Shortly before the parliamentary election in 2013, Germany is riding on a wave of euphoria: hardly any other euro country has weathered the financial and debt crisis so well. Since 2009, GDP has grown by over eight percent and 1.2 million new jobs have been created. Public finances were consolidated and, in 2012, there was a fiscal surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP. An impressive financial position indeed ...
While many countries in the euro area are deep in recession due to a debt and structural crisis, the German economy appears to have excelled compared to many other euro area countries. Unemployment has fallen to the lowest level since German reunification, economic output has grown by over eight percent since 2009, and public budgets have been consolidated, generating a surplus in 2012. But this is ...
Having barely registered an increase at the beginning of the new millennium, during the economic upturn after 2009, there was significant growth in the mileage by registered motor vehicles in Germany, both in the case of utility vehicles and automobiles. Overall, in 2011, automobiles covered a higher mileage than ever before. Despite more efficient engines, this resulted in fuel consumption stagnating ...
In any conflict, incidences of violence are not witnessed and reported with equal probability; many acts of violence are intentionally hidden from view. In this respect Syria is no different – the current regime is actively suppressing the flow of information out of the country. Yet in many other respects Syria is unique – local human rights activists and citizen journalists are...
Since 2003 German hospitals are reimbursed according to diagnosis related groups (DRGs). Patient classification in neonatology is based inter alia on birth weight, with substantial discontinuities in reimbursement at eight different thresholds. These discontinuities create strong incentives to upcode preterm infants into classes of lower birth weight. Using data from the German birth statistics 1996 ...
