The aim of the study is to assess whether the households in Germany have sufficient financial buffers to overcome the current financial and economic crisis, without getting into financial distress. Against the background of distinct regimes of real estate financing, the economic situation of...

Since the second half of the 1990s, three major financial crises occurred, each with a significant involvement of rating agencies (RAs). Their rather poor performance palpably shows that they did not live up to their promises. RAs have proven to be fallible and overburdened. Given the task to...

A financial system that supports the real economy requires a different understanding of norms and values. Financial stability is not a private good, but a public good. The right to participate in preparing rules for the stability of financial markets as well as guaranteeing a fair and just...

In 1989 a report has already highlighted the "below-average earnings potential" of the German Landesbanken and called for the merger of these state banks into a single central institution. However, 20 years later the bad bank law of Germany saved the ailing Landesbanken not only from write-downs...

Private equity (PE) investors tend to invest in well-established companies, pay attention to high risk and shy away from small and opaque companies. They avoid companies with ownership structures that offer little opportunity for exercising influence, since, for example, there is already another...

Die Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung erscheinen seit 1926 als wirtschaftspolitische Zeitschrift des DIW Berlin. Sie sind damit das älteste Periodikum des Instituts. Seit 1938 trägt die Zeitschrift ihren heutigen Namen. Nicht alle Jahrgänge sind erschienen. Vier Bände fielen den...

In 2013 the European Commission presented a draft for a directive to introduce the financial transaction tax among eleven member states. The tax targets financial institutes among which 85 percent of the trading occurs. However, households owning stocks, bonds and shares of funds are also...