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In today's meeting, the Supervisory Board of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim appointed Prof. Dr. Clemens Fuest, Oxford University, successor to ZEW President Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Franz. On March 1, 2013, Clemens Fuest will start at the top of ZEW, heading the institute as Director of Science and Research together with Thomas Kohl, Director of Business and Administration. Wolfgang Franz will retire and leave his position as ZEW President by the end of February 2013. read more
The university choice of highly skilled applicants is influenced by university rankings as well as by the German quality label "University of Excellence". However, compared to other criteria, excellence and rankings play a rather minor role. The university's proximity to the parents' place of residence is still the most important factor concerning the decision for a university. This is shown by a current study of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. read more
In January, ZEW asked financial market experts to assess the risk of a decline in German GDP in the first quarter of 2012. According to the experts, this risk has increased since the last interview October 2011. But still, the more popular view among the respondents is that there will be at least a small positive growth rate of the German GDP during this year's first three months. The experts are more optimistic about the second quarter 2012. They consider the ehances of a positive growth of the German GDP higher than for the ongoing first quarter. These are the findings of a survey among approximately 200 financial market experts, conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in January 2012. read more
When it comes to attracting firms and struggling for business taxes, municipalities in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg are competing with communes and cities within the very same state. Municipalities located close to other federal states, as well as larger cities in general, also see themselves in though competition with cities and communes beyond the federal borders. In comparison, the competition with French and Swiss municipalities is perceived less strong. These are the results of a current study at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. read more
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany has increased by 32.2 points in January 2012. The indicator now stands at minus 21.6 points. This is the highest level of the indicator since July 2011. Nevertheless, the indicator is still below its historical average of 24.5 points. read more
The ZEW-CS Indicator rebounded in January 2012, increasing by 21.9 points to minus 50.1 points. This is the strongest increase since April 2011 and the highest level of the indicator since June 2011. read more
In the first three months of 2012, the employment situation in the German information industry is mainly positive. Approximately two thirds of the companies active in this economic sector plan to operate with a stable number of employees. 24 per cent plan to hire staff and approximately 10 per cent intend to reduce the number of employees. On balance, subtracting the negative from the positive shares of expectations, 14 per cent of the companies engaged in the information industry plan to increase their manpower. Thus, the positive labour market situation already observed in the fourth quarter of 2011 stabilises. These are the findings of a representative survey conducted in December 2011 by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim in cooperation with Creditreform in Neuss. read more
The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, Germany, is holding its 10th Conference on the Economics of Information and Communication Technologies on June 28-29, 2012. The conference objective is to discuss recent scientific contributions to the economics of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the economics of ICT industries. Theoretical, empirical and policy- oriented contributions are welcome. Please submit papers as PDF or MS Wordfile to ict-conference@zew.de no later than March 20, 2012. read more
The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) is pleased to announce a conference on "The Role of Expectations in Financial Markets". The conference aims to provide a platform for an international, interdisciplinary dialogue on expectation formation in financial markets and the economic impact of expectations. We invite interdisciplinary contributions from the fields of economics, finance, cognitive sciences etc. Preference will be given to empirical papers applying survey data, experimental data, transaction data, market-based expectations data as well as any further data applied in novel approximations of expectations. Full papers including an abstract of up to 200 words should be submitted to expectations-conference2012@zew.de no later than February 29, 2012. Additional information on the conference
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the information industry in Germany has recovered slightly from the weak economic sentiment during the third quarter. The ZEW Economic Sentiment Indicator for the Information Industry increases by five points to 61.6. This improvement of the economic sentiment in the fourth quarter is mainly due to the developments in the ICT sector, which has recovered considerably after a strong decline in the previous quarter. These are the findings of an economic survey conducted in December 2011 by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim in cooperation with Creditreform, Neuss, among representatives from the information industry. read more
