Latest Press Releases

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany increased in the current February 2022 survey, climbing 2.6 points to a new reading of 54.3 points. The assessment of the economic situation in Germany also improved in the current survey. The corresponding indicator rose 2.1 points to a level of minus 8.1 points.

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Internet users in Germany have become increasingly indifferent and ignorant about politics over a period of 15 years. In the beginning, the diffusion of the internet contributed to people being better informed politically, but this development has been reversed in later years. In the meantime, internet usage is on the rise – as is the users’ disinterest in politics. This is shown by a recent study by ZEW Mannheim.

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Many firms in Germany are planning to offer hybrid working arrangements after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus enabling employees to have a part-home, part-office schedule. A business survey conducted by ZEW Mannheim in December 2021 and January 2022 now provides further insights into firms’ expectations about the allocation of working hours in the long run. In both the information economy and the manufacturing industry, firms are mainly planning to offer hybrid models in which employees work from home 1-3 days per week. The share of employees who will work from home several times a week post COVID-19 is significantly higher than before the pandemic, according to the firms’ estimates.

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The EU Commission has adopted the planned EU taxonomy for sustainable investments. This is to define which financial investments are sustainable and which are not. Investments in nuclear power and natural gas are also classified as sustainable in the regulation under certain conditions. Professor Sebastian Rausch, head of the Research Department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management” at ZEW Mannheim, has commented on this matter:

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The ZEW – Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice at ZEW Mannheim has a new chairman: Dr. Ralph Rheinboldt, board member at Fuchs Petrolub SE, succeeds CEO of MVV Energie AG, Dr. Georg Müller, on 1 February 2022. After more than five successful years, Dr. Müller will retire from his position at the ZEW Sponsors’ Association for health reasons. Rheinboldt has already been a board member at the ZEW Sponsors’ Association since 2017.

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German companies reduced their innovation spending by 3.6 per cent to 170.5 billion euros in the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. Twelve per cent of companies did not undertake any innovation activities at all due to the pandemic. At the same time, eleven per cent of the companies invested in additional product innovations in response to the pandemic situation and twelve per cent pushed ahead with additional process innovations. These are key findings of the Innovation Survey 2021, which ZEW Mannheim conducted among German companies on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

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The need to make economic processes sustainable and the use of digital technologies have increased significantly in recent years. In addition, it is generally assumed that digital technologies can lead to energy efficiency improvements and thus significantly reduce CO2 emissions, especially in the energy-intensive manufacturing sector. In fact, digital technologies do reduce energy intensity in manufacturing, but to a much lesser extent than previously expected. The increased use of digital technologies in companies is therefore not necessarily accompanied by a significantly improved energy intensity. These are the key findings of a study by ZEW Mannheim.

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The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany increased significantly in the current January 2022 survey, climbing 21.8 points to a new reading of 51.7 points. However, the assessment of the economic situation in Germany has worsened again in the current survey. The corresponding indicator dropped 2.8 points to a level of minus 10.2 points.

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One fourth of all private households in Germany suffered income losses at the height of the second pandemic wave. Taking into account the loss of assets, roughly 34 per cent of households faced financial setbacks. Less than a quarter of them claimed state support.

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The Federal Statistical Office today published the first calculations on gross domestic product (GDP) and general government net lending/borrowing for 2021. According to the results, GDP increased by 2.7 per cent and the general government deficit amounted to 4.3 per cent of GDP in the second year of the pandemic. 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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