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Disrupted identities of inhabitants in old industrial and other less developed regions are seldom an issue of regional policies, even though people's attachment to their residential environment can influence territorial development. It is the aim of this paper to assess the reach of regional policy to strengthen place attachment and the place identity of inhabitants. We do so by analysing the development and implementation process of the novel participatory and place-sensitive policy programme #heimatruhr. The programme aimed to renew residents' attachment and emotional bonds with their neighbourhoods in the old industrial region Ruhr in Germany through arts and social innovation-based initiatives. It was designed in an experimental process and followed an open, co-creative, and transformative proceeding. The key to place-sensitivity was the integration of participants during the entire programme development and implementation from the early phases onwards. Our findings suggest that supporting people-centred place-making practices as part of regional policies can positively influence residents' place attachment. Therefore, place-based policies should not only target local economic development but also include an explicit people-centred perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest products trade has a critical role to play in both global economic development and environmental protection. Based on the trade data of global forest products, raw forest products, and processed forest products from 2000 to 2020, this paper constructed a trade network and analyzed its pattern by using indicators such as density, average distance, out-strength, and in-strength. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the global trade network of forest products has been increasingly connected. Compared with the trade of raw material forest products, the trade network of processed forest products is more closely connected and its transport efficiency is higher. Countries with high GDP such as USA, China, and Germany are leading trading countries in forest products. Countries with abundant forest resources are the major exporters of raw forest products, while labor- and capital-abundant countries are major exporters of processed forest products. Countries with abundant labor and capital and high GDP are the main importers of raw forest products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While promoting the economic growth, energy has also brought pollution problems to the world environment, which has gradually become a bottleneck impeding sustainable economic development. In view of the rapid evolution of urbanization and industrialization, economic growth is increasingly dependent on the energy consumption, the development of the two is difficult to coordinate, and the internal contradictions are becoming increasingly serious, which hinders the sustainable development of economic growth. This study establishes the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth according to the energy Kuznets curve and studies the future trend of China's sustainable development through the comparative analysis of the energy Kuznets curve of the United States and Germany. The results show that, at the turning point of energy consumption, China's energy economic rate is higher than that of Germany and the United States. In addition, in terms of urbanization rate and industrial structure, although China's tertiary industry has made a breakthrough, it is still lower than that of the United States and Germany, but the level of urbanization rate has made significant progress. In short, China has obvious advantages in future economic development and has a late developing advantage compared with the United States and Germany. This paper makes an empirical analysis of the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in OECD countries and finds out the turning point of energy consumption, so as to provide a theoretical basis for coordinating China's energy consumption and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses an extremely current phenomenon: migration in opposite directions of FDI and labour, in context with the permanent need for economic growth and welfare. The analysis is carried out over a period of 12 years, in the context of setting objectives and working hypotheses regarding the realization of a correlation model of phenomena and optimization of migration flows in order to obtain welfare through economic development. The results of the research will reflect the relevance of the aggregation of the two migratory flows (FDI and labour) in order to obtain the financial leverage effect and the economic welfare in the analysed regions (EU, Germany and Romania).The conclusions of the study reflect the relevance of the method, the validity of the model and its relevance for the decision forums interested in the economic development and in increasing the population welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany is among the largest countries in the world in terms of total GDP, owing largely to rapid industrialization and expansion of economic activities into several sectors. This paper contributes to the literature on German economic development by investigating the evolution of industry diversification in Germany; particularly focusing on the recent concepts of related (RV) and unrelated variety (UV) in West German regions. It also identifies the statistical and economic determinants of variation in variety over time. Among several industry structure measures; RV is the only measure that reveals a pronounced increasing trend. Since RV is composed of two parts: 1) entropy at five-digit within a two-digit classification, and 2) shares of two-digit sectors in total output, we examined which of the two components dominate. Our findings suggest that the entropy component within two-digit sectoral shares of the RV index is more dominant than the two-digit sectoral shares themselves. We further examined entries and exits of the firms among regions with top and bottom rankings in RV. Findings suggest that both the top and bottom regions experienced an increase in the total number of industries, however, exits were much less pronounced in the bottom regions. It suggests that an increase in variety among top regions is the result of the creative destruction type effect where new industries force inefficient old industries to leave the region. Finally, analysis shows support for the inverse u-shaped relationship between development and diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a shrinking population and a rising dependency ratio, Germany needs young migrants, willing and able to integrate with the German society and actively participate in its economic progress. In order to devise successful immigration and integration policies, policymakers should be aware of the factors affecting migrants' intentions and decisions. In this paper we explore the impact of different measures of subjective well-being on the intended duration of migration stay. Unlike previous research that focused on a binary outcomes of stay intentions, we utilize more detailed data on the year length of intended stay. This way we are able to estimate the marginal effects of happiness on each additional year of stay. With and without addressing endogeneity and sample selection, we find that migrants who are happy with life tend to stay permanently in the host country. Our results also suggest that spouse residence location, education and personal income affect male intentions to stay, while peer income and number of children affect female