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  Newsletter July/August 2015
Featured Paper From the Editor Economic Indicators
The Original 
Publications of Interest
The Chart Forthcoming Event People Ifo News Bulletin Board
This is a double issue, meaning not that there is twice as much of everything, but that there won't be an issue coming out in August. Enjoy your holiday break! If you find the time, drop us a line: we will always be happy to get your feedback. See you again in September.

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  Featured Publication
Illustration by Julio Saavedra

Fit for overcoming cultural differences

 The Genetically Huddled Masses

Many things play a role in deciding to emigrate. Love, family, work, security, a yearning for adventure. But would you have tought that the genetic distance to the destination country also does? New CESifo research by Tim Krieger and colleagues shows how that works.

Other CESifo Working Papers
Working Paper Submission Form

  The Original Sinn

Please take the next slip-road

Why Greece Should Leave the Eurozone

A nudge would have been better than a fudge, if we really want to save Greece, according to Hans-Werner Sinn. A third bail-out will solve nothing, since the underlying problem will continue to fester—to erupt again a few years and many billions of euros down the road.

Jeffrey Sachs thinks otherwise. Germany should look to its own past and give Greece some slack. Hans-Werner Sinn shows why Sachs errs in the lessons to be drawn from Germany's past.

More from and about Hans-Werner Sinn:
The Perils of Lending to your Euro Friends

   Economic Indicators

Not ready to descend yet

 Ifo Business Climate Index Rises

Contrary to expectations, the Ifo Business Climate Index rose in July, after holding up in May and dipping slightly last month. It looks like the kick-the-can-down-the-road fudge on the Greece crisis lifted the mood of German trading and manufacturing. Business leaders assessed the current situation much more positively, and their expectations for the coming 6 months brightened significantly.

Other Economic Indicators:
Ifo Economic Climate in the Eurozone Clouds Over Slightly
Residential Building Permits Rise Markedly in Europe in 2015
Readiness to Recruit Wanes in the German Economy
Export Outlook Continues to Cloud Over
Credit Constraints Edge Upwards

   From the Editor

Teach me your steps

 Do Cry for Me, Argentina

Greece and Argentina share many traits. Their governments never fail to fail. One is the world's default record-holder, the other the runner-up. Both have, at one time or another, sank like a stone into economic depression. Both behave like moody teenagers, blaming the entire world but themselves for the mess they are in and convinced that the rules are there to break them. Yet Argentina climbed out of the abyss, at least for a while, while Greece has yet to see any improvement. Could Greece tango itself out of the doldrums like its South American sibling did?

  The Chart

To those that have...

 Current Account Baddies

Germany is regularly chided for the size of its current account surplus. Shamefully large, grumble some, blaming it for all kinds of ills in the European and world economies. Leaving aside whether such a surplus is a sin, which with Germany being a large contributor to rescue packages is actually all but inevitable, is it actually that big? Is it proportionally the biggest, to merit such bad press? Hardly. Check out this new interactive DICE chart.

   Publications of Interest

Hot summer, hot issues

 DICE Report

The Summer issue of DICE Report casts an in-depth look at pension issues around Europe, in particular after the financial and debt crises. It also looks at private insolvency laws, international taxation of firms, tradable refugee-admission quotas, and minimum wages. Nothing that is not a hot topic in economic policy debates nowadays. Check it out.

Other Publications of Interest:
CESifo Forum
CESifo Economic Studies
CESifo DICE Report
CESifo World Economic Survey
CESifo Working Papers

  Forthcoming Events

 

 CEPAR-CESifo Workshop: Pension Taxation, Population Ageing, and Globalisation

This is the second of a CEPAR and CESifo-organised two-part conference, the first bit having been held in Sydney last November. Organised by John Piggott, Robert Holzmann and Bernd Genser, it will be held in Munich on September 3-4, 2015, featuring the revised versions of the papers presented in Sydney, plus further papers with a European/international perspective.

Call for papers
Programme

Check out also:
Forthcoming Academic Conferences

   People

Some of the Faces of the Month

 Guests and Locals

The CESifo Group is hosting a number of scholars during August and September. See what they are working on and get to know their research focus and other aspects of interest.


   Ifo News

 

 Abenomics Lessons

Japan offers some salutary lessons regarding the effect of procastrinating with structural economic reforms. The economic powerhouse that used to make the US fret about being left in the dust has been stagnating for more than a decade. Its sluggish performance, coupled with a somber demographic outlook, can teach Germany much as well, as Erdal Yalcin and colleagues show in a new Ifo study.

Other Ifo News:
ifo Bildungsnews

  Bulletin Board

 

 News and things of interest to CESifo Network members

Workshops on migration and on innovation, meetings and job offers. See what you may be missing. Check out this month's Bulletin Board. For new postings, please contact Yvonne Maldener.

© 2015 CESifo GmbH | Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Germany
   www.cesifo.org
All texts are the responsibility of the editor and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Ifo, CES or CESifo, or of the researchers mentioned
Published by CESifo GmbH, Poschingerstraße 5, 81679 Munich, Germany
Tel.: +49 (89) 9224-1425, Fax: +49 (89) 9224-1409
Editor: Julio C. Saavedra
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