University of Bremen - News

Angelina Hackmann as Visiting Scientist at Indiana University, Bloomington

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 14:48:04 +0100

From 01.04.2019 to 30.06.2019 Angelina Hackmann will have a research stay at the "School of Public and Environmental Affairs in the Department of Prof. David Audretsch.

The visit in the USA is supportet by the Doctoral Centre of the University of Bremen under the program "Bremen IDEAout".

New Publication

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 17:11:22 +0100

Prof. Dr. Torben Klarl and Angelina Hackmann published new workingpaper " The evolution of Zipf's law". Download here.

New Publication

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 14:35:31 +0100

New article in "Energy and Resource Economics".

PhD Workshop "Innovation, Growth and Economic Geography"

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 14:15:00 +0200

On the 4th of July a PhD Workshop on the topic "Innovation, Growth and Economic Geography took place on our faculty. With Ron Boschma (Utrecht University) and Jerome Vicente (University of Toulouse Capitole (LEREPS)) two proven experts participated on this workshop.

New Publication

Thu, 31 May 2018 14:30:00 +0200

The article "Housing is local: Applying a dynamic unobserved factor model for the Dutch housing market" was published in Economics Letters.

New Publication

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 14:33:00 +0200

The article "In search of excellence: a case study of the first excellence initiative of Germany" was published in Journal of Business Economics.

Prof. Dr. Torben Klarl is one of the top ten percent of the strongest research economists in the German-speaking world.

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 16:01:22 +0100

This is the result of the Impact per Publication (IPP) ranking, which is compiled annually by the Konjunkturforschungsstelle of the ETH Zürich (KOF) and the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (DICE). It evaluates the research performance based on the significance of the publications. In addition to Prof. Dr. Klarl, his colleague Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf, Professor of Financial Services and Financial Technology at the University of Bremen, also belongs to the circle of the top ten percent of economists in the German-speaking world measured by their research performance. Our team cordially congratulates both. More

Kristina Vogt visited the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics

Tue, 28 May 2019 13:03:55 +0200

On May 22 Kristina Vogt visited the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics at the University of Bremen, to discuss about the challenging topic „Was ist linke Wirtschaftspolitik?“. The faculty was represented by Prof. Dirk Fornahl, lead of the Centre for Regional and Innovation Economics and Prof. Torben Klarl, Professor for Economics, esp. quantitative Macroeconomics. The event was moderated by Prof. Jochen Zimmermann, dean of the faculty. The participants discussed their opinions from the point of view of politics and science.

Here you can find a detailed article.

Angelina Hackmann – Research Visit at the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, Bloomington

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 17:00:31 +0200

From April 1^st, 2019 until June 30^th, 2019, Angelina Hackmann visited the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, Bloomington, as a guest researcher.

During this research stay, Angelina Hackmann had many fruitful work meetings and discussions with researchers from Indiana University. She could further develop her research paper that deals with the synchronization of housing and the business cycle on a regional level. As a Junior Research Fellow of the Institute for Development Strategies, Angelina Hackmann will stay in close contact to the researchers at Indiana University.

The research stay was funded by the BremenIDEA out scholarship by BYRD (Bremen Early Career Researcher Development).

Angelina Hackmann was invited by Prof. Dr. David Audretsch. The working group “quantitative Macroeconomics” and Indiana University maintain a long-standing cooperation, which is intended to be intensified in the future.

Presentation about Bitcoin, Blockchain & Co. at the „Übersee Museum“ in Bremen

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 16:51:05 +0200

On September 12^th, 2019, Dirk Schrade, deputy head of the Central Division Payments and Settlement Systems of the Deutsche Bundesbank, will give a presentation entitled “„Bitcoins, Blockchain & Co. – Das digitale Geld von morgen? “at the “Übersee Museum” in Bremen. The event takes place within the series of events “Forum Bundesbank” by the main administration Bremen, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

The presentation aims to a general and interested audience. In order to receive more information on the contents of the presentation and the registration for this event, click on the link below.

Download

Call for a Special Issue for Small Business Economics Journal (SBEJ) on: “Radical Innovation, Entrepreneurship and (Regional) Growth”

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:41:10 +0200

Deadline for Submission: December 1, 2019

Please read here for further information and submission guidelines.

