Forecast Dispersion, Dissenting Votes, and Monetary Policy Preferences of FOMC Members: The Role of Individual Career Characteristics and Political Aspects
Stefan Eichler, Tom Lähner
Public Choice,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Using data from 1992 to 2001, we study the impact of members’ economic forecasts on the probability of casting dissenting votes in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Employing standard ordered probit techniques, we find that higher individual inflation and real GDP growth forecasts (relative to the committee’s median) significantly increase the probability of dissenting in favor of tighter monetary policy, whereas higher individual unemployment rate forecasts significantly decrease it. Using interaction models, we find that FOMC members with longer careers in government, industry, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or on the staff of the Board of Governors are more focused on output stabilization, while FOMC members with longer careers in the financial sector or on the staffs of regional Federal Reserve Banks are more focused on inflation stabilization. We also find evidence that politics matters, with Republican appointees being much more focused on inflation stabilization than Democratic appointees. Moreover, during the entire Clinton administration ‘natural’ monetary policy preferences of Bank presidents and Board members for inflation and output stabilization were more pronounced than under periods covering the administrations of both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively.
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Does the Technological Content of Government Demand Matter for Private R&D? Evidence from US States
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
Governments purchase everything from airplanes to zucchini. This paper investigates the role of the technological content of government procurement in innovation. We theoretically show that a shift in the composition of public purchases toward high-tech products translates into higher economy-wide returns to innovation, leading to an increase in the aggregate level of private research and development (R&D). Collecting unique panel data on federal procurement in US states, we find that reshuffling procurement toward high-tech industries has an economically and statistically significant positive effect on private R&D, even after extensively controlling for other R&D determinants. Instrumental-variable estimations support a causal interpretation of our findings.
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Auf welche Frage sind zwei Billionen die Antwort?
Oliver Holtemöller,
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Alle Jahre wieder wird berechnet, was wohl die Deutsche Einheit gekostet habe. Zuletzt veröffentlichte die Welt am Sonntag, dass knapp zwei Billionen Euro an Fördergeldern von West nach Ost geflossen seien. Die Berechnung dieser Kennzahl ist wenig umstritten, die Größenordnung ist einigermaßen plausibel: Es werden Nettotransfers von West nach Ost zwischen 1991 und 2013 aufsummiert (Zahlungen aus dem Länderfinanzausgleich, Solidarpakt II, Fonds Deutsche Einheit, regionaler Saldo der Sozialversicherungsleistungen usw.).
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4. IWH/INFER-Workshop on Applied Economics and Economic Policy: “A New Fiscal Capacity for the EU?“
Birgit Schultz, Gregor von Schweinitz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2014
Abstract
Am 17. und 18. März 2014 fand am IWH in Zusammenarbeit mit dem International Network for Economic Research (INFER) der 4. Workshop „Applied Economics and Economic Policy“ statt. Im Rahmen des Workshops stellten Wissenschaftler europäischer Universitäten und internationaler Organisationen ihre neuesten Forschungsergebnisse zu aktuellen ökonomischen Fragen und Problemen vor. Dabei war es nicht nur Ziel der Veranstaltung, aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse vorzustellen, sondern auch mit Vertretern aus Wissenschaft und Praxis über die aktuelle Wirtschaftspolitik und das Spezialthema „A New Fiscal Capacity for the EU?“ zu diskutieren.
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Upturn in German Economy, but Economic Policy Creates Headwind: Joint Economic Forecast Spring 2014
Dienstleistungsauftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie,
2014
Abstract
Die deutsche Wirtschaft befindet sich im Frühjahr 2014 im Aufschwung. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt wird in diesem Jahr voraussichtlich um 1,9 Prozent steigen. Das 68-Prozent-Prognoseintervall reicht dabei von 1,2 Prozent bis 2,6 Prozent. Treibende Kraft ist die Binnennachfrage. Der Anstieg der Verbraucherpreise fällt mit 1,3 Prozent im Jahr 2014 moderat aus. Die Zahl der Erwerbstätigen dürfte im Jahr 2014 noch einmal kräftig steigen. Die Konjunktur erhält allerdings Gegenwind von der Wirtschaftspolitik. So ist die abschlagsfreie Rente ab 63 ein Schritt in die falsche Richtung, und die Einführung des Mindestlohns wird im Jahr 2015 den Beschäftigungsanstieg dämpfen.
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Fiscal Equalization, Tax Salience, and Tax Competition
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Jurisdictions that engage in inter-regional tax competition usually try to attenuate competitive pressures by substituting salient tax instruments with hidden ones. On this effect, we investigate the efficiency consequences of inter-regional tax competition and fiscal equalization in a federal system when taxpayers fail to optimally react on shrouded attributes of local tax policy. If the statuary tax rate is a relatively salient instrument and taxpayers pay low attention to the quality and the frequency of tax enforcement, the underlying substitution of tax instruments with the aim of reducing the perceived tax price may suppress the under-exploitation of tax bases that is typically triggered by fiscal equalization.
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International Side-payments to Improve Global Public Good Provision when Transfers are Refinanced through a Tax on Local and Global Externalities
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, A. Markandya, Dirk T. G. Rübbelke
International Economic Journal,
No. 1,
2014
Abstract
This paper discusses a tax-transfer scheme that aims to address the under-provision problem associated with the private supply of international public goods and to bring about Pareto optimal allocations internationally. In particular, we consider the example of the global public good ‘climate stabilization’, both in an analytical and a numerical simulation model. The proposed scheme levies Pigouvian taxes globally, while international side-payments are employed in order to provide incentives to individual countries for not taking a free-ride from the international Pigouvian tax scheme. The side-payments, in turn, are financed via environmental taxes. As a distinctive feature, we take into account ancillary benefits that may be associated with local public characteristics of climate policy. We determine the positive impact that ancillary effects may exert on the scope for financing side-payments via environmental taxation. A particular attractive feature of ancillary benefits is that they arise shortly after the implementation of climate policies and therefore yield an almost immediate payback of investments in abatement efforts. Especially in times of high public debt levels, long periods of amortization would tend to reduce political support for investments in climate policy.
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Impact of Personal Economic Environment and Personality Factors on Individual Financial Decision Making
S. Prinz, G. Gründer, R. D. Hilgers, Oliver Holtemöller, I. Vernaleken
Frontiers in Decision Neuroscience,
No. 158,
2014
Abstract
This study on healthy young male students aimed to enlighten the associations between an individual’s financial decision making and surrogate makers for environmental factors covering long-term financial socialization, the current financial security/responsibility, and the personal affinity to financial affairs as represented by parental income, funding situation, and field of study. A group of 150 male young healthy students underwent two versions of the Holt and Laury (2002) lottery paradigm (matrix and random sequential version). Their financial decision was mainly driven by the factor “source of funding”: students with strict performance control (grants, scholarships) had much higher rates of relative risk aversion (RRA) than subjects with support from family (ΔRRA = 0.22; p = 0.018). Personality scores only modestly affected the outcome. In an ANOVA, however, also the intelligence quotient significantly and relevantly contributed to the explanation of variance; the effects of parental income and the personality factors “agreeableness” and “openness” showed moderate to modest – but significant – effects. These findings suggest that environmental factors more than personality factors affect risk aversion.
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