Is it worth it?
Politics is just like any economic activity: for it to be worthwhile, the benefits must outweigh the costs. In a recent CESifo Working Paper, Heléne Berg presents empirical evidence of what types of payoffs motivate politicians, explicitly focusing on the local political arena in Sweden. An executive summary and the full version of this excellent working paper are available on our website.
Other CESifo Working Papers
Working Paper Submission Form
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Germany’s new industrial policy
By laying out his national industry strategy 2030, Germany’s Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier has kickstarted an important debate. How is Germany’s future as an industrial location to be secured? In his latest Viewpoint, ifo President Clemens Fuest discusses Altmaier’s proposal and gives recommendations for a more effective strategy.
More from and about Clemens Fuest
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 New partners for EconPol Europe expand economic research network into 12 European countries
EconPol Europe, the European network for economic and fiscal policy research, has welcomed five new associate partners to expand its reach into the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The new associates join founding partners in Germany, France, the UK, Finland, Austria, Italy and Belgium to take the total number of university and non-university institutions in the network to 14.
More information about the economic research network is available via EconPol’s website.
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The death of the European Banking Union
In July 2017, Louis Rouanet argued that the bail-out of two Italian banks, Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza, would be a “deathblow to the European Banking Union”. EconPol researcher Timo Wollmershäuser agrees, and says the correlation between risk premia for sovereigns and banks has since sharply increased to the high levels observed before the start of the Banking Union. Read more in the latest Opinion on EconPol’s website.
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The ifo proposal for reforming the basic security system
The ifo proposal for reforming the basic security system aims to improve performance incentives in the lower income brackets and remove barriers to earning income. Key elements involve reducing the marginal burden and increasing the amount of disregarded assets when calculating the level of benefits. Read on to learn more about the ifo proposal.
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ifo World Economic Climate suffers another setback
The ifo World Economic Climate deteriorated for the fourth time in succession. In the first quarter, the indicator dropped from -2.2 points to -13.1 points. Expectations and assessments of the current economic situation dropped significantly, although experts’ overall view is still slightly positive. The global economy is slowing down more and more.
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ifo Business Climate Index
Worries in the German business world continue to grow. The ifo Business Climate Index fell from 99.3 points in January to 98.5 points in February. This is the lowest level since December 2014. Companies again assessed their current business situation somewhat less favorably. Pessimism regarding the six–month outlook has also increased. These survey results as well as other indicators point to economic growth of 0.2 percent in the first quarter. The economic situation in Germany remains weak.
Other Economic Indicators:
ifo Employment Barometer
ifo Export Expectations
ifo World Economic Survey
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ifo DICE Report 4/2018 (Winter): Minimum Wage
Minimum wages remain a controversial policy tool. The Forum articles in the recent ifo DICE Report illustrate the implementation and effects of the minimum wage from the perspective of different European countries. Find all articles free of charge on our website.
Other Publications of Interest:
CESifo Working Papers
CESifo Forum
ifo DICE Report
ifo World Economic Survey
CESifo Economic Studies
Economic Policy
 EconPol Publications
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Richard Musgrave Lecture 2019
As part of his guest professorship, Roger H. Gordon will hold the 11th Richard Musgrave Lecture entitled “The Role of the Corporate Income Tax” on 28 March 2019 in the Kleine Aula of the University of Munich. Find out more about 2019’s first highlight here.
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The passing of Andreas Wagener (1967-2019)
It is my sad duty to inform you that our friend and colleague Andreas Wagener passed away on January 30, 2019, aged 51. Andreas was professor of economics at the Institute of Economic Policy at the Leibniz University of Hannover and guest professor for international taxation at the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna. He was a research professor at the ifo Institute, in the ifo Center for International Institutional Comparisons and Migration Research, and one of the first members of the CESifo research network. His main research field was public economics. Most of his work focused on international tax competition and pensions. Andreas was always ready to share his knowledge, discuss new research ideas with colleagues, support young researchers and provide comments on papers and projects. He was not just a creative researcher and a brilliant teacher, but also a very competent manager. From 2011 to 2013 he was dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Leibniz University of Hannover.
Andreas left us far too early. His contributions will be remembered. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family.
Clemens Fuest
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Guests
CESifo is hosting guest researchers from Germany, Italy, the USA, Spain, Canada and Norway in March 2019. Learn a bit about what they are working on, and about who they are:
Christopher Roth, Institute on Behavior and Inequality (briq), will be visiting CESifo 10 March to 15 March 2019.
Federico Revelli, University of Torino, will be visiting CESifo 11 March to 16 March 2019.
Roger H. Gordon, University of California, San Diego, will be visiting CESifo 18 March to 31 March 2019.
Vahagn Jerbashian, University of Barcelona, will be visiting CESifo 21 March to 29 March 2019.
Christoph Luelfesmann, Simon Fraser University, will be visiting CES 21 March to 30 March 2019.
Ola Lotherington Vestad, Statistics Norway, will be visiting CESifo 24 March to 30 March 2019.
Zareh Asatryan, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, will be visiting CESifo 26 March to 30 March 2019.
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Ph.D. workshop in Public Economics
Ph.D. students writing their thesis in Public Economics (broadly defined) are invited to participate in a workshop to be held at Uppsala University, June 11-14, 2019. The purpose of the workshop is to provide a forum in which papers can be presented and discussed by fellow students and senior researchers. Papers need not be in a finished form and can be on any topic in public economics. The workshop will also contain a series of lectures on Behavioural Public Finance by Brigitte C. Madrian (Brigham Young University) and Alex Rees-Jones (University of Pennsylvania). Ph.D. students interested in participating should submit their paper by email to Ulrika Öjdeby with the subject “Ph.D. Workshop” no later than 1 April 2019. All information can be found in the official call for papers.
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BIOECON XXI
The Scientific Partners of BIOECON are pleased to inform you that the Twenty-First International BIOECON Conference will be hosted by the Section Economics of Wageningen University, The Netherlands on 11-13 September 2019. BIOECON XXI will be of interest to both researchers and policy makers working on issues associated with land-use decisions and its impact on biodiversity. In particular, BIOECON XXI aims to focus on inequality and poverty – both in terms of people’s welfare and in terms of species richness of the environment – in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. In addition to the conference theme, BIOECON XXI aims to have parallel sessions on a broad range of topics within the umbrella of biodiversity economics. For a flavour of previous conferences go to this website. Complete papers may be submitted for presentation within the BIOECON Conference and should be sent to bioecon.2019@wur.nl no later than 6 May 2019. More information can be found here.
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Workshops on “Migration and Mobility”, 10-12 June 2019
The Economics Department of the University of Glasgow is organising two workshops on “Migration and Mobility: research findings, policy and impact” at the University of Glasgow in June 2019. The aim of the workshops is to bring together novel research on international and internal migration. The Research Workshop takes place on 10-11 June 2019, followed by a PhD Workshop on 12 June 2019. While participants may attend the individual workshops, we welcome anybody interested to stay for both events. Please submit full papers (preferred) or abstracts to migration.glasgow@gmail.com by 31 March 2019. For PhD students, please include “PhD Workshop” in the subject. More information is available via the call for papers.
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