https://hdl.handle.net/10419/105864 Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) at the Hans Boeckler Foundation 2026-10-23T00:51:03Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308765 Title: Modell Deutschland neu justieren - Nachfrage und Innovationen stärken: Wirtschaftspolitische Herausforderungen 2025 Authors: Dullien, Sebastian; Bauermann, Tom; Herzog-Stein, Alexander; Paetz, Christoph; Rietzler, Katja; Stein, Ulrike; Stephan, Sabine; Tober, Silke; Watzka, Sebastian Abstract: Deutschlands Wirtschaft stagniert seit zwei Jahren und das Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist kaum höher als vor fünf Jahren. Die Rahmenbedingungen für Deutschlands exportorientiertes Wirtschaftsmodell haben sich drastisch geändert. Ohne zügige wirtschaftspolitische Maßnahmen droht der industrielle Kern der deutschen Wirtschaft wegzubrechen. Die aktuelle Diskussion erinnert an die Reformdebatte der frühen 2000er Jahre. Damals wie heute waren die Unternehmen deutlich besser aufgestellt als vielfach wahrgenommen. Allerdings muss das Modell Deutschland an die neuen Gegebenheiten, insbesondere infolge der geostrategischen Ausrichtung von China und den USA, angepasst werden. Dabei ist eine hinreichende Binnennachfrage erforderlich, damit Exportorientiertheit mit steigenden Einkommen und einer tendenziell ausgeglichenen Leistungsbilanz vereinbar ist. Am dringlichsten ist die Überwindung der aktuellen Nachfrageschwäche durch eine Fiskalpolitik, die notwendige Infrastrukturinvestitionen auf den Weg bringt und ein günstiges Umfeld für private Investitionen und Innovationen schafft, sowie eine Beendigung der geldpolitischen Restriktion. Eine gezielte und auf EU-Ebene abgestimmte Industriepolitik sowie Maßnahmen zur Verringerung des Strompreises sind ebenso erforderlich wie eine neue Balance zwischen Regulierung und Innovationsfähigkeit. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/312931 Title: Family firms and their role in the fall of the labor share and the rise of corporate saving in germany Authors: Behringer, Jan; van Treeck, Till; Victor, Vincent Abstract: This paper investigates the role of family firms in the fall of the labor share and rise in corporate saving in Germany from 1993 to 2019. Combining a new Family Ownership and Governance (FOG) database with financial data, we analyze 929 publicly listed firms. Our findings show that firm-level labor share declines are widespread in Germany, contrasting with findings from the U.S. that link this trend to a few fast-growing superstar firms. Family firms, particularly in manufacturing, experienced sharper decreases in the labor share and stronger increases in corporate saving compared to non-family firms. The level of family involvement in Germany's two-tier board system (management and supervisory board) further affects these outcomes. Despite paying lower wages, we find no evidence that family firms provide greater employment stability. Our results challenge global generalizations about the drivers of the labor share and corporate saving, while emphasizing the macroeconomic relevance of family firms, especially in Germany's corporate sector. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/333507 Title: Passing the partisan filter: Political narratives, partisan bias and opinions on public finances Authors: Jürgens, Ekaterina; Gechert, Sebastian Abstract: This paper investigates whether political partisanship and political narratives affect voters' opinions about public finances. In a novel survey experiment, we test the causal effect of pro-consolidation and pro-public investment narratives used in German general election campaigns on participants' opinions on public debt and how to deal with budget deficits. We do not find a relevant average treatment effect of these narratives. However, they partly interact with political party preferences, which are a dominant covariate for opinions on public finances. We interpret our findings as a conjunction of narrative economics theory and the partisan bias literature, by which only emotionally charged narratives pass the partisan filter. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/333474 Title: Stablecoins and the future of money: Economic principles and policy implications Authors: Bofinger, Peter Abstract: The paper discusses the functions and the potential of stablecoins as an innovative payment system: Stablecoins constitute a new payment object which can be used for a direct exchange on the infrastructures provided by blockchains and crypto exchanges. For the discussion of stablecoins It is important to distinguish between bond-based and bank-based stablecoins: While the former use bank deposits as collateral, the latter use short-term treasuries. Bond-based stablecoins have an attractive business model. They enable direct international.payments, i.e. without an intermediary, based on a safe transaction asset. Market dynamics reveal significant network effects: the system is characterized by the US dollar as the dominant currency denomination, a duopoly of two issuers, and a small number of blockchains. In the last few years, the dominant issuers have demonstrated resilience even during periods of economic shocks. The macroeconomic effects of bank-based stablecoins are limited, since they cannot create loans. However, bond-based stablecoins can create money by purchasing government bonds. While bank-based stablecoins create financial stability risks by interconnecting banks and stablecoin issuers, bond-based stablecoins do not present this risk. The Digital Euro is not an alternative to stablecoins: Its use is limited to the euro area, it is designed for retail payments and it only allows asset holdings for private households. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z