Suchergebnisse

The rapidly aging populations of many developed countries--most notably Japan and member countries of the European Union--present obvious problems for the public pension plans of these countries. Not only will there be disproportionately fewer workers making pension contributions than there are retirees drawing pension benefits, but the youth-to-age imbalance would significantly affect the total contributive capacity of future generations and hence their total income growth. In Children and Pensions, Alessandro Cigno and Martin Werding examine the way pension policy and child-related benefits affect fertility behavior and productivity growth. They present theoretical arguments to the effect that public pension coverage as such will reduce aggregate fertility and may raise aggregate household savings. They argue further that public pensions, as they are currently designed, discourage parents from private human capital investment in their children to improve the children's future earning capacity. - After an overview of pension and child benefit policies (focusing on the European Union, Japan, and the United States), the authors offer an empirical and theoretical analysis and a simulation of the effects of the policies under discussion. Their policy proposals to address declines in fertility and productivity growth include the innovative suggestion that relates a person's pension entitlements to his or her number of children and the children's earning ability--proposing that, in effect, a person's pension could be financed in part or in full by the pensioner's own children.

The contrasting trends toward earlier retirement and greater longevity have resulted in steadily increasing retirement costs over the last forty years. One important factor influencing early retirement decisions is the expansion of retirement benefits; but studies predict that most countries, particularly those with early retirement incentives, will be unable to meet future pension and social security obligations. In this timely CESifo volume, Robert Fenge and Pierre Pestieau examine empirical and theoretical evidence that explains why early retirement has become such a burden for social security systems and suggest pension system reforms that will reverse the trend. - Drawing on evidence from the European Union (with comparisons to other industrialized countries including the United States and Canada), the authors demonstrate that the effective retirement age is influenced by social security regulations (such as a change in eligibility age) and discuss ways of measuring these embedded incentives. Fenge and Pestieau examine the implicit taxes on prolonged working life from normative and political economy perspectives. They discuss optimal payroll tax rates that minimize distortions of labor supply and retirement decisions and consider alternative ways to finance benefits, including consumption and capital income taxation. They discuss why policies are designed to discourage employment among older workers and why reforms to counter this often meet resistance. They demonstrate, contrary to the belief of many European governments, that pushing older workers into retirement does not free jobs for young unemployed workers. They show that the gap between salaries and productivity is an incentive for employers to rid themselves of older workers and argue that governments should not support this behavior by compensating older workers for the difference between severance payments and salaries in early retirement programs.

Competitiveness among nations is often approached as if it were a sports competition: some countries win medals, others lose out. This view of countries fighting it out in the economic arena is especially popular in business circles and among politicians. Economists, however, take a very different approach to international economic relations, arguing that international trade leads not to winners and losers but to win-win situations in which all countries profit. In this volume, leading economists take on the sometimes-derided concept of competitiveness, demonstrating the value of systematic analysis in an area too often dominated by special interest groups who use (and abuse) the concept to advance hidden agendas. - The chapters range from broad theoretical views to case studies, examining the multiple factors that drive competitiveness. Contributors consider the conceptual framework underlying the World Economic Forum's approach to competitiveness; differences in per capita GDP between the United States and the European Union; an integrated approach to measuring competitiveness and comparative advantage; divergent trends in price and cost competitiveness in the euro area; methodological issues in constructing competitiveness indicators; taxation and international competitiveness; and a case study of Mexico's competitiveness in world markets in comparison to China's.

Guns and Butter examines the causes and consequences of war from a political economy perspective, taking as its premise that a consideration of the incentives and constraints faced by individuals and groups is paramount in understanding conflict decision making. The chapter authors - leading economists and political scientists - believe that this perspective offers deeper insights into war and peace choices than the standard state-centric approach. Their contributions offer both theoretical and empirical support for the political economy perspective on conflict. - Several broad themes cut across the chapters: war as an equilibrium phenomenon rather than an exogenous process; the interaction of politics, economics, and institutions and its effect on the frequency and severity of conflicts; the cost of fighting; and the often innovative character of conflict. Topics addressed include theoretical aspects of the ways in which domestic politics affects the decision to go to war; globalization and its effect on the net supply of terrorism; open markets and the likelihood of war and domestic insecurity; the costs of going to war in Iraq as compared to the costs of containment; the economic effects of the Rwandan genocide at a household level; and the evolving industrial organization of terrorist groups.

Introduction / Marcel Gerard and Silke Uebelmesser -- In search of evidence : mobility of students and mobility of highly skilled workers interrelated -- International student mobility and high-skilled migration : the evidence / Gabriel Felbermayr and Isabella Reczkowski -- Are foreign top PhD students more likely to stay in the US? : some evidence from -- European economists / Linda van Bouwel and Reinhilde Veugelers -- International mobility and career consolidation of european researchers / Elisabetta Marinelli, Ana Fernandez-Zubieta and Susana Elena-Perez -- Implications of mobility for fiscal policies, especially the public provision and financing of higher education -- Human capital mobility : implications for efficiency, income distribution, and policy / David Wildasin -- Financing higher education when students and graduates are internationally mobile / Marcel Gerard and Silke Uebelmesser -- Financing higher education: mobility, quality and access -- Nicholas barr -- Choosing the risk type of income-contingent loan : risk-sharing versus risk-pooling / Elena Del Rey and MarÃ-a Racionero -- Strategic choices in education policy and economic development -- The causes and consequences of the growth in international students in higher education / Richard Murphy -- Education policy, student mobility, and brain gain / Alexander Haupt, Tim Krieger and Thomas Lange -- On the engine of innovation : the role of migration and knowledge spillovers / Luisa Gagliardi -- Contributors -- Index

The narrative of development economics is now infused with discussions of institutions. Economists debate whether institutionsor other factors altogether (geography, culture, or religion)are central to development. In this volume, leading scholars in development economics view institutions from a microeconomic perspective, offering both theoretical overviews and empirical analyses spanning three continents. ...

The multinational firm and its main vehicle, foreign direct investment, are key forces in economic globalization. Their importance to the world economy can be seen in the fact that since 1990 foreign direct investment has grown more rapidly than the world GDP and world trade. Despite this, the causes and consequences of multinational firm activity are little understood and until recently relatively unexamined in the theoretical literature. This CESifo volume fills this gap, examining the multinational enterprise (MNE) and foreign direct investment (FDI) from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. In the theoretical chapters, leading scholars take a wide range of modern analytical approaches - from new growth and trade theories to new economic geography, industrial organization, and game theory. Taking current theoretical work on MNE and FDI as a starting point and aiming to extend the existing theoretical framework, the contributors consider such topics as investment liberalization and firm location, tax competition, and welfare consequences of FDI and outsourcing. The empirical chapters test several of the key hypotheses of recent theoretical work on MNE and FDI, examining topics that include productivity effects on Italian MNEs, the different effects of outsourcing in Austria and Poland, location decisions of MNEs in the European Union, and other topics.

The EU budget : how much scope for institutional reform? / Raymond Ritter -- From the stability and growth pact to a sustainability council for EMU / Jurgen von Hagen -- Supervision of the European banking market / Martin Schuler -- Reasons and implications of inflation differentials within the European monetary union / Michael Ehrmann -- Black tie required? How to enter a currency union / Volker Nitsch -- Designing Europe : a survey of tasks ahead / Thomas Moutos -- In praise of the European constitution : a political economics perspective / Gerard Roland -- Institutional aspects of EU organization : an economic analysis / Massimo Bordignon -- Welfare policy integration inconsistencies / Giuseppe Bertola