Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital: Volume 52, Issue 2
Governments worldwide reacted swiftly to the global financial crisis by tougher regulations. This... more Governments worldwide reacted swiftly to the global financial crisis by tougher regulations. This paper investigates the impacts of the regulatory environment on operating costs using panel data of 2,200 German banks over the timeframe from 1999 to 2014. We estimate cost functions with and without proxies for regulation and analyze the results with respect to period, bank size, and group affiliation. Our results show that regulatory costs were peaking in 2001, 2008, and lately since 2012. Most interesting, however, is the asymmetry of regulation: Whereas the cost effects were symmetric for all banks until 2003, the last ten years were different. Larger institutions and savings banks could neutralize the impacts of increasing regulation on operating costs. In contrast, smaller banks, especially if they are cooperative banks, were facing significant cost increases. We therefore expect unintended structural shifts like a reduction in the diversity of banks, which are negative for compe...
During the last years many network industries experienced drastic changes in their regulatory fra... more During the last years many network industries experienced drastic changes in their regulatory framework, which were driven by reforms on the EU-level. The telecommunication sector is the frontrunner of this process. Motivated by the hope for higher productivity and increasing macroeconomic growth rates, important deregulation and privatization measures were undertaken. The first topic of this paper is to summarize these
Motivated by recent statistics that show significant growth in labor productivity, this paper see... more Motivated by recent statistics that show significant growth in labor productivity, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between domestic R&D, knowledge stock and productiv- ity dynamics. Time series data of the German manufacturing industry is used to estimate a variable cost function with the stock of knowledge being dependent upon current and past R&D spending. The estimates indicate that
This study uses the concept of stochastic frontiers for analyzing the income disparity between et... more This study uses the concept of stochastic frontiers for analyzing the income disparity between ethnic groups in West Germany. Estimation of a potential rather than an average earnings function increases the explanatory power of the human capital approach and allows for detecting discrimination as well as assimilation processes. The empirical results im-ply that the human capital gap explains more than 75% of the wage differential between natives and foreign nationalities in Germany. As for ethnic Germans migrants, their wage disparity can be explained by 50% with human capital differentials. Surprisingly, only small differences could be observed with regard to the question of earnings efficiency. On an average, inhabitants as well as immigrants transformed about 85% to 90% of their potential income into actual earnings. The sources for the individually diverging efficiency ratios are not well understood, with discrimination only found for ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. Somewhat...
Driven by digitalization, convergence within the telecommunication and media sector is not only a... more Driven by digitalization, convergence within the telecommunication and media sector is not only a today's phenomena, but will even become more important in the future. One of the most important dimensions of convergence is vertical integration, i.e. the merging of formerly independent firms along the value chain. Analyzing the economic aspects of vertical integration in the media and telecommunication sector, it is argued in this paper that convergence is clearly positive for the merging firms themselves. However, from the consumer perspective, there are positive as well as negative effects which do not allow for an unambiguous conclusion about convergence. The expected decrease in market prices due to a vanishing double monopoly markup is in favor of the demand side. On the other side, a vertical integrated firm will probably be able to foreclosure the access to the consumers against upstream firms (e.g. content producers), thus reducing the variety of media content. In the lon...
En France, une ann�e suppl�mentaire au-del� du taux plein dans le r�gime g�n�ral ne donne droit �... more En France, une ann�e suppl�mentaire au-del� du taux plein dans le r�gime g�n�ral ne donne droit � aucune augmentation de pension. Cette taxe sur le prolongement d'activit� distort les choix des agents en faveur d'un �ge de d�part en retraite inf�rieur � celui qui pr�vaudrait dans un contexte optimal. Cette taxe pourrait �tre �limin�e par la mise en place d'un syst�me qui lierait le taux de remplacement � l'�ge de d�part en retraite de fa�on � respecter la neutralit� actuarielle. Pour des raisons exactement oppos�es � la situation pr�valant actuellement, ce syst�me ne permet pas d'assurer des moyens de financement suppl�mentaires pour les caisses des r�gimes par r�partition. Il existe en effet un dilemme entre une taxe �lev�e et un allongement significatif de la dur�e d'activit�. Nous pr�sentons un mod�le tr�s simplifi� � deux p�riodes qui permet de d�terminer de fa�on explicite et transparente la taxe sur la prolongation d'activit� qui correspond au somme...
This special issue of the European Journal of Population focuses on possible economic consequence... more This special issue of the European Journal of Population focuses on possible economic consequences of low fertility in Europe. This introduction reviews the history of falling fertility in Europe and the literature that explores its causes, its potential implications, and possible policy responses. It also summarizes the evolution of thinking about the relationship between population growth and economic development, with attention to recent work on the mechanisms through which fertility decline can spur economic growth if the necessary supporting conditions are met. The introduction also identifies some of the challenges of population aging that are associated with low fertility and suggests that there may be less reason for alarm than has been suggested by some observers. The papers that appear in this special issue are also summarized.
