[ZEW Newsletter English Edition] 2014-07 *zew-newsletter-englishedition at mx-assp2.zew.de* zew-newsletter-englishedition at mx-assp2.zew.de /Wed Jul 30 15:16:26 MEST 2014/ * *Messages sorted by:* [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Z E W N E W S L E T T E R E N G L I S H E D I T I O N No. 2014-07 July 30, 2014 (Yvonne Braeutigam, newsletter-en at zew.de ) http://www.zew.eu _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Content 1. NEWS 2. STAFF 2.1. Visiting Researchers 3. PRESS RELEASES 4. RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH 4.1. Financial Market Report Switzerland 4.2. ZEW Discussion Papers IN GERMAN 4.3. ZEWnews SEEK Special Edition 4.4. ZEW-Finanzmarktreport (ZEW Financial Market Report) 4.5. ZEW-Branchenreport Informationswirtschaft (ZEW Sector Report for the Information Economy) 4.6. Gutachten/Forschungsberichte (Expertises/Research Reports) 5. NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS 6. EVENTS 6.1. Public Events 6.2. Scientific Events _____________________________________________________________________ 1. NEWS 25.07.2014 ZEW President Clemens Fuest on "Germany's Inheritance Tax Needs Reform": Generating some 4.5 billion euros in revenues each year, Germany's inheritance tax is actually a small source of income for the state - revenues from taxes on tobacco, for example, are more than three times as high. But despite its marginal importance as a source of revenue, the inheritance tax is a hotly debated issue. Proponents of the inheritance tax advocate rate increases, arguing that the taxation of inherited wealth is simply a matter of fairness, as beneficiaries have done nothing to earn the wealth they inherit. By contrast, critics argue that the inheritance tax endangers jobs, as the heirs of family-owned companies face large tax bills that can cripple a company's liquidity. Read more: http://www.zew.de/news2700 10.07.2014 ZEW Among the Top Five Climate Policy Think Tanks in the World: The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim ranks fourth among the approximately 200 institutes evaluated for the recently published "2013 Climate Think Tank Ranking" by the renowned International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG). It is thus among the world's most cutting-edge scientific institutions that work in the field of climate change economics and policy. Compared to 2012, the research institute has moved up two spots in the ICCG ranking, where all the activity outputs of a think tank were standardised by the number of its researchers. Read more: http://www.zew.de/news2684 09.07.2014 ZEW Presents 2014 Heinz Koenig Young Scholar Award to US Researcher: Olga Malkova from the University of Michigan, US, received the 2014 Heinz Koenig Young Scholar Award of the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). The jury recognised Malkova's excellent research on the effects of parental leave benefits on birth rates. Her work is an important contribution to the debate on the effectiveness of family policy measures. The Heinz Koenig Young Scholar Award comes with an endowment of EUR 5,000 and includes the opportunity to spend an extended research visit at ZEW. This year's award was sponsored by Freudenberg SE, a member of the ZEW Sponsors' Association for Science and Practice. Read more: http://www.zew.de/news2683 02.07.2014 ZEW Lunch Debate in Brussels: The Architecture of an Adjustable and Stable Euro Area: The third event within the "ZEW Lunch Debates" series featured three short presentations on European fiscal policy by renowned experts in Brussels on June 30, 2014. ZEW President Clemens Fuest welcomed as panelists: Friedrich Heinemann, head of research department at ZEW, Klaus Regling, Chief Executive Officer of ESM, and Nicolas Carnot, advisor on fiscal policy in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission. Some 50 invited guests from the European Commission and the European Parliament as well as industry associations, research institutions and the media attended the event. The subsequent panel discussion was characterized by a lively exchange of the panelists' divergent views and a high level of participation from the audience. Read more: http://www.zew.de/news2682 01.07.2014 Fifth Conference "Recent Developments in Macroeconomics" at ZEW: On June 23 and 24, 2014, ZEW hosted the fifth conference on recent developments in macroeconomics. The annual conference is organised by the Research Department "International Finance and Financial Management" and has become an established forum of exchange and constructive discussion among both young scientists and experienced researchers. As in previous years, the organisers had the pleasure to welcome many international guests - most of them from Europe and the United States - in Mannheim. Around 50 participants shared their recent research on topics such as public debt, economic imbalances, and the