Wirtschaftspolitische Maßnahmen, zu denen Politiker in Zeiten der Stagnation greifen, um sich die Gunst ihrer Wähler zu sichern, reflektieren vor allem parteipolitische Interessen und Kompromisse und stellen eher zufällig volkswirtschaftlich sinnvolle Maßnahmen dar. Um auf die...

We consider the cyclical properties of the German economy prior and after reunification in 1990 from the perspective of a real business cycle model. The model provides the framework for the selection and consistent measurement of the variables whose time series properties characterize the cycle....

We consider the cyclical properties of the German economy prior and after reunification in 1990 from the perspective of a real business cycle model. The model provides the framework for the selection and consistent measurement of the variables whose time series properties characterize the cycle....

We discuss properties of alternatives or complements to GDP as a measure of welfare at business cycle frequencies. We argue that these figures are not useful to measure the welfare costs of business cycles. First, data is not available at an appropriate quality and frequency. Second, since the...