Can Export Activities of Firms Contribute to the Catching-Up Process of Transitional Economies?
Brigitte Loose, Udo Ludwig
Can the transitional and development economies ever catch up? The Materials from The International Scientific Conference Cracow,
2006
Abstract
In contrast to the majority of the former centrally planned economies, the East German economy has suffered from enormous losses in the transformation process. In the study the question is analyzed whether exports can contribute to the catching-up process in transitional economies. Here it must be explained why the firms emerging out of the privatization process in economies in transition are successful if the export sector consists of small and medium sized enterprises. That is the case with East German manufacturing industry. The study is based on individual company data from the surveys of the East Germany's and North Rhine Westphalia's manufacturing industry between 1995 and 2001 stemming from official statistics.
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Buchbesprechung - Werner Meske (Hrsg.), From System Trans-formation to European Integration. Science and Technology in Central and Eastern Europe at the Beginnung of the 21st Century. Lit Verlag: Münster 2004
Jutta Günther
Science and Public Policy, Vol. 32, Nr. 4,
2005
Abstract
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The unemployment-growth relationship in transition countries
Hubert Gabrisch, Herbert Buscher
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 5,
2005
Abstract
Does the disappointingly high unemployment in Central and East European countries reflect non-completed adjustment to institutional shocks from transition to a market economy, or is it the result of high labour market rigidities, or rather a syndrome of too weak aggregate demand and output? In the case of transitional causes, unemployment is expected to decline over time. Otherwise, it would pose a challenge to the European Union, particular in case of accession countries, for it jeopardizes the ambitious integration plans of, and may trigger excessive migration to the Union. In order to find out which hypothesis holds 15 years after transition has started, we analyze the unemploymentgrowth dynamics in the eight new member countries from Central-Eastern Europe. The study is based on country and panel regressions with instrument variables (TSLS). The results suggest to declare the transition of labour markets as completed; unemployment responds to output and not to a changing institutional environment for job creation. The regression coefficients report a high trend rate of productivity and a high unemployment intensity of output growth since 1998. The conclusion is that labour market rigidities do not to play an important role in explaining high unemployment rates. Rather, GDP growth is dominated by productivity progress, while the employment relevant component of aggregate demand is too low to reduce substantially the high level of unemployment.
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Die Automobilindustrie in den neuen Bundesländern (Studie im Auftrag des Verbands der Automobilindustrie (VDA))
Jutta Günther, Albrecht Bochow
Einzelveröffentlichungen,
Nr. 3,
2005
Abstract
Basierend auf Daten der amtlichen Statistik und Mikrodaten zur Automobilzulieferindustrie legt die Studie eine umfassende Bestandsaufnahme zur Entwicklung der Automobilindustrie in den neuen Bundesländern vor. Ausgehend von einer Darstellung der Beschäftigung, des Umsatzes und der Produktivität seit Beginn der Transformation wird ferner auf die regionale Verteilung der Aktivitäten der Automobilindustrie und deren ausgeprägte Verflechtung mit anderen Branchen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes und des Dienstleistungsektors eingegangen. Die Mikrodaten des IIC (Industrial Investment Council) zur ostdeutschen Automobilzulieferindustrie, die sich nicht auf die statistische Kategorie „Herstellung von Teilen und Zubehör“ beschränken, sondern Teile- und Ausrüstungslieferanten der Automobilhersteller über alle Branchen hinweg erfassen, erlauben schließlich eine Bezifferung der gesamten mit der Automobilindustrie in Zusammenhang stehenden Beschäftigung und – auf Basis der Ortsangaben – auch eine genaue Lokalisierung der Betriebe. Rechnet man die Beschäftigten bei den Automobilherstellern (20.600), den Herstellern von Anhängern und Aufbauten (5.356) und der Zulieferern (111.901) zusammen, so beträgt die Zahl der direkt oder indirekt mit der Automobilindustrie verbundenen Beschäftigten in den neuen Bundesländern fast 138.000. Die Zentren der ostdeutschen Automobilindustrie liegen in Sachsen und Thüringen, obwohl sich Zulieferer inzwischen in allen Regionen Ostdeutschlands niedergelassen haben. Das zeigen die Auswertungen der amtlichen Statistik wie auch die genaue kartographische Darstellung mittels der Mikrodaten.
