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Trend zur (Re-)Kommunalisierung in der Energieversorgung: ein Mythos?

Nachdem in den 90er Jahren viele Kommunen ihre Energieversorgungsunternehmen privatisiert hatten, ist mittlerweile oft von einem Paradigmenwechsel die Rede. Städte und Gemeinden ziehen demnach in Betracht, die Versorgung mit Strom, Wasser, Gas und Wärme wieder in die Hände öffentlicher Unternehmen zu legen. Die Städte Berlin und Hamburg sind zwei prominente Beispiele dafür. Doch gibt es einen allgemeinen ...

Keine Effizienzunterschiede zwischen öffentlichen und privaten Energieversorgungsunternehmen

Die Ausweitung der kommunalen Wirtschaftstätigkeit in der Energieversorgung wird oftmals kritisch betrachtet. Es wird vermutet, dass öffentliche Unternehmen im Vergleich zu privaten Unternehmen geringeren Anreizen zu effizienter Leistungserstellung unterliegen. Das könnte überhöhte Kosten und Endkundenpreise zur Folge haben. Neue Mikrodaten deutscher Energieversorgungsunternehmen erlauben erstmals ...

Private Energieversorger arbeiten nicht effizienter als öffentliche: Sechs Fragen an Astrid Cullmann

Credit Rating Agency Downgrades and the Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crises

This paper studies the reaction of the Euro's value against major currencies to sovereign rating announcements from Moody's, S&P and Fitch CRAs during the Eurozone debt crisis in 2010–2012 based on event study methodology combined with GARCH models. We also analyze how the yields of French, Italian, German and Spanish government long-term bonds were affected by CRA announcements. Our results reveal ...

The European Debt Crisis and Fiscal Reactions in Europe 2000-2014

After the outbreak of the global financial crisis, some governments in the EU experienced serious fiscal problems, while others were less affected. This paper seeks to shed light on the divergent fiscal performance in the EU countries before and after the outbreak of the crisis. Fiscal reaction functions of the primary balance are estimated for different groups of EU countries using quarterly data ...

The Greek Economic Crisis, Labor Markets and Policies

The historic decision at the Euro Summit on July 12, 2015, to continue supporting Greece as a member of the EU and the euro family, provided Greece the chance to return to growth and sustainability, provided it takes the necessary steps to continue with its reforms. Jointly the Greek government with its partners (European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), agreed ...

The Greek Tragedy in the Health Sector: Social and Health Implications

Greece went into recession in 2009, after a decade of flourishing economic growth fluctuating annually around 4 percent; over the same period the average growth for theEU-27 was just about 2 percent. The economic downturn had a series of adverse effects on the economy and the health sector. More specifically, over the 2008–2015 period, GDP was reduced by 29.5 percent, wages were reduced by 35–45 percent, ...

Wealth Taxation of Real Estate During the Greek Crisis: The Perils of Ignoring Market Signals

During the Greek crisis the wealth tax on real estate (WTRE) was increased four-fold as a percentage of GDP in order to boost fiscal revenues. This increase contributed to an essentially complete freeze of the real estate market, a considerable drop in real estate prices, and a substantial deepening of the recession. Using conservative assumptions, we calculate that the WTRE increases unemployment ...

Taxing Wealth and Only Wealth in an Advanced Economy with an Oversized Informal Economy and Vast Tax Evasion: The Case of Greece

Greece has the largest underground economy in the eurozone and one of the largest in Europe and the OECD countries. On the other hand, Greece is notoriously known for its sizable and widespread tax evasion primarily because of the large number of self employed and its wide geographical distribution. As documented by many studies, the two depend on a corrupted, inefficient and ineffective public administration. ...

Product Market Reforms in Greece: Unblocking Investments and Exports

While Greece’s poor record on investment and exports predates the crisis, the deep economic recession has made addressing long-standing weaknesses a priority. This paper takes a closer look at selected structural reforms that are critical for bolstering investments and exports in Greece. We investigate the areas of licensing, competition, professions, land use, and trade facilitation. In all areas ...