The link between innovation and regional and urban growth has been subject of extensive

research in the last years. Inter alia, Rosenthal and Strange (2003) or Glaeser et al. (2010, 2015)

found that entrepreneurs as a potential source of innovation are an important ingredient for

regional growth. Frenken and Boschma (2007) argue that grains from variety at the firm and

regional level provide the important feedback mechanism for urban and regional specialization

and growth. Moreover, many policymakers point to the role of cluster policies for regional and

urban growth.

However, the relevant cluster policy is often associated with incremental rather than with

radical innovation. Thus, despite the notable progress in this line of research, our understanding

of radical innovations as the source for urban and regional economic growth and the explicit

role of clusters is still very limited (Audretsch and Aldridge 2008).

The aim of this special issue is to shed light on this important link between radical innovation,

entrepreneurship and regional growth, both from a systematic empirical as well as from a

theoretical point of view.

Inspection of the Macroeconomics Exam

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0200

The inspection of the macroeconomics exam from Summer Semester 2019 will take place on Thursday, November 7, 2019, at 10:30h in room F2330 in building WIWI 2.

If you choose to participate, you will be required to provide your name and matriculation number via email at makro@uni-bremen.de until November 4, 2019. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Inspection of the Technology and Growth exam

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0200

The inspection of the technology and growth exam from Summer Semester 2019 will take place on Thursday, November 7, 2019, at 11:30h in room F2330 in building WIWI 2.

New publication: The response of CO2 emissions to the business cycle: New evidence for the U.S.

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 13:32:22 +0200

Torben Klarl has published a paper about the response of CO₂ emissions to the business cycle in the leading scientific journal for energy economics, Energy Economics. Using a rolling-regression approach and a Regime-Switching model the author finds evidence for a regime-dependent emission elasticity in the U.S.. This contribution provides important information for the estimation and calibration of so-called dynamic general equilibrium models in an environmental context, so-called environmental DSGE models.

This paper is a valuable contribution to the project Energy Revolution, Digitalization and Labor Markets: The impact on Growth and Distribution of the Diginomics Research Group.

This article is also available as discussion paper #1902 from the series Bremen Papers on Economics& Innovation by the Insitute for economic research and policy (ierp).

Link to the discussion paper: http://elib.suub.uni-bremen.de/edocs/00107732-1.pdf

New publication: The implications of automation for economic growth when investment decisions are irreversible

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 12:27:58 +0200

Torben Klarl has published an article in the renowned journal Economics Letters on the topic of economic growth in the context of the progressive automation of production processes. With his co-author Torben Klarl presents a growth model which assumes an irreversibility in the investment decision capital vs. automation capital (robots, 3D printers etc.).

This paper is a valuable contribution to the project Energy Revolution, Digitalization and Labor Markets: The impact on Growth and Distribution of the Diginomics Research Group.

This article is also available as discussion paper #1903 from the series Bremen Papers on Economics& Innovation by the Insitute for economic research and policy (ierp).

Link to the discussion paper: http://elib.suub.uni-bremen.de/edocs/00107733-1.pdf

New publication: The evolution of Zipf’s Law for U.S. cities

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 14:02:22 +0100

Angelina Hackmann, PhD student at the Working Group “quantitative Macroeconomics”, and Torben Klarl have published an article in the journal Papers in Regional Science on city size development in the U.S. between 1840 and 2016. The authors show that the city size distribution deviates from Zipf's law, especially in the second half of the 20th century. The city size distribution has become more even, which is mainly due to the fact that smaller cities have grown faster than larger cities. This can be explained, inter alia, by an increased importance of suburbanization processes since the 1960s.

This article is also available via the following link: https://rsaiconnect.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pirs.12498

Inspection of the Macroeconomics Exam postponed

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0100

The inspection of the macroeconomics exam from Winter Semester 2019/20 is postponed. A new date will be announced in time.

New publication in -The Journal of the Economics of Ageing-

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:12:15 +0200

Torben Klarl and his co-author Jürgen Antony have examined the validity of the income inequality hypothesis (IIH), which states that high income inequality is detrimental to human health. A novel continuous wavelet approach allowed them to directly estimate the association between health and income inequality for the U.S. between 1941 and 2015 simultaneously, at any frequency and time domain. After controlling for gender, aggregate income, governmental spendings on health and education, the paper finds, first, that the frequency domain is relevant for identifying any relationship between health and income inequality, but, second, the overall evidence for the IIH is weak. Only for the time span 1956-1993 and for long-run frequencies, they find that an increase of income inequality has adverse effects on health. They are not able to confirm the existence of the IIH for any other time periods at different frequencies, even not for the period of the recent financial crisis. Hence, the empirical confirmation of the IIH is the rare exemption rather than the rule and its existence, at least on an aggregate level, clearly depends on the frequency domain. The paper is published in The Journal of the Economics of Ageing.

