Macroeconomics Department Publications

Sovereign Bond Yield Spreads: A Time-Varying Coefficient Approach

We study the determinants of sovereign bond yield spreads across 10 EMU countries between Q1/1999 and Q1/2010. We apply a semiparametric time-varying coefficient model to identify, to what extent an observed change in the yield spread is due to a shift in macroeconomic fundamentals or due to altering risk pricing. We find that at the beginning of EMU, the government debt level and the general investors' ...

The Influence of Collusion on Price Changes: New Evidence from Major Cartel Cases

In this article, we compare the distribution of price changes between collusive and non-collusive periods for 11 major cartels. Based on the theoretical and empirical results from previous research, we discuss the four moments with respect to price changes (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis). However, none of the above descriptive statistics can be considered as a robust test allowing a differentiation ...

The Russian Regional Convergence Process: Where Is It Leading

This paper investigates income convergence among Russian regions between 1998 and 2006. It makes two major contributions to the literature on regional convergence in Russia. First, it identifies spatial regimes using the exploratory spatial data analysis. Second, it examines the impact of spatial effects on the convergence process. Our results show that the overall speed of regional convergence in ...

Measuring Regional Inequality by Internet Car Price Advertisements: Evidence for Germany

We suggest to use car sale prices from internet advertisements for measuring economic inequality between and within German regions. Our estimates of regional income levels and Gini indices based on advertisements are highly positively correlated with the official figures.

The Long Run Relationship between Private Consumption and Wealth: Common and Idiosyncratic Effects

We investigate the long run relationship between private consumption, disposable income and wealth approximated by equity and house price indices for a panel of 15 industrialized countries. Consumption, income and wealth are cointegrated in their common components. The impact of house prices exceeds the effect arising from equity wealth. The long run vector is broadly in line with the life cycle permanent ...

Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien müssen globale Lieferketten berücksichtigen: Interview

Umweltbelastungen durch Konsum in Deutschland: Globale Wertschöpfungsketten bremsen Fortschritte

Deutschland hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten umweltpolitische Fortschritte erzielt, eine umfassende, konsumbasierte Analyse zeigt aber ein differenzierteres Bild: Betrachtet man nur die inländische Produktion, zeichnet sich in vielen Umweltkategorien ein positiver Trend ab. Werden jedoch die Umweltbelastungen einbezogen, die entlang der gesamten globalen Lieferkette entstehen, überschreitet der Konsum ...

Sozial-ökologische Transformation: Resilienz, Konsummuster und Klimasorgen im Spiegel aktueller Daten: Editorial

Europa kann Amerika nicht „verkaufen“, aber sich unabhängiger machen: Kommentar

Kommunale Investitionen: Potenzial und Grenzen des Sondervermögens Infrastruktur und Klimaneutralität

Kommunen tragen maßgeblich die öffentliche Daseinsvorsorge, doch trotz steigender Bruttoinvestitionen blieben die realen Zuwächse unzureichend und die seit Jahren negativen Nettoinvestitionen weisen auf erheblichen Substanzverzehr hin. Das Sondervermögen Infrastruktur und Klimaneutralität (SVIK) kann zur Stärkung der kommunalen Investitionstätigkeit beitragen und regionale Unterschiede verringern. ...