Late summer is conference time. I’ll be travelling around a fair bit in the next weeks. At the moment, there is the annual congress of the European Economic Association here in Mannheim. Many of the leading economists of all disciplines are attending. The highlight will certainly be this year’s Nobel session by Jean Tirole from Toulouse. Whenever time allows I will share some of the papers that particularly caught my attention. Here are two from the first day: Continue reading EEA Mannheim 2015
Author: Paul Hünermund
International Economics 101
Have you ever had a haircut in South East Asia, a kebap in Zurich or been a sex tourist (just to grab your attention). If so than you, or the kebap seller in Zurich, have probably benefitted from the Balassa-Samuelson effect. This is something you learn in your intermediate macro series. But, to be honest, I was never that interested in macro. So you forget. But at least it gives you the excitement to learn again about a theoretical concept that immediately explains you many of your every-day life observations. I thought I share this excitement with you. Continue reading International Economics 101
Asexual reproduction of firms
Management scholars love to study corporate spin-offs. Every now and then companies decide to split off parts of their business or pursue new ideas by founding a new legal entity. Such an organizational split is supposed to be advantageous when it comes to managing certain types of innovative ventures. Google’s recent reorganization is an example that the large conglomerate of more or less independently operating companies seems to become more popular again in the tech world. Continue reading Asexual reproduction of firms
Back when Varoufakis was only a blogging economist
Back in 2012, when the Greek crisis reached its first climax, Yanis Varoufakis had a series of exchanges with the talented German blogger Kantoos. Unfortunately, Kantoos stopped blogging* and the site is down by now. You can still find Yanis’ articles though and web.archive serves its job. Continue reading Back when Varoufakis was only a blogging economist
Dark Age of Tsarism
From the epilogue of my German translation of Dostoyevsky’s “White Nights” (“Белые ночи”):
Verbitterung bestimmte das Verhältnis vieler Intellektueller gegenüber dem Regime des Zaren Nikolaj I., der mit einem gewaltigen Polizei- und Spitzelapparat seine Doktrin von Autokratie, Orthodoxie und nationalem Patriotismus verteidigte […].
My loose translation:
Bitterness characterized the relations of many intellectuals with Tsar Nicholas I’s regime who defended his doctrine of autocracy, orthodoxy and national patriotism with an enormous apparatus of policemen and spies.
This doctrine with its three cornerstones seems to be all too familiar looking at what’s happening nowadays.
And most likely, many Russians wouldn’t even object. Once I talked to a guy of my age who was playing in an indie band and living in St Petersburg. He believed that Russia would need a new Tsar who could run the country (these were his exact words). Well, we’re getting there, if you ask me.
What Makes Entrepreneurs Valuable to Society?
Others have written before me about this paper by William Baumol. As it is very often the case with good papers, the main idea is quite simple. Scholars and policy makers are obsessed with entrepreneurship. They discuss prime examples such as Apple, Amazon and Google. And every local politician would love to have a Silicon Valley in his backyard. But at its heart, entrepreneurship is nothing more than people seeking economic opportunities. And, depending on the incentives a society provides, these businesses can be either socially valuable, a waste of resources, or, in the worst case, even destructive. Continue reading What Makes Entrepreneurs Valuable to Society?
Fighting for Greek Souvereignty?
So far, I refrained from commenting on Greece. Too often already Europe’s final countdown was playing (pun intended) and, in the end, decisions were again postponed for several months. But now I’m pretty sure that with Tsipras’ announcement of a bailout referendum the fifth act of this drama has begun. Continue reading Fighting for Greek Souvereignty?
Aghion’s new Growth Pact for Europe
Philippe Aghion and Ufuk Akcigit have a brand-new draft of a survey* about innovation and growth from a Schumpeterian perspective which they will present on a conference in Brussels next week. It does not differ much from already existing reviews of Schumpeterian growth models. But at the end they add a section on policy advice for Europe which is an interesting read. Continue reading Aghion’s new Growth Pact for Europe
Successfully Mastering Econometrics
Because I’m currently sitting in the same lecture room in Strasbourg as Steve Pischke and yet another paper on labor markets is presented, I feel inspired to comment on the newest Angrist and Pischke piece on econometrics education. Furthermore, my own graduation doesn’t lie too much in the past, so I might still be part of the target group for an improved coursework in quantitative methods. Continue reading Successfully Mastering Econometrics
Recent Trends in German Entrepreneurship
At ZEW (Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim), we monitor recent trends and figures of entrepreneurship activity in Germany. A new report on the development in 2014 was released some days ago*. Overall, there is a stable decreasing trend in the number of newly founded companies since the mid 1990s which has continued. Continue reading Recent Trends in German Entrepreneurship
Paul Hünermund, Ph.D. 