TY - RPRT A1 - Bolz, Simon J. A1 - Naumann, Fabrice A1 - Richter, Philipp M. T1 - Unilateral Environmental Policy and Offshoring N2 - Expanding on a general equilibrium model of offshoring, we analyze the effects of a unilateral emissions tax increase on the environment, income, and inequality. Heterogeneous firms allocate labor across production tasks and emissions abatement, while only the most productive can benefit from lower labor and/or emissions costs abroad and offshore. We find a non-monotonic effect on global emissions, which decline if the initial difference in emissions taxes is small. For a sufficiently large difference, global emissions rise, implying emissions leakage of more than 100%. The underlying driver is a global technique effect: While the emissions intensity of incumbent non-offshoring firms declines, the cleanest firms start offshoring. Moreover, offshoring firms become dirtier, induced by a reduction in the foreign effective emissions tax in general equilibrium. Implementing a BCA prevents emissions leakage, reduces income inequality in the reforming country, but raises inequality across countries. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 110 KW - Umweltpolitik KW - Außenhandel KW - offshoring KW - emissions leakage KW - environmental policy KW - BCA KW - heterogeneous firms KW - income inequality Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-359033 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Grunewald, Andreas A1 - Klockmann, Victor A1 - von Schenk, Alicia A1 - von Siemens, Ferdinand A. T1 - Are Biases Contagious? The Influence of Communication on Motivated Beliefs N2 - This paper examines the potential reinforcement of motivated beliefs when individuals with identical biases communicate. We propose a controlled online experiment that allows to manipulate belief biases and the communication environment. We find that communication, even among like-minded individuals, diminishes motivated beliefs if it takes place in an environment without previously declared external opinions. In the presence of external plural opinions, however, communication does not reduce but rather aggravates motivated beliefs. Our results indicate a potential drawback of the plurality of opinions - it may create communication environments wherein motivated beliefs not only persist but also become contagious within social networks. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 109 KW - Bias KW - belief bias KW - social interaction KW - motivated beliefs Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-348936 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mahlkow, Hendrik A1 - Wanner, Joschka T1 - The Carbon Footprint of Global Trade Imbalances N2 - International trade is highly imbalanced both in terms of values and in terms of embodied carbon emissions. We show that the persistent current value trade imbalance patterns contribute to a higher level of global emissions compared to a world of balanced international trade. Specifically, we build a Ricardian quantitative trade model including sectoral input-output linkages, trade imbalances, fossil fuel extraction, and carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and use this framework to simulate counterfactual changes to countries' trade balances. For individual countries, the emission effects of removing their trade imbalances depend on the carbon intensities of their production and consumption patterns, as well as on their fossil resource abundance. Eliminating the Russian trade surplus and the US trade deficit would lead to the largest environmental benefits in terms of lower global emissions. Globally, the simultaneous removal of all trade imbalances would lower world carbon emissions by 0.9 percent or 295 million tons of carbon dioxide. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 108 KW - carbon emissions KW - international trade KW - gravity Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-330410 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bofinger, Peter A1 - Geißendörfer, Lisa A1 - Haas, Thomas A1 - Mayer, Fabian T1 - Credit as an Instrument for Growth: A Monetary Explanation of the Chinese Growth Story N2 - This study describes the Chinese growth model over the past 40 years. We show that China's growth model, with its dominant role of the banking system and "the banker", is a perfect illustration of the necessity and power of Schumpeter's "monetary analysis". This approach has allowed us to elaborate theoretically and empirically the uniqueness of the Chinese model. In our empirical analysis, we use a new dataset of Chinese provincial data to analyze the impact of the financial system, especially banks, on Chinese economic development. We also empirically assess the role of the financial system in Chinese industrial policy and provide case studies of the effects of industrial policy in specific sectors. Finally, we also discuss macroeconomic dimensions of the Chinese growth process and lessons that can be drawn from the Chinese experience for other countries. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 107 KW - Industriepolitik KW - Bank-led Growth KW - China KW - Wirtschaftswachstum KW - Wirtschaftsentwicklung KW - Industrial Policy KW - China KW - Strategic Emerging Industries KW - Finance-growth nexus KW - Finance KW - Economic growth KW - Economic development KW - Bank credit Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-328804 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Bofinger, Peter A1 - Haas, Thomas T1 - R-Star: A new approach to estimate the polar star of monetary policy N2 - The necessary adjustments to prominent measures of the neutral rate of interest following the COVID pandemic sparked a wide-ranging debate on the measurement and usefulness of r-star. Due to high uncertainty about relevant determinants, trend patterns and the correct estimation method, we propose in this paper a simple alternative approach derived from a standard macro model. Starting from a loss function, neutral periods can be determined in which a neutral real interest rate is observable. Using these values, a medium-term trend for a neutral interest rate can be determined. An application to the USA shows that our simple calculation of a neutral interest rate delivers comparable results to existing studies. A Taylor rule based on our neutral interest rate also does a fairly good job of explaining US monetary policy over the past 60 years. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 106 KW - Zins KW - Neutral rate of interest KW - Geldpolitik KW - equilibrium real interest rate KW - monetary policy rules Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-327394 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Geßner, Daniel T1 - Performance of Renewable Energy Policies – Evidence from Germany’s Transition to Auctions N2 - Government support for green technologies and renewable energy in particular has become an integral cornerstone of economic policy for most industrialized economies. Due to competitive price determination and supposedly higher efficiency, auctions have in recent years widely succeeded feed-in-tariffs as the primary support instrument (del Rio & Linares, 2014; REN21, 2021). However, literature still struggles to produce causal evidence to validate mostly descriptive findings for efficiency gains. Yet, this evidence is needed as a foundation to provide robust recommendations to policy makers (Grashof et al., 2020). By utilizing a difference-in-differences approach, this paper provides such evidence for a German photovoltaic (PV) auctioning program which came into effect in 2015. Results for this natural experiment confirm that cost-effectiveness improved significantly while previous literature shows that capacity expansion remained high. Results additionally show that falling prices for PV panels were the primary driver of cost reductions and wages also exert high influence on support price. Input cost development therefore indeed strongly influences support level which was the aim with introducing competitive auctions. Interest rate development cannot be linked to support level development, most probably due to the low interest environment in considered period. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 105 KW - Photovoltaik KW - Erneuerbare Energien KW - Ausschreibungen KW - auctions KW - photovoltaic KW - renewable energy policy KW - policy evaluation KW - difference-in-differences Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-325426 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Albers, Thilo N. H. A1 - Kersting, Felix A1 - Kosse, Fabian T1 - Income misperception and populism N2 - We propose that false beliefs about own current economic status are an important factor for explaining populist attitudes. Eliciting subjects’ receptiveness to rightwing populism and their perceived relative income positions in a representative survey of German households, we find that people with pessimistic beliefs about their income position are more attuned to populist statements. Key to understanding the misperception-populism relationship are strong gender differences in the mechanism: men are much more likely to channel their discontent into affection for populist ideas. A simple information provision does neither sustainably reduce misperception nor curb populism. T3 - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 104 KW - Populismus KW - Perception KW - Income KW - Populism Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-321696 ER -