Eine europäische Post-Transformationsregion auf dem Weg zur Integration: Wirtschaftliche Lage und Perspektiven im deutsch-polnisch-tschechischen Dreiländereck
Gerhard Heimpold
I. Roch, J. Banse, H. Leimbrock, J. Mathey (Hrsg.): Transformationsprozesse und Entwicklungsperspektiven im Dreiländereck Deutschland - Polen - Tschechien. IÖR Schriften Band 70, Rhombos-Verlag: Berlin,
2016
Abstract
Der Beitrag untersucht vergleichend die wirtschaftliche Leistungsfähigkeit der Regionen im deutsch-polnisch-tschechischen Dreiländereck, für die sich die nach dem EU-Beitritt Polens und Tschechiens neue Entwicklungschancen ergeben haben. Der Beitrag zeigt Handlungsbedarfe, um noch besser wirtschaftlichen Nutzen von der Grenzöffnung zu ziehen.
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Von der Transformation zur europäischen Integration: Auf dem Weg zu mehr Wachstumsdynamik – ein Tagungsbericht
Gerhard Heimpold
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2016
Abstract
Unter dem Titel „Von der Transformation zur europäischen Integration: Auf dem Weg zu mehr Wachstumsdynamik“ hat das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) gemeinsam mit Partnern aus Universitäten in Mitteldeutschland am 22. Februar 2016 Forschungsergebnisse zu den Folgen des Strukturwandels, zur Erzielung von mehr Wachstumsdynamik und den wirtschaftspolitischen Rahmenbedingungen hierfür präsentiert.
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03.12.2015 • 44/2015
Migration Affects Labour Market in Eastern Germany
Migration increasingly affects the labour market in Eastern Germany, having effects on employment and unemployment figures as well as the number of recipients of social assistance benefits under the SGB II regulations. Particularly with countries in Middle and Eastern Europe, countries affected by the European debt and confidence crisis and with people seeking asylum, there are large increases meeting the dimensions in Western Germany. However, migrants overall still form a significantly smaller percentage of the population and other labour market parameters in Eastern Germany, since migration was a lot stronger in Western Germany during the last decades. While on the short run negative effects on unemployment have to be expected, there are also chances, in the medium- and long-term, to soften the expectable demographic problems, if integration and qualification are supported.
Oliver Holtemöller
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Financial Constraints on Growth: Comparing the Balkans to Other Transition Economies
Hubert Gabrisch
Eastern European Economics,
No. 4,
2015
Abstract
This article applies an adjusted growth diagnostic approach to identify the currently most binding constraint on financing growth in the West Balkan countries. Since this group of economies faces both structural and systemic transformation problems, the original supply-side approach might not be sufficient to detect the most binding constraint. The results of the analysis indicate that the binding constraint on credit and investment growth in the region is the high and increasing share of nonperforming loans, primarily in the household sector, due to policy failures. This article compares the Balkan countries to a group of advanced transition economies. Single-country and panel regressions indicate that demand-side factors do not play a constraining role on growth in the West Balkan countries, but they do in the advanced transition economies.
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Does Country Context Distance Determine Subsidiary Decision-making Autonomy? Theory and Evidence from European Transition Economies
Gjalt de Jong, Vo. van Dut, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
International Business Review,
No. 5,
2015
Abstract
We studied an underrepresented area in the international business (IB) literature: the effect of country context distance on the distribution of decision-making autonomy across headquarters and foreign affiliates. Foreign affiliates directly contribute to the competitive advantages of multinational enterprises, highlighting the importance of such intra-firm collaboration. The division of decision-making autonomy is a core issue in the management of headquarters–subsidiary relationships. The main contribution of our paper is that we confront two valid theoretical frameworks – business network theory and agency theory – that offer contradictory hypotheses with respect to the division of decision-making autonomy. Our study is among the first to examine this dilemma with a unique dataset from five Central and Eastern European transition countries. The empirical results provide convincing support for our approach to the study of subsidiary decision-making autonomy.
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Perspectives for Future Research on European Urban Development: Workshop im Rahmen eines deutsch-russischen Kooperationsprojekts
A. Förtsch, Albrecht Kauffmann
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2015
Abstract
Das im September 2012 auf Initiative der damaligen Abteilung Stadtökonomik gestartete Projekt zur Anbahnung gemeinsamer Forschungsarbeiten des Leontief Centre St. Petersburg (LC) und des IWH zu Fragen der wirtschaftlichen Neupositionierung post-sozialistischer Städte fand am 25. und 26. Februar 2015 mit einem Workshop in Halle (Saale) seinen vorläufigen Abschluss. Neben den beteiligten Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern des LC und des IWH nahmen auch Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler anderer Forschungseinrichtungen teil, deren Forschung Bezüge zur Fragestellung des vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) geförderten Projekts aufweist. In den vorangehenden zweieinhalb Jahren gab es einen intensiven Austausch zwischen beiden Instituten u. a. in Form von Gastaufenthalten, gegenseitiger Hilfe bei der Datenbeschaffung und aufbereitung und gemeinsamen Auftritten bei wissenschaftlichen Veranstaltungen. Im Rahmen des Abschlussworkshops wurden Ergebnisse der gemeinsamen Arbeit wie auch thematisch verwandter Untersuchungen vorgetragen und diskutiert.
