Als Antwort auf einen Beitrag im Handelsblatt vom 25. Oktober 2012 erläutert Hans-Werner Sinn die Unterschiede zwischen Konjunktur und Trend und verdeutlicht die Natur von Punktprognosen sowie den Unterschied zwischen Prognosen und ifo Index.

Germany is the laggard of Europe, yet the country is world champion in merchandise exports. The paper tries to solve this theoretical and empirical puzzle by diagnosing a "pathological export boom" and a "bazaar effect". Excessively high wages defended by unions and the welfare state against the...

Bivariate SVAR models employing long-run identifying restrictions are often used to investigate the source of business cycle fluctuations. Their advantage is the simplicity in use and interpretation. However, their low dimension may also lead to a failure of the identification procedure, with...