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This paper evaluates the role of preference shocks during the Great Depression in Germany. From Euler equation residuals, I am able to identify a series of contractionary shocks that struck the German economy from 1929 to 1932. I apply the sequence of these taste innovations to a dynamic general-equilibrium model and find that the size and the order of shocks can generate a pattern that can explain the lion's share of the decline in economic activity. The artificial economy also predicts a swift recovery after 1932, thereby questioning any significant effects of Nazi economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stylized facts suggest that output volatility in OECD countries has declined in recent years. The causes and the nature of this decline have so far been analyzed mainly for the United States. In this paper, we analyze whether structural changes in output volatility in Germany can be detected. We report evidence that output volatility has declined in Germany. It is difficult to answer the question whether this decline in output volatility reflects good economic and monetary policy or merely‘good luck’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most decisions by the European Parliament are taken by an absolute majority of its members. Some decisions however- such as the approval of the budget of the European Union - require a two-thirds majority. The paper analyzes the a priori voting strength of the member states when their representatives vote coherently. It is shown that the increase in votes for Germany in the 1994 reallocation enhanced its position. A less favourable effect, however, can be seen for the other large members (France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain). However, since votes in the EP tend to be cast according to partisan rather than national affiliation, the relative voting power of the political groups with respect to the two quotas is also analyzed. The tool to measure this is the (normalized) Banzhaf power index, partially extended to account for connected coalitions. The paper demonstrates that the distribution of votes between the present EU member states as allocated in proportion to their population size indeed roughly corresponds to their a priori voting power. However, the relative influence of the largest political groups, the European Socialists and the European People's Party, tends to be overestimated by their share of seats in the framework of the simple majority rule, but it is considerable if the quota is two-thirds. Finally, under the two-thirds majority rule, the European Liberal, Democratic and Reformist Party as well as the small groups appear to be almost powerless. The more the EP gains political leverage - a further increase in its institutional powers is to be expected in the framework of the ongoing Intergovernmental Conference - the more the distribution of voting power between the member states and between the political groups will be a crucial factor in the shaping of EU policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politik is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article extends Ball and Mankiw (2002) and applies the Hodrick-Prescott filter (1997) to estimate the time-varying NAIRU for Germany. The slope estimate of the Phillips curve is insignificant when the widely used lagged inflation rate πt-1 is selected as a proxy for the expected inflation rate. The average inflation rate in past 4 years is a better proxy for the expected inflation rate. Estimated NAIRUs with λ = 1000 show a steady rising trend. The estimated NAIRU of 9.84% with λ = 1000 in 2005 is slightly higher than the actual unemployment rate of 9.70% in 2005, suggesting that monetary easing or large deficit spending may cause the inflation rate to accelerate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of F.B.W. Hermann's Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen and of major German, Austrian and Swedish contributions to public economics, two specific claims with regard to the Germanic influence in the development of public expenditure theory are put forward in this paper. It is contended that the German achievements concerning the conceptual clarification of public goods are: (i) important as conceptual ingredients of the modern ‘micro-based’ theory of the public sector: (ii) less closely linked to some historical and intellectual German Sonderweg (culminating in historism, a collectivistic view of social entities and a mystical glorification of the State) than is often suggested. It is argued that these achievements rather were to a large extent inspired by the more cosmopolitan tendencies in German thought. An important influence is Kantian liberalism. Kant construed a kind of foundational interdependence between the public and the private sector. This prepares the ground for a framework of complementary institutions instead of explaining public institutions in terms of a market failure-perspective based on non-excludability: the view developed in German Idealism gives non-rivalry the pivotal role: the explanation of public institutions systematically hinges upon the existence of goods, the benefits of which are necessarily universal and hence are necessarily made available in a non-rival mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many regions have experienced long-run economic fluctuations generated by the life cycles of their dominant industrial clusters. During the downswings in the 1970s and 1980s, proactive structural policies were typically launched in German regions to combat job losses in their core clusters and to create new jobs in new industries. With respect to the German State of Bremen, this paper provides empirical evidence of: (1) a long-run regional downswing; (2) the potential job effects of proactive regional industrial policy programmes in terms of increasing regional employment, by safeguarding jobs in the regional core industries and creating new jobs in new growth industries; and (3) a time pattern in the job effects, which are related to the different generations of programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evaluates the journal "Economics," which reports results of German research studies in the field of economics, published biannually by the Institute for Scientific Cooperation.

