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DIW Discussion Papers 826 / 2008
The German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) has been very successful in promoting the deployment of wind power plants and other renewable energy power generating technologies in Germany. The increasing share of EEG-power in the generation portfolio, increasing amounts of fluctuating power generation, and the growing European integration of power markets governed by competition calls for a re-design of the ...
2008| Ole Langniß, Jochen Diekmann, Ulrike Lehr
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DIW Discussion Papers 825 / 2008
The ongoing financial crisis so far cost the German financial sector 38 billion Euros due to losses on its mortgage-related subprime bank exposures. This paper looks for the impact of these losses on the real sector of the economy. First, the financial sector is looked at as part of the overall macro economy in order to identify the direct impact of the write-offs and devaluations of financial assets ...
2008| Stefan Kooths, Matthias Rieger
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DIW Discussion Papers 824 / 2008
Tropical cyclones that make landfall on the coast of the USA are causing increasing economic losses. It is assumed that the losses are largely due to socio-economic developments, i.e. growing wealth and greater settlement of exposed areas. However, it is also thought that the rise in losses is caused by increasing frequency of severe cyclones resulting from climate change. The object of this paper ...
2008| Silvio Schmidt, Claudia Kemfert, Peter Höppe
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DIW Discussion Papers 823 / 2008
We apply the EMF 23 study design to simulate the effects of the reference case and the scenarios to European natural gas supplies to 2025. We use GASMOD, a strategic severallayer model of European gas supply, consisting of upstream natural gas producers, traders in each consuming European country (or region), and final demand. Our model results suggest rather modest changes in the overall supply situation ...
2008| Franziska Holz, Christian von Hirschhausen, Claudia Kemfert
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DIW Discussion Papers 822 / 2008
The increase in liquefied natural gas trade has accelerated the integration of previously segmented markets in North America, Europe, and Asia. This paper provides evidence on the integration of the transatlantic natural gas market. We test the theoretical proposition that in integrating markets commodity prices should move closer than before. Using 2,059 pairs of daily spot prices for natural gas ...
2008| Anne Neumann
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DIW Discussion Papers 821 / 2008
We analyze the relation between European natural gas storage facilities and price patterns at major trading points, considering the theory of storage to derive a testable hypothesis imposed by the non-arbitrage condition. To model the efficiency of the natural gas market, we apply two indirect tests absent the scarcity of European inventory data. We find that operators of storage facilities realize ...
2008| Marcus Stronzik, Margarethe Rammerstorfer, Anne Neumann
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DIW Discussion Papers 820 / 2008
In a carbon constrained world, at least four classes of greenhouse gas mitigation options are available: Energy efficiency, fuel switching, introduction of carbon dioxide capture and storage along with renewable generating technologies, and reductions in emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases. The role of energy technologies is considered crucial in climate change mitigation. In particular, carbon capture ...
2008| Barbara Praetorius, Katja Schumacher
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DIW Discussion Papers 819 / 2008
The real interest partity (RIP) condition combines two cornerstones in international finance, uncovered interest parity (UIP) and ex ante purchasing power parity (PPP). The extent of deviation from RIP is therefore an indicator of the lack of product and financial market integration. This paper investigates whether the nominal exchange rate regime has an impact on RIP. The analysis is based on 15 annual ...
2008| Christian Dreger
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DIW Discussion Papers 818 / 2008
With its resource availability and the prospect of climate friendly technology, coal continues to play an important role in the global energy sector. We develop a complementarity model of the international market for steam coal. We want to analyze the level of competition in this market which is strategic for the importers' security of energy supply. In a spatial equilibrium framework, we assume the ...
2008| Clemens Haftendorn, Franziska Holz
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DIW Discussion Papers 817 / 2008
In several OECD countries, public pay-as-you-go financed pension systems have undergone major reforms in which future retirement benefit promises have been scaled down. A consequence of these reforms is that especially in countries with a tight tax-benefit linkage, the retirement benefit claims of low-income workers might not even exceed the minimum income guarantee which the government provides the ...
