Latest Press Releases

The ECB Governing Council has still not specified a date for a first interest rate hike. Despite record inflation in the eurozone, the deposit facility rate remains negative. Professor Friedrich Heinemann, head of the Research Department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” at ZEW Mannheim, has commented on this matter:

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More than 4.6 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the start of the war. As a result of the invasion, more and more people are also fleeing from Russia. Reasons for this range from the restricted freedom of expression, fear of political persecution or being drafted into military service, to poor economic prospects following the unprecedented level of sanctions on Russia. What is different with current Russian migrants fleeing to neighboring countries compared to Ukrainian migrants, is that there are indications that the economically active population is over-represented among the Russian emigrants. This may include specialists in the IT and other creative sectors of the economy, who have international language skills as well as customers.

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The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany recorded a decline in the current April 2022 survey, falling 1.7 points to a new reading of minus 41.0 points. The assessment of the economic situation in Germany has again worsened significantly in the current survey. The corresponding indicator dropped 9.4 points to a level of minus 30.8 points. This is the second time the indicator has recorded a decrease since the start of the war in Ukraine. The expectations and assessments of the economic situation are currently similar to those at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Inflation expectations for Germany have fallen by 43.4 points in the current survey to a new value of 26.8 points.

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Failing with a start-up is usually considered as a valuable experience whose insights will help the founders to be more successful in their next start-up. However, this is a false conclusion, as a recent study by ZEW Mannheim and the Institute for SME Research (ifm) at the University of Mannheim shows. On the contrary, there is an above-average probability that those founders will fail again with future start-ups.

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Climate change affects firms in Germany in several ways. This triggers not only eco-innovations in firms to mitigate the effects of global warming, but also other innovations, as a recent study by ZEW Mannheim together with the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg shows.

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The prices for electricity and heat have risen sharply recently. This puts pressure on low-income households in particular, as they have less financial leeway to deal with the high prices. In many cases, the obvious savings options have already been exhausted. At the same time, worthwhile investments in energy-efficient household appliances, such as a new refrigerator, usually cannot be made without additional financial support. However, support programmes to increase energy efficiency in low-income households should not only focus on purely financial support, but combine the offer with targeted behavioural incentives to achieve the greatest possible success. This is the result of a recent ZEW policy brief by ZEW Mannheim and Heidelberg University, which is based on an empirical analysis of the “Energy-Saving Check”, a joint initiative of the German Caritas Association and the Bundesverband der Energie- und Klimaschutzagenturen.

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As the COVID-19 crisis slowly abates, the EU Member States are now confronted with a new economic crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine. The rapid succession of crises reinforces the need to respond with highly targeted and temporary aid measures to avoid wasting public resources and preserve fiscal buffers. Against this background, a new study by ZEW Mannheim for the European Parliament has examined which Member States have pursued insufficiently targeted policy measures to cushion the pandemic crisis over the past two years and have remained in crisis mode for too long despite economic recovery. Italy, France and Greece in particular have been to slow in scaling down their aid measures. In the case of Germany, the study criticises in particular that the government has adhered to the very generous short-time work rules for too long.

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The Federal Statistical Office published its preliminary results on the development of the German inflation rate in March 2022. According to the calculations, the inflation rate measured by the German consumer price index climbed further from 5.1 per cent in February to 7.3 per cent in March. Professor Friedrich Heinemann, head of the Research Department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” at ZEW Mannheim, has commented on this matter:

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Late on Thursday evening, the relevant European institutions agreed on new rules for the digital world. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) bans harmful business practices of large digital players that act as ‘gatekeepers’ and imposes others on them. For example, user data from different services may no longer be combined for advertising purposes without explicit consent, and messenger services on these large platforms must be compatible with other messenger services. Professor Achim Wambach, president of ZEW Mannheim, explains:

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The German government has agreed that the German Armed Forces must be modernised quickly to fulfil both its NATO and legal obligations. Accordingly, the German Bundestag provided additional funds worth 100 billion euros solely to be spent on military equipment and assets. Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht has made out two bottlenecks in that regard: mandatory EU-wide tenders are time-consuming and internal procurement processes are too bureaucratic. ZEW procurement specialist Leonardo Maria Giuffrida, head of the ZEW Junior Research Group “Public Procurement" advises:

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