Socially irresponsible behaviour by financial institutions played a major part in causing the financial crisis, which has developed into a serious economic, social and political crisis. Financial innovation and a general lack of transparency in the system have made it hard for the people of...

This study presents the first empirical test with German establishment level data of a hypothesis derived by Helpman et al. (2004) in a model that explains the decision of heterogeneous firms to serve foreign markets either through exports of foreign direct investment: only the more productive...

While the role of exports in promoting growth in general, and productivity in particular, has been investigated empirically using aggregate data for countries and industries for a long time, only recently have comprehensive longitudinal data at the firm level been used to look at the extent and...

Die Gemeinschaftsaufgabe "Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur" ist vor dem Hintergrund ihrer Einbindung in die EG-Regionalpolitik seit Beginn der 1980er Jahre grundlegend transformiert worden. Neben einer sukzessiven Einengung politischer Handlungsspielräume ist speziell die...

Zur 58. Jahresversammlung des ifo Instituts konnte Bundesfinanzminister Peer Steinbrück als Gastredner gewonnen werden. In seinem Festvortrag "Finanz- und Wirtschaftspolitik der Bundesregierung - Reformagenda für Deutschland" stellte Minister Steinbrück die bisherigen Reformmaßnahmen und...