Contra: Geld mit der Gießkanne kauft keine realen Standortvorteile

EU-Mercosur-Handelspakt: Wie ist der Stand?

Unternehmensgründungen: Mehr Elan nötig

Finanzkriminalamt: Geldwäsche passé?

Ehegattensplitting: Steuer, Rente und GKV-Beiträge

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents one of the most important digital topics of the future and is attracting ever greater interest in science, business and society. The developments are progressing rapidly. AI is associated with great potential for the future, but also with dangers. The German government has already launched an AI strategy in 2018. The aim is to strengthen Germany’s international competitive position in the research, development and application of AI. Where does Germany stand in the application and development of AI? Are the measures taken sufficient? In which areas is there still a need for action?
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Opportunities and Risks of Artificial Intelligence for the German Economy

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Artificial intelligence defines a new age of technological and economic progress, but also causes disruptive effects on business models, industries, and the society in general. It is argued that in order to make AI a productive and progressive technology regulatory as well as educational requirements must first be matched. Threats and opportunities must be weighed up in advance. Given the coincidence of geo-political shift and industrial transformation, becoming a leading and competitive player in the game of AI is key for the German and European economy. In order to do so, AI must be developed both in a responsible as well as innovative way. Otherwise, Germany and Europe would lose ground against China and the US at the beginning of a new age of progress.
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The “Inhuman” Revolution – Artificial Intelligence as the Technology of Destiny for Germany and Europe

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely to be the next general purpose technology. The U.S. and China are important players in the development of AI. Germany has a vibrant AI startup scene and is among the first third of EU countries in applying AI technologies. In order not to lose touch with international developments, Germany should work toward creating research- and innovation-friendly framework conditions. Appropriate measures include improving data availability, building AI expertise and enabling flexible regulation.
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Keeping Pace with Technology – Status Quo, Potentials and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely regarded as a technology which will impact the future competitiveness of the German economy. Looking at the research productivity of German scientists and universities in AI, we find that Germany definitively belongs to the top performers in AI research globally, although the United States and China are somewhat ahead. This is not surprising taking into account the sheer size of their talent pools. Furthermore, the majority of promising AI startups are based in the United States, while Germany is clearly underrepresented in the group of excellent AI startups given Germany’s excellence in AI research. Hence, it is obviously more challenging for Germany to translate research excellence into successful entrepreneurship.
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Artificial Intelligence – Where Do We Stand in Germany?

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds immense potential for enhancing prosperity. However, the adoption of AI in German businesses remains limited, with only 19 % of companies utilizing AI in 2022. The successful implementation of AI relies on two key prerequisites: a company’s digitalisation and data economy readiness. The Digitalisation Index reveals slow progress in digitalisation across sectors, indicating a need for increased efforts. Additionally, companies must enhance their data economy readiness to efficiently utilize data for AI applications. Failing to tap into the potential of AI may result in significant competitive disadvantages in the future.
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Artificial Intelligence in the German Economy: Nothing Works Without Digitisation and Data

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In this article, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner places the government’s draft of the 2024 federal budget and the fiscal plan up to 2027 in the context of his fiscal policy strategy and identifies the need for further action. In order to be able to set priorities for strengthening future-oriented spending, the federal government has reviewed all expenditure in the federal budget. Action is being taken to raise savings potentials and to curb expenditure trends. However, in view of challenges such as demografic change or the transition towards climate neutrality, further steps must follow in order to ensure that the federal budget’s composition and priorities are rigorously targeted towards future-oriented tasks, and to enhance the attractiveness of Germany as a business location through supply-side measures.
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Fiscal Policy “Zeitenwende” – Creating the Foundation For Growth

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The high inflation rates as a consequence of the energy price crisis, which began with the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, were associated with considerable problems not only for private consumers, but also for companies. For Germany, a high-cost country, further cost increases are problematic for its international competitiveness. Within the framework of the IW business survey, the burden of various cost categories was measured. The increase in wage costs in particular is perceived by almost 40% of the companies surveyed as at least a strong additional burden, which is seen by practically all companies as a permanent burden. Energy, natural resources and material costs, on the other hand, which have characterised the past year, are seen as a permanent burden for competitiveness by two-thirds of the companies. Together with a further increase in permanent regulatory burdens, there are fears of a permanent deterioration for Germany as a production location.
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Companies Fear Permanent Cost Burdens

