Explaining Regional Disparities in Housing Prices Across German Districts
Lars Brausewetter, Stephan L. Thomsen, Johannes Trunzer
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 13,
2022
Abstract
Over the last decade, German housing prices have increased unprecedentedly. Drawing on quality-adjusted housing price data at the district level, we document large and increasing regional disparities: Growth rates were higher in 1) the largest seven cities, 2) districts located in the south, and 3) districts with higher initial price levels. Indications of price bubbles are concentrated in the largest cities and in the purchasing market. Prices seem to be driven by the demand side: Increasing population density, higher shares of academically educated employees and increasing purchasing power explain our findings, while supply remained relatively constrained in the short term.
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Income Inequality and Minority Labor Market Dynamics: Medium Term Effects from the Great Recession
Salvador Contreras, Amit Ghosh, Iftekhar Hasan
Economics Letters,
February
2021
Abstract
Using a difference-in-differences framework we evaluate the effect that exposure to a bank failure in the Great Recession period had on income inequality. We find that it led to a 1% higher Gini, relative rise of 38 cents for high earners, and 7% decline for lowest earners in treated MSAs. Moreover, we show that blacks saw a decline of 10.2%, Hispanics 9.8%, and whites 5.1% in income. Low income blacks and Hispanics drove much of the effect on inequality.
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Real Estate Transaction Taxes and Credit Supply
Michael Koetter, Philipp Marek, Antonios Mavropoulos
Deutsche Bundesbank Discussion Paper,
Nr. 4,
2021
Abstract
We exploit staggered real estate transaction tax (RETT) hikes across German states to identify the effect of house price changes on mortgage credit supply. Based on approximately 33 million real estate online listings, we construct a quarterly hedonic house price index (HPI) between 2008:q1 and 2017:q4, which we instrument with state-speci c RETT changes to isolate the effect on mortgage credit supply by all local German banks. First, a RETT hike by one percentage point reduces HPI by 1.2%. This effect is driven by listings in rural regions. Second, a 1% contraction of HPI induced by an increase in the RETT leads to a 1.4% decline in mortgage lending. This transmission of fiscal policy to mortgage credit supply is effective across almost the entire bank capitalization distribution.
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Innovation, Reallocation, and Growth
Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Harun Alp, Nicholas Bloom, William R. Kerr
American Economic Review,
Nr. 11,
2018
Abstract
We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A new and central economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using US Census microdata on firm-level output, R&D, and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output, and R&D. Taxing the continued operation of incumbents can lead to sizable gains (of the order of 1.4 percent improvement in welfare) by encouraging exit of less productive firms and freeing up skilled labor to be used for R&D by high-type incumbents. Subsidies to the R&D of incumbents do not achieve this objective because they encourage the survival and expansion of low-type firms.
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Does Administrative Status Matter for Urban Growth? – Evidence from Present and Former County Capitals in East Germany
Bastian Heider, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Albrecht Kauffmann
Growth and Change,
Nr. 1,
2018
Abstract
Public sector activities are often neglected in the economic approaches used to analyze the driving forces behind urban growth. The institutional status of a regional capital is a crucial aspect of public sector activities. This paper reports on a quasi-natural experiment on county towns in East Germany. Since 1990, cities in East Germany have demonstrated remarkable differences in population development. During this same period, many towns have lost their status as a county seat due to several administrative reforms. Using a difference-in-difference approach, the annual population development of former county capitals is compared to population change in towns that have successfully held on to their capital status throughout the observed period. The estimations show that maintaining county capital status has a statistically significant positive effect on annual changes in population. This effect is furthermore increasing over time after the implementation of the respective reforms.
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Innovation Network
Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, William R. Kerr
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS),
Nr. 41,
2016
Abstract
Technological progress builds upon itself, with the expansion of invention in one domain propelling future work in linked fields. Our analysis uses 1.8 million US patents and their citation properties to map the innovation network and its strength. Past innovation network structures are calculated using citation patterns across technology classes during 1975–1994. The interaction of this preexisting network structure with patent growth in upstream technology fields has strong predictive power on future innovation after 1995. This pattern is consistent with the idea that when there is more past upstream innovation for a particular technology class to build on, then that technology class innovates more.
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Does Administrative Status Matter for Urban Growth? Evidence from Present and Former County Capitals in East Germany
Bastian Heider, Albrecht Kauffmann, Martin T. W. Rosenfeld
Abstract
Public sector activities are often neglected in the economic approaches used to analyze the driving forces behind urban growth. The institutional status of a regional capital is a crucial aspect of public sector activities. This paper reports on a quasi-natural experiment on county towns in East Germany. Since 1990, cities in East Germany have demonstrated remarkable differences in population development. During this same period, many towns have lost their status as a county seat due to several administrative reforms. Using a difference-in-difference approach, the annual population development of former county capitals is compared to population change in towns that have successfully held on to their capital status throughout the observed period. The estimations show that maintaining county capital status has a statistically significant positive effect on annual changes in population. This effect is furthermore increasing over time after the implementation of the respective reforms.
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Im Fokus: Interkommunale Kooperation ist deutlich im Kommen – Ergebnisse einer Kommunalbefragung des IWH und der Universität Kassel
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Ivo Bischoff, C. Bergholz, Simon Melch, Peter Haug, F. Blaeschke
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 1,
2016
Abstract
Interkommunale Kooperation wird vielfach als ein Mittel angesehen, mit dem speziell Städte und Gemeinden außerhalb der großen Ballungsräume die Folgen des demographischen Wandels und des zunehmenden interregionalen Standortwettbewerbs besser bewältigen könnten. Obschon immer mehr Gemeinden bei ihrer Aufgabenerfüllung zusammenarbeiten, fehlen für Deutschland bislang großflächige empirische Untersuchungen zum Phänomen der interkommunalen Kooperation. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt Ergebnisse aus einer Befragung von 6 745 Gemeinden abseits der großen Ballungsräume zu ihrem Kooperationsverhalten in den Aufgabenbereichen Allgemeine Verwaltung, Bauhof und Tourismusmarketing vor. Die Auswertung der 1 321 Antworten gewährt aktuelle Einblicke in Merkmale und Tendenzen der interkommunalen Zusammenarbeit. Es werden unter anderem Befunde zum räumlichen, zeitlichen und thematischen Auftreten sowie zu den dahinterstehenden Rechtsformen und Motiven vorgestellt. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick auf die Möglichkeiten gegeben, mit den erhobenen Daten die Fragen nach den Wirkungen und den Bedingungen für das Zustandekommen von interkommunaler Kooperation zu beantworten.
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Arbeitsmarktbilanz Ostdeutschland: Beschäftigung im Osten rückläufig
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 6,
2015
Abstract
Der seit dem vierten Quartal 2014 zu beobachtende Beschäftigungsrückgang hat sich fortgesetzt. Im zweiten Quartal 2015 nahm die Zahl der Erwerbstätigen saisonbereinigt mit 0,2% sogar noch etwas stärker ab als in den beiden Quartalen zuvor. Dabei lag im ersten Halbjahr 2015 das Bruttoinlandsprodukt um 1,1% über dem Vorjahresstand. In Westdeutschland, wo das Bruttoinlandsprodukt um 1,5% zunahm, legte die Beschäftigung weiter zu.
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