economics consequences of banking crises. Read more: http://www.zew.de/news2680 2. STAFF 2.1. Visiting Researchers Dr. Frank Bohn Visiting Researcher at ZEW: Dr. Frank Bohn is a visiting researcher at ZEW's Research Department "Corporate Taxation and Public Finance" from July 21 to August 1, 2014. He is Assistant Professor at the economics department at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. His research interests are public finance, monetary economics and international economics incorporating political instability, corruption, rent-seeking, time-inconsistency, disinformation and/or political budget and forecast cycles. During his stay, he holds a ZEW Research Seminar on public finance under political instability and debt conditionality. Additional information on Dr. Frank Bohn: http://www.ru.nl/economie/personen/bohn Prof. Xiaohu Feng Visits ZEW: Professor Dr. Xiaohu Feng is visiting ZEW from July 21 to 31, 2014. He is professor at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing and director assistant at the Institute of Global Low-carbon Economy (IGLCE) in China. His research interests encompass linguistics, philosophy and German studies. His current research examines climate-friendly innovations from a philosophical point of view. His stay at ZEW is part of the joint preparation of the 2014 Bejing Humboldt Forum, which takes place at UIBE in Bejing in September in cooperation with ZEW. During his visit, Professor Feng and ZEW researchers will also discuss opportunities to establish stronger links between ZEW's Research Department "Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management" and UIBE. Additional information on Prof. Xiaohu Feng: http://www.avh.de/web/pub_hn_query.humboldtianer_details?p_lang=en&p_externe_id=7000166822 Yang Yang Visiting Researcher at ZEW: Yang Yang was a visiting researcher at ZEW's Research Department "Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy" from June 30 to July 11, 2014. He is a research assistant at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE) at Xiamen University in China. His research interests lie in the areas of applied economics, economic history, institutional economics, and data mining. He visited ZEW to attend the ZEW Summer School and to intensify cooperation between ZEW and Xiamen University. Prof. Norman Gemmell Visiting Researcher at ZEW Within SEEK Research Programme: Professor Norman Gemmell, PhD, was a visiting researcher at ZEW's Research Department "Corporate Taxation and Public Finance" from June 30 to July 4, 2014. He holds the chair in public finance at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His research interests lie in the areas of public finance (especially taxation, public expenditure, and public debt) and economic growth. During his stay he worked together with ZEW researchers on the SEEK research project "Tax Policy, Productivity and Innovation" and on a project about the growth effects of public investment. Additional information on Prof. Norman Gemmell: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacl/about/staff/norman-gemmell 3. PRESS RELEASES 29.07.2014 - ZEW (she/kbo) ZEW-ZEPHYR M&A Index - Fresh Impetus for Worldwide M&A Activities: Following first signs of recovery in worldwide mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in autumn 2013, the positive trend has now become a considerable upswing. This is the result of calculations by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) based on the database of Bureau van Dijk (BvD). Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2702 22.07.2014 - ZEW (der/jpr) German Information Economy - Optimistic Outlook in all Three Sub-Sectors: Optimism has continued among companies in the information economy in the second quarter of 2014. Reflecting this positive trend, the ZEW Sentiment Indicator for the Information Economy has stabilised at an impressive total of 64.7 points. In the second quarter of 2014, the sub-indicators for the business situation and business expectations in the information economy have converged again. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2692 18.07.2014 - ZEW (cfu/fhe/csc/jpr) VIPS - Proposal for a Viable Insolvency Procedure for Sovereign States in the Eurozone: The government debt crisis unleashed a wave of reforms in 2010 - some of which were implemented in an overly hasty manner - to stabilise the euro and the heavily indebted European countries. Even though the eurozone's institutional framework and its capacity to respond to crises have been improved significantly, the architecture of the euro area remains vulnerable in one respect: the absence of a credible and well-defined debt restructuring mechanism in the event of a nation's insolvency, i.e. its loss of creditworthiness on the capital market. A recent study conducted by the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) addresses this problem. The study conceives and depicts a Viable Insolvency Procedure for Sovereigns (VIPS) in the eurozone. