales gesamtwirtschaftliches Bild von den Handelsströmen zwischen den beiden Wirtschaftsräumen und mit der übrigen Welt.
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Trade Growth Driven by a Cyclical Upswing of the World Economy
Klaus-Jürgen Gern, Axel Lindner, Martin Micheli
Wirtschaftsdienst,
No. 11,
2017
Abstract
Der Welthandel ist seit dem Herbst 2016 wieder deutlich aufwärts gerichtet, nachdem er in den Jahren zuvor nur schwach gestiegen und zeitweise sogar rückläufig gewesen war. Die Dynamik hat zwar im Frühjahr 2017 etwas nachgelassen, dennoch war das Volumen des weltweiten internationalen Güteraustauschs im Sommer nach den Daten des vom Centraal Planbureau (CPB) berechneten World Trade Monitor immer noch um knapp 5% höher als ein Jahr zuvor. Für das laufende Jahr ist mit einem Anstieg um mehr als 4% zu rechnen, nachdem die Zuwachsrate in den fünf davorliegenden Jahren lediglich bei rund 2% gelegen hatte.1 Es stellt sich die Frage, ob die jüngste Beschleunigung des Welthandels lediglich als temporäres, konjunkturbedingtes Phänomen zu werten ist, oder ob sie auch längerfristig eine Rückkehr zu dem hohen Wachstumstempo des Welthandels erwarten lässt, das in den 15 Jahren vor der globalen Finanzkrise verzeichnet worden war.
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From World Factory to World Investor: The New Way of China Integrating into the World
Bijun Wang, Xiang Li
China Economic Journal,
No. 2,
2017
Abstract
This paper argues that outward direct investment (ODI) is replacing international trade as the new way China integrates into the world. Based on two complementary datasets, we document the pattern of Chinese ODI. We argue that the rapid growth of China’s ODI is the result of strong economic development, increasing domestic constraints, and supportive government policies. Compared with trade integration, investment integration involves China more deeply in global business. As a new global investor, China’s ODI in the future is full of opportunities, risks, and challenges. The Chinese government should improve bureaucracy coordination and participate more in designing and maintaining international rules to protect ODI interests.
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Internal Governance and Creditor Governance: Evidence from Credit Default Swaps
Stefano Colonnello
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 6,
2017
Abstract
I study the relation between internal governance and creditor governance. A deterioration in creditor governance may increase the agency costs of debt and managerial opportunism at the expense of shareholders. I exploit the introduction of credit default swaps (CDS) as a negative shock to creditor governance. I provide evidence consistent with shareholders pushing for a substitution effect between internal governance and creditor governance. Following CDS introduction, CDS firms reduce managerial risk-taking incentives relative to other firms. At the same time, after the start of CDS trading, CDS firms increase managerial wealth-performance sensitivity, board independence, and CEO turnover performance-sensitivity relative to other firms.
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