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This contribution provides evidence for the hypothesis that trade increases growth through its curbing effect on capital taxes. The analyzed mechanism includes two different steps and considers the critical points of both the theoretical and empirical studies in this field. In particular, the estimation problems of omitted variables and parameter heterogeneity are addressed. Using panel data for a sample of 12 OECD countries in the time period 1967-1996, it is shown that the theoretical predictions can be corroborated by empirical results.

Die wirtschaftliche Integration verändert den Wachstumspfad der beteiligten Länder durch Skalen-, Faktorreallokations- und Faktorhandelseffekte. Während die oft stark betonten Skaleneffekte das Wachstum eindeutig fördern, können durch Handel ausgelöste Verschiebungen der sektoralen Faktoreinsätze sowie internationale Faktorwanderungen die Dynamik unter ungünstigen Bedingungen beeinträchtigen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird anhand eines einheitlichen Modell-Ansatzes untersucht, welche Mechanismen im Integrationsprozess unter welchen Bedingungen das Wachstum beschleunigen bzw. verlangsamen. Damit wird die neuere Literatur zu den dynamischen Wirkungen der Integration in einem Überblick zusammengefasst.

The paper examines the relation between industrial mix and regional productivity growth. For this purpose, a dynamic model of the open economy with differentiated sectoral knowledge formation and incomplete interregional knowledge diffusion is constructed. The theoretical framework is first used to show the consequences of increasing globalisation on regional growth. It is then applied to German regional data in order to investigate whether there is evidence of generally specified patterns of knowledge formation. It emerges that some causal relationships are robust for the case of German regions but cannot be exploited by economic policy in general.

The belief that stringent climate policies are very costly is widespread among political decision-makers and the public. The Trump administration stressed the cost argument as the motivation for the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. However, such judgements ignore the economic benefits of policy changes and implicitly build on a misguided decomposition of environmental impacts using the IPAT and Kaya identities. The paper shows that this method predicts policy-induced income losses that are systematically and significantly biased. I extend the decomposition analysis by introducing input sub- stitution, which leads to the IPAST identity. By additionally incorporating a production approach, causal relationships between drivers of resource use, and a Romer-Kremer framework for technology development in a Schumpeterian tradition, I develop the IAT rule, a structural equation to easily estimate climate policy effects. For a given decarbonization path, I use the different rules to calculate the projected income development at the global and country level. The use of the IAT approach instead of agnostic decomposition suggests that the costs of a stringent climate policy are much lower than normally expected, which supports deep decarbonization.

By adopting the Paris Agreement on climate change the world community has agreed on global goals for climate policy. However, by relying on voluntary contributions and respecting "national circumstances" it does not ensure efficient and equitable country policies. To derive guidelines for a fair burden sharing between countries the paper applies welfare theory and combines it with general equity principles. The procedure selects those "national circum- stances" which are suitable for internationally acceptable policies. The concept is then compared to policies formulated by purely selfish countries. A convergence process closing the gap between country contributions and the optimum international climate policy is developed. It is argued that equity-based signals can be a forceful means supporting this process.