DIW Roundup

DIW Roundup 137 / 2020

Why Are We Eating so Much Meat?

There are various reasons why humans may want to reduce their consumption of meat and other animal products. In the following, we lay out important stylized facts about individual meat consumption, and then discuss the challenges and puzzles surrounding effective behavior change toward more sustainable, plant-based diets.

DIW Roundup 137 / 2020

Warum essen wir so viel Fleisch?

Es gibt verschiedene Gründe dafür, den Konsum von Fleisch und anderen tierischen Produkten zu reduzieren. In diesem Beitrag stellen wir wichtige Fakten zum Fleischkonsum vor und diskutieren dann mögliche Wege und Herausforderungen in Bezug auf eine effektive Verhaltensänderung hin zu einer nachhaltigeren, weniger tierbasierten Ernährung.

DIW Roundup 136 / 2019

Stranded Assets and Resource Rents: Between Flaws, Dependency, and Economic Diversification

Asset stranding–the unanticipated depreciation of assets (e.g. resource re-serves, infrastructure, stocks) due to market shifts such as policy interventions or innovation–is at the core of current debates in energy and climate. This roundup presents prominent contributions to the discussion with a focus on fuel-exporting economies. We discuss strengths and limits of the concept as well as potential ...

DIW Roundup 135 / 2019

Braucht Deutschland eine Ost-Quote?

„Es wächst zusammen, was zusammen gehört“, kommentierte Willy Brandt 1989 den Mauerfall. 30 Jahre nach dem Mauerfall ist schon vieles zusammengewachsen, aber trotz vieler positiver Erfolge gilt Ostdeutschland weiterhin als strukturschwach, mit niedrigeren Löhnen und geringerer Wirtschaftskraft (SVR 2019). Auch haben sich nur wenige Konzernzentralen großer Unternehmen in Ostdeutschland niedergelassen. ...

DIW Roundup 134 / 2019

Handlungsspielraum der EZB - von Zinspolitik bis Helikoptergeld

Deklariertes Ziel der EZB-Geldpolitik ist primär Preisstabilität in der Eurozone. Angesichts der ernüchternden Wachstumsprognosen und des konjunkturellen Abschwungs in Europa signalisierte nun der abgehende EZB-Chef Mario Draghi weitere Schritte zur Lockerung der Geldpolitik, um anhaltend niedrige Inflationsraten zu vermeiden. Die EZB verfügt dabei über ein ganzes Spektrum konventioneller und unkonventioneller ...

DIW Roundup 133 / 2019

Insolvency Regimes and Economic Outcomes

When in distress, a firm may need restructuring or liquidation; in either case, legal uncertainty compounds the difficulty. Sound and efficient insolvency regimes are important as these not just positively affect investment, innovation, and economic growth, but also the supply and cost of credit. The design of appropriate insolvency frameworks in Europe is, however, still controversial. The debate ...

DIW Roundup 132 / 2019

Steuerliche Instrumente der Wohneigentumsförderung

Deutschland ist, ähnlich wie seine deutschsprachigen Nachbarländer, ein Land der Mieterinnen und Mieter. Mit 51,4 Prozent ist die personenbasierte Wohneigentumsquote im Jahr 2017 im europäischen Vergleich besonders niedrig (Eurostat, 2019). In Österreich ist sie mit 55 Prozent unwesentlich höher (2017), in der Schweiz mit 42,5 Prozent niedriger (2016) (ebd.). Für diese Länderunterschiede sind in der ...

DIW Roundup 131 / 2019

The Impact of Mobile Money in Developing Countries

Mobile money is a success story in terms of facilitating account ownership and payments in developing and emerging countries. Today, telecommunication companies offer mobile money services across more than 90 countries. The most popular services are deposits and instant digital money transfers between users. Widespread mobile money adoption is boosting financial inclusion, reducing in transaction costs ...

DIW Roundup 130 / 2019

Do Default Assignments Increase Savings of the Poor? Empirical Evidence

Although households in developing and emerging countries are relatively poor, there is potential to save. For example, one study estimates that up to 8.1% of a poor household’s budget in such countries is spent on so-called temptation goods, like alcohol, tobacco, and festivals (Banerjee and Duflo, 2007). At the same time, many households are aware of the fact that they do not save enough. They name ...

