Real Estate Prices and Bank Stability
Michael Koetter, Tigran Poghosyan
Journal of Banking and Finance,
No. 34,
2010
Abstract
Real estate prices can deviate from their fundamental value due to rigid supply, heterogeneity in quality, and various market imperfections, which have two contrasting effects on bank stability. Higher prices increase the value of collateral and net wealth of borrowers and thus reduce the likelihood of credit defaults. In contrast, persistent deviations from fundamentals may foster the adverse selection of increasingly risky creditors by banks seeking to expand their loan portfolios, which increases bank distress probabilities. We test these hypotheses using unique data on real estate markets and banks in Germany. House price deviations contribute to bank instability, but nominal house price developments do not. This finding corroborates the importance of deviations from the fundamental value of real estate, rather than just price levels or changes alone, when assessing bank stability.
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Is East Germany Catching Up? A Time Series Perspective
Bernd Aumann, Rolf Scheufele
Post-Communist Economies,
2010
Abstract
This article assesses whether the economy of East Germany is catching up with the West German region in terms of welfare. While the primary measure for convergence and catching up is per capita output, we also look at other macroeconomic indicators such as unemployment rates, wage rates and production levels in the manufacturing sector. In contrast to existing studies of convergence between regions of the reunified Germany, our approach is based purely upon the time series dimension and is thus directly focused on the catching up process in East Germany as a region. Our testing set-up includes standard ADF unit root tests as well as unit root tests that endogenously allow for a break in the deterministic component of the process. We find evidence of catching up for East Germany for most of the indicators. However, the convergence speed is slow, and thus it can be expected that the catching up process will take further decades until the regional gap is closed.
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Cooperation Patterns of Incubator Firms and the Impact of Incubator Specialization: Empirical Evidence from Germany
Michael Schwartz, Christoph Hornych
Technovation,
2010
Abstract
The article examines cooperation patterns of 150 firms located in German business incubators (BIs). More specifically, this study distinguishes between networking within the tenant portfolio and the academic-industry linkages of the tenant firms. We further contribute to the relevant literature by explicitly considering differences in cooperation patterns between firms located on diversified and specialized incubator facilities. Empirical results do not support the common assumption that specialized incubation strategies increase the effectiveness of incubator-internal networking compared to diversified BIs. Also, incubator specialization is not superior to diversified incubators with respect to the promotion of linkages of their tenants with academic institutions. For academic linkages, industry effects matter more than incubator characteristics.
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Challenges for Future Regional Policy in East Germany. Does East Germany really show Characteristics of Mezzogiorno?
Mirko Titze
A. Kuklinski; E. Malak-Petlicka; P. Zuber (eds), Souther Italy – Eastern Germany – Eastern Poland. The Triple Mezzogiorno? Ministry of Regional Development,
2010
Abstract
Despite extensive government support the gap between East and West Germany has still not been successfully closed nearly 20 years post German unification. Hence, some economists tend to compare East Germany with Mezzogiorno – underdeveloped Southern Italy. East Germany is still subject to sever structural problems in comparison to West Germany: lower per capita income, lower productivity, higher unemployment rates, fewer firm headquarters and fewer innovation activities. There are East German regions with less than desirable rates of development. Nevertheless, the new federal states have shown some evidence of a convergence process. Some regions have developed very positively – they have improved their competitiveness and employment levels. As such, the comparison of East Germany with Mezzogiorno does not seem applicable today.
According to Neoclassical Growth Theory, regional policy is targeted enhancing investment (hereafter the notion ‘investment policy’ is used). has been the most important instrument in forcing the ‘reconstruction of the East’. Overall, the investment policy is seen as having been successful. It is not, however, the only factor influencing regional development – political policy makers noted in the mid 1990s that research and development (R&D) activities and regional concentrated production networks, amongst other factors, may also play a part. The investment policy instrument has therefore been adjusted. Nevertheless, it cannot be excluded that investment policy may fail in particular cases because it contains potentially conflicting targets. A ‘better road’ for future regional policy may lie in the support of regional production and innovation networks – the so-called industrial clusters. These clusters would need to be exactingly identified however to ensure effective and efficient cluster policies.
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IWH-Bauumfrage im April 2010: Kräftige Frühjahrsbelebung kontert Geschäftseinbruch im Winter
Brigitte Loose
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 5,
2010
Abstract
Das Geschäftsklima im ostdeutschen Baugewerbe hat sich laut IWH-Umfrage unter mehr als 300 Unternehmen im April deutlich verbessert. Nach den außergewöhnlich hohen witterungsbedingten Produktionsausfällen im ersten Quartal dieses Jahres kommt dies nicht überraschend. Sobald die Wetterlage die Bauarbeiten nicht mehr behinderte, hat das Baugewerbe begonnen, den Produktionsverzug vom Jahresanfang zügig abzuarbeiten.
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Kosten und Nutzen der Ausbildung an Tertiärbildungsinstitutionen im Vergleich
Martina Eschelbach, G. Heineck, Steffen Müller, Regina T. Riphahn
Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik,
No. 2,
2010
Abstract
We compare German institutions of tertiary education (universities and polytechnics) with respect to the cost of and the returns to their educational degrees. Based on cost data from two different sources we find that on average the expenditures of universities are lower than those of polytechnics when we consider expenditures per potential enrollee and per student enrolled during the regular education period. We apply data from the German Socio-economic Panel (2001–2007) to estimate the private returns to tertiary education and find higher returns to university than polytechnic training. These results are robust to a variety of alternative procedures.
