Germany is economically closely intertwined with the other member countries of the euro area. Some of these countries are in a deep recession, and it is feared that Germany will not manage to avoid being swept up by this economic burden for long. However, the German economy also benefits from...

In early 2013 rumors about the Euro-appreciation gained momentum, which may lead to decreases in exports and increases in imports of the member states. Therefore, we investigate the impact of changes in the nominal Euro exchange rate vis-à-vis major currencies on export and import performance...

Has heightened uncertainty been a major contributor to the Great Recession and the slow recovery in the U.S.? To answer this question, we identify exogenous changes in six uncertainty proxies and quantify their contributions to GDP growth and the unemployment rate. Our results are threefold....

This paper examines the probability of success in a rent-seeking contest as a general function of the resources that both firms and consumers devote to lobbying the government. The object of lobbying is a possible restriction of market supply, where the likelihood that supply will be restricted...

In this study we introduce a new indicator for private consumption based on search query time series provided by Google Trends. The indicator is based on factors extracted from consumption-related search categories of the Google Trends application Insights for Search. The forecasting performance...

In this paper we analyse to what extend movements in oil prices can help to explain business cycle fluctuations in Germany. To clarify whether oil price shocks have effects on real economic activity in Germany at all we use two different versions of a real business cycle model namely a closed...

We examine the dynamics of bank lending to the private sector for countries of the Euro area by applying a Markov switching error correction model. We identify for Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Portugal stable, mean reverting regimes and unstable regimes with no tendency to return to the long...

Government agencies and other national and international institutions are asked to perform forecasts over the medium term. In particular, the EU Stability and Growth Pact contains the obligation to formulate stability programmes over four years, covering a general economic outlook as well as the...

In this study we introduce a new monthly indicator for private consumption in Germany based on search query time series provided by Google Trends. The indicator is based on unobserved factors extracted from a set of consumption-related search categories of the Google Trends application Insights...

In jedem Bundesstaat ist die Frage zu klären, wie regionale Externalitäten zwischen den Gebietskörperschaften internalisiert werden sollen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die These aufgestellt, dass dazu das Instrument ausgewählt wird, das mit den geringsten Transaktionskosten für die...