intentions to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical analysis of CO2emissions and economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and energy consumption over the period 1975–2014 in Germany. This paper uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach of cointegration test and vector error-correction models. The unit root and cointegration tests show that the long-run relationship between CO2emissions and its determinants. The empirical results show that the findings do not support the environmental Kuznets curve between real GDP and CO2emissions. To estimate the shocks of renewable energy consumptions, the study applies the dynamic test of Impulse Response Function (IRF) under the VAR method. The increasing portion of renewable energy consumption in electricity generation would have no impacts on the environment. However, the hikes of renewable energy sources would incur more cost to electricity producers and shrivel up the growth of economies through the expansionary effect of industry’s consumption and private capital spending in the Germany’s economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-Development has reproduced the ‘development gaze’ by focusing on interventions and struggles in the South. This paper draws attention to the German version of degrowth, Postwachstum, as a possible Post-Development approach in the North. It thus contributes to the Post-Development agenda by including the North as a ‘development’ problem and by overcoming the view of the North as a homogeneous neo-liberal, capitalist, Eurocentric bloc. The paper examines key Postwachstum contributions with regard to their correspondence to insights of and gaps in the Post-Development debate. It argues that Postwachstum needs to include a postcolonial perspective on global inequalities and question the ‘development’–modernity–coloniality nexus more profoundly in order to provide a valuable contribution to the Post-Development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the economic relations between Turkey and Germany, Turkey's number one trade partner for over a century. It first ascertains that the relations between the two countries are based on mutual interests rather than "historical friendship" or "brotherhood of arms." Second of all, this paper explains, with data, how trade and mutual investments between Turkey and Germany have been developed. Third of all, this paper determines that the level of economic relations between Turkey and Germany is lower than it should be, considering their foreign policy orientations based on economic interest. Lastly, this paper underlines potential areas of contribution to the development of expanded economic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies toward the diffusion of electric vehicles received a lot of attention in the latest years in many developed countries. Yet the real costs and benefits for society as a whole of this technology have received limited attention from economists. In this context, the present paper proposes a thorough cost benefit analysis of policies for the development of electric vehicles in Germany. It also reviews the main existing models of EV diffusion to shed light on the modeling issues underlying the evaluation of EV policies. Elaborating on a comprehensive simulation model, it shows that the potential for EV is fairly limited while there is more room for intermediate technologies like Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles and Range Extenders. The paper concludes that most of the investigated policies have a negative benefit-cost balance. These results are strongly driven by the regulatory framework in which EV diffusion could take place and especially the Car Average Fleet Emission regulation EU 443. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special double issue of the International Social Security Review addresses the question of the essential roles that national social security systems play in contributing to social and economic objectives and does so through the lens of the Dynamic Social Security conceptual framework. In 2007, the International Social Security Association adopted Dynamic Social Security as the strategic concept to guide its actions. The concept aims to positively influence two outcomes: improvements in social security coverage and improvements in social security administration. The set of papers comprising this issue tackle questions relating primarily to the former. On the basis of country examples, the broad aim of this special issue is to take stock of the strategic concept and its 'dimensions' as a framework to guide the sustainable development of social security systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the roles of institutions in facilitating or impeding the creation of new technological pathways in different countries. It is argued that the successful invention, innovation and diffusion of new technologies require the co-evolution of relevant institutions. It is argued that informal institutions, through their impact on people's beliefs, perceptions and consequential behaviour, crucially influence whether formal institutions coevolve with technological development and changing circumstances. At the same time, the rigidity of the pre-existing formal institutional arrangements impacts on whether agents can stimulate their co-evolution with the introduction of new technologies. These arguments are explored by comparing the creation of new wind power technologies in Britain and Germany since the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the relationship between potato prices and potato production is important for understanding industry developments. The analysis of the effect of potato production on potato prices was presented in two AJPR articles: Pavlista and Feuz (American Journal of Potato Research 82:339-343, 2005) and Loy et al. (American Journal of Potato Research 85:438-444, 2011). The articles estimated inverse potato demand in the U.S. and Germany, respectively, during the period of 1980-2003. They hypothesized that the potato price response to changes in potato production may be affected by a shift in consumer demand towards increasing consumption of processed potatoes in the U.S. and by socio-economic changes in Germany. This paper extends the existing research by analyzing the recent price developments in the U.S. potato industry. The empirical results indicate that the potato price response to changes in potato production was different during the period of 2005-2010, as compared to the periods of 1993-2004 and 2011-2016, which coincided with the implementation of the potato acreage management program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, the German political economy has increasingly relied on export specialisation as a strategy for economic recovery. This export-led development strategy turned out to be a mixed blessing. While, on the one hand, specialisation in high-quality manufactured goods has preserved Germany’s competitive edge vis-à-vis many other industrialised countries, it has, on the other hand, led to an increasing dependency on exports as the engine for growth. There has been no equally strong evolution of a domestic service economy beyond manufacturing-related services. The issue of export dependency becomes increasingly important in light of the financial crisis and global imbalances, vis-à-vis Greece and the Eurozone but also globally. Weak aggregate demand depresses both domestic employment and endangers the still fragile construction of the Eurozone. The paper argues that Germany finds itself in an export-dependency trap due to imbalances between domestic