Publications

The Foundation’s publications present the findings from its research and events on significant contemporary economic, political and social issues in a concise and accessible format. All reports from 2003 onwards may be downloaded free of charge or purchased as hard copies via credit card from this website.

Obtaining AGF publications

You can download all recent publications free of charge from this site (see link for each publication below). You may need to install Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader to view the PDF files.

If you prefer to have printed and bound copies of Anglo-German Foundation publications published from 2003 onwards, we offer the possibility of ordering copies through our Print-on-Demand Service at cost price using a credit card. Your order will be dealt with and the report dispatched within 48 hours of receipt of your order. See link under each publication title.

Palgrave Series

Palgrave (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd) publishes an Anglo-German Foundation series of books on economics, industry, social policy and the environment. Books in the Palgrave Series can be obtained directly through Palgrave or from bookshops.

Last update: 14 April 2008

2005   |   2004   |   2003

Latest AGF Reports

Summary Report
creating sustainable growth in europe - Midpoint Policy Debates

Anglo-German Foundation

This report summarises the speeches, presentations and discussions at the two policy debates held in November and December 2007 in Berlin and London to mark the halfway point of the Foundation’s research initiative on ‘creating sustainable growth in europe’ (see Homepage). It includes a Foreword by Professor Sir Tony Atkinson, the chairman of the Academic Advisory Board, and provides both an overview of the aims of the initiative and insights into the programme findings so far and their possible implications for policy in the two countries and beyond.

  • For free download of complete report (English version 834 KB) please click here
  • A German version will be available soon.

Cultural resistance to European agri-environmental policy:
A cross-cultural comparison between the UK and Germany

Rob Burton, Carmen Kuczera and Herman Boland

This study looks at the issue of farmers’ cultural resistance to agri-environmental policy through a cross-country comparison between Aberdeenshire (Scotland) and Hessen (Germany). The authors contend that conventional everyday farming activities serve not only economic purposes, but also allow farmers to obtain cultural and social capital through displays of skill in good management such as straight ploughing, tidy farmyards, healthylooking animals, well-grassed fields. By constructing a framework to explore why conventional activities become culturally important, the authors were able to examine why, despite over a decade of agri-environmental policy, conventional farming cultures have yet to fully embrace environmental objectives. 

Entrepreneurs and risk: A study of
German and UK entrepreneurs in Spain

Laura Wilson-Edwardes and Andreas Hoecht

A new research study published by the Anglo-German Foundation claims that Germans display a more classic entrepreneurial mindset than the British, if we accept that a realistic assessment of business risks and the development of adequate risk mitigation strategies are essential components of successful entrepreneurship. While there appears to be many thousands of would-be entrepreneurs in the UK with no hesitation in releasing the considerable equity in their properties to establish businesses in that most risky of settings – a foreign country – many British entrepreneurs do not take the careful, informed and well-planned approach that can provide the basis for the future success and longevity of their enterprises. 

Health, retirement and inequality:
Can Germany and the UK learn from each other?

Jennifer Roberts, Nigel Rice, Martin Schellhorn, Andrew Jones, and Lynn Gambin

This study attempts to understand the effect of health on the decision of older workers to leave the labour market – a decision which is made within the context of the pension and benefit systems of the UK and Germany. The authors found that health is an extremely important factor in the retirement decision for both
men and women in the UK and Germany. The effects of poor health seem to be greater in the UK than Germany. The size of the health effect is larger than that of pension entitlement and income in both countries. The results also suggest that it is health shocks rather than a continual level of poor health that are important in the retirement decision.

