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Political Culture Still Divided 25 Years after Reunification?

In 1990, during reunification, West German democratic institutions and the existing political party system were expanded to the East German states. Even after 25 years, the people of eastern and western Germany still differ in their political engagement and attitudes. However, these differences do not apply across the board by any means. A detailed analysis of survey data from the Socio-Economic Panel ...

Similar Levels of Political Interest between East and West, Notable Differences in Turnout: Six Questions to Martin Kroh

"Similar Levels of Political Interest between East and West, Notable Differences in Turnout": Six Questions to Martin Kroh

Professor Kroh, on October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. Have differences between the political cultures in eastern and western Germany persisted or has some convergence been observed here? There is no clear answer to this question. It really depends on what area you are looking at. The interview with Martin Kroh is published in DIW Economic Bulletin ...

Long-term Care Insurance and Carers' Labor Supply: A Structural Model

In Germany, individuals in need of long-term care receive support through benefits of the long-term care insurance. A central goal of the insurance is to support informal care provided by family members. Care recipients can choose between benefits in kind (formal home care services) and benefits in cash. From a budgetary perspective, family care is often considered a cost-saving alternative to formal ...

Regression Discontinuity Designs Based on Population Thresholds: Pitfalls and Solutions

In many countries, important features of municipal government (such as the electoral system, mayors' salaries, and the number of councillors) depend on whether the municipality is above or below arbitrary population thresholds. Several papers have used a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to measure the effects of these threshold-based policies on political and economic outcomes. Using evidence ...

Dr. Franziska Holz replaces Professor at the Hertie School

Dr. Franziska Holz replaces the Professor of Governance of Energy and Infrastructure at the Hertie School of Governance in academic year 2015/2016. She will teach in the areas energy policy and resource markets and continue her research on energy infrastructure. With her nomination DIW Berlin successfully continues the cooperation with the Hertie School of Governance.

Dr. Franziska Holz visits Beijing

Dr. Franziska Holz presented the results of the RESOURCES project in Beijing in early November 2015 to academic scholars, policy makers and NGOs. A focus of her presentations and discussions was on the future role of coal in China and globally. China faces the challenge to reduce the utilization of coal in the manufacturing industry and in the electricity sector in order to improve its local air quality ...

Does Central Bank Tone Move Asset Prices?

We explore whether the tone of central bank communication matters for asset prices. Using press conference statements by the ECB, which was the first central bank to establish regular live press conference after meetings of its Governing Council, we find that tone changes have a statistically and economically significant effect on equity returns. Stock prices increase when ECB tone becomes more...

Stagnation Traps

We provide a Keynesian growth theory in which pessimistic expectations can lead to permanent, or very persistent, slumps characterized by unemployment and weak growth. We refer to these episodes as stagnation traps, because they consist in the joint occurrence of a liquidity and a growth trap. In a stagnation trap, the central bank is unable to restore full employment because weak growth pushes...

Assessing the CNH-CNY Pricing Differential: Role of Fundamentals, Contagion and Policy

Renminbi internationalisation has brought about an active offshore market where the exchange rate frequently diverges from the onshore market. Using extended GARCH models, we explore the role of fundamentals, global factors and policies related to renminbi internationalisation in driving the pricing differential between the onshore and offshore exchange rates. Differences in...