Terra incognita,Wirtschaftskrise und Unternehmertum

Zusammenfassung  Dem Staat sind bei der Bew?ltigung der Finanzkrise umfangreiche Aufgaben zugewachsen. Das Potential des freien Unternehmertums wird dabei eher vernachl?ssigt. Inwieweit k?nnen die privaten Unternehmer zu einem neuerlichen Aufschwung beitragen? Welche Voraussetzungen sollte der Staat schaffen, um ihnen dies zu erleichtern? Prof. Dr. Norbert Berthold, 56, ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Wirtschaftsordnung und Sozialpolitik n]Bayerischen Julius-Maximilians-Universit?t Würzburg. Für hilfreiche Anmerkungen danke ich Dipl.-Volkswirt Matthias Kullas.     

Growth and social security: the role of human capital

This paper studies the growth and efficiency effects of pay-as-you-go financed social security when human capital is the engine of growth. Employing a variant of the Lucas model [Lucas, R.E., 1988. On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics 22, 3–42.] with overlapping generations, it is shown that a properly designed, unfunded social security system leads to higher output growth than a fully funded one. Furthermore, the economy with an unfunded social security is efficient, while the other one is not. These results stand in sharp contrast to those obtained in models where the reason for economic growth is physical capital accumulation.     

On the Intergenerational Incidence of Wage and Consumption Taxes

This paper identifies the conditions that determine the intergenerational incidence of wage and consumption taxes. It emphasizes the role of the households' age‐earnings and age‐consumption profiles for an understanding of various intergenerational incidence patterns. Furthermore, the paper considers some political economy implications of the intergenerational incidence of wage and consumption taxes. It demonstrates that the distributional impact of wage versus consumption taxes bears the potential of a conflict between the young and the old on the one side and the middle‐aged on the other.     

Regionale Disparitäten in Deutschland — Auf dem Weg zu gleichwertigen Lebensverhältnissen?

Das aus dem Grundgesetz abgeleitete Ziel der gleichwertigen Lebensverh?ltnisse in ganz Deutschland stellt eine wichtige Rechtfertigung für bundespolitische Aktivit?ten dar. Die Schwerpunkte dieser Aktivit?ten bilden bundeseinheitliche Regelungen und die interregionale Umverteilung von Finanzmitteln. Doch sp?testens seit Mitte der neunziger Jahre haben sich die nach wie vor erheblichen regionalen Disparit?ten nicht mehr wesentlich verringert. Es stellt sich die Frage, was den Konvergenzprozess behindert und wie er wieder angesto?en werden kann.     

Brexit und die Zukunft Europas – eine spieltheoretische Einordnung

After the Brexit referendum’s leave outcome last summer, the new relationship between the UK and the EU has to be shaped institutionally. For the two bargaining parties the question now is which negotiation strategy to take. In order to choose the optimal strategy, the players have to factor in their time preferences. A game theoretical approach yields that the EU — no matter what is economically feasible in the short run — has to play a tough negotiation strategy if they care about the long run. This result is not a question of punishment but of pure economic rationale.     

EU-Osterweiterung: eine Bilanz nach zehn Jahren

Ten years after the biggest enlargement in the history of the EU, the integration of the new member states is assessed positively. It is considered an economic success when looking at the income levels. However, due to overly optimistic assumptions and the crisis, economic integration and the catching-up process will take much longer for the new EU member states than originally expected. Moreover, new challenges are looming, especially as the Central and Eastern European accession countries adopt the euro. Smaller countries introduced the euro as quickly as possible, whereas larger countries have been much more hesitant, thinking twice not only because of several unsolved problems in the euro area but also because they use the exchange rate tool much more intensively. All new member states have to make sure they continue to increase their productivity and competitiveness. Findings suggest that after having entered the EU, the new eastern member states appear to have been developing rather stringent competition cultures. Bulgaria and Romania’s transition performance significantly differs from the pattern in the 2004 accession countries, both in terms of quantitative growth and institutional quality. These countries show that EU funds can be highly counter-productive since they help to conserve old structures.     

Armutsatlas — Armutszeugnis der sozialpolitischen Kartographie

Es existieren unterschiedliche Defi nitionen von Armut und zahlreiche Ma?st?be, um das Armutsrisiko zu messen. Vor diesem Hintergrund sind auch die Ergebnisse des Armutsatlas kritisch zu hinterfragen. Dieser Beitrag zeigt defi nitorische Schw?chen und Probleme bei der Berechnung der Armutsrisikoquote auf.     

Falling Labor Share and Rising Unemployment: Long–Run Consequences of Institutional Shocks?

The literature on unemployment has mostly focused on labor market issues while the impact of capital formation is largely neglected. Job creation is often thought to be a matter of encouraging more employment on a given capital stock. In contrast, this paper explicitly deals with the long–run consequences of institutional shocks on capital formation and employment. It is shown that the usual tradeoff between employment and wages disappears in the long run. In line with an appropriation model, the estimated values for the long–run elasticities of substitution between capital and labor for Germany and France are substantially greater than one.