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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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ZEW Mannheim will hold its 20th Conference on the Economics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on 7 and 8 July 2022, this year including a PhD workshop and the presentation of the Heinz König Award on 6 July. The objective of the conference is to discuss recent scientific contributions to the economics of ICT and the economics of ICT industries. Theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented contributions are welcome. 

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At the beginning of 2021, economic experts had still expected significantly higher growth and, above all, a considerably lower inflation rate for Germany. For 2022, they hope to see the economic growth actually forecast for 2021 for Germany and Europe. Although the current inflation forecasts are being raised, the annual rate of price increase is estimated to be declining. This is the result of the business cycle tableaus by ZEW Mannheim and the German daily newspaper, Börsen-Zeitung.

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It has long been known that many large corporations park their billions in profits in offshore tax havens – at the expense of society. The global minimum tax is supposed to solve what has led to worldwide resentment in recent years. The idea is that a uniform rate of 15 per cent will make it more difficult for international corporations to optimise their profits bypassing the domestic tax authorities. Whether the global minimum tax delivers what it promises is discussed by Christopher Ludwig, researcher in the ZEW “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” Department in the latest episode of the #ZEWPodcast Wirtschaft · Forschung · Debatten’/‘Economy · Research · Debates’. The ZEW tax expert also presents the second pillar of the worldwide tax reforms, i.e. the global distribution of profits, and discusses central points of criticism.

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What do individuals know about financial issues and how does this influence their savings and consumption decisions? How can financial education support the development of financial knowledge and skills? These and related questions are complex and multifaceted. They were discussed during the inaugural conference of the Mannheim Institute for Financial Education (MIFE), a joint initiative of ZEW Mannheim and the University of Mannheim. The conference took place online on 29 and 30 November 2021 and was followed by an early career workshop on 1 and 2 December 2021.

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The ZEW Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice again awarded prizes for outstanding academic performances and economic policy advising projects at ZEW Mannheim in 2020/2021. Both prizes, each endowed with 5,000 euros, are an integral part of the academic year at the institute.

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What impact does digitalisation have on the real estate markets and how can we develop a resilient society? These were two of the key questions addressed at this year’s conference of the Leibniz network “Real Estate Markets and Capital Markets” (ReCapNet) on 18 and 19 November 2021, which was jointly organised by ZEW Mannheim and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and sponsored by the KTH Digitalization Platform. Around 100 researchers participated in the event either online or on site in Stockholm. It featured presentations and discussions of twelve selected research papers as well as a keynote speech by Professor Markus K. Brunnermeier from Princeton University.

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Lockdowns, inflation, and material and supply bottlenecks were major factors that slowed down the economic recovery this year. The German Council of Economic Experts addresses these issues in its annual report 2021/2022. Professor Monika Schnitzer, member of the Council, presented the key statements of the report and discussed them with ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach in an online event at ZEW Mannheim on 9 December 2021. In the report, the Council discusses measures for the transformation of education, digitalisation and sustainability.

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The ZEW media design team once again received two awards at the twelfth International Creative Media Award (ICMA). The designers won bronze in the main category “Annual Report” and the Award of Excellence in the sub-category “Infographics” for the ZEW Annual Report 2020. In the year of the pandemic 2020, the ZEW Annual Report, which has a thematic focus on COVID-19, convinced the jury among 406 submissions from 21 countries.

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