Economic Colloquium in the Winter Term 2020/2021

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 15:54:02 +0100

In the Winter Term 2020/2021 the Economic Colloquium will take place online. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, which can be attended via Zoom. The first lecture on November 3rd was: The Fed’s Response to Economic News Explains the “Fed Information Effect”. To take part in one of the Zoom events, please register here: vwlres@uni-bremen.de.

Inspection of the Technology and Growth exam

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:37:12 +0100

The inspection of the technology and growth exam from Summer Semester 2020 will take online.

If you choose to participate, you will be required to provide your name, matriculation number and the exam you would like to register for via email at makro@uni-bremen.de until December 3, 2020. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Inspection of the Macroeconomics exam

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:56:29 +0100

The inspection of Macroeconomics exam from Summer Semester 2020 will take online.

Inspection of the Macroeconomics exam

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 14:00:00 +0200

The inspection of Macroeconomics exam from Winter Semester 2020/2021 will take place online.

If you choose to participate, you will be required to provide your name, matriculation number and the exam you would like to register for via email at makro@uni-bremen.de until April 23, 2021. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Economic Colloquium in the Summer Term 2021

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 13:59:00 +0200

In the Summer Term 2021 the Economic Colloquium will take place online. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, which can be attended via Zoom. The first lecture on April 27th will be: The geography of innovation and technology - An empirical study of the German news media. To take part in one of the Zoom events, please register here: vwlres@uni-bremen.de.

New publication: Radical Innovation and its Regional Impact — a Roadmap for Future Research

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:15:00 +0200

Torben Klarl's paper, together with his co-authors David Audretsch and Dirk Fornahl, introduces the special issue of Small Business Economics on "Radical innovation, entrepreneurship and (regional) growth" and presents a roadmap for future research in this area. This article argues that the link between the literature on radical innovation, entrepreneurship, and (regional) growth is still an underresearched topic. This paper also reviews the special issue’s contributions that allow for a more nuanced understanding of this important link.

Download

Macroeconomics tutor position

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 11:00:00 +0200

For the upcoming winter semester we are still looking for tutors for the macroeconomics course to strengthen our existing team of tutors. If you are interested, please send a short application (CV, overview of grades, etc.) until August 13 to makro@uni-bremen.de.

We are looking forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Inspection of the Macroeconomics exam

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0200

If you choose to participate in the inspection of the Macroeconomics exam, you will be required to provide your name, matriculation number and the exam you would like to register for via email at makro@uni-bremen.de until October 27, 2021. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Economic Colloquium in the Winter Term 2021

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0200

In the Summer Term 2021 the Economic Colloquium will take place in hybrid form. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, most of which can be attended via Zoom. Two of the lectures whose scheduled dates can be found in the overview will take place on campus in room WiWi2 F2340. The first lecture on November 16th will be: Selection, decentralization, and subnational leaders' time horizons: evidence from the Russian municipalities. To take part in one of the Zoom events or in one of the on-campus events, please register here: vwlres@uni-bremen.de.

Inspection of the Macroeconomics exam

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 18:00:00 +0200

If you choose to participate in the inspection of the Macroeconomics exam, you will be required to provide your name, matriculation number and the exam you would like to register for via email at makro@uni-bremen.de until May 3, 2022. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Economic Colloquium in the Summer Term 2022

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 09:00:00 +0200

In the Summer Term 2022 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, which can be attended on campus. The first lecture on May 3rd will be: Do the two make a pair? The environmental effects of the green and digital "twin" transition in European regions. To take part in one of the events, please register here: vwlres@uni-bremen.de.