In this paper we examine the impact of membership in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) on trad... more In this paper we examine the impact of membership in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) on trade between PTA members. Rather than considering the impact of PTA membership on the volume of trade we consider the impact of membership on the structure of trade. For a large sample of countries over the period 1962-2000 we find that membership in a PTA is associated with an increase in the extent of intra-industry trade. In addition, we find that the effect of PTA membership on IIT is larger when a PTA is formed between two developed countries.
Providing the poor access to finance, microcredit is supposed to alleviate poverty and can be exp... more Providing the poor access to finance, microcredit is supposed to alleviate poverty and can be expected to reduce income inequality in developing countries. Drawing on a primary survey of 670 borrower households in Cairo in 2010, we run a number of cross-sectional regressions and simulations to assess the actual impact of microcredit. The paper yields three main findings. First, microloans
ABSTRACT Immigrants in Germany have poor earnings performance relative to natives. Claiming that ... more ABSTRACT Immigrants in Germany have poor earnings performance relative to natives. Claiming that human-capital endowments determine earnings potentials rather than actual earnings, a stochastic earnings frontier is estimated and used to seek systematic differences between natives and migrants for GSOEP data for the year 2000. While empirical results clearly support the frontier assumption, natives and immigrants are surprisingly about the same with respect to the frontier. Assuming a half-normal distribution of the wage gap, on average, both groups transform a modest 84% share of their potential income into market earnings. This implies wage inequality can be attributed to human-capital differentials alone. The human-capital endowments of immigrants are largely determined by the very low percentage who have college degrees, their slow assimilation and zero-return on imported experience. The paper also tries to explain individual wage gaps, which are significantly decreased in married subjects raising families, but increased in employees in small- or medium-sized relative to larger firms. However, these variables only make minor contributions to the variance. Copyright Springer 2005
This paper estimates the Beveridge curve of Egypt for the period 2004 to 2010, using quarterly da... more This paper estimates the Beveridge curve of Egypt for the period 2004 to 2010, using quarterly data for the both the private sector and the public sector. Our results confirm the negative relationship between unemployment and private job offers for the Egyptian labor market. The Beveridge curve has shifted inwards during the observation period, indicating an improved matching process between labor supply and private labor demand. However, the results for the public sector are poor, showing the Beveridge curve relation cannot be used to explain the relationship between government sector vacancy rates and the unemployment rate.
Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital: Volume 52, Issue 2
Governments worldwide reacted swiftly to the global financial crisis by tougher regulations. This... more Governments worldwide reacted swiftly to the global financial crisis by tougher regulations. This paper investigates the impacts of the regulatory environment on operating costs using panel data of 2,200 German banks over the timeframe from 1999 to 2014. We estimate cost functions with and without proxies for regulation and analyze the results with respect to period, bank size, and group affiliation. Our results show that regulatory costs were peaking in 2001, 2008, and lately since 2012. Most interesting, however, is the asymmetry of regulation: Whereas the cost effects were symmetric for all banks until 2003, the last ten years were different. Larger institutions and savings banks could neutralize the impacts of increasing regulation on operating costs. In contrast, smaller banks, especially if they are cooperative banks, were facing significant cost increases. We therefore expect unintended structural shifts like a reduction in the diversity of banks, which are negative for compe...
During the last years many network industries experienced drastic changes in their regulatory fra... more During the last years many network industries experienced drastic changes in their regulatory framework, which were driven by reforms on the EU-level. The telecommunication sector is the frontrunner of this process. Motivated by the hope for higher productivity and increasing macroeconomic growth rates, important deregulation and privatization measures were undertaken. The first topic of this paper is to summarize these
Motivated by recent statistics that show significant growth in labor productivity, this paper see... more Motivated by recent statistics that show significant growth in labor productivity, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between domestic R&D, knowledge stock and productiv- ity dynamics. Time series data of the German manufacturing industry is used to estimate a variable cost function with the stock of knowledge being dependent upon current and past R&D spending. The estimates indicate that
This study uses the concept of stochastic frontiers for analyzing the income disparity between et... more This study uses the concept of stochastic frontiers for analyzing the income disparity between ethnic groups in West Germany. Estimation of a potential rather than an average earnings function increases the explanatory power of the human capital approach and allows for detecting discrimination as well as assimilation processes. The empirical results im-ply that the human capital gap explains more than 75% of the wage differential between natives and foreign nationalities in Germany. As for ethnic Germans migrants, their wage disparity can be explained by 50% with human capital differentials. Surprisingly, only small differences could be observed with regard to the question of earnings efficiency. On an average, inhabitants as well as immigrants transformed about 85% to 90% of their potential income into actual earnings. The sources for the individually diverging efficiency ratios are not well understood, with discrimination only found for ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. Somewhat...
