Leading indicators are typical constructs used in macroeconomics to guide decision making in several areas of economic activity, including policy formation and long term investment. Researchers often evaluate and select leading indicators on a seemingly ad hoc basis involving OLS regression,...

In this paper we want to discuss macroscopic and microscopic properties of financial markets. By analyzing quantitatively a database consisting of 13 minute per minute recorded financial time series, we identify some macroscopic statistical properties of the corresponding markets, with a special...

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Evolution der IT-Outsourcing-Industrie in Deutschland von 1990 bis 2006 aus Sicht der Industrielebenszyklusforschung. Ein neu erarbeiteter Datensatz wird daraufhin analysiert, inwieweit ein Shakeout vorliegt bzw. in welchen Punkten sich die Entwicklung in einer...

This paper revisits the question: Will Eastern Germany become a new Mezzogiorno? Building upon the established analysis of East Germany's disappointing economic performance since unification, when wages were allowed to far outstrip productivity, the purpose of this work is to provide fresh...

Das deutsche System der Finanzierung, Leitung und Kontrolle von Unternehmen, kurz der Corporate Governance, unterliegt einem weit reichenden Veränderungsprozess. Die wichtigsten Ursachen liegen in der Internationalisierung des Anlagekapitals, der regulatorischen Reform sowie einer erhöhten...

In light of the recent financial crises in the emerging markets, the coming-into-force of the financial services agreement under the GATS has been considered a success. While the agreement provides for little new liberalization but rather formalizes the status quo, it was feared that governments...

This paper investigates contagion effects. In a model with highly and lowly informed investors we show that a currency crisis in one country can trigger a crisis in another country. Portfolio losses of the highly informed investors in one country will force them to withdraw capital from the...

This paper describes sovereign credit ratings in emerging markets both for a specific year and over time, using quantitative explanatory variables. It turns out that rating adjustments have been worse than what economic fundamentals justify for some countries and also more frequently altered,...

Since EMU represents a currency area with a GDP level and a world market share comparable to the United States, it is widely expected that the euro will become an important international currency. This paper suggests simple methods how to quantify the effects that EMU may exert on the roles of...