DIW Weekly Report

Bitcoin Is Not the New Gold

The price of cryptocurrency Bitcoin has risen sharply over the past ten years, with many investors adding Bitcoin to their portfolios, benefitting from price increases and diversifying their investments. But is Bitcoin suitable for this purpose? This Weekly Report examines the extent to which Bitcoin, like gold, can contribute to the diversification of an investment portfolio. To achieve this, we have ...

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Income Distribution: Signs of a Trend Reversal In the Poverty Risk; Single Parents Less Frequently at Risk of Poverty

Despite high inflation, the real gross hourly wages of employees grew by around 15 percent from 1995 to 2022. In particular, the lowest wage decile caught back up to all other deciles following a sharp drop in real wages. At the same time, the low-wage sector has shrunk by nearly five percentage points since 2007, and by even more in the east of Germany (14 percent). In 2022, 18.5 percent of employees ...

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Loneliness in Germany: Low-Income Earners at Highest Risk of Loneliness

Loneliness poses a serious health risk: Along with negatively impacting life quality, it can even shorten the life span. This Weekly Report investigates loneliness in Germany using Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data from 2021 on loneliness. The analyses highlight the prevalence of three facets of loneliness (aloneness, isolation, exclusion) as well as regional differences and high-risk groups. The results ...

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Despite Rising Shares of Women on Executive And Supervisory Boards, Gender Parity Remains A Far-off Goal

In 2024, the share of women on the top decision-making boards of the largest companies in Germany increased. A solid 19 percent of all executive board members at the 200 largest companies are now women, and almost 26 percent of members at the 40 largest listed companies are women. The financial sector is also catching up in this regard. Moreover, legal requirements, such as the inclusion requirement ...

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Turnaround in Sight for the Construction Industry; Political Pressure for Action Is Nonetheless Increasing

Real construction volume is expected to decline for the fifth year in a row: A decline of nearly four percent is expected for 2024 and it should fall by almost one percent in 2025. However, the construction industry may manage to reverse the trend in 2026, when real construction volume is projected to grow by two percent. However, this should not obscure the fact that the declines over the past years ...

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DIW Berlin Economic Outlook: German Economy Stuck in Limbo While Trade Conflicts Threaten the Global Economy

The German economy is stuck in a difficult position as it faces both slow growth as well as structural change. The continuing lack of orders in manufacturing, increasing international competition, and sluggish development in industry-related services are now affecting the labor market and leading not only to short-time work but to layoffs too, despite the continuing skilled worker shortage. While GDP ...

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Refugees Send Remittances Abroad Less Often than Other Migrants

Remittances sent by refugees to their home countries has been a hotly debated policy topic in Germany over the past years and has led to the introduction of a payment card for asylum applicants. This Weekly Report investigates how the share of people living in Germany who send remittances abroad has changed over time according to their migration background (with or without a refugee background) and ...

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The Future Is Battery Electric: Climate Change Mitigation in Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport must switch to alternative drive technologies, such as battery-electric or hydrogen vehicles, to mitigate its impact on the climate. Preliminary results from an ongoing research project show that the fleet of battery-electric trucks as well as the number of models on offer have recently grown significantly, albeit from a very low level. This is not the case for hydrogen trucks. ...

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Energy-Efficient Building Renovation: Price‑Adjusted Investments Declining; Trend Reversal Needed to Reach Climate Targets

In light of rising oil and gas prices, investments in energy-efficient building renovation in Germany have risen recently in nominal terms. In 2023, around 72 billion euros were spent on the energy-efficient renovation of residential, public, and commercial buildings, about 12 billion more than in 2021. Nevertheless, investments declined by over six percent in price-adjusted terms, as construction ...

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Heat Monitor 2023: Despite Continued Price Increases, Lower Decline in Households’ Heating Energy Consumption

In 2023, heating energy prices increased by substantial 31 percent compared to the previous year, following a 33 percent increase already seen in 2022. Calculations based on data from the energy service provider ista show average price increases were the highest in the German state of Rhineland- Palatinate, and the lowest in Hamburg. Owing to these price hikes and ongoing energy-saving efforts, the ...

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