Sustainability of public debt has become a major issue in the debate over the success of the European Monetary Union. The authors pursue the question of whether Germany’s fiscal policy is sustainable. With sustainability of a given fiscal policy, the authors refer to a policy that...

In this paper we present empirical facts on oil exploitation and a model that can replicate some of these facts. In particular, we show that the time path of the oil price, on the one hand, and the extraction rate, on the other hand, seem to follow a U-shaped and an inverted U-shaped...

The paper considers the transition of an economy from non-renewable to renewable energy. The Hotelling theorem suggests to extract a non-renewable resource in an optimal way such that the resource tends to be depleted when optimally extracted. Yet,it might not be reasonable to deplete...

We present a macroeconomic growth model in which investment in physical capital exhibits positive externalities which raise the stock of knowledge. Treating physical capital and knowledge as two separate variables, we show that the model can generate endogenous growth. It is demonstrated that...

We present a macroeconomic growth model in which investment in physical capital exhibits positive externalities which raise the stock of knowledge. Treating physical capital and knowledge as two separate variables, we show that the model can generate endogenous growth. It is demonstrated that...

In this paper we demonstrate that a standard loss function of a central bank may generate multiple equilibria which can contribute to hysteresis effects on the labor market. Multiple equilibria are feasible if the objective function of the central bank is non-quadratic. Such preferences may...