Rettet die Energiewende? Warum eigentlich?

After the Fukushima accident, the German government decided to change the energy system in a dramatic way (the energy transition). The core of this project is the transition from a fossil fuel based system to a system that relies heavily on the use of renewable energies. In this paper, it is argued that this transition is not a rational answer to the climate change problem. In particular, the use of feedin tariffs neither leads to an efficient reduction of CO₂ emissions nor is it a rational strategy for any other political aim under discussion.     

Warum kriegt Europa die Eurokrise nicht in den Griff?

This paper argues that Europe is unable to get the euro crisis under control because it has chosen a crisis management strategy that is diametrically opposed to the one applied in the global financial crisis. In 2008, crisis management focused on measures that instilled confidence, while policies solving more fundamental problems were only applied at a later stage. In the euro crisis — following the advice of German economists strongly attached to the views of ?Ordnungspolitik“ — crisis management aims at solving the fundamental problems first. Moreover, measures successfully applied in the 2008 crisis, including joint liability mechanisms, are now portrayed as counterproductive and even harmful. As a result, Europe has made little progress in fighting the crisis and creating the institutional foundations to do so successfully.     

Wie lässt sich die Dominanz der Finanzmärkte über die Politik lösen?

Der Krisenverlauf und die Bemühungen der Politik gegenzusteuern lassen den Eindruck entstehen, dass die Finanzm?rkte die Politik vor sich hertreiben. Die Politik hat offenbar durch ein Regulierungsversagen die Marktkr?fte nicht genügend geb?ndigt. Wurden die Kapitalm?rkte nicht schon seit langem von der Politik privilegiert? Welche konkreten Vorschl?ge gibt es, die Eurol?nder von den Finanzm?rkten unabh?ngiger zu machen? Welche Erfahrungen wurden in der Vergangenheit mit Verschuldungskrisen gemacht?     

Streiks und die Zuverlässigkeit der Verkehrsbedienung

Of late, Germany has been hit by unprecedented strike actions by airline and railway staff. Lufthansa’s pilots staged 13 walkouts between April 2014 and September 2015, resulting in the cancellation of 8,500 flights and affecting around one million passengers. The one week strike by Lufthansa’s cabin crews in November 2015 forced the company to cancel another 4,700 flights. The trend towards industrial action in the German transportation sector is not limited to airline pilots and cabin crew, however. In addition, security agents and ground staff at several airports have gone on strike, and most of all, train drivers walk out with increasing frequency. In this article, measures are proposed to balance the legal, and legitimate, right of workers to use strikes as a tool of last resort in wagebargaining processes with the no less important right of customers to have access to reliable transportation services. While many other Western countries have regulations in place for the conduct of wage bargaining, including rules on work stoppages in core public service sectors, no such rules exist in Germany.     

Wie weit ist die Verschuldungskrise in der Europäischen Währungsunion überwunden?

In the first years of the eurozone debt crisis, European governments were busy struggling to achieve short-term financial stabilisation of banks and entire countries. Now, after the OMT programme and other stabilisation measures have calmed investors, attention has shifted to two issues: Firstly, are there signs of recovery in the real economy? Secondly, what will be the long-term institutional structure of the eurozone? This paper argues that the economic situation in the periphery countries is still fragile, despite significant adjustments that have taken place. Moreover, the most important institutional challenge is to avoid a situation in which national control over fiscal policy is combined with mutualisation of government debt.     

Vor der Europawahl: Wie lässt sich die demokratische Legitimität verbessern?

The EU suffers from a democratic deficit that arises not first and foremost from a lack of institutional competencies, but rather from the double weakness of politics vis-à-vis economics and law at the European level. This “functional democratic deficit” renders the existing mechanisms of democratic control increasingly ineffective. Especially for its citizens, a politically integrated Europen Union might be difficult to grasp, and it may only be reached gradually through a continuous process of dynamic development; however, “United in Diversity” seems to be the better alternative, and not only for historical reasons. The direct elections for the European Parliament, although not denying deficits of democratic legitimacy and participation at the Union level, should not be underestimated in their legitimising influence for the Union as an associated structure of members without obvious hierarchies.     

Verlierer(-regionen) der Globalisierung in Deutschland: Wer? Warum? Was tun?

We describe the impact of globalisation across West German regional labour markets. The main losers are the Ruhr area, the Palatinate and Upper Franconia. The main winning regions are located mainly in Bavaria and Swabonia. The German manufacturing sector at large has gained from rising trade exposure to China and Eastern Europe. This is in sharp contrast to the experience of the United States and some European countries. The German experience could be one reason why the political discussion in this country is less prone towards trade protectionism than elsewhere. But policymakers should take the compensation of losers from globalisation more seriously than in the past.     

Flexible Geschäftsmodelle in der Telekommunikation und die Netzneutralitätsdebatte

The net neutrality debate concerns the differential treatment of data on the Internet and the pricing models used by enduser internet service providers (IPSs). In particular, end-user ISPs may want to prioritize certain services and charge on the sender or the receiver side for this activity. In the policy debate it is asked whether regulatory intervention is warranted to restrict such behavior. The introduction of new end-user tariffs for fixed-line Internet access by Deutsche Telekom has heated up the debate in Germany. At the national level, the German Ministry of Economics and Technology has prepared a draft regulation on net neutrality, which aims at limiting the differential treatment of data transmission on the internet including the access networks and, thus, to protect the “Open Internet”. The European Commission has prepared an alternative draft regulation for a single European market in telecommunications, which contains provisions for an “Open Internet”. In this article, the authors investigate the extent to which the new tariff structure by Deutsche Telekom relates to the net neutrality debate. They also provide a first critical analysis of the proposals by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology and the European Commission.     

Hartz IV: die Lösung für die Probleme in der Währungsunion?

The Hartz reforms are often regarded as the therapy which turned the so called “sick man of Europe” into a global superstar. But this diagnosis was wrong. The strength of the German economy was overshadowed by the negative effects of reunification. The decline in unemployment can partly be attributed to the end of the transformation in East Germany. It also reflects the negative cyclical situation in 2005. This analysis is in line with the finding that compared e.g. with Italy and Greece, German unemployment assistance is still very generous. Thus, for the member states of the Eurozone Hartz IV is not a promising strategy. This could be different should wage moderation be cosnidered. However, if member states practice it simultaneously, this will lead to deflation. This calls for higher wage increases in Germany and a more symmetric adjustment.     

Warum der frühe Ausstieg aus der finanziellen Repression lohnt

The authors argue that the attempt to reduce debt via financial repression is undermining growth and prosperity in industrialised countries. The increasing number of zombie companies and stagnating productivity growth are reminiscent of the financial repression used in the planned economies of Eastern Europe in the Cold War years. Historical evidence suggests that an exit from low interest rate policies and a return to market principles are needed to restore growth and stability.     

Folgen der Hartz-Reformen für die Beschäftigung

After the Hartz reforms of 2003–2005, unemployment in Germany has gone down significantly. Using a structural evaluation, it is shown that the contribution of the Hartz IV reform to this decrease was extremely modest. Hartz IV explains less than 0.1 percentage point of the decline in the observed unemployment rate. A substantial degree of influence, to the contrary, is attributed to the preceding Hartz III reform. Thus, the reduction of unemployment compensation could have been generally avoided.