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German construction industry booming despite decline in energy-efficient refurbishment

DIW Berlin’s construction volume calculations: construction industry remains a key pillar of the German economy—need for action in energy-efficient refurbishment and in accommodating refugees The construction industry remains a key pillar of the German economy: buildings worth a total of around 338 billion euros will have been constructed or modernized in Germany by the end of this year—2.7 ...

"The Construction Industry Continues Its Upward Trend": Seven Questions to Claus Michelsen

Dr. Michelsen, how important has the construction industry been for the German economy in recent years? After the construction industry hit rock bottom in the first decade of this century, it has recovered considerably since 2010. It is now an important pillar of the German economy and contributes significantly to growth in the country. Since 2010, we have seen a sharp increase in the volume of construction. ...

Regional Disparities in the European Union: Convergence and Agglomeration

Economic disparities between the regions of the European Union are of constant concern both for policy and economic research. In this paper we examine whether there are overlapping trends of regional development in the EU: overall convergence on the one hand and persistent or even increasing spatial concentration (agglomeration) on the other. Kernel density estimation, Markov chain analysis and cross-sectional ...

The Three Domains Structure of Energy-Climate Transitions

This paper argues that the development of energy systems rests on a combination of three different domains of socio-economic processes and associated modes of decision-making. For shorthand these are termed ‘satisficing’, ‘optimising’, and ‘transforming’ domains, with corresponding underpinnings found in behavioural, neoclassical, and evolutionary economics respectively. Each domain operates at different ...

Is Globalization Reducing the Ability of Central Banks to Control Inflation? In-Depth Analysis

Productivity in Electricity Retail after Market Liberalisation: Analysing the Effects of Ownership and Firm's Governance Structure

This paper, which is one of the first to estimate productivity in retail electricity for a European country after liberalisation, analyses the effect of ownership and governance structure by using a unique dataset of German electricity retailers from 2003 to 2012. An innovative service production function for the retail sector is derived with labour and external services as the main inputs. A structural ...

Fifty Shades of State: Quantifying Housing Market Regulations in Germany

The paper aims at measuring the rental housing market regulations in Germany between 1913 and 2015. Four classes of housing policy are considered: Rent controls, tenant protection, rationing of housing, and fostering of social housing. Based on a thorough analysis of federal and regional legislation, for each class, an index is constructed, increasing in degree of regulation. The average of class-specific ...

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2016

Big data is transforming the world we live in. The instant availability of information impacts how individuals consume, how businesses thrive or fail, how society makes scientific discoveries, as well as how governments design and implement informed policies. At a pace and scale unanticipated 20 years ago, information technology is enabling consumers globally. Uncountable services make use of a...

Annual Report on European SMEs: 2012/2013. A Recovery on the Horizon?

Turning Point: Decoupling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Economic Growth

Damit Maßnahmen gegen den Klimawandel weltweit greifen, ist es unerlässlich, Wirtschaftswachstum so umzugestalten, dass es weniger von fossilen Rohstoffen und den damit verbundenen Treibhausgasen (THG) abhängt. Das Jahr 2014 war das erste seit Jahrzehnten, in dem global die Wirtschaft wuchs und die THG-Emissionen der Energiebranche dennoch sanken. In der vorliegenden Studie soll versucht werden, diese ...