In 1750 Frederick II of Prussia created a new trade company in Emden. Diplomats, merchants, and other observers in Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Hamburg reacted with great concern to this Prussian bid to join the world of overseas commerce. These concerns were not unfounded. Frederick pursued his goal with great determination. The article explains why Prussia embarked on this ultimately unsuccessful venture and why established commercial powers such as Britain or the Netherlands felt threatened by the new competitor. In this context the article explores an international debate about political economy that was associated with the creation of the Prussian trade company. This debate took place in Britain, the Netherlands, Hamburg, and Prussia. The case of the Prussian Asiatic trade company suggests that the concepts of Oceanic and Atlantic history need to be extended beyond the narrow stretch of coastal regions. In the Prussian case the drive to join the world of overseas commerce originated from the inland and from a country that had traditionally been oriented towards overland commerce and European expansion. The study of the events and debates associated with the creation of the trade company also suggests a partially new perspective on Prussia's economic policies in the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of whether the decision of officials at German companies to invest abroad is unpatriotic. Many companies are considering shifting parts of their production abroad, and some have already done so. This is an economic policy issue that is being hotly debated. Politicians have called the action unpatriotic and some have called the companies traitors. Generally, it is argued that shifting production in this way entails shifting jobs abroad that are then lost to the German economy. This is not only a one-sided argument, but also erroneous, because it overlooks the positive aspects of corporate expansion abroad and the international division of labor it entails, as well as the question of competition, which are all of great significance. Investment by German companies abroad can allegedly be an important way to maintain and increase competitiveness, and it can also have strong positive effects on the German economy. The foreign capital stock of German firms has risen, especially since 1995. In 2000 that was a volume totaling 570 billion euros. By comparison the capital stock of British firms abroad in the same year was 62.3% of gross domestic product.

Political unification has provided East Germany with an institutional infrastructure and monetary stability. Now the socialist firm must transform itself. While property rights are established under German law, ownership assignment remains to be determined in a substantial number of cases. This proves to be a severe bottle-neck as Treuhand deals with the privatization of some 10,000 firms. With an equally slow pace of new firm creation, output and employment have dramtically fallen, a sharp contrast with the aftermath of the 1948 reform in West Germany. A number of reasons explain this disappointingly slow start, including the distortions inherited from the planned economy. Treuhand operates under tight political scrutiny and faces an enormously complex task. While protecting people during the transition is important, extreme care should be taken to avoid structural policies which will end up perpetuating the old economic inefficiencies. This is illustrated with two contrasted scenarios. The Mezzogiorno scenario sees political expediency standing in the way of economic reform, relying on distortionary transfers and subsidies encouraging rent-seeking activities. The new frontier scenario takes advantage of the supply shock and the increased real rate of return to build up an efficient economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DIW Berlin has examined the effects of investment in research and development on economic growth in Germany and other OECD countries. Their results show that an increase of one percentage point in research and development spending in the economy as a whole leads to a short-term average increase in GDP growth of approximately 0.05 to 0.15 percentage points. The coeficient for Germany is at the upper end of that range. The analysis shows, however, that it is dificult to separate the effect of aggregate R&D into contributions from private- and public sector R&D. R&D investment in both sectors has seen strong growth in Germany in recent years, particularly when compared internationally. For a country that owes its prosperity largely to its research-intensive manufacturing sector and to production-related, knowledge-intensive services, research and development remains key to future growth. It is therefore essential that Germany does not ease up on its efforts to increase R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish political economy experienced a profound decadence during the second half of the nineteenth century. Such period of isolation came to an end during the early twentieth century. The most outstanding economists of that period such as Flores de Lemus, Bernis or Torres were persuaded that Spanish economic development was strongly linked to a tax system reform. At the same time, numerous writings on public finance were published by secondary authors and a wide range of foreign handbooks were translated into Spanish. Consequently, public finance became an outstanding channel for the introduction of marginal theory and German Historicism into Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At the heart of Nazism was a radical economic vision and rhetoric that provided the Nazis with an authenticity and legitimacy in their struggle to succeed the free-market capitalist economic system – this was crucial to their successful mass mobilisation and to becoming an acceptable party of government. While many of these views had deep historical and ideological roots in German society, they only became mainstream during the world economic depression. By then the Nazis' uncompromising political-economic demand that Germany could only prosper when overthrowing the Versailles peace order, looking after its national interests and doing things the German way had transformed from fringe view to mainstream consensus. At a time when capitalism's future and Germany's place in it looked bleak, many regarded the Nazis' economic vision entailing state control, autarky coupled with Grossraumwirtschaft and withdrawal from international cooperation in favour of nationalist policies as the most promising economic programme. Meanwhile Nazi rhetoric had become an integral part of a powerful anti-capitalist Zeitgeist, an ‘anti-system’ rallying cry that questioned the core principles of capitalism. Its proponents condemned its selfishness, materialism and unfairness, and instead demanded that the common good had to be protected from individual greed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses how Nazi Germany exploited France, which – from an economic point of view – was the most important occupied country during the Second World War. We can show that, in contrast to the conventional wisdom, there was no clear-cut caesura in Germany’s policy of exploiting occupied France – not in the extent of the exploitation in real terms or in the kind of policy toward occupation funds. Although the war in the East and preparations for the invasion made it necessary for Germany to reduce wasteful spending of occupation funds and combat French inflation more consistently, its occupation policy did not shift radically but gradually between mid 1942 and the end of 1943. However, it was not Albert Speer’s Armament Ministry, but other German institutions, especially the Reich Finance Ministry, which played a decisive role in this process. Without this policy Germany would not have been able to increase the French contribution to the German warfare all over Europe, especially on the Eastern front. