The nature of listed real estate companies: property or equity market?

This paper addresses the question of whether shares of public real estate companies should be treated as real estate or as equity investments. Because theoretical considerations do not suffice for making such a classification, we empirically investigate correlation structures and cointegration relationships of private and public real estate and equity markets for the United States and the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that public real estate stocks show similarities to the general stock market with regard to short-term return co-movements. For long-term investment horizons, the interdependence between direct and securitized real estate is much stronger. However, in the latter case, real estate stocks substantially lead the private property markets.

'Classical' Roots of Input-Output Analysis: A Short Account of its Long Prehistory

This paper discusses the roots of input-output analysis in 'classical' economics. The authors considered include Petty and Cantillon; Quesnay, the physiocrats and their critic Isnard; Smith, Ricardo, Torrens and Dmitriev; Marx, von Bortkiewicz and von Charasoff; Leontief; and Remak. It is argued that, in terms of method and content, input-output analysis is akin to the classical approach to the theory of production, distribution and relative prices in that (i) it requires all magnitudes to be observable and (ii) starts essentially from the same set of data. It is shown that many important modern concepts have been anticipated by the earlier authors. The prehistory of input-output analysis is also meant to provide new perspectives on potential future developments of the field.     

Against the current: Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts and the history of economic thought *

The paper throws some new light on Sraffa's contribution, using material from his yet unpublished papers. Attention focuses on Sraffa's rediscovery of the distinct character of the classical theory of value and distribution and his refutation of the Marshallian interpretation that it is only a special case of demand and supply theory, his reformulation of the classical theory, and his criticism of the alternative neoclassical theory.     

Günstige Aufkommensperspektiven — Steuererhöhungen nicht erforderlich

In May 2013, the Working Party on Tax Revenue Forecasting presented its new estimate, which is based on the federal government’s spring projection of the medium-term development of the overall economy. Tax revenues are estimated to expand from yy600 bn in 2012 to yy704.5 bn in 2017. Because the tax revenues increase at a faster pace than the nominal GDP, the tax-to-GDP ratio increases from 22.7% to 23.1%. Contrary to the diagnosis of the opposition parties in the German Bundestag, we see no structural revenue gap. In fact, public budgets will realise structural surpluses in the coming years if governments are successful in constraining expenditure growth. There are no convincing reasons to increase public revenues by increasing tax rates or launching new fees; in both cases tax burdens would increase and that would dampen economic growth. Instead, there will be budgetary leeway to reduce the fiscal drag if governments are committed to a sound consolidation policy.     

Economic impact of foreign labour

Over 2.3 mn foreign workers are now employed in the Federal Republic of Germany. They account for 10 p.c. of the total labour force. How many foreigners will work in the Federal Republic in future is necessarily a matter for conjecture. Labour market experts forecast that — depending on the rate at which the productive potential is used — between 2 and 2.8 mn foreign nationals will be constantly employed until 1985.