services and export-driven manufacturing. It analyses three sources for the over-reliance on export-oriented manufacturing and weak employment in domestic services: firstly, the industrial relations system, secondly, the social insurance financing of the welfare state and thirdly, fiscal federalism. All three are fundamental pillars of the German political economy and locked into political coalitions that are not easily changed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High-skilled groups are regarded as a key asset for economic growth and urban development and are thus increasingly targeted by cities. Within this context, the paper analyses the effects of urban decline and intra-national migration trends on cities. The impact of both processes on population development varies considerably between cities and regions and calls for micro- and macro-level policy responses. The contribution focuses on the local impact of the (out-)migration of higher-skilled groups and addresses the research questions: how do local stakeholders and decision-makers evaluate the consequences of the out-migration of highly qualified residents and how are they responding? Our analysis combines the findings of two research projects and draws mainly on qualitative data. The case studies are located in Germany and comprise three medium-sized cities outside of major agglomerations and three large cities within metropolitan areas. The six cities share the common characteristic of urban decline as a result of structural change and have been experiencing population decline. While medium-sized cities lose the highly skilled after they complete schooling, larger old industrial cities lose them after they complete higher education degrees. The paper discusses the implications of intra-national migration for these cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Low rates of internal migration in many European countries contribute to the persistence of significant regional labor market differences. I use the Mikrozensus, a large annual sample of households living in Germany, to further our understanding of the underlying reasons. This paper makes two main contributions: first, the paper quantifies the disutility of migrating. To this end, I estimate conditional logit models of the migration decision across the German federal states. Second, I then focus on the differences between immigrants and natives. I find significantly higher responsiveness to labor market differentials in the immigrant population than in the native population. Unobserved moving costs for immigrants are estimated to be only about 31 percent of this same cost for natives. The findings bear on the assessment of the economic impact of immigration, and the paper contributes to the current immigration-related policy debates that feature prominently in many European countries, and that likely will continue to be important in light of the ongoing EU expansion and the resulting east-west migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of industrialisation shows how new technologies triggered social and economic revolutions, and how traditional jobs were replaced or changed by the use of machines. There are signs of highly dynamic changes in the learning and working environment of the 21st century, with serious global social consequences similar to the industrial revolution. In the working environment, computers assist people and reduce their workload in a variety of ways. With increasing computing power and advanced memory technologies, they master the basics of autonomous machine learning. Intelligent algorithms are increasingly taking control, with the result that in many occupations, decisions are already routinely taken by software systems and not by people any more. Within just a few decades, information technology and its associated technological requirements have become the catalyst for a highly industrialised society. Developments in microelectronics are progressing at exponential speed, which will also have far-reaching social consequences for vocational fields outside of the information and communication technologies. Impacts of the knowledge and information society include changes in the nature of work towards an increasingly important service sector and a significant increase in knowledge work. This is accompanied by a decline in the working population (demographic change) and the need for a modified workplace design in context of the changed age structure of the workforce. This Paper intends to explore on basis of the findings from the most recent German Foresight Exercise (BMBF Foresight Cycle II), how technological innovations in the field of ICT will dramatically change structures and ways of communication, collaboration and work. Some alternative development paths and implications for the areas job, career, production and work are scrutinized and discussed. Possible developments depend on the degree of autonomy of computer systems and the extent to which humans lose control over these systems; while - of course - the boundaries between conceivable scenarios are fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: After decades of growth in motorization and car use, recent trends suggest stagnating travel demand in Germany. This paper focuses on travel trends of young German adults between 18 and 29. For decades these young adults represented one of the most car oriented age groups. Until the 1990s car use increased for all age groups in Germany, including young adults. Based on a range of primary and secondary data sources this paper finds that since the turn of the millennium car use among young adults has decreased. We identify two important underlying trends. First, an increasing share of young drivers also uses alternative modes of transport, thus indicating a rise in multimodal travel behavior. Second, gender differences in car travel have largely disappeared among young Germans—mainly because young men reduced car ownership and driving more than young women. These trends have led to an overall decrease of automobile travel by young adults and contributed to an increase of travel by other modes of transport. Decreasing automobile travel by young adults helps explain the stagnation of aggregate travel demand in Germany, since declining car use among young adults offsets increases in automobile travel of older individuals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Spatial labour markets are subjected to the forces of regional economic activity and competing network effects. Commuting is, therefore, an important equilibrating vehicle in a City Network constellation. Cities act as attractors of commuters, as most economic activity occurs in cities, thus providing a high share of attractive workplaces. Cities that are centrally connected in a network may act as both centripetal and centrifugal forces in the whole system. The present paper focuses on what is named the City Network (CN) approach. A central idea is the accessibility concept, which is interpreted here as the potential of opportunity for interaction, which has a positive impact on economic growth. In our paper, the accessibility concept and the CN concept are linked together by positioning accessibility in the CN system. Since accessibility measures give geographical insights into the distribution of economic activities and the related (dis)equilibrium of regional development patterns, the connection with the labour market is evident, and, therefore, a second focus of our analysis. In an applied setting, our paper aims to investigate spatial accessibility patterns in the main CN in Germany. The 17 districts which belong to the country’s CN were chosen from the 439 German labour market districts on the basis of three criteria: (a) their connection to the high speed railway network; (b) the most accessible districts according to previous results (2002); (c) relevant districts for the German economy. Our applied modelling research concerns home-to-work commuters travelling between the selected districts belonging to the German CN, for both 2003 and 2007. Here, a comparative analysis of the ranking of the most accessible districts – also for different intra-zonal travel times – is carried out in order to map out the changes in accessibility between 2003 and 2007, especially in the light of new high speed connections and commuting flow dynamics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