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Marxism emerged from the confrontation between the German philosophy, classic English economics and the French socialism. It was a philosophy, a scientific method, a new vision of economics, an economic policy and an economic system alike. The Marxian economic strain of thought was assimilated not only by its advocates, but also by the critics of this radical current: in defence of capitalism, Keynes and Schumpeter both start from Marx's work. Starting from the work of classic economists, Marx assumes the valuable scientific elements from the dominant economic theory, but emphasizes the historical, gnosiological and class limits of the classic doctrine. Although he uses the instruments provided by the classics, the German scientist defines his own personal notional system and comes to excel in terms of abstraction. Operating with his own concepts, Marx builds up an infallible logic, which is impossible to turn over if one does not infirm the starting point of the analysis itself - the labour theory of value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since unification, the debate about Germany's poor economic performance has focused on supply-side weaknesses, and the associated reform agenda sought to make low-skill labour markets more flexible. We question this diagnosis using three lines of argument. First, effective restnicturing of the supply side in the core advanced industries was carried out by tie private sector using institutions of the coordinated economy, including unions, works councils and block-holder owners. Second, the implementation of orthodox labour market and welfare state reforms created a flexible labour market at the lower end. Third, low growth and high unemployment are largely accounted for by the persistent weakness of domestic aggregate demand, rather than by the failure to reform the supply side. Strong growth in recent years reflects the successful restructuring of the core economy. To explain these developments, we identify the external pressures on companies in the context of increased global competition, the continuing value of the institutions of the coordinated market economy to the private sector and the constraints imposed on the use of stabilizing macroeconomic policy by these institutions. We also suggest how changes in political coalitions allowed orthodox labour market reforms to be implemented in a consensus political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation of neighbouring local authorities in the provision of regional public goods can be efficiency enhancing due to economies of scale, a better realisation of fiscal equivalence or dynamic efficiency gains. While the need for such cooperation between local authorities is undisputed, there are different positions concerning the form the cooperation should take. Some argue that local authority mergers are the most efficient and democratic strategy. Others argue that functional cooperation is more appropriate and that mergers reduce the welfare enhancing effects of competition between local authorities. Based on the conditions in Germany that can be interpreted as a natural experiment it is shown in a cross-section analysis that local authority mergers in monocentric city regions have indeed significant economic effects. All else equal the financial situation of city regions where the core and the hinterland are separate administrative districts is worse than in single district regions. Radical mergers of core cities and suburban towns in the 60s and 70s led to higher economic growth in the period 1980–1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berliner Journal für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The central problem of the German economy is the high costs of labour, driven up by the burden of funding an extensive welfare state through social insurance contributions that operate as payroll taxes on employment. The study identifies the political causes of the long-term rise in non-wage labour costs. It analyses the reforms of the last decade, showing how the multiplicity of veto points in the German political economy has weakened reform initiatives and reduced the prospect for effective reform in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the positive rediscovery of German economist Gustav Schmoller's economic theories. Earlier in Germany, Schmoller was labeled a socialist of the chair. His posthumous works have not been analyzed, and no critical edition of his major works exists until recently. One of the reasons cited for the renaissance is a general dissatisfaction with mainstream formal theorizing. From this perspective, the renaissance has been spurred by an unmet scholarly demand for practical applications of economics. The activity could also be attributed to the following: increasing interest in old institutional and evolutionary economics in Europe; a rising interest in the history of economic ideas, in methodology, and in ethics; and the emergence of new insights about Schmoller that allow analysts to see that he, in fact, embraced a different type of theory.

Migration has become a major concern of European development policies. By improving socio-economic and political conditions through development cooperation, a reduction of South-North migration flows is envisaged. This new approach is examined by analyzing the causes of asylum migration from developing countries to Germany. The econometric findings suggest that support of democracy, economic development and trade will not reduce migration, at least not in the medium-run. However, restrictive legal measures work. Migration control by international development cooperation therefore seems to need a long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political economy in Germany according to political scientists. It is argued that because the rebuilding of post-war Germany was based psychologically and economically on an expanding economy, the field of German political science has not produced a convincing systematic approach which could secure an analysis of the modern connection between economy and politics. According to the article, East German political scientists believed that the West German economy was controlled by a handful of monopolists, and that a mobilization of the majority of the West Germans, whom the monopolists victimized, would likely result in the overthrow of the capitalist government. The author describes the proliferation of a doctrine called the social ecological market economy (SEME), which emerged after the East and West German unification.

Presents economic policies of Germany as of January 1963. Interdependence of industry and agriculture in West Germany; Relation between productivity, wage rates and balanced growths.