DIW Economic Bulletin

Violent Conflicts Increase the Risk of Domestic Violence in Colombia

Over the past 50 years, Colombian society has experienced a violent conflict between government forces and right-wing paramilitary groups on the one hand, and left-wing guerrilla groups on the other. Moreover, a high proportion of women in Colombia are victims of domestic violence. The present study examines whether there is a correlation between the conflict and violence against women. The findings ...

Impact of Education Programs in Colombian Conflict Areas: Children Attend School More Frequently But Performance Has Barely Improved

Policy programs in developing countries aimed at supporting certain sectors of the population in individual areas play a crucial role in development cooperation. Examples include programs to improve access to education. But what impact do such programs really have? The present study by DIW Berlin examines the impact of a welfare program on the learning success and participation of children in Colombian ...

Forced Displacement Detrimental to the Health of Children in Colombia

Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced refugees in the world after Syria. The decade-long ongoing armed conflict between the Colombian police and the armed forces, paramilitaries, and guerilla groups has caused 5.7 million people—more than ten percent of the population—to flee their homelands. Many of them are women and children, driven off their lands, in most cases, to the misery ...

Extreme Winters Affect Children’s Height: Six Questions to Kati Krähnert

The Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Children’s Height: Evidence from Mongolia

Shocks experienced during early childhood can harm the long term growth of children. We examine the potential impact of extreme weather events on children’s height,taking the example of Mongolia, which is frequently plagued by extreme winters. Our focus is on the unusually harsh winter of 2009/10, which caused the deaths of over 10 million animals, approximately 23.9 percent of the country’s entire ...

Ganzes Heft

European Unemployment Insurance: Economic Stability without Major Redistribution of Household Incomes

Depending on how it is structured, the introduction of a European unemployment insurance within the euro area could make a significant contribution to stabilizing economic developments. This even applies to a relatively small-scale system (based on the volume of transfers) with a maximum eligibility period of six months and transfers of 30 percent of last net salary. Higher payments would amplify the ...

Safe Bonds for the European Monetary Union: Strengthening Bailout Ban with More Robust Financial System

The cost of state bankruptcy in the euro area is incalculable due to the repercussions for the financial system. As a result of contagion effects, there is a risk that the entire Monetary Union could be pushed into deep recession. This forces euro area member states to implement rescue packages during periods of crisis, at a high costto taxpayers. The bailout policy adopted during the most recent crisis ...

Debt Restructuring in the Euro Area: How Can Sovereign Debt Be Restructured More Effectively?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated in spring of this year that a more timely restructuring of Greece’s sovereign debt would have been beneficial. But what are the available options for early debt restructuring? The report argues that current reforms in the Euro area, in particular, introducing collective action clauses, are unlikely to be sufficient in their present form. Alternatively, a ...

Fiscal Devaluation: Economic Stimulus for Crisis Countries in the Euro Area

Member countries of the euro area, and the peripheral states in particular, face an especially difficult problem: on the one hand, they urgently need stronger economic growth to reduce high debt and unemployment levels. On the other hand, however, they have no scope to use fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. One way to strengthen economic growth without burdening public finances might be to implement ...

Economic Reinvention: Greece's Path Forward: Six Questions to Alexander Kritikos

Greece Needs a Strategy for Its Transition to an Innovation Economy

Although Greece is showing initial signs of recovering from its 2008 crash, its economy continues to suffer. It has become clear that the economy will not become prosperous only by the given recommendations of the so called Troika, namely by cutting costs and public expenditures, and by making institutional reforms, as much as these steps are needed. If nothing else changes, the country will have a ...

Ganzes Heft

GDP-Linked Loans for Greece

Greece is standing at a crossroads. The need for a third rescue package has now become a critical issue. The Greek government is calling for another de facto-public debt restructuring. An alternative option presented here would be to convert existing GLF loans into GDP-linked loans. Interest payments would then be linked to the development of Greece’s GDP. First, this would reduce the likelihood of ...

Banking Union and Bank Regulation: Banking Sector Stability in Europe

Despite the most recent period of calm on the financial markets, the long-term resilience of the European financial system is not yet assured, even several years after the financial crisis began. However, the stability of the financial system playsa crucial role for real economic development and consequently for growth and prosperity. The financial crisis has shown that stricter regulation is required ...

The European Central Bank as Lender of Last Resort

In the wake of the recent European debt crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) has grown significantly in importance. As the crisis worsened, the ECB needed to take measures that went far beyond standard monetary policy operations - particularly with respect to its function as lender of last resort. It provided the banking sector with almost unlimited liquidity and, in addition, purchased government ...

Stabilizing the European Monetary Union: High Time for More Reforms! Seven Questions to Ferdinand Fichtner

Making the Euro Area Fit for the Future

The crisis in the European currency area is not yet over. Although the situation in the financial markets is currently relatively calm, the economic crisis appears to be bottoming out in most countries. Nevertheless, there are still fundamental design flaws in the Monetary Union. If these are not fully addressed, it will only be a matter of time before a new crisis hits, and a partial or complete breakup ...

Ganzes Heft

Nuclear Power: Phase-Out Model Yet to Address Final Disposal Issue

Three years after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima one observes a certain momentum with regard to lifetime extensions as well as some interest in new building ofnuclear power plants. Advocates of nuclear power argue in term of low-cost electricity generation, a secure supply as well as a contribution against climate change. The Reference Scenario of the European Commission - which sets the agenda ...