Low bond yields have saved the German government €80 billion in interest since 2009
Yields for German government bonds reached record lows in recent months. The downturn in yields has now lasted since the start of the Great Recession, apart from a short disruption in the first half of 2011. Papers with short maturities have partly reached negative yields. Having these low yields for such a long time have made a sizable relief for the public budget in Germany, writes Jens Boysen-Hogrefe in his new Kiel Institute Focus. more...
Global Economy Prize 2013 to be Awarded to Gro Harlem Brundtland, Mo Ibrahim, and Joseph E. Stiglitz
Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, Mo Ibrahim, former African mobile communications entrepreneur and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and Joseph E. Stiglitz, economics Nobel laureate, are to be awarded the Global Economy Prize this year. The Global Economy Prize is awarded annually by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and the City of Kiel to an economist, a policymaker, and a businessperson who have made an outstanding contribution to establishing a globally open, market-based society. more...
Energy Efficiency: Intra-Sectoral Competition More Important than Firm-Specific Innovation
Contrary to widespread intuition, firm-specific innovation contributes only marginally to improving energy efficiency and curbing CO2 emissions. According to firm-level data on the German manufacturing sector, structural change and intra-sectoral competition have been far more important drivers of a less energy intensive industrial sector in Germany. more...
The Kiel Institute Debt Barometer: Greece beyond Hope
Greece’s debt is now so large that it will not be able to deal with it unless it receives help from without. Even a long-term nominal growth rate of 4% would not enable Greece to deal with its debt, indicates the Kiel Institute debt barometer. The only thing that would help would be a new round of debt relief. more...
Review of World Economics / Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv Celebrates 100th Anniversary
In 1913, one year before founding the Kiel Institute, Bernhard Harms launched the journal Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, the world´s first journal with an explicit focus on international economics. Over the years, the journal achieved high reputation among economic scholars not only from Germany but also from many other countries. In honor of its 100th anniversary the journal publishes two special issues. more...
Foreign Capacity Utilization: An Indicator for the Exports of German Capital Goods
Indicators like foreign capacity utilization, export expectations, and new orders from abroad are all useful for forecasting German capital goods exports. However, models based on foreign capacity utilization exhibit a higher forecast accuracy than models based on the other two indicators, write Nils Jannsen and Julia Richter in their new Kiel Institute Focus. more...
