DIW Economic Bulletin

Clients Prefer Flat Fee Contracts: Ten Questions to Jo Seldeslachts

Paying by the Hour: The Least Appealing Option for Clients of Lawyers

In this study, we analyze a client’s choice of contract in auctions where Dutch law firms compete for cases. The distinguishing feature is that lawyers may submit bids with any fee arrangement they wish. We find robust evidence that bids offering hourly rates are less attractive to clients. Our findings tentatively contradict lawyers’ often-made argument that hourly rates are in a client’s best in ...

Ganzes Heft

A Brexit Would Significantly Dampen Germany’s Economic Growth: Seven Questions to Ferdinand Fichtner

German Economy on a Stable Growth Path

Supported by dynamic domestic demand, the German economy is expected to grow by 1.7 percent this year. As consumption and investment in construction are likely to weaken in the coming year, is hardly contributing to growth 2017 should amount to roughly 1.4 percent. Foreign trade is contributing relatively little to growth. In both years of the forecast period, capacities will be at more or less normal ...

Global Growth Still Subdued

The world economy has yet to regain momentum: after the already weak final quarter of 2015, the pace of expansion slowed down again in the first quarter of 2016. In the emerging countries’ economies, growth is expected to remain subdued, especially in China, where the gradual slowdown continues as overcapacities are reduced. Russia and Brazil are likely to remain in recession: apart from the still-low ...

Ganzes Heft

Germany Remains an Important Research Location for Foreign Companies: Five Questions to Alexander Eickelpasch

Medium-Sized Foreign-Owned German Enterprises Heavily Involved in R&D

In Germany, the share of private investment in research and development (R&D) by foreign-owned companies from the beginning of the millennium to 2011 remained virtually unchanged at around one-quarter. From 2011 to 2013, this share fell slightly, and for the first time since the mid-1990s also the absolute amount decreased. Growth in domestic firms, however, was so high that there was an increase in ...

Ganzes Heft

Design and Pitfalls of Basel’s New Liquidity Rules

Following the financial crisis of 2008/09, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision introduced a new framework for banking regulation, commonly known as Basel III. For the first time since the inception of global banking regulation in 1988, Basel III contains explicit mandatory rules for liquidity regulation. The cornerstones of the new liquidity regulation are two balance sheet ratios that seek ...

Majority of German Public Back UN Refugee Convention: Six Questions to Jürgen Schupp

German Public Opinion on Admitting Refugees

Since the beginning of 2016, the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study has been conducting a monthly survey of German attitudes, expectations, and fears concerning migration. The third wave of the survey,—the Barometer of Public Opinion on Refugees in Germany (Stimmungsbarometer zu Geflüchteten in Deutschland)—, conductedin March 2016, shows that more than half of all respondents still associate the influx ...

Ganzes Heft

Private Utilities Are No More Efficient Than Public Utilities: Six Questions to Astrid Cullmann

No Differences in Efficiency Between Public and Private Utilities

The increase in municipal economic activity in the utilities sector frequently comes under scrutiny. It is presumed that public utilities have less incentive to provide efficient service than private companies. This could result in excessive costs and prices for end users. New microdata on German energy supply companies allow to conduct an empirical analysis for the whole of Germany for the first time. ...

A (Re)Municipalization Trend among Energy Utilities: Truth or Myth?

In the 1990s, a number of municipalities started privatizing their energy utilities; in recent years, there has been an intensive debate about whether a paradigm shift has taken place since then. Cities and municipalities have considered putting the energy, water, gas and heat supply back into the hands of public companies; Berlin and Hamburg are two prominent examples. But is there really an overarching ...

Ganzes Heft

Employment Subject to Mandatory Social Security Contributions Is Anything but Outdated: Eight Questions to Gert G. Wagner

Typical Employment Subject to Mandatory Social Security Contributions Remains the Norm

Since the 1980s, in West Germany has been a substantial decline in the number of people of working age who are not in paid employment. Accordingly, the share of 18- to 67-year-olds without a job has also fallen. This increase in employment figures primarily benefited those in marginal employment or solo entrepreneurs and had less of an impact on those in typical employment. In fact, the present analysis ...