Eastern Germany will be facing several challenges in the near future. Demographic change will lead to an increasing shortage of skilled workers especially in industry. Due to the reduction of the Solidarity Pact II and a decline in EU Structural Funds, there will also be a significant decrease in the revenue of public authorities. Furthermore, the challenges of globalisation may lead to outsourcing and offshoring of German firms to other countries. Because of this it is necessary for politicians to initiate appropriate countermeasures. This project focuses on developing a medium-term economic policy strategy for Saxony-Anhalt. Finally, the aim was to increase the efficiency of (local) policy, especially in cases of educational and subsidies policy.
The report was focusing on two issues. The first was the question whether the economy of Saxony-Anhalt could exploit their growth potential. The second was to discuss, how to improve economic conditions in a way that a long-term stable and sustainable growth can be ensured. At the beginning, the basics of a positive economic development were discussed, followed by comparative survey of selected growth factors in Saxony-Anhalt and the Federal Republic. Furthermore, the current economic conditions in Saxony-Anhalt were shown and its structural advantages and disadvantages were illustrated. Using this knowledge the economic policy (subsidies policy) of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and the EU were monitored critical. For this, the current funding programs were presented and classified. The medium-and long-term financial base of these programs was reviewed. Subsequently, the programs have been compared with focus on their usage, financing and incentives.
Förderdatenbak des Bundes INKAR Patentatlas Deutschland Prognos Familienatlas Hochschulstatistiken des Statitsichen Bundesamtes Umsatzsteuerstatistik Volkswirtschaftliche Gesamtrechnung der Länder
Since the reunification Saxony-Anhalt has been going through a strong process of economic and social restructuring. There are positive impacts on the economic growth. However, the total number of employees declined. The shrinking and aging population is one of the biggest challenges for the further development of the state. In the future, the supply of qualified workers for the economy will become a huge problem. Saxony-Anhalt has to support the further qualification of the population to compensate the demographic change. In addition to this, the economic location factors should be improved. The main issues are the infrastructure and the networking of the regional economy (among themselves, as well as to research institutions). The policy supports the economic development in Saxony-Anhalt by the widespread use of funding instruments. In the future we can expect a declining financial basis for the funding instruments. The policy has to establish revolving funds to stretch the available financial resources. Furthermore, these funds increases the efficiency of the subsidies policy.
Arent, Stefan, Joachim Ragnitz, Johannes Steinbrecher and Björn Ziegenbalg: Wirtschaftsperspektiven und wirtschaftliche Handlungsoptionen für Sachsen-Anhalt, ifo Dresden Studie 54 , Munich/Dresden 2010.
Arent, Stefan and Johannes Steinbrecher: "Bedeutung regionaler Standortfaktoren für das Wachstum am Beispiel Sachsen-Anhalts“, in: ifo Dresden berichtet 05/2010, p. 21-27. (Download, PDF, 110 KB).
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