Same Same But Different: Dialects and Trade

Language is a strong and robust determinant of international trade patterns: Countries sharing a common language trade significantly more with each other than countries using different languages, holding other factors constant. In this article we present the first analysis of the effect of language on trade in an intra‐national context. Analyzing unique data for a single‐language country, Germany, we find that similarities in the local dialect have a significantly positive impact on regional trade. We interpret this finding as evidence for the trade‐promoting effect of culture, because linguistic similarities likely reflect cultural ties across regions, rather than lower costs of communication or similar institutions.     

Nachholbedarf bei steuerlicher Entlastung mittlerer Einkommen

Zusammenfassung  Die Bundesregierungen verfolgen seit langem — zum Teil durch das Bundesverfassungsgericht dazu veranlasst — das Ziel, niedrige Einkommen steuerlich zu entlasten. Mit dem Konjunkturpaket II wurden wiederum Tarifkorrekturen für 2009 und 2010 beschlossen. Welche Folgen diese Politik seit 1990 für die mittleren Einkommen hat, zeigt Volker Stern vom Karl-Br?uer-Institut des Bundes der Steuerzahler. Volker Stern, 55, Dipl.-Volkswirt, ist Mitarbeiter im Bereich Haushaltspolitik, Steuerpolitik und Steuerrecht des Karl-Br?uer-Instituts des Bundes der Steuerzahler in Berlin.     

Focal points of Chinese economic aid

Reviewing the evolution of Chinese economic aid, it can be found that the People’s Republic, though labouring under relatively adverse conditions, has proved its mettle in this field by actively supporting less developed countries (LDCs) over many years.     

Pensions and fertility incentives

Abstract.  This paper discusses the welfare implications of a pay‐as‐you‐go pension reform by introducing a child benefit in an endogenous fertility setting. In the model of a small open economy, higher fertility is associated with a reduction of lifetime labour supply. The optimum share of fertility‐related pensions is always below unity, but generally positive. The former is true, since individuals do not take into account the impact of their labour supply choice on the parent generation. It is demonstrated that child allowances are equivalent to fertility‐related pensions as instruments to achieve the optimum allocation. JEL classification: H23, H55, J13     

Die Balance zwischen Eigenverantwortung und gemeinschaftlichem Handeln für ein starkes Europa

The newly elected French president Macron now faces the challenge of reforming the French economy by increasing its competitiveness in order to decrease unemployment and to open new perspectives for a more prosperous economic future. The success of this endeavour is also of the utmost importance for Germany. The best support that Germany can offer to support French reforms consists of promoting the European integration process based on the subsidiarity principle. This can only be achieved by maintaining a balance between national responsibility and joint action and by choosing the right sequence of reform steps.     

Differences and similarities between ecological and economic models for biodiversity conservation

In this paper we investigate an important obstacle which substantially complicates co-operation between ecologists and economists but which has received little attention so far: differences between the modelling approaches in economics and ecology. To understand these differences, 60 models addressing issues relevant to biodiversity conservation have been selected randomly from eight international economic and ecological journals. The models have been compared according to a number of criteria including the models' level of generality; the mathematical techniques employed for formulation and solution of the models; the level of complexity and the way time, space and uncertainty are taken into account. The economic models sampled are formulated and analysed analytically, tend to be relatively simple and are mostly used to investigate general questions. Furthermore, they often ignore space, dynamics and uncertainty. Although some ecological models have similar properties, there is also a substantial number of another type of ecological models that are relatively complex and analysed by simulation. These models tend to be rather specific and often explicitly consider dynamics, space and uncertainty. The integrated ecological-economic models are observed to lie “in the middle” between ecological and economic models. An unexpected result is that they are not more complex than ecological and economic models (as one could have expected from a simple “merger” of models from both disciplines), but have an intermediate complexity.     

New technologies and working time: The case of CAD introduction

The introduction of new technology is often accompanied by changes in working time arrangements. These changes, however, are by no means homogeneous. They are contingent upon a variety of factors which may differ widely from organization to organization. Using findings from a study on the consequences of CAD application it is shown that among these factors the bargaining power of affected employee groups is particularly important.