This paper studies a particular aspect of the choice of exchange rate regime by EU candidate countries in the run-up to membership of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The fact that these countries have adopted various exchange rate systems reflects a divergence of opinion on the...

This paper studies a particular aspect of the choice of exchange rate regime by EU candidate countries in the run-up to membership of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The fact that these countries have adopted various exchange rate systems reflects a divergence of opinion on the...

The paper argues that economic integration causes problems for the labor market of high-wage countries due to cross-border labor mobility and the accompanying increase in labor supply. Empirical evidence is provided from an analysis of regional labor market effects of German re-unification. In...

In order to assess differences in living conditions across German regions we apply the hedonic approach of Rosen (1979) and Roback (1982) to land-price and wage differences across Germany's counties. Employing a recent survey of more than half a million Germans on a wide range of social and...

Die Lebensqualität zeigt auf regionaler Ebene deutliche Unterschiede. In Westdeutschland weist vor allem der süddeutsche Raum eine Vielzahl von Annehmlichkeiten auf, für die auf dem Immobilienmarkt eine hohe Zahlungsbereitschaft besteht. In Ostdeutschland zeigt sich ein stärker...

In the context of EMU fiscal equalization schemes have been proposed as a means to stabilize regions against asymmetric shocks. A theoretical analysis shows that besides reducing the cross-sectional income variance the redistributive element of fiscal equalization causes incentive effects for...

This paper discusses whether the dominant position of the Old Laender's economy in the unified Germany hampers the reemergence of industrial production in the New Laender. For that purpose productivity differences are explained by specialization advantages of industrial agglomerations, which are...