Regionale Effekte einer durch einen Lieferstopp für russisches Gas ausgelösten Rezession in Deutschland
Oliver Holtemöller, Axel Lindner, Christoph Schult
IWH Policy Notes,
No. 1,
2022
Abstract
Ein Stopp der russischen Gaslieferungen würde zu einer Rezession der deutschen Wirtschaft führen. Nicht alle Regionen wären davon gleich betroffen: Vor allem wäre dort, wo das Verarbeitende Gewerbe ein großes Gewicht hat, mit einem deutlich stärkeren Einbruch der Wirtschaftsleistung zu rechnen als andernorts. Deshalb wäre Westdeutschland und dort insbesondere der Süden stärker betroffen als der Osten Deutschlands. Dagegen spielt für die Frage, wie viele Arbeitsplätze durch einen bestimmten Rückgang der Wertschöpfung gefährdet sind, die Höhe der Arbeitsproduktivität eine ausschlaggebende Rolle.
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The Economics of Firm Productivity
Carlo Altomonte, Filippo di Mauro
Cambridge University Press,
April
2022
Abstract
Productivity varies widely between industries and countries, but even more so across individual firms within the same sectors. The challenge for governments is to strike the right balance between policies designed to increase overall productivity and policies designed to promote the reallocation of resources towards firms that could use them more effectively. The aim of this book is to provide the empirical evidence necessary in order to strike this policy balance. The authors do so by using a micro-aggregated dataset for 20 EU economies produced by CompNet, the Competitiveness Research Network, established some 10 years ago among major European institutions and a number of EU productivity boards, National Central Banks, National Statistical institutes, as well as academic Institutions. They call for pan-EU initiatives involving statistical offices and scholars to achieve a truly complete EU market for firm-level information on which to build solidly founded economic policies.
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The Urban Wage Premium in Imperfect Labour Markets
Boris Hirsch, Elke J. Jahn, Alan Manning, Michael Oberfichtner
Journal of Human Resources,
April
2022
Abstract
Using administrative data for West Germany, this paper investigates whether part of the urban wage premium stems from greater competition in denser labor markets. We show that employers possess less wage-setting power in denser markets. We further document that an important part of the observed urban wage premia can be explained by greater competition in denser labor markets.
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Konjunktur aktuell: Preisschock gefährdet Erholung der deutschen Wirtschaft
Konjunktur aktuell,
No. 1,
2022
Abstract
Der Angriff Russlands auf die Ukraine hat die wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen in Europa drastisch verschlechtert. Rohstoff- und Energiepreise sind stark gestiegen, und die Sanktionen bringen den gesamten Russlandhandel nahezu zum Erliegen. Auch die deutsche Wirtschaft trifft es vor allem über einen Energiepreisschock, aber auch über unterbrochene Handelsströme und eine allgemeine Verunsicherung. Gleichwohl erhält die Konjunktur von der Aufhebung vieler Pandemie-Restriktionen einen kräftigen Schub. Das deutsche BIP wird 2022 um 3,1% zunehmen. Die ostdeutsche Wirtschaft wird vom Krieg kaum schwerer getroffen als die gesamtdeutsche Wirtschaft.
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The Effects of Sovereign Risk: A High Frequency Identification Based on News Ticker Data
Ruben Staffa
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 8,
2022
Abstract
This paper uses novel news ticker data to evaluate the effect of sovereign risk on economic and financial outcomes. The use of intraday news enables me to derive policy events and respective timestamps that potentially alter investors’ beliefs about a sovereign’s willingness to service its debt and thereby sovereign risk. Following the high frequency identification literature, in the tradition of Kuttner (2001) and Guerkaynak et al. (2005), associated variation in sovereign risk is then obtained by capturing bond price movements within narrowly defined time windows around the event time. I conduct the outlined identification for Italy since its large bond market and its frequent coverage in the news render it a suitable candidate country. Using the identified shocks in an instrumental variable local projection setting yields a strong instrument and robust results in line with theoretical predictions. I document a dampening effect of sovereign risk on output. Also, borrowing costs for the private sector increase and inflation rises in response to higher sovereign risk.