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Interactive Dynamic Capabilities and Regenerating the East German Innovation System
N. von Tunzelmann, Jutta Günther, Katja Wilde, Björn Jindra
Contributions to Political Economy,
2010
Abstract
The paper sets out a specification of capabilities and competencies derived from Sen’s work on consumer capabilities and welfare economics. This approach is one that proves remarkably easy to generalise, first to producer and supplier capabilities, and thence to interactive and dynamic capabilities. The approach is then applied via the consequential perspectives of regional systems of innovation and network alignment to the case of the efforts to regenerate the innovation system in East Germany since reunification. It is seen that this process can be divided into three periods, of which the most recent appears to meet some of the theoretical requirements for effective interactive capabilities. It is less clear that the criteria for dynamic capabilities—which involve considerations of speed-up and flexibility, to meet the market requirements in real time—have yet been taken sufficiently seriously.
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Aktuelle Trends: Motive auswärtiger Investoren für die Wahl des Standortes in Ostdeutschland
Andrea Gauselmann
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2010
Abstract
Das IWH hat mit der dritten Welle der FDI-Mikrodatenbank im Herbst 2009 eine Befragung von ostdeutschen Unternehmen mit ausländischem und/oder westdeutschem multinationalem Investor durchgeführt. Dabei beantworteten die Unternehmen u. a. die Frage nach den strategischen Investitionsmotiven ihres ausländischen und/oder westdeutschen multinationalen Gesellschafters für die Neugründung eines Tochterunternehmens bzw. für die Beteiligung an einem bereits existierenden Unternehmen in den Neuen Bundesländern.
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Immigration to East Germany: Last chance 2011
Alexander Kubis, Lutz Schneider
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2010
Abstract
Deutschland – insbesondere Ostdeutschland – erfährt mit der Alterung und Schrumpfung der Bevölkerung eine demographische Konstellation, welche Gesellschaft und Ökonomie vor erhebliche Herausforderungen stellen wird. Eine Option, den demographiebedingten Problemdruck zu senken, stellt die Stimulation von Zu- bzw. Einwanderung dar. Der Beitrag beleuchtet in historischer Betrachtung
zunächst die Geschichte der Außenwanderung Deutschlands im 20. Jahrhundert und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass von echter Einwanderung erst seit den 1950er Jahren mit Blick auf die Zuwanderung von „Gastarbeitern“, welche in der Folge zu Immigranten wurden, in die BRD gesprochen werden kann. Die ostdeutschen Regionen hingegen weisen einen sehr geringen Anteil von Einwanderern auf, da die DDR Zuwanderung in deutlich geringerem Umfang und in der Regel mit nur temporärem Aufenthaltsstatus zuließ. In der gegenwärtigen Situation, da die Zuwanderung nach (Gesamt-)Deutschland ohnehin eher rückläufig ist, spricht die vergleichsweise geringe Einwanderungserfahrung und die damit verbundene
geringe Netzwerkdichte ausländischer Bevölkerungsgruppen in den ostdeutschen Ländern für eher beschränkte Erfolgsaussichten hinsichtlich einer Stimulation
zusätzlicher Zuwanderungspotenziale. Das einzig greifbare Mittel zur Erhöhung der Zuwanderung in die Neuen Länder stellt die Migration aus Mittelosteuropa dar. Die räumliche Nähe zum Herkunftsgebiet könnte bestehende Attraktivitätshemmnisse
der östlichen Bundesländer kompensieren helfen und einen signifikanten Zuwanderungsstrom über die Grenzregionen hinaus in Gang setzen. Indes ist vor zu hohen Erwartungen mit Blick auf die Größenordnung des Zuwanderungsstromes zu warnen. Ein Großteil der migrationsaffinen Bevölkerung
Mittelosteuropas ist im Zuge der rascheren Implementation der Arbeitnehmerfreizügigkeit in anderen EU-Staaten bereits ausgewandert. Die
Anstrengungen müssen nun darauf gerichtet sein, die ab Mai 2011 in den Arbeitsmarkt drängenden Zu- und Einwanderer aus den östlichen Nachbarländern
nicht durch neuerliche Restriktionen abzuschrecken.
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Should We Trust in Leading Indicators? Evidence from the Recent Recession
Katja Drechsel, Rolf Scheufele
Abstract
The paper analyzes leading indicators for GDP and industrial production in Germany. We focus on the performance of single and pooled leading indicators during the pre-crisis and crisis period using various weighting schemes. Pairwise and joint significant tests are used to evaluate single indicator as well as forecast combination methods. In addition, we use an end-of-sample instability test to investigate the stability of forecasting models during the recent financial crisis. We find in general that only a small number of single indicator models were performing well before the crisis. Pooling can substantially increase the reliability of leading indicator forecasts. During the crisis the relative performance of many leading indicator models increased. At short horizons, survey indicators perform best, while at longer horizons financial indicators, such as term spreads and risk spreads, improve relative to the benchmark.
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