Macroeconomics Department Publications

German Economy Growing despite Uncertainties and Risks; Global Economy Continuing to Cool Down: Editorial

Italy Must Foster High Growth Industries

Italy has yet to recover from the economic consequences of the financial and sovereign debt crisis that began more than a decade ago. In addition to losing 1.4 million jobs across the manufacturing and construction sectors, new industries driving growth across the EU, such as knowledge-intensive services, are instead stagnating in Italy. Previous structural reforms focused on deregulating the labor ...

Growth Rate of German Economy Normalizing after Prolonged Economic Boom: DIW Economic Outlook

The German economy continues to perform well although the boom has ended. However, at 1.5 percent, German GDP will increase this year at a lower rate than expected at the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, concerns about an imminent recession should give way to the assessment that the pace of the German economy is normalizing after years of above-average growth due to robust foreign demand and increasing ...

Global Economy and the Euro Area: Uncertainty Weighs on Trade and Investment: DIW Economic Outlook

The global expansion weakened somewhat in the third quarter while the downside risks have increased. DIW Berlin’s forecast— almost unchanged—indicates an expansion in global economic production of 4.3 percent for 2018 and 3.9 percent for 2019. In 2020, momentum will slow down further to 3.6 percent. In some countries, temporary factors contributed to the economic slowdown. In major advanced economies, ...

Germany’s Economic Boom Is Cooling Off: Editorial

EU Government Bonds and Banks: Home Bias Pervasive throughout Member States but Capital Requirements Differ Greatly

The current banking regulatory framework assigns EU government bonds a risk weight of zero. Since the European debt crisis, there has been increasing controversy over eliminating this equity capital privilege, which is viewed as contributing to the close relationship between state and bank risks. This report analyses the development of home bias—the tendency of major European banks to invest disproportionately ...

Rental Market Regulation over the Last 100 Years in an International Comparison

Residential rental markets regulations have become an integral part of everyday life in Germany as in almost all other countries. The strong house price and rent increases over the past decade have fueled social debate on this issue. Tenant movements worldwide are demanding tighter regulations and advocating for affordable housing as a central civil right. In contrast, those skeptical of regulation ...

EU Immigration Has Increased Germany’s Economic Growth

Immigration to Germany has increased significantly since 2011, primarily due to the immigration of citizens from other euro area countries and those which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. This increase is mainly attributable to a lack of immigration barriers and the good economic situation on the German labor market compared to other European countries. Model simulations show that GDP growth in Germany ...

A Sustainable Development of Inflation in Euro Area Requires Continuously Improving Labor Market

In the past five years, the inflation in the euro area has been well below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) aimed inflation rate of close to but below two percent for achieving its objective of price stabilization in the medium term. The present analysis shows that expectations of low inflation, rising cyclical unemployment, and external factors such as low crude oil prices were responsible. In the ...

Policy Responses to Turkey’s Crisis: Independent Central Bank and International Credit

The presently tenuous situation in Turkey will worsen if the government does not take appropriate policy action. In view of foreign investors’ loss of confidence, the cost of external financing is likely to rise while consumption and investment will fall, and the Turkish lira would depreciate further. The influx of foreign capital would dry up as well. Conservative estimates show that the country’s ...