EconPol Forum

EconPol Forum (formerly CESifo Forum) is a bi-monthly English-language journal to bring economic analysis on topics of worldwide interest along with policy advice to a broad range of policymakers and the public.

In September 2022 the CESifo Forum was restructured into four sections under the new EconPol brand. The first, Policy Debate of the Hour, recognizes the constantly evolving nature of policy challenges, focusing on the most pressing issues of the times. Leading researchers are invited to share their insights and policy conclusions. The Economic Policy and its Impact section assesses economic policies and develops robust evidence for their optimal design and implementation. In the Institutions Across the World section, contributors focus on the key role that institutional design plays in shaping socio-economic outcomes, often by comparing institutions across economic and political systems. Finally, Big Data-Based Economic Insights presents articles that glean economic policy advice from the exploitation of large, complex datasets.

Forum Icon INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE WORLD

Institutions – Moving to the Global?

INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE WORLD

Harold James

There are three major challenges that today will force a rethinking of public goods: each of them may be thought of in terms of fundamental challenges to security, personal and national. One is the existential threat of climate change, and the bizarre geopolitical consequences of that change. The second is the impact of AI on labor market practices. AI is not only an obvious threat to employment, but also a security challenge. The third related challenge is the monetary revolution that is being produced by new technologies such as blockchain, and the consequent possibility of generating non-state moneys.

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Forum Icon ECONOMIC POLICY AND ITS IMPACT

What Works? Regional Effects of Universities

ECONOMIC POLICY AND ITS IMPACT

Nicolas Bunde, Nina Czernich, Oliver Falck, Gabriel Felbermayr

Economic research has always emphasized the importance of a well-educated population for the level and dynamics of per capita income and other key economic variables. Foreseeable demographic changes – especially the stagnation or even decline of the active labor force – make investments in the quality of human capital particularly necessary.

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Forum Icon BIG-DATA-BASED ECONOMIC INSIGHTS

How Do Taxation and Regulation Affect the Real Estate Market?

BIG-DATA-BASED ECONOMIC INSIGHTS

Mathias Dolls, David Gstrein, Carla Krolage, Florian Neumeier

The following article provides an overview of four projects that assess the effects of regulation and taxation as well as the pandemic’s impact on the German real estate market, using large-scale property price as well as survey data. The projects aim to provide answers to the following questions: Do subsidies make housing purchases more affordable? How do real estate transfer taxes affect house prices? How does rent regulation such as the Berlin rent cap affect the real estate market? And, which future trends in the housing market can be expected given the pandemic’s potentially long-lasting impacts on residential preferences?

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