This article challenges the common view that exports generally contribute more to GDP growth than a pure change in export volume, as the export-led growth hypothesis predicts. Applying panel cointegration techniques to a production function with non-export GDP as the dependent variable, we find for a sample of 45 developing countries that: (i) exports have a positive short-run effect on non-export ...
Learning a musical instrument during childhood may increase educational opportunities by improving cognitive skills, teaching non-cognitive skills or by sending positive signals to teachers. Our study tests these hypotheses with data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which contains information on musical practice during childhood as well as detailed parental background characteristics. In...
Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of school starting age on crime while relying on variation in school starting age induced by administrative rules; we exploit that Danish children typically start first grade in the year they turn seven, which gives rise to a discontinuity in children's school starting age. Analyses are carried out using register-based Danish data. We find that higher...
By: Kerstin Bernoth and Philipp Engler in: DIW Economic Bulletin 01/2013. With the crisis in the euro area, the issue of the institutional structure of the monetary union has gained in significance. One problem with regard to the longer-term stability of the euro area is the absence of mechanisms to adequately absorb asymmetric cyclical shocks in the individual member states. Such an instrument is ...
By: Sebastian Dullien and Ferdinand Fichtner in: DIW Economic Bulletin 01/2013. A European transfer system could contribute to stabilization of the euro area by synchronizing business cycles in the monetary union, thus simplifying the common monetary policy. Such a system is proposed here in the form of a European unemployment insurance scheme. Compared to other forms of fiscal transfer systems, ...