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Firm-level Employment, Labour Market Reforms, and Bank Distress
Ralph Setzer, Moritz Stieglitz
Journal of International Money and Finance,
February
2022
Abstract
We explore the impact of financial frictions on the employment effect of labour market reforms. Our study combines a new cross-country reform database on labour market reforms with matched firm-bank data for nine euro area countries over the period 1999 to 2013. While we find that labour market reforms are overall effective in increasing employment, restricted access to bank credit can undo up to half of medium to long-term employment gains at the firm-level. Entrepreneurs without sufficient access to credit cannot reap the full benefits of more flexible employment regulation.
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The Real Effects of Universal Banking: Does Access to the Public Debt Market Matter?
Stefano Colonnello
Journal of Financial Services Research,
February
2022
Abstract
I analyze the impact of the formation of universal banks on corporate investment by looking at the gradual dismantling of the Glass-Steagall Act’s separation between commercial and investment banking. Using a sample of US firms and their relationship banks, I show that firms curtail debt issuance and investment after positive shocks to the underwriting capacity of their main bank. This result is driven by unrated firms and is strongest immediately after a shock. These findings suggest that universal banks may pay more attention to large firms providing more underwriting opportunities while exacerbating financial constraints of opaque firms, in line with a shift to a banking model based on transactional lending.
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Aleksandr Kazakov, Michael Koetter, Mirko Titze, Lena Tonzer
Abstract
We study whether government subsidies can stimulate bank funding of marginal investment projects and the associated effect on financial stability. We do so by exploiting granular project-level information for the largest regional economic development programme in Germany since 1997: the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures programme (GRW). By combining the universe of subsidised firms to virtually all German local banks over the period 1998-2019, we test whether this large-scale transfer programme destabilised regional credit markets. Because GRW subsidies to firms are destabilised at the EU level, we can use it as an exogenous shock to identify bank responses. On average, firm subsidies do not affect bank lending, but reduce banks’ distance to default. Average effects conflate important bank-level heterogeneity though. Conditional on various bank traits, we show that well capitalised banks with more industry experience expand lending when being exposed to subsidised firms without exhibiting more risky financial profiles. Our results thus indicate that stable banks can act as an important facilitator of regional economic development policies. Against the backdrop of pervasive transfer payments to mitigate Covid-19 losses and in light of far-reaching transformation policies required to green the economy, our study bears important implications as to whether and which banks to incorporate into the design of transfer Programmes.
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Monetary Policy through Exchange Rate Pegs: The Removal of the Swiss Franc‐Euro Floor and Stock Price Reactions
Gregor von Schweinitz, Lena Tonzer, Manuel Buchholz
International Review of Finance,
No. 4,
2021
Abstract
The Swiss National Bank abolished the exchange rate floor versus the Euro in January 2015. Using a synthetic matching framework, we analyze the impact of this unexpected (and therefore exogenous) policy change on the stock market. The results reveal a significant level shift (decline) in asset prices following the discontinuation of the minimum exchange rate. As a novel finding in the literature, we document that the exchange‐rate elasticity of Swiss asset prices is around −0.75. Differentiating between sectors of the Swiss economy, we find that the industrial, financial and consumer goods sectors are most strongly affected by the abolition of the minimum exchange rate.
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Konjunktur aktuell: Deutsche Wirtschaft noch nicht immun gegen COVID 19 – Ausblick erneut eingetrübt
Konjunktur aktuell,
No. 4,
2021
Abstract
Ende 2021 belastet eine neue Infektionswelle die wirtschaftliche Aktivität in Europa. Die Stimmung im Dienstleistungsbereich ist im Herbst weltweit gestiegen, doch das Verarbeitende Gewerbe leidet weiter überall unter Knappheiten. Im Sommerhalbjahr 2022 gewinnt die Weltkonjunktur wieder etwas an Schwung, aber der ungewisse Fortgang der Pandemie bleibt ein Risiko. Pandemiewelle und Lieferengpässe lassen auch die deutsche Wirtschaft im Winter stagnieren. Der private Konsum wird ab Frühjahr deutlich zulegen, und die Konjunktur wird wieder kräftig in Schwung kommen. Das BIP wird 2022 um 3,5% zunehmen, nach 2,7% im Jahr 2021. Die Inflation dürfte nur langsam zurückgehen.
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