large part of the work in economic geography and other social sciences has focused on new growth prospects due to the establishment of global production chains and the rise of new clusters of industrial activity. Much less attention has been paid to former growth industries and regions that have recently experienced shrinking processes due to internationalization. This paper will explore the cases of two chemical regions, i.e. southern Hessen, Germany and Rhone-Alpes, France. These two areas have both undergone drastic restructuring since the mid-1990s, due to the merger of the prominent chemical groups Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc into Aventis. Instead of investigating the development of the core activities at Aventis, we will focus on the operations that were considered less important and consequently split off. In addition to the negative consequences produced by these activities, in our analysis we also emphasize regional opportunities which arise from competence building, reorientation and new firm formation. These processes can be viewed as re-bundling existing and new knowledge bases with other resources to help overcome economic crises and develop a new competitive edge. As such, the paper aims to contribute to a relational understanding of economic globalization and regional restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it studies whether output volatility and growth are linked at the firm-level, using data for German firms. Second, it explores whether the link between volatility `and growth depends on the degree of credit market imperfections. Design/methodology/approach — The authors use a novel firm-level' dataset provided by the Deutsche Bundesbank, the so-called Financial Statements Data Pool. The dataset has time series observations for German firms for the period 1997-2004, and the authors use information on the debt-to-assets or leverage ratio of firms to proxy for credit-constraints at the firm-level. As additional proxies for the importance of credit market imperfections, we use information on the size and on the legal status of firms. Findings — The authors find that higher volatility has a negative impact on growth for small and a positive impact for larger firms. Higher leverage is associated with higher growth. At the same time, there is heterogeneity in the determinants of growth across firms from different sectors and across firms with a different legal status. Practical implications — While most traditional macroeconomic models assume that growth and volatility are uncorrelated, a number of microeconomic models suggest that the two may be linked. However, it is unclear whether the link is positive or negative. The paper presents additional evidence regarding this question. Moreover, understanding whether credit market conditions affect the link between volatility and growth is of importance for policy makers since it suggests a channel through which the credit market can have long-run welfare implications. The results stress the importance of firm-level heterogeneity for the effects and effectiveness of economic policy measures. Originality/value — The paper has two main novel features. First, it uses a novel firm-level dataset to analyze the determinants of firm-level growth. Second, it analyzes the growth-volatility nexus using firm-level data. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper, which addresses the link between volatility, growth, and credit market imperfections using firm-level data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the high rates of economic growth of the US economy and the remarkable acceleration of productivity growth since the mid-1990s which is widely attributed to the modern information and communication technologies (ICTs). Design/methodology/approach After identifying three key factors for Solow's productivity puzzle and examining ICTs as a general purpose technology, three main channels of ICTs' impact in the economy are discussed: the first transmission channel is direct and consists of the effects generated by rapid technical progress within the ICT-capital goods producing sector. The second one is due to the increasing accumulation and application of ICT goods and services in the user sectors. ICTs' positive spillover effects comprise the third transmission channel, i.e. they lead to "disembodied" increases in efficiency in the sense of "learning by doing" in the end-user sector. Findings - The diffusion of ICTs requires investment in all industries, i.e. the improvement of competitiveness on the macro level is strongly linked to investment activities and skill qualifications on the micro level. Research limitations/implications The paper concludes with some comparisons between the US and the German economy where the acute need for infrastructure investment in East Germany in the 1990s limited the possibilities for investment in ICTs exactly at a time of high-technological dynamism at the start of an upswing of a new Kondratieff cycle. Although some comparisons with the EU are made the impact of ICTs in other countries except the USA and Germany is not discussed more intensively. Practical implications A very useful source of information for graduate students and policy makers alike on the theoretical and empirical impact of new technologies on economic development. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an information need for comparing growth in international perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas initially physical capital and later, knowledge capital were viewed as crucial for growth, more recently a very different factor, entrepreneurship capital, has emerged as a driving force of economic growth. In this paper, we define a region's capacity to create new firms start-ups as the region's entrepreneurship capital. We then investigate the local embeddedness of this variable and which variables have an impact on this variable. Using data for Germany, we find that knowledge-based entrepreneurship capital is driven by local levels of knowledge creation and the acceptance of new ideas, indicating that local knowledge flows play an important role. Low-tech entrepreneurship capital is rather increased by regional unemployment and driven by direct incentives such as subsidies. All three measures are locally clustered, indicating that indeed, entrepreneurship capital is a phenomenon that is driven by local culture, and is therefore locally bounded. Mientras que inicialmente el capital físico, y posteriormente el capital conocimiento, fue considerado crucial para el crecimiento, más recientemente un factor muy diferente, el capital empresarial de espíritu emprendedor ( entrepreneurship capital), ha surgido como una fuerza impulsora de crecimiento económico. En este artículo, definimos como capital empresarial emprendedor la capacidad de una región para originar la puesta en marcha de nuevas empresas. A