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Press Release
From January 1, 2005 on, Prof. Dr. Alfred Steinherr will act as interim Head of Department of Macro Analysis and Forecasting at DIW Berlin. Steinherr (60) will fulfill this function in addition to his position as Chief Economist at the European Investment Bank (EIB). Alfred Steinherr has served as Chief Economist at the EIB since 1995. Prof. Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann, President of DIW Berlin, said: “We ...
01.12.2004
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Press Release
The German medical-technology industry ranks first throughout Europe. On a world-wide basis, it is in 3rd place behind the USA and Japan according to the current weekly report of DIW Berlin 48/2004. The sales volume in the medical technology sector increased by 5.5 percent from 1995 to 2003 and is, as a result, significantly higher than the average of the manufacturing sector overall. World trade in ...
24.11.2004
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Press Release
The European Commission gave a consortium of European research institutes the task of researching productivity in the European Union. DIW Berlin will be responsible for the development of measures of productivity for Germany as part of this consortium and will carry out analyses in the areas of productivity, technology, the labor market and investment.
04.11.2004
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Press Release
The recent sharp increase in energy prices has been caused by a combination of different developments: upheaval on the world oil market, its impact on other energy markets, increases in energy prices motivated by environmental policy, and delays in liberalisation and regulation in the area of electricity and gas supplies. In its current Weekly Report (Wochenbericht 44/2004), the DIW Berlin analyses ...
27.10.2004
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Press Release
The question of whether unemployment will remain a brief phase in one’s career or evolve into a long-term condition depends not only on the overall economic situation—as determined by such reforms as Hartz IV—but also on the personal and social characteristics of unemployed individuals themselves. A recently released DIW Berlin study entitled “The influence of personality characteristics and social ...
26.10.2004
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Press Release
The word economy continues to be strong, but since spring 2004 the upswing has been losing some of its momentum, partly because economic policies have become less ex-pansive. Although the monetary conditions remained highly supportive, fiscal impulses in the US have diminished and the other global driving force, China, has been taking administrative steps to cool off the economy. In addition, the high ...
19.10.2004
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Press Release
Immigrants to Germany from EU countries succeed in achieving a social situation comparable with German-born individuals, and in some cases even better. Immigrants from other non-EU countries, however, do not. The percentage of unskilled and low-skilled workers among all immigrant groups is, at 43%, significantly higher than the percentage of these workers among individuals born in Germany (12%). However, ...
19.10.2004
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Press Release
Value added has risen in Germany over the last ten years as a result of external trade. Consequently, according to the current DIW Berlin Weekly Report (Wochenbericht 40/2004), foreign trade has stabilized economic growth in Germany. The authors’ calculations are based on changes in the real external balance, which has increased by around 25 billion euro over the last ten years. The real external balance ...
29.09.2004
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Press Release
Following the reform of the Higher Education Act in 2002, the junior professorship was to become the only possible route for young academics seeking to qualify for tenure and was thus intended to replace Germany’s habilitation procedure. This plan was frustrated by the Constitutional Court in July 2004 even though, as outlined in the current DIW Berlin Weekly Report (Wochenbericht 39/2004), the introduction ...
22.09.2004
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Press Release
The Executive Board of DIW Berlin is happy to announce that the Appointment Commission of DIW Berlin selected Associate Professor Peter Egger (University of Innsbruck) as first choice candidate for the position as Head of Department of International Economics.
08.09.2004
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Press Release
According to the current DIW Berlin Weekly Report (Wochenbericht 35/2004), it is likely that networks operating in attractive regional environments have a more positive influence on local learning and innovation processes than networks operating in less favourable economic environments with weak labour markets. This issue of the Wochenbericht studies the “Learning Regions – Providing Support ...
25.08.2004
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Press Release
The current issue (2/2004) of the Quarterly Journal of Economic Research (Vierteljahrsheft zur Wirtschaftsforschung) illustrates the considerable progress made in the field of corruption research over the last 10 years. This research indicates that it is possible both to explain and to influence the degree of corruption in a given society. Corruption is not a consequence of an immutable “cultural” ...
05.08.2004
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Press Release
DIW Berlin has a new Managing Director. The vacancy at the Berlin Institute will be filled by Dr. Susanne Maria Schmidt on 1 January 2005. The 32-year-old Doctor of Economics has already been acting Managing Director of the Institute since 1 September 2003.
23.07.2004
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Press Release
The Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) survey conducted by the DIW Berlin and the Infratest Social Research Institute shows a sharp decline between 1992 and 2002 in the working-age population’s satisfaction with retirement insurance. According to figures published in the current DIW Berlin Weekly Report (Wochenbericht 22/2004), the share of satisfied respondents fell during this period from 37% to 25%, while ...
26.05.2004
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Press Release
Germany’s labour market flexibility has risen in the past 10 years, according to findings published in DIW Berlin’s current Weekly Report (21/2004). Calculations by the Institute’s Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the period 1992 to 2002 have found that the number of those starting a new job within one year has risen by more than 30%, to almost 6.3 million persons. Given the falling number of employed ...
19.05.2004
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Press Release
A special survey conducted by the DIW Berlin’s Socio-Economic Panel, in cooperation with Infratest Sozialforschung, indicates signs of a crisis of confidence in Germany, notes DIW Berlin’s Weekly Report, No. 21/2004. Confidence in politics (i.e., the Bundestag) has been largely eroded; moreover, the level of confidence in big business and the trade unions is also low. This scenario is all the more ...
19.05.2004
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Press Release
A global economic upturn is unfolding. Since mid-2003 production has been expanding rapidly in many countries and capacity utilisation has been rising. The upswing is centred in North America and in East Asia. Its robustness is evidenced by the marked increase in investment and in the fact that the optimistic mood in the stock market was not lastingly impaired either by the most recent terrorist acts ...
27.04.2004
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Press Release
The DIW Berlin has appointed three new Heads of Department. On 15 April 2004, Professor Dr. Claudia Kemfert took over as Director of the“Energy, Transportation, Environment” Department. On 1 May 2004, Axel Werwatz, Ph.D., took over the “Innovation, Manufacturing, Service”Department, and Dörte Höppner the “Information and Organisation” Service Department. All three appointments are made due to retirement. ...
26.04.2004
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Press Release
The three-pillar system in the German banking sector is a historical development and it is facing major changes. The banks incorporated under public law have so far been granted special guarantees but from mid-2005 these will change. In a report commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Finance DIW Berlin states that the unification of the “rules of the game” in the German financial sector that has now ...
15.04.2004
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Press Release
Poland’s gross domestic product will grow by about 4% this year and next. That is the finding in DIW Berlin’s current Wochenbericht 12/2004, which was written in cooperation with the Centre for Social and Economic Analysis (CASE) in Warsaw.
17.03.2004