1. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-062 // 2024

    No Teens, No Tech: How Shortages of Young Workers Hinder Firm Technology Investments

    Firms in developed countries face increasing shortages of young workers. This paper studies the importance of young workers, particularly vocational trainees, for firm technology investments. Leveraging…

  2. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-064 // 2024

    Regulated Correlations — Climate Policy and Investment Risks

    Investments in energy technologies are substantially governed by climate policy. We demonstrate analytically that price-based instruments, such as carbon-taxes, and quantity-based regulations, like emission…

  3. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-063 // 2024

    Climate Action Response Plans in Firms: Understanding the Characteristics of Firms Planning for a More Sustainable Future

    Firm-level Climate Action Response Plans (CARPs) are strategic plans comprising firms’ climate change mitigation and adaptation commitments. Given the importance of CARPs for meeting climate change targets,…

  4. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-061 // 2024

    Assessing the Costs of Industrial Decarbonization

    Companies in various industries are under growing pressure to assess the costs of decarbonizing their operations. This paper develops a generic abatement cost concept to identify the cost-efficient combination…

  5. Refereed Journal // 2024

    Talking in a language that everyone can understand? Clarity of speeches by the ECB Executive Board

    We use data on speeches held by members of the European Central Bank's (ECB) Executive Board to analyze whether the clarity of central bank communication has increased over time. Employing readability measures…

  6. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-059 // 2024

    Civil Rights Protests and Election Outcomes: Exploring the Effects of the Poor People’s Campaign

    The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) of 1968 was focused on highlighting, and ultimately reducing, poverty in the United States. As part of the campaign, protestors from across the country were transported to…

  7. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-058 // 2024

    Dynamic Responses to Smoking Bans: Evidence From Young Adults in a Developing Country

    Smoking bans have been widely implemented, despite mixed evidence on their effectiveness in reducing firsthand smoking. This paper provides novel insights into the dynamic impacts of smoking bans in the context…

  8. ZEW policy brief No. 24-14 // 2024

    Digitale Transformation auf Sparflamme: Weniger 4.0-Investitionen in der Pandemie

    Während der Covid-19-Pandemie kam es entgegen der öffentlich herrschenden Meinung zu keiner Beschleunigung der digitalen Transformation in Deutschland. Das zeigen Ergebnisse der neuen Betriebsbefragung…

  9. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 24-057 // 2024

    Firm-Level Technology Adoption in Times of Crisis

    This study investigates how crises affect firms’ adoption of frontier technologies using the Covid-19 pandemic as a case study. The analysis tracks the nature, timing, and pandemic-related motivations of…