Suchergebnisse

Crowdfunding markets around the world have experienced significant growth rates in recent years. With an aggregate amount of almost €50 billion raised worldwide between 2010 and 2017, crowdfunding has attracted increasing economic, political and regulatory attention on the international level. However, many questions remain open on the proper design, implementation and feasibility of these markets, of which there are four general types: debt, rewards, equity, and charity (ranked by their respective volumes). The first three types of crowdfunding are comparable to existing sources of traditional financing and either complement or substitute for these sources. Investors thus expect returns or other financial benefits from these types of crowdfunding. The fourth type - charity-based crowdfunding - is purely philanthropic. The United States and United Kingdom are responsible for the majority of crowdfunding transactions. The share of European Union markets (excluding the UK) is still low, with negligible cross-border activity. We argue that the lack of a clear and consistent regulatory framework in Europe is a major obstacle to the development of these markets. The European Commission proposed in March 2018 a set of measures aimed at addressing the major shortcomings of the current regulatory framework and employing instead an EU-wide regime (European Commission, 2018b). The Commission's proposal moves in the right direction to provide a solid basis for the development of crowdfunding markets in Europe, but has at least three major shortcomings that need to be addressed. First, an EU-wide framework needs to have a precise and transparent legal definition of crowdfunding activities, eliminating any legal confusion for investors, enterprises and platforms. Second, such a framework requires a clear stance on investor protection. We suggest including in the proposal a more refined requirement for agents who want to invest more than a certain threshold amount to undertake a 'qualified investor test'. Third, the proposal would limit crowdfunding offers to €1 million per project over a period of 12 months. We argue that this threshold is too restrictive and should be raised to €5 million in order to enable the frictionless development of investment-based crowdfunding in Europe. Policy

In this paper, Benedicta Marzinotto and Jörg Rocholl focus on the tightening of credit conditions for banking rules (Basel III), particularly the estimated macroeconomic costs range, monetary policy and the aggregate costs of the measures. The authors report that the monetary policy response to these changes is not likely to be accommodating and that the aggregate costs of the measures will be differently distributed across countries depending on a variety of issues.

Wie kann unser Bildungssystem zukunftsfähig gestaltet werden? Damit befassen sich die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes. Fest steht: Unser heutiges Bildungssystem wird den rasanten technologischen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen sowie den anthropogenen Naturveränderungen wie dem Klimawandel und Artensterben nicht gerecht. Grundvoraussetzung zur Bewältigung dieser Komplexität, Dynamik und Ungewissheit ist ein lernfähiges Gehirn und eine gesunde Psyche. Der aus Experten der Medizin, Psychologie, Pädagogik, Ökonomie, Informatik und Praxis zusammengesetzte Frankfurter Zukunftsrat erklärt, was der Mensch wann und wie in Zukunft lernen muss, wenn er diese ökologisch und sozial gestalten soll. (Klappentext)

Wie kann unser Bildungssystem zukunftsfähig gestaltet werden? Damit befassen sich die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes. Fest steht: Unser heutiges Bildungssystem wird den rasanten technologischen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen sowie den anthropogenen Naturveränderungen wie dem Klimawandel und Artensterben nicht gerecht. Grundvoraussetzung zur Bewältigung dieser Komplexität, Dynamik und Ungewissheit ist ein lernfähiges Gehirn und eine gesunde Psyche. Der aus Experten der Medizin, Psychologie, Pädagogik, Ökonomie, Informatik und Praxis zusammengesetzte Frankfurter Zukunftsrat erklärt, was der Mensch wann und wie in Zukunft lernen muss, wenn er diese ökologisch und sozial gestalten soll. (Klappentext)

Abstract
We raise some critical points against a naïve interpretation of "green finance" products and strategies. These critical insights are the background against which we take a closer look at instruments and policies that might allow green finance to become more impactful. In particular, we focus on the role of a taxonomy and investor activism. We also describe the interaction of government policies with green finance practice – an aspect, which has been mostly neglected in policy debates but needs to be taken into account. Finally, the special case of green government bonds is discussed.

Der Klimawandel ist eine der größten globalen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit. Zum Erreichen der essenziellen Begrenzung der Emissionen steigt in letzter Zeit der Druck auf den Finanzsektor, seinen Beitrag zu leisten. Der Klimawandel ist als Thema zu wichtig, um auf scheinbar einfache Lösungen zu setzen. In der Unternehmenswelt ist eine ökologisch orientierte Anlagepolitik möglich. Sie erfordert aber weitergehende Eingriffe der Investoren in die Geschäftspolitik von Unternehmen. Bei den Staatsfinanzen verbietet sich ein solcher Einfluss der Investoren aus guten demokratischen Gründen.

In recent years, the German banking sector has overcome major challenges such as the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis. This paper analyzes a recent development as a particular determinant of the future outlook for the German banking sector. Interest rates are at historically low levels and may remain at these levels for a considerable period of time. Such levels pose a specific challenge to banks which are heavily dependent on interest income, as is the case for most German banks. We consider different interest rate scenarios and analyze the extent to which they cause a further narrowing of the interest rate margin. Our results indicate that a projected decline in this margin will result in no more than 20% of German banks earning a cost of capital of 8% by the end of this decade. However, we show that this decline is alleviated by the fact that German banks can apply a special feature of German accounting standards by using hidden and open reserves. We discuss how these income smoothing tools will provide a cushion that supports short‐ and medium‐term adjustments through a buffer effect. (JEL G21, G28)

Der wissenschaftliche Beirat beim Bundesfinanzministerium hat jüngst in einer Stellungnahme darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass die gegenwärtige Finanzordnung in der Europäischen Währungsunion dem Staat in seiner Eigenschaft als Schuldner besondere Privilegien einräumt. Die Autoren geben einen kurzen Überblick über diese Privilegien, diskutieren die daraus resultierenden Probleme und zeigen die Notwendigkeit ihres Abbaus auf. ; Even though governments usually enjoy favourable borrowing conditions, the current financial system in Europe grants special privileges to government debt. This involves capital requirements in banking regulation, ECB policies, intergovernmental guarantees, etc. The paper gives a short outline of the privileges, discusses their justifi cation and highlights problems.

We raise some critical points against a naïve interpretation of "green finance" products and strategies. These critical insights are the background against which we take a closer look at instruments and policies that might allow green finance to become more impactful. In particular, we focus on the role of a taxonomy and investor activism. We also describe the interaction of government policies with green finance practice – an aspect, which has been mostly neglected in policy debates but needs to be taken into account. Finally, the special case of green government bonds is discussed.