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  Newsletter October 2013
Featured Paper From the Editor Economic Indicators
The Original 
Publications of Interest
The Chart Forthcoming Events People Ifo News Bulletin Board
  Featured Paper

The path to the top of the food chain must be here somewhere

It's All in the Brain

"It's the way I'm wired" takes on new meaning if the findings of Salvador Valdés and a colleague are anything to go by. It could well be that all your benefit-maximising decisions are not necessarily the result of careful rational analysis, but simply the product of the mechanics of your interconnected brain cells. Homo wiredis, welcome.

Other CESifo Working Papers
Working Paper Submission Form

  The Original Sinn

Let's raise it just one bit more

In Praise of Debt Ceilings

Tea Party Republicans harvested their fair bit of opprobrium over their obdurate stance during the inconclusive US budget negotiations. But on one item, provided of course that the actually meant it, they had a point: keeping debt from rising unchecked. Hans-Werner Sinn explains why that would be a worthy cause.

   Economic Indicators

Changing the flight level

Ifo Eurozone Climate Indicator on the Rise

The Eurozone Climate Indicator, prepared by Ifo jointly with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, continued to rise this quarter and exceeded its long-term average for the first time since the end of 2011. Despite the high unemployment, public budget deficits and weak demand that continue to plague some countries, the economic outlook for the next six months is considerably more optimistic than three months ago. The Ifo Business Climate Index for Germany, however, dipped in October, albeit minimally, after five consecutive hikes. It seems that the German economy is not yet in full swing.

Other Ifo Economic Indicators:
Joint Economic Forecast Autumn 2013
Credit Constraints Edge Upwards

   From the Editor

Not just hot air

Psy Ops

Psychological operations are quite nifty: they use the might of the word to defang a foe. All they take is credibility, crafty formulation and good delivery. Mario Draghi pulled one off brilliantly when he announced that the European Central Bank would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro. It worked. It calmed the markets and took the edge off the crisis. And it cost nothing. Or did it?

  The Chart

 

Liptsick and Lawmaking

Women are usually more sensible than men. They won't send their sons to war so easily, for instance. Strange, then, than countries have only recently started to tap them as legislators. DICE has a very interesting interactive chart on the evolution of the proportion of women in parliament, covering a number of developed and developing countries from 1960 to 2012. Check it out.

   Forthcoming Events

 

Munich Lectures 2013

The Munich Lectures in Economics are celebrating their 20th year. Dealing on this occasion with the Foundations of Economic Preferences, they will be delivered by the 2013 winner of the Distinguished CES Fellow award, Ernst Fehr. He will be joined in the accompanying festivities by a number of former fellow awardees.

Other Forthcoming Events:
8th Norwegian-German Seminar on Public Economics
Junior Economist Workshop on Migration Research
7th Workshop on Political Economy
Macroeconomics and Survey Data Conference

   People
CESifo Guests and Locals

Faces of the Month

Guests and Locals

The CESifo Group is hosting a dozen scholars during October/November. See what they are working on and get to know their research interests and other aspects of interest.

Other People-related News:
Cycle Analysis Director to Leave Ifo


   Ifo News

Economic airlifter

Aviation Lends Wings to Economy

People living half-way close to an airport love to grumble against it – except when they themselves want to fly to their holiday or business destinations, of course. Were the airport to disappear, however, they would have much more reason to grumble. As a new Ifo study shows, aviation is a large contributor to economic development and to the general welfare of a region or country. The report, prepared jointly with the German Federal Association of Air Transport, is available here. Alas, so far only in German, though.


   Publications of Interest

Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School

Mighty Superpower, Puny Educator

CESifo fellows Ludger Woessmann and Eric Hanushek, together with their colleague Paul Peterson, analyse the disappointing performance of most US federal states by international comparison in their book “Endangering Prosperity – A Global View of the American School.” They show the enormous potential for the American economy that lies in improving educational achievement in the US school system. > Book

Other Publications of Interest:
"Verspielt nicht eure Zukunft" ("Don't Forfeit Your Future") by Hans-Werner Sinn
CESifo Forum
CESifo Economic Studies
CESifo DICE Report
CESifo World Economic Survey

  Bulletin Board

 

News and things of interest to CESifo Network members

There is a new job on offer for an ambitious young economist in Kosovo. It might also open the door for the successful candidate to work more closely with the GIZ, Germany's international cooperation agency. Check it out. And don't forget: CESifo Network members can post here conferences, job openings, professional announcements and other things of interest to fellow Network members and other interested parties. Just contact Ines Gross.


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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
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Editor: Julio C. Saavedra
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