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Eastern Germany in the process of catching-up: the role of foreign and Western German investors in technological renewal
Jutta Günther, Oliver Gebhardt
Eastern European Economics,
Nr. 3,
2005
Abstract
Foreign direct investment as a means to support system transformation and the ongoing process of catching-up development has caught researcher’s attention for a number of Central and Eastern European countries. Not much research, however, has been carried out for East Germany in this respect although FDI plays an important role in East Germany too. Descriptive analysis by the use of unique survey data shows that foreign and West German affiliates perform much better with respect to technological capability and labor productivity than domestic companies in East Germany. The results of the regression analysis, however, show that it is not the status of ownership as such that forms a significant determinant of innovativeness in East Germany but rather general firms specific characteristics attached to it such as firm size, export-intensity, technical state of the equipment, and R&D activities. Due to the fact that foreign and West German affiliates perform better with respect to exactly all of these characteristics, they can be considered as a means to support the process of technological renewal and economic development.
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Licht und Schatten nach 15 Jahren wirtschaftlicher Transformation in Ostdeutschland
Udo Ludwig
Deutschland-Archiv,
Nr. 3,
2005
Abstract
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Structural Change and Economic Dynamics in Transition Economies
Albrecht Kauffmann
Structural Change and Exchange Rate Dynamics: The Economics of EU Eastern Enlargement,
2005
Abstract
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Wirtschaftswunder, Planwirtschaft, Vereinigung und Transformation
Rüdiger Pohl
Nationalatlas Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Band 8 Unternehmen und Märkte,
2004
Abstract
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Erwerbsorientierungen von Frauen und Einstellungen zu Erwerbstätigkeit und Familie
Andrea Besenthal, Cornelia Lang
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 1,
2004
Abstract
Für Deutschland zeigen sich trotz inzwischen weitestgehend einheitlicher institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen nach wie vor deutliche Unterschiede in der Erwerbsbeteiligung von ost- und westdeutschen Frauen. Die Zahl der erwerbstätigen Frauen ist in den letzten Jahren in den alten Bundesländern gestiegen; in den neuen Ländern ist sie leicht gesunken, bewegt sich aber dennoch auf hohem Niveau. Diese Differenzen lassen sich erklären durch die unterschiedlichen Erwerbsmuster, die bei der Wiedervereinigung aufeinander trafen, aber auch durch unterschiedliche ökonomische Gegebenheiten in den Haushalten und dem regional und qualitativ unterschiedlichen Angebot an Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen.
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Investment, Financial Markets, New Economy Dynamics and Growth in Transition Countries
Albrecht Kauffmann, P. J. J. Welfens
Economic Opening Up and Growth in Russia: Finance, Trade, Market Institutions, and Energy,
2004
Abstract
The transition to a market economy in the former CMEA area is more than a decade old and one can clearly distinguish a group of relatively fast growing countries — including Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia — and a majority of slowly growing economies, including Russia and the Ukraine. Initial problems of transition were natural in the sense that systemic transition to a market economy has effectively destroyed part of the existing capital stock that was no longer profitable under the new relative prices imported from world markets; and there was a transitory inflationary push as low state-administered prices were replaced by higher market equilibrium prices. Indeed, systemic transformation in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have brought serious transitory inflation problems and a massive transition recession; negative growth rates have continued over many years in some countries, including Russia and the Ukraine, where output growth was negative throughout the 1990s (except for Russia, which recorded slight growth in 1997). For political and economic reasons the economic performance of Russia is of particular relevance for the success of the overall transition process. If Russia would face stagnation and instability, this would undermine political and economic stability in the whole of Europe and prospects for integrating Russia into the world economy.
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