The 64th Annual General Meeting of the Ifo Institute will take place on 26 June in Munich. After the members’ meeting in the morning, the public part of the Annual General Meeting will highlight margins for manoeuvre in terms of the further development of European Monetary Union from various viewpoints. Speakers at the meeting will include Professor Dietrich Murswiek, University of Freiburg, Professor Otmar Issing, University of Frankfurt, and Professor Brun-Hagen Hennerkes, Stiftung Familienunternehmen. Details

Under certain circumstances the State of Saxony subsidises commuting costs in order to make employees more flexible. This implies a greater strain on public goods like transport. However, the price of the infrastructure required is paid by the municipalities, while commuters contribute very little. Instead they increase the funding received by their municipality of residence, since their registration of residence means that the community is ascribed higher financial needs in the municipal fiscal equalisation process, which results in many small and middle-sized communities in Saxony receiving slightly higher grants than may be appropriate. In the latest issue of ifo Dresden berichtet Jan Kluge and Christian Thater present their proposal for a corresponding correction. Details

The changed policy framework conditions and targets arising from the energy concept and turnaround in energy policy by the German federal government require the extensive coordination of innovation, energy and environmental policy. Otherwise losses in effectiveness and efficiency may occur, along with other undesirable side-effects. Taking the transformation of the energy system into account, ifo Forschungsbericht 61 documents the various forms of interaction between policy fields, assesses their impact and proposes measures for effective and efficient policy coordination. Details

The business climate improved significantly at the beginning of the second quarter of 2013 and has not been as favourable since the German reunification boom at the end of the 1990s, according to the remarkable results of the Ifo Institute's quarterly survey of freelance architects. The 15% increase in commercial contracts is particularly good for architects and almost compensated for the downturn in the public sector. Details

A new approach to regulation in the telecommunications sector has been discussed for several years whereby, instead of imposing a nationally uniform regulation, individual areas where competition is particularly intensive could be deregulated. Nadine Fabritz, a researcher in the Ifo Institute’s Human Capital and Innovation Department, and Oliver Falck, the department’s deputy head, have closely analysed the consequences of local deregulation of the broadband access market in the UK, which introduced local deregulation in 2008. They find that local deregulation has positive effects on infrastructure-based competition and, even by conservative estimates, that every service region tends to gain additional market participants with their own infrastructure. Details

Jun 13, 2013: The business climate at the beginning of the second quarter of 2013 has not been as favourable since the German reunification boom at the end of the 1990s, according to the results of the Ifo Institute's quarterly survey of freelance architects. Details

Jun 5, 2013: The Ifo Export Climate deteriorated in April 2013 and now stands at -0.81 points. The decline in the indicator is due to the deterioration of the global economic climate. Details

Jun 4, 2013: The Ifo Business Climate Index for industry and trade in Germany has risen again after two consecutive declines. The climate indicators for the eastern German federal states and for Saxony have also improved, mainly because of the more positive assessment of the business situation by the Saxon companies. In addition, the survey participants from industry and trade in Saxony are less pessimistic regarding the business outlook. Details

May 31, 2013: Credit constraints for German industry and trade weakened for the third consecutive time. At 19.8%, the credit hurdle is below the 20% mark for the first time in nearly half a year. Financing conditions for German companies continue to be very good. The extent to which the interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank on 8 May will lead to further improvement remains to be seen. Details

May 31, 2013: The Ifo Employment Barometer for German industry and trade, including the service sector, recovered slightly in May after a sharp decline in the previous month. The reluctance to hire new staff has thus weakened somewhat in the German economy. Details

May 29, 2013: The Ifo Business Climate for industry and trade in the eastern German federal states brightened sharply in May after a significant downturn in the previous month. The surveyed eastern German companies are significantly more satisfied with their current operations than in April. The business expectations are also more optimistic. The late spring is now also reviving the economy in eastern Germany. Details

May 24, 2013: The Ifo Business Climate Indicator for the German service sector has risen again after the sharp decline of the previous month. The surveyed service providers are clearly more satisfied with their current business situation. Expectations regarding future business are virtually unchanged and in positive territory. Employment plans remain expansionary. Details

May 24, 2013: The Ifo Business Climate Index for industry and trade in Germany has risen again after two consecutive declines. The firms are clearly more satisfied with their current business situation than in the previous month. The outlook for future business is unchanged and slightly positive. The German economy remains on track in a challenging European environment. Details

May 15, 2013: The Ifo World Economic Climate Indicator continued to rise, even if only slightly. Both assessments of the current economic situation and the six-month economic outlook improved slightly compared to the previous quarter. There are a growing number of signs that the world economy is stabilising. Details

May 8, 2013: The Ifo Economic Climate Indicator for the euro area remains at a low level. Assessments of the current economic situation are slightly less favourable than in the last survey. Expectations for the six-month economic outlook improved only slightly. An economic recovery has not yet started. Details