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On the Twin Deficits Hypothesis and the Import Intensity in Transition Countries
Hubert Gabrisch
International Economics and Economic Policy,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
This article aims to explain the increasing deficits in the trade and current account balances of three post-transition countries–Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland–by testing two hypotheses: the twin deficit hypothesis and increasing import intensity of export production. The method uses co-integration and related techniques to test for a long-run causal relationship between the fiscal and external deficits of three post-transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, an import intensity model is tested by applying OLS and GMM. All the results reject the Twin Deficits Hypothesis. Instead, the results demonstrate that specific transition factors such as net capital flows and, probably, a high import intensity of exports affect the trade balance.
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Does Country Context Distance Determine Subsidiary Decision-making Autonomy? Theory and Evidence from European Transition Economies
Gjalt de Jong, Vo. van Dut, Björn Jindra, Philipp Marek
International Business Review,
2015
Abstract
We studied an underrepresented area in the international business (IB) literature: the effect of country context distance on the distribution of decision-making autonomy across headquarters and foreign affiliates. Foreign affiliates directly contribute to the competitive advantages of multinational enterprises, highlighting the importance of such intra-firm collaboration. The division of decision-making autonomy is a core issue in the management of headquarters–subsidiary relationships. The main contribution of our paper is that we confront two valid theoretical frameworks – business network theory and agency theory – that offer contradictory hypotheses with respect to the division of decision-making autonomy. Our study is among the first to examine this dilemma with a unique dataset from five Central and Eastern European transition countries. The empirical results provide convincing support for our approach to the study of subsidiary decision-making autonomy.
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Do Manufacturing Firms Benefit from Services FDI? – Evidence from Six New EU Member States
J. Damijan, Crt Kostevc, Philipp Marek, Matija Rojec
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 5,
2015
Abstract
This paper focuses on the effect of foreign presence in the services sector on the productivity growth of downstream customers in the manufacturing sector in six EU new member countries in the course of their accession to the European Union. For this purpose, the analysis combines firm-level information, data on economic structures and annual national input-output tables. The findings suggest that services FDI may enhance productivity of manufacturing firms in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries through vertical forward spillovers, and thereby contribute to their competitiveness. The consideration of firm characteristics shows that the magnitude of spillover effects depends on size, ownership structure, and initial productivity level of downstream firms as well as on the diverging technological intensity across sector on the supply and demand side. The results suggest that services FDI foster productivity of domestic rather than foreign controlled firms in the host economy. For the period between 2003 and 2008, the findings suggest that the increasing share of services provided by foreign affiliates enhanced the productivity growth of domestic firms in manufacturing by 0.16%. Furthermore, the firms’ absorptive capability and the size reduce the spillover effect of services FDI on the productivity of manufacturing firms. A sectoral distinction shows that firms at the end of the value chain experience a larger productivity growth through services FDI, whereas the aggregate positive effect seems to be driven by FDI in energy supply. This does not hold for science-based industries, which are spurred by foreign presence in knowledge-intensive business services.
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Switching to Exchange Rate Flexibility? The Case of Central and Eastern European Inflation Targeters
Andrej Drygalla
FIW Working Paper,
No. 139,
2015
Abstract
This paper analyzes changes in the monetary policy in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland following the policy shift from exchange rate targeting to inflation targeting around the turn of the millennium. Applying a Markovswitching dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, switches in the policy parameters and the volatilities of shocks hitting the economies are estimated and quantified. Results indicate the presence of regimes of weak and strong responses of the central banks to exchange rate movements as well as periods of high and low volatility. Whereas all three economies switched to a less volatile regime over time, findings on changes in the policy parameters reveal a lower reaction to exchange rate movements in the Czech Republic and Poland, but an increased attention to it in Hungary. Simulations for the Czech Republic and Poland also suggest their respective central banks, rather than a sound macroeconomic environment, being accountable for reducing volatility in variables like inflation and output. In Hungary, their favorable developments can be attributed to a larger extent to the reduction in the size of external disturbances.
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