Driven by digitalization, convergence within the telecommunication and media sector is not only a... more Driven by digitalization, convergence within the telecommunication and media sector is not only a today's phenomena, but will even become more important in the future. One of the most important dimensions of convergence is vertical integration, i.e. the merging of formerly independent firms along the value chain. Analyzing the economic aspects of vertical integration in the media and telecommunication sector, it is argued in this paper that convergence is clearly positive for the merging firms themselves. However, from the consumer perspective, there are positive as well as negative effects which do not allow for an unambiguous conclusion about convergence. The expected decrease in market prices due to a vanishing double monopoly markup is in favor of the demand side. On the other side, a vertical integrated firm will probably be able to foreclosure the access to the consumers against upstream firms (e.g. content producers), thus reducing the variety of media content. In the lon...
En France, une ann�e suppl�mentaire au-del� du taux plein dans le r�gime g�n�ral ne donne droit �... more En France, une ann�e suppl�mentaire au-del� du taux plein dans le r�gime g�n�ral ne donne droit � aucune augmentation de pension. Cette taxe sur le prolongement d'activit� distort les choix des agents en faveur d'un �ge de d�part en retraite inf�rieur � celui qui pr�vaudrait dans un contexte optimal. Cette taxe pourrait �tre �limin�e par la mise en place d'un syst�me qui lierait le taux de remplacement � l'�ge de d�part en retraite de fa�on � respecter la neutralit� actuarielle. Pour des raisons exactement oppos�es � la situation pr�valant actuellement, ce syst�me ne permet pas d'assurer des moyens de financement suppl�mentaires pour les caisses des r�gimes par r�partition. Il existe en effet un dilemme entre une taxe �lev�e et un allongement significatif de la dur�e d'activit�. Nous pr�sentons un mod�le tr�s simplifi� � deux p�riodes qui permet de d�terminer de fa�on explicite et transparente la taxe sur la prolongation d'activit� qui correspond au somme...
This special issue of the European Journal of Population focuses on possible economic consequence... more This special issue of the European Journal of Population focuses on possible economic consequences of low fertility in Europe. This introduction reviews the history of falling fertility in Europe and the literature that explores its causes, its potential implications, and possible policy responses. It also summarizes the evolution of thinking about the relationship between population growth and economic development, with attention to recent work on the mechanisms through which fertility decline can spur economic growth if the necessary supporting conditions are met. The introduction also identifies some of the challenges of population aging that are associated with low fertility and suggests that there may be less reason for alarm than has been suggested by some observers. The papers that appear in this special issue are also summarized.
In this paper we examine the impact of membership in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) on trad... more In this paper we examine the impact of membership in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) on trade between PTA members. Rather than considering the impact of PTA membership on the volume of trade we consider the impact of membership on the structure of trade. For a large sample of countries over the period 1962-2000 we find that membership in a PTA is associated with an increase in the extent of intra-industry trade. In addition, we find that the effect of PTA membership on IIT is larger when a PTA is formed between two developed countries.
Providing the poor access to finance, microcredit is supposed to alleviate poverty and can be exp... more Providing the poor access to finance, microcredit is supposed to alleviate poverty and can be expected to reduce income inequality in developing countries. Drawing on a primary survey of 670 borrower households in Cairo in 2010, we run a number of cross-sectional regressions and simulations to assess the actual impact of microcredit. The paper yields three main findings. First, microloans
ABSTRACT Immigrants in Germany have poor earnings performance relative to natives. Claiming that ... more ABSTRACT Immigrants in Germany have poor earnings performance relative to natives. Claiming that human-capital endowments determine earnings potentials rather than actual earnings, a stochastic earnings frontier is estimated and used to seek systematic differences between natives and migrants for GSOEP data for the year 2000. While empirical results clearly support the frontier assumption, natives and immigrants are surprisingly about the same with respect to the frontier. Assuming a half-normal distribution of the wage gap, on average, both groups transform a modest 84% share of their potential income into market earnings. This implies wage inequality can be attributed to human-capital differentials alone. The human-capital endowments of immigrants are largely determined by the very low percentage who have college degrees, their slow assimilation and zero-return on imported experience. The paper also tries to explain individual wage gaps, which are significantly decreased in married subjects raising families, but increased in employees in small- or medium-sized relative to larger firms. However, these variables only make minor contributions to the variance. Copyright Springer 2005
This paper estimates the Beveridge curve of Egypt for the period 2004 to 2010, using quarterly da... more This paper estimates the Beveridge curve of Egypt for the period 2004 to 2010, using quarterly data for the both the private sector and the public sector. Our results confirm the negative relationship between unemployment and private job offers for the Egyptian labor market. The Beveridge curve has shifted inwards during the observation period, indicating an improved matching process between labor supply and private labor demand. However, the results for the public sector are poor, showing the Beveridge curve relation cannot be used to explain the relationship between government sector vacancy rates and the unemployment rate.
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