News Archive

In the last issue of our 2024 EconPol newsletter, CESifo President Clemens Fuest summarizes the highlights of the year in his season's greetings. We also look back at our annual conference on how to secure Europe's competitiveness and prosperity.

A new Policy Report evaluates the impact of the newly introduced Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on the EU’s 2030 emission reduction target and analyze different climate clubs with the EU at their core. Findings indicate that EU climate policies do not impose substantial costs, have a limited impact on global emissions, but generate substantial gains from avoided climate damages. The only modest global emission reduction is primarily due to the EU’s relatively small share in global emissions.

In a new Policy Brief, experts from the German Federal Bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) argue that completing the Banking Union and advancing the Capital Markets Union are crucial for a successful transformation of the economy.

Europe’s digital economy lags behind the U.S., with cross-border collaboration among software developers 16.4 percent lower than within countries—a barrier 73 percent greater than U.S. states. Cultural and language differences are key obstacles, limiting the potential of Europe’s vast talent pool. Policies focused on reducing these barriers and fostering international teamwork are critical to unlocking Europe’s digital competitiveness.

Labor demand in the German automotive industry has hit a low. The number of job ads in October 2024 was 53 percent lower than in August 2023. In December 2023, companies focused on electromobility advertised almost twice as many vacancies as those focused on combustion engines. This difference has now been reduced to 41 percentage points. These are the results of an analysis of around 1.6 million job ads from almost 2,400 companies in the German automotive industry published in the new EconPol Forum.