Judged by the principle of intertemporal Pareto optimality, insecure property rights and the greenhouse effect both imply overly rapid extraction of fossil carbon resources. A gradual expansion of demand-reducing public policies -- such as increasing ad-valorem taxes on carbon consumption or...

While the old systems competition took place with closed borders, globalisation has brought about a new type of systems competition that is driven by the mobility of factors of production. The new systems competition will likely imply the erosion of the European welfare state, induce a race to...

Das Schwerpunktthema der 62. Euroconstruct-Konferenz, die am 1. Dezember 2006 in München stattfand, lautete "Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf die Bauwirtschaft". Fünf namhafte Experten stellten, neben den gravierenden Veränderungen der letzten Jahre, ihre Prognosen zur Entwicklung der...

Im Vorfeld der 62. Euroconstruct-Konferenz nutzte das ifo Institut seine vierteljährlich durchgeführte weltweite Expertenumfrage bei über 1 000 Teilnehmern in 90 Ländern, den World Economic Survey, WES, um in einer Sonderfrage Informationen über die zukünftige weltweite Entwicklung der...

A political miracle occurred when Germany was reunited, and at first glance an economic miracle has followed. Real incomes in the east have now reached the western level, and investment per capita has been much higher than in the west. However, every third deutschmark spent in the east has been...

Squaring hourly demand and wind-solar production data for Germany and a number of neighbouring countries with the results of the EU's ESTORAGE project, this paper studies the limits of Germany's energy revolution in view of the volatility of wind and solar power. In addition to pumped storage,...

This paper advances the hypothesis that the EUS crisis was caused by German unification. The unification has implied a massive resource demand which parallels the US resource demand following Reagan's tax reforms in the eighties. The resource demand revised the German interest rates relative to...

The upcoming demographic crisis in Germany demands fundamental reforms of the pension system. In a democracy, reforms are, however, only feasible when they are supported by the majority of the electorate. To determine whether the majority is in favor of reforms of the pension system, we...