New publication: Poverty and sustainable development around the world during transition periods

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:15:00 +0200

Prof. Dr. Torben Klarl has published a new paper in the June issue of the renowned journal Energy Economics. This paper, entitled "Poverty and sustainable development around the world during transition periods," explores the question of whether countries can escape from poverty in a sustainable manner. For this purpose, the authors introduce an endogenous growth model that incorporates human, physical, and natural capital, as well as subsistence consumption. They provide a closed-form solution of the model to exploit the entire transitional phase of countries with unequal initial endowments of human capital and natural resources. The authors calibrate this model for 108 countries using data from the World Bank on countries’ physical capital and natural resource endowments. Using a battery of established consumption-based sustainability tests, they assess sustainability during the transition towards the economies’ steady-state. The authors find that most countries are characterized by sustainable development. For those countries not qualifying for sustainable development, they are able to quantify by how much initial capital endowments fall short of minimum requirements implied by sustainability tests.

Download

New publication: Fragile robots, economic growth and convergence

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 17:15:00 +0200

Prof. Dr. Torben Klarl has published a new paper with the title "Fragile robots, economic growth and convergence" in the prestigious journal Economic Modelling. The article shows that technological progress leads to the development of robots that are more error-prone and fragile than their predecessors. Consequently, utilizing the existing automation capital stock is associated with higher wear and tear, CPU overload, communication downtime, and, ultimately, increased depreciation costs. This, in turn, affects new future investments. Considering a growth model with physical and automation capital utilization, the authors argue that utilized automation capital, not the automation capital stock, is a perfect substitute for labor in a fully automated society. They show that it is not necessarily the introduction of capital utilization alone, but rather the relationship between the elasticities of the utilization of automation and physical capital that slows the convergence speed in a model that reflects an automated society.

Download

Economic Colloquium in Winter Term 2022/2023

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 11:28:36 +0200

In the Winter Term 2022 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, which can be attended on campus. The first lecture by Daniel Fehrle (Kiel University) on November 11th will be: "Hone the Neoclassical Lens and Zoom in on Germany's Fiscal Stimulus Program 2008-2009". To take part in one of the events, please register here: .

Inspection of the Macroeconomics exam SS22

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 13:05:00 +0200

The inspection of the macroeconomics exam from Summer Semester 2022 will take place on November 16, 2022, at 11:00h.

If you choose to participate, you will be required to provide your name, matriculation number and the exam you would like to register for via email at makro@uni-bremen.deuntil November 11, 2022. Applications sent after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Talk in the context of the course Macroeconomics

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 11:18:13 +0100

On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, we welcome Julia von Borstel from the Deutsche Bundesbank. As part of the course Macroeconomics, Ms. von Borstel will give a talk on "Current Challenges of Monetary Policy". The event will take place in the large lecture hall (HS 2010) and will start at 12:15 pm. The practical talk will be followed by a discussion. Please note that the lecture will be held in German.

We are very pleased to welcome Ms. von Borstel at our chair.

Datascience in Economics

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 13:53:09 +0100

Starting this winter semester, we offer the course Datascience in Economics. This application-oriented course is designed to provide an insight into the world of Data Science. The course provides a first approach to topics like Data Scraping, Data Visualization, Machine Learning. In particular, we address Deep Learning, Decision Trees and Unsupervised Learning. For all topics there will be case studies which will be worked on directly in the lecture using Python.

Second Talk-Economic Colloquium WT 22/23: Alex Lascaux

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 13:50:33 +0100

Unfortunately, we have to cancel Alexander Lascaux’s talk.

Additional talk on January 10!

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:21:02 +0100

On January, 10^th 2023, Raimund Bleischwitz, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) will give a talk on “Economic benefits from a green transformation: the case of steel recycling in China”.

Guest lecture by Julia von Borstel (Deutsche Bundesbank) in the course "Macroeconomics"

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 15:27:21 +0100

Julia von Borstel (Deutsche Bundesbank) was a guest at the Department of Economics at the University of Bremen yesterday. As part of the course "Macroeconomics" she gave an exciting lecture on the topic „Herausforderungen für die Geldpolitik - Zwischen #Hochinflation und #Rezession. We are already looking forward to the next meeting!

Economic Colloquium Winter Term 2022/2023: Talk by Maik Schneider

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 15:47:00 +0100

On 31.01.2023 Maik Schneider from the University of Bath was a guest at the Economic Colloquium. The title of his talk was: "Inequality, openness and growth through creative destruction".

ECB-Working Paper

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 11:18:48 +0100

Angelina Hackmann and co-authors have published an ECB-Working Paper with the title Working Paper Series "Navigating the housing channel of monetary policy across euro area regions“.