continuación investigamos el arraigo local de esta variable y las variables que tienen un impacto sobre esta variable. Usando datos de Alemania, hallamos que el capital empresarial emprendedor basado en el conocimiento está motivado por niveles locales de creación de conocimiento y la aceptación de nuevas ideas, indicando que los flujos de conocimiento local juegan un papel importante. El capital empresarial emprendedor basado en bajas tecnologías aumenta con el desempleo regional y está motivado por incentivos directos como subsidios. Las tres variables están agrupadas localmente ( locally clustered), indicando que sin duda el capital empresarial emprendedor es un fenómeno motivado por la cultura local, y por tanto atribuible a una localidad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to assess the determinants and impact of employer sponsored further training on wage growth in West Germany over the period 1992 to 2002. Design/methodology/approach - Following a descriptive narrative on further training and wages in Germany, data derived from the West German sub-sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel is being utilised, which has the main advantage of providing detailed information about the respondents' labour market histories prior to and after 1992. The information provides powerful predictors, controlling for the endogeneity of the training participation decision when estimating a wage growth equation. To assess the impact of training on wages, Heckman selectivity corrected wage equations are used, with the selection being based on a probit model for the probability that an individual receives firm-sponsored training. Findings - The analysis provides details of significant gender differences in both, the incidence and earnings impact of further training. The results show that further training has a strong positive effect on wages. However, gender inequality issues remain a salient feature of the German training system, which further training only reinforces. The analysis also suggests that the economic conditions during Germany's post-unification period may have mitigated some of the potential benefits of further training on wage growth. Originality/value- Despite its growing importance, the determinants and earnings impact of employer-sponsored, further training have attracted little attention in the empirical literature. Even less is known about the impact of further training during Germany's post-unification period. This paper adds value by contributing to this fledgling field of investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore a series of issues and tensions raised by the papers in this Special Issue of Environmental Education Research . The papers focus on developments in environmental education and ESD research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In order to provide an alternative framework for contextualising and understanding the trends and challenges illustrated in the collection, we begin with an examination of Germany’s green political movement, both at the level of national politics but also in relation to broader cultural shifts that have taken place in recent years. We then invite further debate on environmental education and ESD by focusing on three nodes within the discourse on these complex, dynamic and linked fields of theory and practice. First, we explore the themes of compatibility and compliance regarding environmental education and the ‘global’ as two of the key ingredients to ESD. Second, we consider the growing dominance of competency-based approaches to ESD, primarily in terms of educational standards projects, but also in relation to images of the human therein. Third, we look into understandings of agency in relation to innovation and change, including the role of NGOs in research and policy-making, and the sources and drivers of possible frames for future research agendas. The article ends by inviting wider discussion and critique of the achievements, tensions and challenges for research and development in environmental education and ESD, both in the three countries, and further afield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous cross-sectional tests have been performed to evaluate the predictions of recent growth theories such as the Uzawa–Lucas growth model. In a series of papers and in his book, Jones [Q. J. Econ. 110 (1995a) 495; J. Political Econ. 103 (1995b) 759; The upcoming slowdown in US economic growth, Stanford University, Stanford] has shifted the attention toward the time series predictions of endogenous growth models. By contrasting endogenous growth models with facts, one is frequently confronted with the prediction that levels of economic variables, such as human capital, imply lasting effects on the per capita growth rate of an economy. As stylized facts show, measures of education or human capital in most advanced countries have dramatically increased, mostly more than the gross domestic production (GDP). Yet, the growth rates have roughly remained constant or even declined. In this paper we modify the growth effects of education and human capital in our variant of the Uzawa–Lucas growth models and test the model using time series data for the US and Germany from 1962.1 to 1996.4. We consider two versions. In the first, we treat the time spent for education as exogenously given and we neglect the external effect of human capital. In the second version, the time spent for education is an endogenous variable and the external effect of human capital is taken into account. Our results demonstrate that the model is compatible with the time series for aggregate data in those countries. The parameters fall into reasonable ranges. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the theoretical concept that a city is always influenced by the relations it has to its hinterland and to other cities. Taylor and colleagues point out that city-city relations and city-hinterland relations can be understood as two sides of a coin. Using this conception the polycentric structure and dynamics of the German urban system can be described through: (i) metropolitan functions representing city-hinterland relations (cosmopolitanity) and (ii) a network of cities representing city-city relations (connectivity). Measuring separately the degrees of cosmopolitanity and connectivity, we look at whether the German urban system after reunification has grown together, becoming one balanced urban system, and what role Berlin - as the new capital in the overall system - now has. The results of the two perspectives are compared and analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, the potential of cultural activities to contribute to regional economic development has been increasingly recognised. This paper provides an analysis of the importance of the cultural sector for the economic prosperity of an urban region using the example of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. It argues that the evaluation of the role of this sector involves the assessment of its direct contribution to regional performance and its impact on the competitiveness of other economic activities located there. The paper contains an empirical part where an effort is made to measure these effects. Finally, the role played by cultural initiatives in the regional development of the urban area of Karlsruhe is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is ample evidence on the linkage between public debt and economic growth for national economies, far fewer investigations have been carried out at the subnational level. In this paper, we therefore study the long- and short-term relationship between