Kiel Institute for the World Economy

About: Kiel Institute for the World Economy is a facility organization based out in Kiel, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Foreign direct investment & Productivity. The organization has 318 authors who have published 1909 publications receiving 42832 citations. The organization is also known as: Institut für Weltwirtschaft an der Universität Kiel.

Political Booms, Financial Crises

Abstract: We show that political booms, measured by the rise in governments’ popularity, predict financial crises above and beyond other better-known early warning indicators, such as credit booms. This predictive power, however, only holds in emerging economies. We show that governments in emerging economies are more concerned about their reputation and tend to ride the short-term popularity benefits of weak credit booms rather than implementing politically costly corrective policies that would help prevent potential crises. We provide evidence of the relevance of this reputation mechanism.

What asylum and refugee policies do Europeans want? Evidence from a cross-national conjoint experiment

Abstract: The protection of asylum seekers and refugees has become one of the most politically divisive issues in the European Union, yet there has been a lack of research on public preferences for asylum an...

How do firms use innovations to hedge against economic and political uncertainty? Evidence from a large sample of nations

Abstract: Using data on 135 countries, this paper studies the determinants of process innovation introduction, focusing on the impacts of economic and political uncertainties. Greater uncertainty, on the one hand, can lower potential benefits from innovation introductions, while on the other hand, the introduction of innovations might enable firms to hedge against uncertainty. The empirical literature has mostly considered uncertainty-investment nexus, and this study uniquely considers uncertainty-innovation introductions. Employing two different measures of economic and political uncertainty across different time lags, results are consistent with the hedging story—greater economic and political uncertainties induce firms to introduce process innovations to the market. With regard to firms’ attributes, sole proprietorships and R&D-performing firms were more likely to introduce innovations, while firms located in island nations were less likely to do so. Firms’ size and vintage did not have an appreciable influence on the incentives to introduce innovations. Some policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Investment liberalisation, technology take-off and export markets entry: Does foreign ownership structure matter?

Abstract: Before and after its accession to the WTO in 2001, China has undergone a far-reaching investment liberalisation. As part of this, existing restrictions on foreign ownership structure and mandatory export and technology transfer requirements imposed on foreign firms have been lifted in a number of industries. Against this background we identify the causal effects of foreign acquisitions on export market entry and technology take-off and evaluate whether the level of foreign ownership plays a role in stimulating these changes. Using doubly robust propensity score reweighted bivariate probit regressions to control for the selection bias associated with firm level foreign acquisition incidences, we uncover strong but heterogeneous positive effects on export activity for all types of foreign ownership structure. We also find that minority foreign owned acquisition targets experience higher likelihood of R&D, providing evidence that joint ventures can contribute positively to China's "science and technology take-off".

Gender and Climate Change in Latin America: An Analysis of Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience Based on Household Surveys

Abstract: This paper analyses gender differences in vulnerability and resilience to shocks, including climate change and climate variability, for Peru, Brazil and Mexico, which together account for more than half the population in Latin America. Vulnerability and resilience indicators are measured by a combination of the level of household incomes per capita and the degree of diversification of these incomes. Thus, households which simultaneously have incomes which are below the national poverty line and which are poorly diversified (Diversification Index below 0.5) are classified as highly vulnerable, whereas households which have highly diversified incomes above the poverty line are classified as highly resilient. The analysis shows that female headed households in all three countries tend to be less vulnerable and more resilient than male headed households, despite the fact that the former usually have lower education levels. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.