News

The coronavirus pandemic is largely the result of an information problem. If we identified everyone who was infected, it would be easier to prevent viral transmission. Unfortunately, Germany has failed to prioritise the one measure that could close the information gap: testing.

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The economic experts are unimpressed by the weakness in growth witnessed again at the beginning of the year. This is the result of the business cycle tableaus by ZEW Mannheim and the German daily newspaper, Börsen-Zeitung. Although Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, the GDP forecasts for 2021/22 remain virtually unchanged. For 2021, the forecast is slightly higher at 3.6 per cent, while for 2022 the median forecast remains at 4.0 per cent. The experts are therefore not revising their expectation of strong economic growth, but merely postponing it.

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How can gender inequality be minimised? Jutta Allmendinger, president of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and professor of educational sociology and labour market research at the Humboldt University Berlin, has been dealing with this question for over three decades. At the fourth #ZEWBookTalk on 5 May 2021, she not only provided interesting insights into her new book, but also discussed with ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach the so-called Gender Lifetime Earnings Gap, why a pandemic promotes the traditional role distribution and which measures counteract gender inequality.

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The COVID-19 crisis resulted in all European countries having to take on large amounts of new debt to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the health system and the economy and to support recovery from the deep recession. As many countries had already been heavily indebted before, their scope to shoulder the high pandemic-related debt on their own was limited. Europe responded with comprehensive aid measures. At the end of 2020, the EU not only adopted the new Multiannual Financial Framework, but also launched the largest aid programme financed from the EU budget in its history, the 750-billion-euro fund Next Generation EU. But one central question remains: How should the high national debt in the eurozone be dealt with after the end of the coronavirus pandemic? What are the possible solutions and how realistic are they?

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The question whether primary school pupils should be assigned to secondary school tracks based on binding recommendations is a subject of heated debate in Germany. The legal requirements for the transition from primary school to secondary school in Germany differ considerably between the federal states.

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Germany introduced its first digital apps on prescription last autumn. Since then, doctors have been able to prescribe these so-called digital health applications for illnesses, injuries and disabilities. These apps, the costs of which are covered by health insurance, digitally support the treatment of diseases, for example. In the ninth episode of the #ZEWPodcast “Wirtschaft · Forschung · Debatten”/“Economy · Research · Debates”, Dr. Simon Reif, head of the Project Group “Health Care Markets and Health Policy” at ZEW Mannheim, talks about the function of these apps, the process of their approval and a reasonable reimbursement system.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is still massively affecting our everyday life one year on. The public debate focuses on topics such as triage, the prioritisation of vaccination groups and possible privileges for vaccinated people. Professor Alena Buyx, Chair of the German Ethics Council, and ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach discussed the importance of ethical guidance in these challenging times as part of the lecture series “First-Hand Information on Economic Policy” on Wednesday, 14 April 2021. The event was held online and was supported by the ZEW Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice.

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The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy congratulates the school team of the Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Stuttgart and ZEW Mannheim for winning second place in the YES! school competition 2020. The team, supervised by Professor Nicolas Fugger and Tobias Riehm from ZEW’s Research Department “Market Design”, convinced the jury with their idea “Kitafix – Matching daycare places and children more effectively through an innovative ranking system”. Over the course of the competition, the school students developed an innovative approach to finding a more effective way of allocating childcare places.

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The new state government has been elected and is now preparing to take office. The structural change in the economy, which has picked up considerable pace as a result of the pandemic, will pose a major challenge for policymakers. Dealing with these challenges will determine whether Germany will be able to ensure prosperity in times of change.

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In April 2011, the flagship report of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) was published. The report was hailed at the time as an important impetus for a transformation towards a sustainable world. A recent study by ZEW Mannheim together with the German Agency for the Applied Energy Transition (dena) and researchers from Heidelberg University shows which of the demanded measures have been implemented and how the report is to be assessed in retrospect.

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