regional public debt intensities and economic output (growth) for German federal states between 1970 and 2010. We estimate dynamic error correction models, which account for heterogeneous transmission mechanisms among federal states and the presence of unobserved common factors such as global macroeconomic shocks. Our findings hint at a significantly negative relationship between regional public debt and per capita GDP in the long run. We further demonstrate that this negative long-term effect is not negligible for the interregional differences in per capita GDP levels. Linking our empirical findings to the current policy debate on fiscal consolidation, we show along the lines of the German case that the decision of enacting a constitutional debt brake for subnational governments to limit the degree of discretionary spending policies together with supplementary measures – such as joint capital market operations by the central and state-level governments to lower borrowing costs – may provide new stimuli for a European-wide debate on the feasibility of solid fiscal consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing utilization of renewable energy sources (RES) is a major energy policy strategy in many countries worldwide. Germany is a forerunner in the deployment of RES and has ambitious goals for the future. The support and use of renewables affects the economy: It creates business opportunities in sectors producing renewable energy facilities, but comes with costs related to supporting its deployment. This paper analyses and quantifies the net balance of economic effects associated with renewable energy deployment in Germany until 2030. To this end, we use a novel model, the ‘Sectoral Energy-Economic Econometric Model’. This is an econometric multi-country model which, for Germany, contains a detailed representation of industries, including 14 renewable energy technology sectors. Our results show that renewable energy expansion can be achieved without compromising growth or employment. The analysis reveals a positive net effect on economic growth in Germany. Net employment effects are small, but also positive. Their size depends strongly on labour market conditions and policies. Results at the industry level indicate the size and direction of the need for restructuring across the sectors of the Germany economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every country in the world is characterised by a heterogeneous spatial structure and the existence of regional disparities, and the aim of regional policy is to moderate these inequalities in the spatial development of economic activities. There are certain countries where spatial disparities are extremely large and areas lagging behind belong to one specific geographic area which feature a dual economic structure. There are, specifically, two large areas amongst the developed countries of the European Union whose economic performance lags behind the EU average and whose development paths are unique in many ways. An investigation into the unique development specifics of these two large, but coherent, territories - the regions of Southern Italy (the Mezzogiorno) and Eastern Germany - has attracted the interest of regional scientists for a long time. Today, the name "Mezzogiorno" is synonymous with long-term underdevelopment, whilst the other large area in question was reintegrated into the "mother country" after half a century of separation. Underdevelopment can be detected in almost all elements of the economy, the infrastructure and living conditions. Post-WW2, political constraints forced the German states to strike out along new paths. Five East German Länder and East Berlin were under Soviet occupation, and the planned economy of the German Democratic Republic created in 1949 gave rise to specific patterns of socio-economic development. The development rate of the previously advanced German provinces was considerably lower in the newly formed state than in West German Länder, and in the year of German reunification, labour productivity indices of East German areas were one-third of the West German average. Nevertheless, in the first years of the 2000s, the East German states showed more rapid convergence with the developed regions' average values than did the Southern Italian regions. The present paper aims to explore how various eras have left their mark on the recent regional development of East German states (Länder), what kinds of spatial transformation have occurred, what factors can be detected behind these changes and how spatial disparities have evolved in this vast, but backward, area in the developed Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic economy is an important phenomenon for current sociological research as it allows our identifying several forms of solidarity in business, based on a common ethnic-cultural identity. The main sociological concepts used in this research field are ethnic entrepreneurship and ethnic enclave, the latest studies being especially focused on the immigrants' economic life. The present paper submits a case study on the German Economic Society of Braşov and provides an insight into this ethnic criterion-based business association and into its contribution to the local socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of industrial clusters on regional growth at the German labour market region level using a regional convergence model. Based on the results of an exploratory study of the geography of German industrial clusters, we are able to differentiate the impact of industrial clustering from a horizontal and a vertical perspective while taking regional convergence into consideration. The results indicate that in addition to an all-German process of convergence, a specific East German one can be identified. The different types of industrial clusters show mixed effects within this framework. While vertically isolated industrial clusters have a negative impact on regional growth in this period, positive growth effects can be identified when industrial clusters show an intra-regional vertical interconnectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The observation that some immigrants choose not to integrate into the host society has caused political controversies across European states. This paper hypothesizes that immigrants can exploit social networks of different scales in order to substitute for costly integration. Using a novel dataset of Turkish households in Berlin, which was specifically collected for this analysis, we investigate the determinants of integration as well as the impact of integration and networks on households' economic success. We find evidence that integration promotes income even after accounting for potential endogeneity bias. Using endogenous switching regression model, we test whether local ethnic networks can be successfully used to generate household income. In line with the view that there is a trade-off between integration and the establishment of ethnic contacts, we find that local ethnic and familial networks increase the income of unintegrated migrants, while transnational networks decrease it. Moreover, education is more income improving for integrated than non-integrated immigrants and remaining closely integrated within their own ethnic group is more economically advantageous for poorer households. These results provide evidence that integration is the rational strategy for better-off immigrants while it may be too costly for poorer immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ruhrgebiet, the engine of Western Germany, constitutes a unique social, political and architectural landscape shaped by industry. In