Publikationen der Abteilung Unternehmen und Märkte

Publicly Funded Research Gaining Ground: Six Questions to Heike Belitz

Growth through Research and Development

DIW Berlin has examined the effects of investment in research and development on economic growth in Germany and other OECD countries. Their results show that an increase of one percentage point in research and development spending in the economy as a whole leads to a short-term average increase in GDP growth of approximately 0.05 to 0.15 percentage points. The coefficient for Germany is at the upper ...

Research and Development in Manufacturing: Companies Performing Better Than Ever

In 2008 and 2009, during the economic crisis, Germany’s industrial enterprises invested considerably less in research and development (R&D). From 2010 to 2013, investments increased markedly again by an annual growth rate of 6.8 percent. This increase can be partly traced back to the process of catching-up after the crisis. Considering the period 2008 to 2013 research expenditures increased by annually ...

No Barriers to Investment in Electricity and Gas Distribution Grids through Incentive Regulation

Since early 2009, electricity and gas distribution in Germany has been subject to incentive regulation designed to ensure greater efficiency in electricity and gas grid operation. However, it remains to be seen how changes to the regulatory framework will affect the investment behavior of distribution system operators. Against this background, the present study empirically analyzes the investment activities ...

German Construction Industry: New Residential Construction at Cyclical Peak - Public Construction Gaining Ground

The construction industry remains a key pillar of the German economy. According to the latest construction volume calculations by DIW Berlin, the value of construction in 2014 and 2015 is forecast to grow far more rapidly than the economy as a whole: by a price-adjusted 3.3 percent and 2.1 percent in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Currently, new residential construction is an important engine for growth ...

Education as a Tool for Democratization

Calls for democratization have been a new landmark of the current decade. Protestations and revolutions demanding political change and democratic reforms have spread across most of the Middle East and North Africa. Yet, the origins and the determinants of success of these movements remain unclear to researchers and policy makers. Historically higher educational attainment has undeniably been associated ...

Weak Investment in the EU: A Long-Term Cross-Sectoral Phenomenon

Based on capital stock, in total, over six trillion euros less was invested in the European Union between 1999 and 2007 than in the non-European OECD countries, including the US, Canada, and Japan. In the euro area, investment was more than 7.5 trillion euros less than in non-European OECD countries. In virtually all EU member states, gross fixed assets (capital stock) are older than the OECD average ...

An Investment Agenda for Europe

Only strong economic growth will help Europe emerge from its crisis. The reforms implemented to date at national and European level have failed to impact the economypositively; this is due to excessive national, corporate, and private debts, the flawed banking system, the lack of structural reforms, an insufficient institutional framework at European level, as well as a persisting climate of distrust ...

Low Base Interest Rates: An Opportunity in the Euro Debt Crisis

Member states of the euro area have been struggling with the legacies of the severe financial and economic crisis for four years now. But debt ratios are still rising. Negative primary balances, low growth, and low inflation do not allow for a recovery similar to the one in the US after the Second World War. Between 1946 and 1953, the US was able to almost halve its debt with no haircuts. The crisis ...

Energy Upgrades: The Longer You Wait, the Harder It Gets: Seven Questions to Dietmar Edler