Kiel Institute Once Again Rated among the Leading Think Tanks
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy has once again been rated among the top think tanks by “The Global Go-To Think Tanks” study conducted by the International Relations Program of the University of Pennsylvania. It was ranked as number five, worldwide, among think tanks concerned with international economic policy. more...
Tax Rate and Tax Base Competition for Foreign Direct Investment
This paper by Peter Egger (ETH Zürich) und Horst Raff (Kiel University and IfW) argues that the large reduction in corporate tax rates and only gradual widening of tax bases in many countries over the last decades are consistent with tougher international competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). To make this point the authors develop a model in which governments compete for FDI using corporate tax rates and tax bases. Egger and Raff simulate the effect of regional trade integration and find that this integration has contributed significantly to the observed fall in corporate tax rates. more...
Economics, the Open Access Journal, Now Covered by the SSCI
Economics, the Kiel Institute’s open access economics e-journal, has moved up into the champion’s league of economics journals. It is now being covered by the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), with coverage going back to 2009. The editorial board of Economics is comprised of internationally renowned economists, including several Nobel Prize laureates. more...
Domino Effect in Southern Europe? Subjecting Greece, Portugal, and Spain to a Crisis Test
Greece is far from having overcome its economic and financial crisis. On the contrary, it is becoming increasingly clear that it could end up bankrupt. Could the crises in Portugal and Spain really become as acute as the crisis in Greece? The Kiel Institute economists Klaus Schrader and Claus-Friedrich Laaser examine the real economic causes of the crises in Greece, Portugal, and Spain in their new Kiel Discussion Paper. They find that there is little reason, from a real economic perspective, to expect that there will be a domino effect. The nature and history of the crisis in each of the countries is too different, as are the means that the countries have at their disposal to deal with the crises. more...
Financial stress and economic activity in Germany and the Euro Area
The financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis have shown that stress on financial markets is important for analyzing and forecasting economic activity. Therefore, Björn van Roye derives a financial market stress indicator. The indicator significantly improves forecasting accuracy of real GDP growth for Germany. It also can be used as an early warning indicator of systemically important events. more...