the 1950s, during Germany's post-war 'economic miracle', few people imagined that within 50 years, the region's heavy industry would virtually shut down. Fewer still would have predicted that many of industry's remaining structures would become monuments of the German nation. Effecting the transformation from industrial wasteland to European 'Cultural Capital' has required courage and creativity. This paper demonstrates that conservation of industry's remains has been a creative tool for democratic and social progress, shaped as much by 'bottom-up' initiatives as by 'top-down' directives. Workers who took action to save their neighbourhoods and citizens who united to rescue factories sparked the democratization of conservation. In the ensuing decades, conservation created new philosophies for re-imagining a landscape permeated with traces of industry. Ultimately, conservation became a key participant in regional planning through IBA (Internationale Bauausstellung) Emscher Park, which responded to industry's decline with a comprehensive approach to attracting investment, providing better prospects for workers and solving social problems. In the Ruhrgebiet, conservation has not simply memorialized the past - by creating real social progress and democratizing the planning process, it has meaningfully shaped the region's future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility plays a fundamental role in the transport network. In fact, accessibility may be used for investigating the (un)even distribution of economic activities, or the (dis)equilibrium in the development of different regional performances. In particular, accessibility analysis can be considered as a first exploratory step in the understanding of people’s needs and behaviour, especially in the framework of transport network structures. From the methodological viewpoint, accessibility has a long tradition, starting in the 1950’s with the pioneering work by Hansen, who defined accessibility as the potential of opportunity for interaction. Such a definition can also be considered as an integrated framework of all subsequent definitions. The aim of this paper is to explore accessibility in the German commuting network, by focusing attention on the relevance of the impedance form associated with it. The conventional (potential) accessibility function - in the light of the related economic activities - is used as a suitable instrument to identify the major German hub/ attraction nodes. In this formulation, different types of decay functions are used as impedance forms. In our applications we consider home-to-work commuters travelling between 439 German districts, for both 2003 and 2007. We carry out a comparative analysis of the accessibility values in these years, by outlining the different emerging hierarchies, resulting from the use of different impedance forms. In addition, we explore which type of accessibility indicator best matches the connectivity network. The final aim is to identify - by means of different accessibility functions- homogeneous vs. heterogeneous characteristics of the German commuting network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we offer both a broad survey of the literature on fiscal federalism and long-run economic performance, and a detailed report of some of our own recent studies in this field. We look at the difference between study types (cross-country versus single-country studies), and at the relevance of the broader institutional framework into which fiscal decentralization is embedded. We also look into structural change and intergovernmental transfers as a detailed mechanism through which federalism may have an impact on aggregate economic performance. It turns out that fiscal decentralization has no robust effect on growth, but the evidence hints at a positive effect on overall productivity, conditional on the broader institutional framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study attempts to contribute to the better understanding of the economic realization problem of the European higher education innovations by using the science and technology policy approach. The paper points out some imperfections by giving a landscape about the situation in the European Union. While one strand of economic literature suggests that the increased expenditures on R&D and on innovation lead to better economic performances we empirically pinpoint that the thriving expenditures per se are not necessarily enough to stimulate growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Has economic unification succeeded? Assessments differ, depending on the criteria selected, and the benchmark used. In many areas, from productivity to infrastructure and housing, dramatic economic improvements are readily apparent. Yet daunting challenges remain: the speed of productivity convergence has slowed, unemployment remains high and net emigration continues. Looking forward, demographic and fiscal trends pose serious challenges. This paper begins with a brief look back at the experience since 1989 before turning to a discussion of current and future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perhaps two generations after the modest beginning, the FRG's successes and failures have become amenable to a more balanced evaluation. From the vantage point of the "Berlin Republic," the key question has shifted from whether the second German democracy would survive at all, to the reasons for its relatively positive course and to the extent of its lingering problems. This chapter first delves into the emergence of popular myths that characterized the Federal Republic's difficult search for identity. Secondly, it takes a look at some of the West's actual accomplishments in problem-solving, because such a comparison helps explain the eventual collapse of the East. Finally, it scrutinizes several of the competing explanations so as to reveal their political agendas and discuss their analytical limitations. Instead of presenting a simple success story, this reflection therefore strives for a critical appreciation. The paper concludes that at sixty, the FRG has entered a comfortable middle age, leaving be hind some of its earlier drama, but exuding a sense of competent normalcy. The mythical challenges of postwar reconstruction and recovery of international respectability have receded, followed instead by everyday concerns that are much less exhilarating. There are still plenty of problems, ranging from an aging population to a lack of full-day childcare, but they are shared by other advanced industrial societies. Moreover, after a century of first arrogant and then dejected difference, the German Sonderweg has finally come to an end. As a result of the meltdown of the Anglo-American version of unrestrained capitalism, the German model of a socially responsive market economy has even regained some of its prior luster. Hence, the postwar record of cautious incrementalism inspires some confidence that the Germans will also manage to meet the unforeseen political and economic challenges of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the recent worldwide trend towards devolution has been driven by the belief that fiscal decentralisation is likely to have a positive effect on government efficiency and economic growth. It is generally assumed that the transfer of powers and resources to lower tiers of government allows for a better matching of public policies to local needs and thus for a better allocation of resources. These factors, in turn, are expected to lead to an improvement in regional economic performance, if subnational authorities shift resources from current to capital expenditures