News Archive

Narratives about immigrants matter for both natives and immigrants because narratives shape attitudes, political outcomes, and perceptions of discrimination. A recent and growing literature has shown that media narratives influence how people think and act as well as that specific framing of immigration matters for how migrants are perceived. However, no study has examined narratives about immigrants in a systematic way. Germany also features a rich and diverse landscape of regional newspapers, opening up the possibility to link immigrant narratives to specific local conditions.

Research funding via the tax system has a positive effect on investment in innovation projects. This is the finding of a metastudy conducted by the ifo Institute that summarizes findings on quantitative evaluation studies in Europe, Japan, Canada, China, Australia, and the United States. In the study, success was most evident in those countries that incentivized research and development expenditure through the tax system, for example by offering tax credits or special depreciation options for material or personnel costs.

Experience with European fiscal rules has shown that European rules cannot prevent member states from accumulating high debt levels if they want to. The fact that the ECB increasingly positions itself as a fiscal bailout mechanism implies that the risk of short-term fiscal crises due to a collapse of confidence in capital market declines. But this comes at the cost of further weakening incentives for fiscal discipline. A reform of economic governance should place emphasis on enhancing fiscal discipline and responsibility.

Europe is facing a whole new set of challenges: The cost of living is rising, war is on our doorstep, and an environmental turnaround is needed. How should the EU framework for economic governance change to make Europe stronger, more sustainable and more resilient? The European Commission has recently developed guidelines for a reformed economic governance framework. In March 2023, the European Council endorsed these guidelines. They aim at strengthening national ownership and facilitating the enforcement of projects.

How prevalent is remote work on a global scale? What are the prevailing modes of working arrangements at present? What are the foremost advantages of working from home and on employer's business premises? Is there a need for policy intervention? Our new Global Survey of Working Arrangements provides new insights to answer these questions.