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2690 17.07.2014 - ZEW (zil/kbo) ZEW-Erste Group Bank Economic Sentiment Indicator for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) - Current Situation and Economic Expectations Decline: In July 2014 economic expectations for Central and Eastern Europe including Turkey (CEE region) have partly reversed last month's increase. In the current survey the ZEW-Erste Group Bank Economic Sentiment Indicator for the CEE region has lost 9.8 points and now stands at a level of 27.3 points. The ZEW-Erste Group Bank Economic Sentiment Indicator for Central and Eastern Europe reflects the financial market experts' expectations for the CEE region on a six-month time horizon. The indicator has been compiled on a monthly basis together with further financial market data by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim with the support of Erste Group Bank, Vienna, since 2007. The experts' assessment of the current economic situation for the CEE region has also dropped by 14.3 points to an almost balanced level of minus 0.1 points. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2688 16.07.2014 - ZEW (lja/kbo) ZEW-CS Financial Market Test Switzerland - Economic Expectations Reach Balanced Level: In July 2014 economic expectations for Switzerland have declined slightly by 4.7 points. The ZEW-CS Indicator now stands at a nearly balanced level of 0.1 points. This neutral reading of the indicator signals that the current favourable economic conditions in Switzerland are likely to remain until year end, according to the assessments of the surveyed experts. The ZEW-CS Indicator reflects the expectations of the surveyed financial market experts regarding the economic development in Switzerland on a six-month time horizon. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2686 15.07.2014 - ZEW (fmo/jri/kbo) ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment - Downward Trend Continues: The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany decreased once more in July 2014. The indicator has lost 2.7 points and now stands at 27.1 points (long-term average: 24.7 points). The indicator has declined for the seventh consecutive time. "Germany has experienced a slight dent in economic activity recently - retail sales have declined and industrial production as well as incoming orders have dropped. The current decrease of the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment reflects this sobering development. On a general note, however, the medium-term economic outlook remains favourable", says ZEW President Professor Clemens Fuest. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2685 02.07.2014 - ZEW (ole/kbo) China Economic Panel (CEP) by ZEW and Fudan University (Shanghai) - Analysts Gain Confidence About China's Growth Prospects: Two weeks prior to the announcement of official growth figures for the second quarter of 2014, financial experts have adjusted business cycle expectations for China upwards according to the new results of the China Economic Panel (CEP), which captures the expectations of financial analysts regarding the economic development in China over the course of the next twelve months. The CEP Indicator gains almost 17 points in the current survey period (June 10 to 30, 2014) reaching a level of 21.4 points. This is equivalent to a five-month high. Read more: http://www.zew.de/press2681 4. RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH 4.1. Financial Market Report Switzerland Financial Market Report Switzerland August 2014 * Stable Economic Activity Expected * Convergence of Interest-Rate Expectations * Mildly Receding Inflation Expectations * Mild Increase in Euro Appreciation Expectations * Stock-Market Expectations Edge Down Again * Exports Losing Momentum * Special Questions: Medium-Term Forecasts Download as PDF file(*): http://www.zew.de/FinancialMarketReportSwitzerland082014.pdf 4.2. ZEW Discussion Papers 14-043 Cung Truong Hoang; Kai Hueschelrath; Ulrich Laitenberger; Florian Smuda Determinants of Self-Reporting Under the European Corporate Leniency Program Download as PDF file(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp14043.pdf 14-042 Daniel Osberghaus; Jan Kuehling Direct and Indirect Effects of Weather Experiences on Life Satisfaction - Which Role for Climate Change Expectations? Download as PDF file(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp14042.pdf 14-041 Karin Edmark; Markus Froelich; Verena Wondratschek Sweden's School Choice Reform and Equality of Opportunity Download as PDF file(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp14041.pdf IN GERMAN 4.3. ZEWnews SEEK Special Edition The ZEWnews English Edition - SEEK Special Edition 05-2014 will be published in August 2014 * Fourth SEEK Conference at ZEW - Public Finance and Income