2008| Friedrich Breyer, Stefan Hupfeld
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DIW Discussion Papers 816 / 2008
This study explores the prevalence and nature of the regional divide for the Mexican manufacturing production across sub-national regions. We utilize a unique panel of municipality-level data from the manufacturing sector. An important contribution is the use of different panel methods to account for latent regional characteristics and the computation of performance indicators for each municipality ...
2008| Frauke G. Braun, Astrid Cullmann
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DIW Discussion Papers 815 / 2008
In this paper I assert that the entrepreneurial spirit can also exist in salaried jobs. I study the determinants of wages and the labor market success of two kinds of entrepreneurial women in Germany - self-employed and salaried businesswomen - and investigate whether ethnicity is important in these challenging jobs. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel I estimate selection adjusted ...
2008| Amelie Constant
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DIW Discussion Papers 814 / 2008
This paper analyzes the response of the European stock markets to the monetary policy shocks by the European Central Bank using the heteroskedasticity based approach of Rigobon (2003). We find that monetary policy tightening has a heterogeneous impact on the Euro Area sectors on the day the monetary policy is publicly announced. Furthermore, we provide statistical evidence against the use of the popular ...
2008| Konstantin A. Kholodilin, Alberto Montagnoli, Oreste Napolitano, Boriss Siliverstovs
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DIW Discussion Papers 813 / 2008
Monetary growth in the euro area has exceeded its target since several years. At the same time, the money demand function seems to be increasingly unstable if more recent data are used. If the link between money balances and the macroeconomy is fragile, the rationale of monetary aggregates in the ECB strategy has to be doubted. In fact, a rise in the income elasticity after 2001 can be observed, and ...
2008| Christian Dreger, Jürgen Wolters
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DIW Discussion Papers 812 / 2008
The paper studies opinions and attitudes towards immigrants and minorities and their interactions with other barriers to minorities' economic integration. Specifically, we consider the minority experts' own perceptions about these issues, the veracities and repercussions of unfavorable attitudes of natives. Employing newly available data from the IZA Expert Opinion Survey 2007 we depict main trends ...
2008| Amelie Constant, Martin Kahanec, Klaus F. Zimmermann
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DIW Discussion Papers 811 / 2008
This paper introduces a statistical technique, Support Vector Machines (SVM), which is considered by the Deutsche Bundesbank as an alternative for company rating. A special attention is paid to the features of the SVM which provide a higher accuracy of company classification into solvent and insolvent. The advantages and disadvantages of the method are discussed. The comparison of the SVM with more ...
2008| Laura Auria, Rouslan A. Moro
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DIW Discussion Papers 809 / 2008
Our paper deals with modeling the effects of introducing a market-based tool for improving end-users' efficiency in an energy market which is already regulated through a cap-and-trade system for green house gas emissions and a quota system meant to improve competitiveness of energy produced using renewable resources. Our results show that the regulation of energy demand achieves its underlying objects ...
2008| Georg Meran, Nadine Wittmann
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DIW Discussion Papers 808 / 2008
The aim of this paper is to investigate the hypothesis that after leaving the educational system, labour market integration has a causal effect on first-birth decisions. The analysis focuses on two major research questions: First, how is the timing of first parenthood associated with previous labour market performance? Second, can differences in first birth-risks be related to labour market performance? ...
2008| Christian Schmitt
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DIW Discussion Papers 807 / 2008
This paper explores the relationship between risk attitude and asset diversification in household portfolios. We first examine the impact of manifested risk aversion on the total number of distinct assets held in a portfolio (naive diversification). The second part of the paper focuses on a more sophisticated strategy of diversification and asks whether financial theory is compatible with observed ...
2008| Nataliya Barasinska, Dorothea Schäfer, Andreas Stephan
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DIW Discussion Papers 806 / 2008
Welfare-oriented analyses of economic outcome measures such as income and wealth generally rest on the assumption of pooled and equally shared resources among all household members. Yet the lack of individual-level data hampers the distribution of income and wealth within the household context. Based on unique individual-level wealth data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this paper challenges ...
2008| Eva M. Sierminska, Joachim R. Frick, Markus M. Grabka