Table of Contents: I. External Challenges 12 1. The Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe 12 a. Trends in Central and Eastern Europe's Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) 12 b. The Impact on Germany 14 c. Political Consequences 14 2. Migration Pressures 16 a. The European Perspective 16 b....

In the process of the German unification and especially after the formal unification in October 1990, Eastern Germany was supported by West Germany by a lot of measures. The main purposes were to improve the infrastructure, to stimulate private investment and to alleviate the adjustment process...

This document analyses German environmental policies, including, among others, discussion of air and water quality policy, use of the waste management hierarchy approach and of voluntary agreements. The German public has been highly sensitive to environmental concerns, leading to many policy...

Based on a description of the German system of taxes and transfers, the incentives to work are analyzed for several groups of the labor force. The effects of the ?Hartz IV? reform (effective from 2005 onwards) on the incentives receive particular attention. It turns out that the marginal...