Distribution in Europe * Strengthening Europe - Hans Eichel on the Future Challenges for the EU * Nils Schmid Argues for a Substantial and Institutional Reorganisation of the EU * Panel Discussion - A Joint Fiscal and Debt Policy in Europe * Vitor Gaspar on the Lessons for Europe from US Financial History * Hans Peter Gruener Sheds Light on Institutional Reforms for Europe * Capital in the 21st Century - Thomas Piketty on Growing Inequality * Scientific Forum The German edition is already available at(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/zn/zn0614.pdf 4.4. ZEW-Finanzmarktreport (ZEW Financial Market Report) ZEW Financial Market Report August 2014 * Economic Expectations: Downward Trend Continues * ECB: Experts Forecast Constant Key Rates * USA: Assessment of Situation and Expectations Remains Positive * Japan: Economic Expectations Increased Again * Great Britain: Short-Term Interest Expectations Growing Substantially * Special Question: Economic Growth by Winter 2014 Download as PDF file (in German)(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/frep/082014.pdf 4.5. ZEW-Branchenreport Informationswirtschaft (ZEW Sector Report for the Information Economy) ZEW Sector Report for the Information Economy, 2nd Quarter 2014 * Optimism Spreads Again Among Media Service Providers * Information and Communication Technologies as Driving Forces in the Innovation Process Download as PDF file (in German)(*): http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/brepikt/201402BrepIKT.pdf 4.6. Gutachten/Forschungsberichte (Expertises/Research Reports) Susanne Steffes, Jens Mohrenweiser, Andre Nolte, Lutz Bellmann, Stefan Bender, Mario Bossler, Jens Stephani, Stefanie Wolter, Dirk Sliwka, Patrick Kampkoetter, and Katharina Laske (2014), Arbeitsqualitaet und wirtschaftlicher Erfolg: Laengsschnittstudie in deutschen Betrieben (Quality of Work and Economic Success: Longitudinal Study on German Firms), first interim report, Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Institute for Employment Research, Mannheim. Download as PDF file (in German)(*): http://www.zew.de/publication7484 Thomas Heidorn, Sophie van Huellen, Yitzhak Loayza-Desfontaines, Jesper Riedler, Christian Schmaltz, and Michael Schroeder (2014), Flankierende Ansaetze zur Verbesserung der Markttransparenz und Bekaempfung von Marktmissbrauch im Rohstoffterminhandel (Supporting Approaches for Increasing Market Transparency and Preventing Market Abuse in the Commodity Futures Trade), Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin, Mannheim. Download as PDF file (in German)(*): http://www.zew.de/publication7478 (*) Please note: PDF files can be displayed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. The software can be downloaded for free: http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader 5. NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS Firm Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy - Indicator Study 2015 http://www.zew.de/en/projekte/1422 6. EVENTS 6.1. Public Events 25.09.2014 ZEW Lunch Debates: Are the Fiscal Responses to the Crisis Increasing Income Inequality and Wealth Disparity? Speaker: Prof. Dr. Andreas Peichl (ZEW) Location of the event: Representation of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg to the European Union, Rue Belliard 60 - 62, B-1040 Brussels Additional information and contact: http://www.zew.de/event1934 6.2. Scientific Events 10.09.2014 SEEK Workshop: Legal and Illegal Cartels Location of the event: Bruegel, Rue de la Charite 33, B-1210 Brussels Additional information and contact: http://www.zew.de/event1994 11.09.2014 ZEW Lectures on Economic Policy: Labour Supply and Taxation Speaker: Prof. Richard Blundell (ZEW; Institute for Fiscal Studies; University College London) Location of the event: ZEW, Mannheim Additional information and contact: http://www.zew.de/event1971 ____________________________________________________________________ IMPRINT Publisher: Centre for European Economic Research GmbH (ZEW) L 7, 1 - 68161 Mannheim - Germany - http://www.zew.eu Phone +49 621/1235-01 Fax +49 621/1235-255 Seat of the company: Mannheim - Local Court Mannheim HRB 6554 Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board: Theresia Bauer, MdL, Minister of Science, Research, and the Arts of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg Executive Directors: Prof. Dr. Clemens Fuest, Thomas Kohl Editors: Yvonne Braeutigam, yvonne.braeutigam at zew.de ; Patrick Pilarek, pilarek at zew.de E-mail: newsletter-en at zew.de Editorial assistants: Janine Haubenreisser; Jule Zenker Responsibility: Gunter Grittmann, grittmann at zew.de Legal note: http://www.zew.eu/legalnote You can subscribe/unsubscribe at any time - online via http://www.zew.eu/newsletter or - mail to zew-newsletter-englishedition-request at mx-assp2.zew.de Subject: (leave blank!) 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