in search of a better response to local needs. In this paper we test these assumptions empirically by analysing the evolution of subnational expenditure categories and regional growth in Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, and the USA. We find that, contrary to expectations, decentralisation has coincided in the sample countries with a relative increase in current expenditures at the expense of capital expenditures, which has been associated with lower levels of economic growth in countries where devolution has been driven from above (India and Mexico), but not in Spain, where it has been driven from below. We hypothesise that the differences in legitimacy between the central or federal government and subnational governments in top-down and bottom-up processes of devolution may be at the origin of the diverse capacity to deliver greater allocative and productive efficiency and, eventually, greater economic growth by devolved governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper takes as a starting point a combination of an input–output model with a national Ecological Footprint account for Germany in the spirit of Wiedmann et al. [Wiedmann, T., Minx, J., Barrett, J., Wackernagel, M., 2006. Allocating ecological footprints to final consumption categories with input–output analysis. Ecological Economics. 56, 28–48]. Footprint as well as Biocapacity is dealt with at the industry level. Gross output of each industry and final demand for each industry can then be split up into a share that is reconcilable with Biocapacity and another share that corresponds to the ‘Ecological Deficit’. The Ecological Footprint concept is extended in this study by introducing the additional biocapacity necessary for sustaining the given level of economic activity. It is assumed that each industry had to rent the corresponding areas and to apply a given technology in order to make this additional land biophysically productive. That results in an additional technology for each industry leading to an increase in costs and prices. The new price level is directly linked to the share of output that corresponds to Biocapacity overshooting, which is defined by the ‘Ecological Deficit’. Economic indicators can be derived by measuring the income difference brought about by the price increase. This difference corresponds to a Ricardian rent which is due to resource constraints on output growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Different concepts of knowledge and the ways they are valued have influence on the politics of research and development, information, arts, and culture in various countries. In a time when knowledge increasingly gains importance for economic and social development, these concepts of knowledge, as they are defined within society, are receiving greater attention. State governments worldwide aim for the creation of ‘knowledge societies’. At the core of these knowledge-based futures lie particular understandings of knowledge in each country, which determine what kinds of knowledge society are constructed. This paper attempts to grasp the dominant concepts of knowledge in Germany and Singapore as reflected in state activities and budgeting. The data suggest that the dominant concepts of knowledge in both countries differed widely in the past, which was in great part due to the structural realities in each country. Yet in recent times, with the common goals of economic growth and the exposure to global competition, these concepts of knowledge seem to increasingly converge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1980s there existed a deep fascination in the UK with what makes Germany successful. This has dissolved somewhat in the last 15 years as Germany has struggled with the challenges of reunification and globalisation. Since 1997 the UK has focused on the drivers of productivity and wealth creation in the interests of closing the 'productivity gap' with the US. In contrast, productivity improvements in Germany have been regarded as something of a 'luxury problem' for policy makers who have had to facilitate systemic change in eastern Germany and adaptation in the old Länder. This paper looks at the systemic adaptation in Germany from a UK perspective and argues that, although structural reform still has some way to go, the endogenous growth drivers of the German economy are strong, and visibly stronger than in the UK. It is argued that commentators and policy makers alike have been ignoring the real issue in the debate about the future of the German economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates the importance of nature experience for environmental knowledge, values and action. Recent empirical German research on the importance of nature experience will be analysed with regard to research foci, innovative research contributions and selected research results. Research deficits and challenges will be identified. Recommendations for improving nature experience research will be given. The paper argues that nature experience is one central foundation for the development of knowledge and values in relation to the environment. Nature experience has frequently been shown to influence environmental action in everyday situations with low task complexity. The full challenge for education for sustainable development is posed, however, by situations of high factual and ethical complexity. In this regard, nature experience is also essential because of its role in fostering assessment and judgement competences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the causal relationship between growth of bank assets and economic performance (economic growth, capital accumulation, productivity). We analyze new data for German banking (Burhop, C., 2002. Die Entwicklung der deutschen Aktienkreditbanken von 1848 bis 1913: Quantifizierungsversuche. Bankhistorisches Archiv 28, 103–128.) and improved national accounting data (Burhop, C., Wolff, G.B., 2005. A compromise estimate of Germany’s Net National Product 1851–1913 and its relevance for economic growth and cycles. forthcoming, Journal of Economic History.) with several recent VAR/VEC based causality tests. Only weak evidence for a causal influence of banks on economic performance on a nation-wide level is detected. On the other hand, the results support the bank-led growth hypothesis for the modern sector of the German economy. In particular, joint-stock credit banks positively influenced capital formation during the early decades of Germany’s industrialization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Members of the European Union, Germany and Bulgaria are united by the same values and expectations. Both countries aim to closer relations in order to insure economic growth and a high competitiveness level. The objective of this article is to present, from a historical approach, the evolution of the economic and political relations between Bulgaria and Germany. The methodological process adopted in the present analyses is of both qualitative and quantitative nature. The article uses data from theoretical and empirical research on the economic and politic relations between Germany and Bulgaria and presents them from a historical perspective. Even though they were hit by the economic crisis, the two member states of the EU continued to maintain their economic relation on a positive trend. The recovering German economy continues to help Bulgaria, which has a hard time coming out of the crisis. The good economic relationship between the two partners will continue to be successful, the trade and investment flows being expected to double until 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]