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Countries in the world need cooperation to solve global problems, and Germany with its strongly outward-oriented economy has a particular interest in world-wide cooperation. The generally accepted human rights seem to provide a solid ground for this, but at a closer look, the area of generally shared values is much smaller. In particular, Germany with its moral concepts is not representative of the world. This applies to several values and consequently can also be seen in aggregated analyses. The number of partners sharing the same values is rare beyond Europe.
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Strange World: Only a Minority Shares Germany’s “Values”

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Firms face increasing problems of filling training places in the past years. To counteract this development, different measures are discussed by policymakers and the scientific community. The planned training guarantee is mainly directed at persons with no school graduation certificate or with main school graduation. To increase the attractiveness of dual apprenticeship training for persons with university (of applied science) entrance qualification, it is also discussed by policymakers to extend vocational orientation. In this context, this study considers the current situation of the German apprenticeship market. In doing so, it focuses on the career aspirations of young people and that these often do not meet the demand of the German economy.
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The Difficult Situation on the German Apprenticeship Market

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The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals envisage halving food waste by 2030. A goal to which the German Tafel food banks can make a significant contribution also by optimising the distribution of food donations. We analyse the potential of a cost-neutral exchange of surplus donations between the distribution points of the Berliner Tafel, based on real-time data. This exchange helps, on the one hand, to ensure that the consumption needs of Tafel clients are covered at an average rate of 50%, and on the other hand, to avoid surpluses and thus save food. The proposal is in line with the goals of the Tafel – “Save food. Help people“ – by taking into account both allocative efficiency and fairness.
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Efficient and Fair Allocation of Food Donations

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In the face of climate change and other ecological problems, the degrowth and post-growth approaches are gaining more and more supporters. However, these growth-critical approaches have many problems. While the critique of growth is justified in many areas, the contraction or stagnation of production is associated with negative social and political consequences, as it would most likely lead to massive distributional conflicts. Moreover, a shrinking or stagnating GDP could make the necessary decarbonisation of the economy more difficult, because the investment required for decarbonisation would be much harder to implement in such an economy than in a growing economy.
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No Growth is No Solution Either. A Critique of Degrowth and Post-Growth Approaches

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Damage to residential buildings caused by natural disasters will increase as climate change progresses. However, in Germany not all buildings are insured against it. This article gives an overview on the current debate in Germany on how to improve the common state of insurance. We present new empirical evidence on the acceptance of natural disaster insurances and outline the key parameters that should be subject to regulation. This includes the types of natural disasters that should typically covered by such an insurance, the level of the deductible to be paid by the household, state support for paying off the deductible, ways to deal with risk clusters that single insurers might face, as well as the specification of a stop-loss threshold to cap the insurers’ financial risks.
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It’s About Time to Discuss the Details of a Better Insurance Against Natural Hazards

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The Federal Ministry of Finance wants to allow German Federal States to lower the property transfer tax rates for owner-occupied housing. There is evidence that such tax heavily distorts the housing market. However, since the tax is an important source of revenue for the Federal States, it remains to be seen whether these will cut tax rates.
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German Property Transfer Tax: Federal Ministry of Finance Wants to Enable Abolition

Konjunkturschlaglicht: Investitions- und Konsumgüternachfrage bei steigenden Zinsen

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 104 (2024): Issue 4 (April 2024)

Volume 104 (2024): Issue 3 (March 2024)

Volume 104 (2024): Issue 2 (February 2024)

Volume 104 (2024): Issue 1 (January 2024)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 13 (April 2023) Konferenzheft 2023

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 12 (December 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 11 (November 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 10 (October 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 9 (September 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 8 (August 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 7 (July 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 6 (June 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 5 (May 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 4 (April 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 3 (March 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 2 (February 2023)

Volume 103 (2023): Issue 1 (January 2023)

Wirtschaftsdienst

Wirtschaftsdienst is the leading academic journal for current debates on German economic policy, linking economic theory and economic policy practice. The monthly German-language journal, published by the ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, publishes a wide range of articles by renowned authors from academia and policymaking circles with evidence-based answers to current economic and social policy issues, such as trade, environmental and monetary policy, in Germany and the European Union. Wirtschaftsdienst builds a bridge between science and practice, providing readers with scientifically sound and clear information on current economic policy issues. The journal, which was first published in 1916, is one of the most well-established economic journals in its field. Since 2020, Wirtschaftsdienst has been published in Gold Open Access in order to offer everyone the opportunity to read all articles freely online. Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 