The curse of natural resources is a well-documented phenomenon in developing countries: Economies that are richly endowed with natural resources tend to grow slowly. Among the transition economies of the former "Eastern Bloc", a similar pattern can be observed. In the first years of transition,...

The political system of Germany is characterized by strong federalist elements, which means that many important decisions of economic policy are made by the governments of the federal states or Länder. Unfortunately the statistical offices of the Länder do not produce regional input-output...

Nordrhein-Westfalen steht im Kontext einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung vor besonderen Herausforderungen. Es handelt sich um eine Wirtschaftsregion, die seit Jahrzehnten einen massiven Strukturwandel durchläuft und die nach wie vor von sehr CO2-intensiven Industrien geprägt ist. Die Studie geht...

The political system of Germany is characterized by strong federalist elements, which means that many important decisions of economic policy are made by the governments of the federal states or Länder. Unfortunately the statistical offices of the Länder do not produce regional input-output...

It has been shown that a person's relative income - compared to a reference group - has a negative impact on self-reported happiness. This suggests that people who aim at increasing their happiness should try to find a better-paid job if their relative income is low. In this paper we study this...

The curse of natural resources is a well-documented phenomenon for developing countries. Economies that are richly endowed with natural resources tend to grow slowly. Among the transition economies of the former 'Eastern Bloc', a similar pattern can be observed. This paper shows that a large...

The continuing dependence of the global economy on fossil fuels is worrying because it imposes limits on growth due to the non-renewable nature of these resources and also contributes to global climate change. Resource optimists believe that this is no reason to worry, because the economy will...

Ging es noch im letzten Jahr in Verhandlungen um die Frage, ob das letzte Kohlekraftwerk in 10 oder 18 Jahren vom Netz geht, so stellt der Krieg in der Ukraine die deutsche Energiepolitik nun vor grundlegendere Fragen und nicht erwartete Herausforderungen. In der Folge werden Maßnahmen zur...