Unemployment in the Great Recession: A Comparison of Germany, Canada, and the United States
Florian Hoffmann, Thomas Lemieux
Journal of Labor Economics,
S1 Part 2
2016
Abstract
This paper looks at the surprisingly different labor market performance of the United States, Canada, Germany, and several other OECD countries during and after the Great Recession of 2008–9. A first important finding is that the large employment swings in the construction sector linked to the boom and bust in US housing markets is an important factor behind the different labor market performances of the three countries. We also find that cross-country differences among OECD countries are consistent with a conventional Okun relationship linking gross domestic product growth to employment performance.
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R&D Cooperation with Scientific Institutions: A Difference-in-difference Approach
Gunnar Pippel, V. Seefeld
Economics of Innovation and New Technology,
No. 5,
2016
Abstract
Economists and business managers have long been interested in the impact of research and development (R&D) cooperation with scientific institutions on the innovation performance of firms. Recent research identifies a positive correlation between these two variables. This paper aims to contribute to the identification of the relationship between R&D cooperation with scientific institutions and the product and process innovation performance of firms by using a difference-in-difference approach. In doing so, we distinguish between two different types of scientific institutions: universities and governmental research institutes. For the econometric analyses, we use data from the German Community Innovation Survey. In total, data from up to 560 German service and manufacturing firms are available for the difference-in-difference analyses. The results suggest that R&D cooperation with universities and governmental research institutes has a positive effect on both product innovation and process innovation performance of firms.
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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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Works Councils and Labour Productivity: Looking beyond the Mean
Steffen Müller
British Journal of Industrial Relations,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
After more than 25 years of empirical investigation, the analysis of works council effects on establishment productivity is still an active field of economic research. I present first evidence for works council regression coefficients along the unconditional log labour productivity distribution in Germany. The highest (lowest) coefficients were found at the bottom (top) of the distribution, which suggests that works councils have the most beneficial effects at low levels of productivity. Importantly, coefficients are positive at each productivity level. The results shed light on a classical theoretical argument concerning moderating factors for the productivity effect of employee participation.
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Assessing European Competitiveness: the Contribution of CompNet Research
Filippo di Mauro, Maddalena Ronchi
CompNet Report,
June
2015
Abstract
Restoring competitiveness is broadly acknowledged as the critical building block for achieving sustainable growth, but defining competitiveness, both in terms of tools as well as objectives, is a matter of debate. The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) adopts a pragmatic approach, defining “a competitive economy [as] one in which institutional and macroeconomic conditions allow productive firms to thrive… [thus supporting] the expansion of employment, investment and trade” (Draghi, 2012). This approach requires handling (i) firm-level features, most notably productivity, (ii) macroeconomic factors, and (iii) cross-border aspects related to the operation of global value chains (GVCs). While at first concentrating solely on the original mandate of explaining export competitiveness, the Network has extended the scope of its research to broader aspects related to productivity drivers.
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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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Ökonomisches Wachstum in Ostdeutschland seit der Wiedervereinigung: Eine empirische Perspektive
Maike Irrek
Hochschulschrift, Juristische und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg,
2015
Abstract
Der schleppende Konvergenzprozess zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland und der fortdauernde Produktivitätsrückstand der ostdeutschen Wirtschaft sind die Motivation einer Vielzahl an Studien und Analysen. Öffentliches Sachkapital und Humankapital spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Es liegen jedoch keine passenden Zeitreihen vor, mit deren Hilfe die in der Literatur diskutierten Thesen in empirischen Untersuchungen überprüft werden könnten. Daher werden in der vorliegenden Dissertation das öffentliche und private Sachkapital sowie das Humankapital für Ost-und Westdeutschland geschätzt. Erst mit diesen Daten sind zudem genauere Schätzungen der Totalen Faktorproduktivität in beiden Regionen möglich.
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Understanding the Great Recession
Mathias Trabandt, Lawrence J. Christiano, Martin S. Eichenbaum
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics,
No. 1,
2015
Abstract
We argue that the vast bulk of movements in aggregate real economic activity during the Great Recession were due to financial frictions. We reach this conclusion by looking through the lens of an estimated New Keynesian model in which firms face moderate degrees of price rigidities, no nominal rigidities in wages, and a binding zero lower bound constraint on the nominal interest rate. Our model does a good job of accounting for the joint behavior of labor and goods markets, as well as inflation, during the Great Recession. According to the model the observed fall in total factor productivity and the rise in the cost of working capital played critical roles in accounting for the small drop in inflation that occurred during the Great Recession.
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The Role of Entrepreneurship in US Job Creation and Economic Dynamism
Ryan A. Decker, John Haltiwanger, Ron S. Jarmin, Javier Miranda
Journal of Economic Perspectives,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
An optimal pace of business dynamics—encompassing the processes of entry, exit, expansion, and contraction—would balance the benefits of productivity and economic growth against the costs to firms and workers associated with reallocation of productive resources. It is difficult to prescribe what the optimal pace should be, but evidence accumulating from multiple datasets and methodologies suggests that the rate of business startups and the pace of employment dynamism in the US economy has fallen over recent decades and that this downward trend accelerated after 2000. A critical factor in accounting for the decline in business dynamics is a lower rate of business startups and the related decreasing role of dynamic young businesses in the economy. For example, the share of US employment accounted for by young firms has declined by almost 30 percent over the last 30 years. These trends suggest that incentives for entrepreneurs to start new firms in the United States have diminished over time. We do not identify all the factors underlying these trends in this paper but offer some clues based on the empirical patterns for specific sectors and geographic regions.
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