News

ZEW Mannheim is pleased to announce the ninth edition of the Annual MannheimTaxation Conference on 8 and 9 September 2022. The two-day conference is planned as a face-to-face event and organised by the Leibniz ScienceCampus MannheimTaxation, a joint initiative of ZEW and the University of Mannheim. This year’s keynote speakers are Rita de la Feria, professor of tax law at the University of Leeds, UK, and Nadine Riedel, professor of public and regional economics, University of Münster.

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After the sentiment indicator had recorded an increase for six quarters in a row, the German Real Estate Finance Index (DIFI) by ZEW Mannheim and JLL fell in the first quarter of 2022. Compared to the previous quarter, the index dropped by 3.5 points to 7.2 points.

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ZEW Mannheim is pleased to announce the international conference on the German labor market in a globalized world on 24 and 25 June 2022. The conference focuses on technology, trade, and demographic changes and the ways they interact with employment, wages, and participation in the labour market, with a particular emphasis on the role of institutions and on labour markets during the COVID-19 crisis.

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Can Germany afford to sanction Russia with a ban on energy imports? This discussion between Professor Moritz Schularick of the University of Bonn and Professor Achim Wambach, president of ZEW, originally appeared in the 22 March 2022 issue of the financial daily ‘Handelsblatt’.

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The world is in a crisis continuum and Germany is watching. This is the impression Moritz Schularick, professor of economics at the University of Bonn, gets when he looks at the state’s actions in recent years. He has written down his observations. In his latest book, “Der entzauberte Staat – Was Deutschland aus der Pandemie lernen muss” (“The Disenchanted State – What Germany Must Learn from the Pandemic”), he argues that Germany should move away from the typical ‘can’t-do’ mentality and adopt a stronger ‘can-do’ attitude. This can also be applied to Germany’s current action in the Ukraine war. At the #ZEWBookTalk on 22 March 2022, ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach and Moritz Schularick discussed not only the achievements and failures of the state in crisis mode. They also revisited their debate on the pros and cons of an energy embargo against Russia, published the same day in the German business newspaper ‘Handelsblatt’.

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In Germany, 7 March 2022 symbolically marks the wage gap between women and men. With a wage gap of 18 per cent, women statistically work 66 days “for free”. In the 18th episode of the #ZEWPodcast, ZEW economist Professor Melanie Arntz shed light on various factors that cause the gender pay gap. She also talks about the EU Action Plan for Gender Equality, parental leave allowance and the challenges of digitalisation.

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Economic experts are forecasting somewhat lower real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the eurozone, and growth expectations for Germany are declining even more significantly. The inflation rate is hitting new highs, creating uncertainty about future developments. This is the result of the business cycle tableaus by ZEW Mannheim and the German daily newspaper, Börsen-Zeitung.

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The flood disaster in Germany last July claimed more than 180 lives. Since then, the question of how private households and policymakers can better prepare for extreme weather events has been raised again. In the 17th episode of the #ZEWPodcast ‘Wirtschaft · Forschung · Debatten’/‘Economy · Research · Debates’, ZEW economist Dr. Daniel Osberghaus talks about what technical precautionary measures private homeowners can take, the advantages and disadvantages of compulsory insurance in Germany and how other countries take flood precautions.

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The search for a suitable childcare offer is often made difficult by an acute shortage in nursery schools places, complicated registration procedures and non-transparent allocation criteria. This leads to great uncertainty for both parents and their employers over when they can return to work, disadvantages for households with a low educational background and avoidable administrative burdens for nursery staff.

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In recent years German and European policymakers have been devoting considerable attention to the issue of green public procurement. By adding green procurement criteria to public sector calls for tender, policymakers hope to encourage the development of environmentally friendly products and processes. ZEW researchers recently examined this issue. Their empirical analysis indicates that green procurement criteria can create an important incentive effect – but not for all firms.

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