Download

Economic Colloquium in Summer Term 2023

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:02:13 +0200

In the Summer Term 2023 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. On tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 pm there will be lectures, which can be attended on campus. The first lecture by Ivan Savin (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) on May 2nd will be: "A Global Survey of Scientific Consensus and Controversy on Climate Policy". To take part in one of the events, please register here: vwlresuni-bremen.de. The poster for the current semester can be found here.

New Publication: Subsistence Consumption and Natural Resource Depletion: Can resource-rich low-income countries realize sustainable consumption paths?

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 11:36:52 +0200

The paper titled "Subsistence consumption and natural resource depletion: can resource-rich low-income countries realize sustainable consumption paths? " has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Macroeconomics (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-macroeconomics).

Angelina Hackmann receives the "Sonderpreises der Deutschen Bundesbank für wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Abschlussarbeiten"

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 15:30:17 +0200

We are very pleased that our former doctoral student and current employee at the Leibniz Institute SAFE in Frankfurt, Dr. Hackmann, has been awarded this year's "Sonderpreises der Deutschen Bundesbank für wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Abschlussarbeiten". The prize underlines the excellent dissertation in the context of which Ms. Hackmann has dealt with the analysis of real estate markets.

The award ceremony will take place on 30/11/2023 during the festive graduation ceremony of the Department of Economics in the Glocke.

Economic Colloquium in Winter Term 2023/2024

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 12:14:58 +0200

In the Winter Term 2023/2024 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. Every Tuesday from 16:15 to 17:45 lectures will take place, which can be attended on campus in room F4090 (WiWi2). The first lecture, held by Moritz Drupp (University of Hamburg), will take place on November 07. To attend one of the events, you can register at makro@uni-bremen.de.

Economic Colloquium Summer Term 2024

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:33:54 +0100

In the Summer Term 2024 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. Every Tuesday from 16:15 to 17:45 lectures will take place, which can be attended on campus in room F4090 (WiWi2). The first lecture, held by Jan Willem Stoelhorst (University of Amsterdam), will take place on April 09. To attend one of the events, you can register at makro@uni-bremen.de.

Economic Colloquium Summer Term 2025

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 13:54:07 +0200

In the Summer Term 2025 the Economic Colloquium will take place in presence. Every Tuesday from 16:15 to 17:45 lectures will take place, which can be attended on campus in room F4090 (WiWi2). The first lecture, held by Kristina Czura (University of Groningen), will take place on April 29. To attend one of the events, you can register at makro@uni-bremen.de. You can find the plan for the current semester here.

Participation in "ifo Dresden Workshop on Macroeconomics and International Finance 2025"

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 15:08:34 +0200

In the "ifo Dresden Workshop on Macroeconomics and International Finance", current research on different macroeconomic questions is presented. Michel Grimm held the presentation "From Heatwaves to Cold Spells: How Extreme Temperature Events Shape Inflation in Germany".

We would like to thank the ifo Institut for organizing the event and giving us an opportunity to discuss current research!

Participation in "7th Bundesbank Workshop for Young Scientists on Applied Economics"

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 13:11:42 +0200

On the 22^nd and 23^rd of May 2025, the “7th Bundesbank Workshop for Young Scientists on Applied Economics” took place. The workshop is supposed to give the opportunity, specifically to young researchers, to present and discuss their current research. The event is financially and organizationally supported by the Deutsche Bundesbank and is organized by professors from Lower-Saxony, Bremen and Saxony-Anhalt.

Torben Klarl organized the workshop as one of these professors. Additionally, Michel Grimm presented the research paper "From Heatwaves to Cold Spells: How Extreme Temperature Events Shape Inflation in Germany" in the workshop.

Michel Grimm presents at the EEA Congress 2025 in Bordeaux

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 12:55:03 +0200

On the 25th to 28th of August, the 40th EEA Congress in Bordeaux took place. At the EEA, lots of different economic topics are presented and discussed, such as the topics of climate change, inequality between countries and many more. The EEA consists of a program which includes accademic sittings, workshops, panels and social events.

Michel Grimm presented the paper "From Heatwaves to Cold Spells: How Extreme Temperature Events Shape Inflation in Germany".

New Publication: "From Heatwaves to Cold Spells: How Extreme Temperature Events Shape Inflation in Germany"

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 13:11:43 +0200

Michel Grimm and Torben Klarl have publicized the working paper "From Heatwaves to Cold Spells: How Extreme Temperature Events Shape Inflation in Germany". You can find the paper here.