DIW Roundup 129 / 2019

Stability Implications of Financial Interconnectedness under the Capital Markets Union

In the run-up to the European elections in May 2019, the European Commission is trying to advance the initiatives laid out in its action plan for a European Capital Markets Union (CMU). In order to diversify financing sources and to increase private risk sharing, the CMU aims at deepening the integration of European equity and debt markets. While there are benefits associated with more cross-border ...

DIW Roundup 128 / 2019

Measuring the Effect of Foreign Exchange Intervention Policies on Exchange Rates

Central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets is a common tool to influence exchange rates. Although central bankers are convinced of their policy’s effectiveness, econometric estimates of precise effects differ across studies. The difficulties with estimations mostly result from a lack of adequate data. This article highlights different econometric approaches that aim to mitigate estimation ...

DIW Roundup 127 / 2019

Ansätze zur Umgestaltung von Abgaben und Umlagen auf Strom sowie Heiz- und Kraftstoffe

In Deutschland sind verschiedene Energieträger derzeit unterschiedlich stark mit Abgaben und Umlagen belastet. Dies gilt sowohl in Bezug auf den Energiegehalt als auch auf die mit der Nutzung verbundenen CO2-Emissionen. Dieses Roundup gibt einen systematischen Überblick über bestehende Vorschläge zur Umgestaltung der Belastungen. Sie zielen meist darauf ab, Strom günstiger zu machen und Heiz- und Kraftstoffe ...

DIW Roundup 126 / 2018

Bildung und Lebenserwartung: Empirische Befunde für Deutschland und Europa

Zahlreiche Studien belegen: Die Bildung einer Person hängt stark mit gesundheitsrelevanten Lebensweisen und der allgemeinen Gesundheit zusammen. Aber bedeutet dies auch, dass Personen mit höherer Bildung auch länger leben, und kann mehr Bildung ursächlich zu einem längeren Leben führen? Dieses DIW Roundup stellt den aktuellen Forschungsstand zum Zusammenhang zwischen Bildung und Lebenserwartung dar, ...

DIW Roundup 125 / 2018

Innovative Business Models for Cleantechs

DIW Roundup 124 / 2018

Environmental Regulations: Lessons from the Command-and-Control Approach

Policy makers have long favored command-and-control (CAC) methods to tackle environmental damage. The number of CAC policies devoted to environmental protection has increased steadily since the 1950s and have been a large part of the overall portfolio of environmental laws andregulation in the industrialized world. Schmitt and Schulze (2011) document that between 1970 and 2011 the two most prevalent ...

DIW Roundup 123 / 2018

Linking Cap-and-Trade Systems

Linking cap-and-trade systems promises gains in cost effectiveness and signals a strong commitment to carbon policy. Linking is also seen as one possible way of converging from regional climate policy initiatives toward a global climate policy architecture. Two linked systems have been established recently, one in Europe and one in North America. However, linking also comes with challenges, such as ...

DIW Roundup 122 / 2018

Regulatory Differences and International Financial Integration

The Capital Markets Union (CMU) – an initiative of the European Commission – aims to unify and deepen capital markets across EU Member States by removing existing barriers to cross-border investment and, in particular, harmonizing financial and business regulations. However, harmonizing institutional frameworks across the EU Member States that historically have different legal traditions is difficult ...

DIW Roundup 121 / 2018

The Macroeconomic Effects of Exchange Rate Movements

The macroeconomic effects of exchange rate movements have been subject to an extensive debate in international economics. Traditionally, much of the discussion was focused on the relation between the effective exchange rate and the trade balance. However, the process of financial globalization has led to a sharp increase in foreign asset and liability positions across countries and also to a greater ...

DIW Roundup 120 / 2018

What Determines the Costs of Fiscal Consolidations?

Recent studies have proposed several factors that determine how fiscal consolidations affect the economy. This Roundup focuses on several of these determinants. Namely, it discusses how the composition of the consolidation measure, the state of the business cycle, the level of private indebtedness and the amount of fiscal stress during which the measure is implemented influences the consequences of ...

DIW Roundup 119 / 2018

Monetary Policy Normalization in the Euro Area

The ECB announced in October 2018 that it would begin to cut back the amount of monthly asset purchases starting January 2018 while extending the duration of the purchases until at least September 2018. At it latest Governor’s Council meeting in January 2019 it decided to remain on this track despite a sharp appreciation of the euro in the meanwhile. These steps were just two on a longer and potentially ...