October 2007

Conference Report
‘Trading Up’: Improving and extending the European carbon market

6th Conference of the British-German Environment Forum

The 2007 Spring European Council in early March decided to target a 20% cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) production by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. The Council also allowed for a 30% cut if an international
agreement is reached. This sets a new challenge for policy makers in Europe. Thus the timing of the sixth British-German Environment Forum in Berlin on 26–27 March 2007 - with the aim of developing ideas and consensus to move forward the policy debate on solutions to climate change, and in particular the carbon market – could hardly have been better. The conference heard of the serious problem the world faces in limiting the output of GHGs as countries such as China and India rapidly industrialise. The EU, with the UK and Germany in the vanguard, has led the way in developing mechanisms to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and the meeting heard about the successes – and failings – of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and debated how Germany and the UK together might be able to generate the political momentum required to rise to the challenge. The discussions and debates of the bilateral conference in Berlin, involving senior representatives from government, business, research and civil society at national and international level, are summarized in this conference report.

July 2007

Time use and work–life balance in Germany and the UK

Frank Bauer, Hermann Groß, Gwen Oliver, Georg Sieglen and Mark Smith

Work–life balance has become one of the most pressing issues facing industrial societies
such as Germany and the UK. As the proportion of dual-working households grows with
women’s increased participation in the labour market, time pressures increase as families
seek to co-ordinate and control their working lives. At the same time, pressures from
employers can pull in the opposite direction as organisations try to organise time in order
to be more responsive, meet consumer demands, and compete both domestically and
internationally. This report analyses the time use patterns in working households and demonstrates how there are both considerable similarities and differences in the allocation of time across households
and countries.

The Determinants of Investment in Industrial Research and Development in the United Kingdom and in Germany

Michela Vecchi, Ray Barrel, Bettina Becker, Jens Schmidt-Ehmcke and Andreas Stephan
Investment in R&D has long been recognised as one of the main determinants of innovation and economic growth. This has led to the adoption of ambitious targets for increased R&D in the Lisbon agenda. But the UK’s chances of meeting those targets are receding: R&D intensity in the UK has actually declined since their adoption. In Germany, over the same period, it has risen significantly and consistently. This report seeks to identify the reasons behind the R&D intensity gap between the two countries and to suggest policies which could increase the amount of investment in R&D undertaken by business enterprises.

May 2007

Optimal In-work Support and Employment in Ageing Societies –
Britain and Germany Compared

Richard Blundell, Mike Brewer, James Browne, Peter Haan, Michal Myck and Viktor Steiner
How would the current tax-benefit systems in Britain and Germany have to be reconstructed in order to allow the labour market to cope with ageing societies in these two countries? How could tax-benefit systems help to raise the level of employment by alleviating long-term unemployment, discouraging early retirement and raising the labour market participation of women? These vital policy questions are analysed by the authors.

March 2007

The survival and growth of ‘adolescent’ high-tech firms in Germany and the UK, 1997–2003

Marc Cowling, Helmut Fryges, Georg Licht and Gordon Murray

This report documents over a twelve year period (1991–2003) the continued fortunes of 600 independent New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs) which were founded in Germany or the UK between 1987 and 1996. The authors findings on these firms, often known as ‘high-tech start-ups’, have significant implications for policy makers in the complementary areas of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

January 2007

 

Conference Report:
Making Bad Jobs Better Jobs:
Trade unions and the low paid sector in Germany and the UK

Anglo-German Foundation, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Hans-Böckler-Stiftung

Transforming bad jobs into better jobs is a huge challenge – and a huge opportunity – for trade unions in Germany and the UK. It represents an opportunity to find ways of advancing the specific interests of particular groups among their members. These include the low-paid, those doing less interesting jobs with poorer career prospects, women, and migrant workers: all groups that many unions have marginalised (if not ignored) in the past. In July 2006 some 30 British and German trade unionists – from leaders and senior policymakers to workplace organisers – academics and commentators met at the Trades Union Forum in London to discuss these issues.

November 2006

Wind Power in Britain and Germany: Explaining contrasting development paths

By Joseph Szarka and Ingolfur Blühdorn

Despite having only average wind conditions, Germany has the largest operating capacity of wind power in the world and enjoys world leadership in the manufacture of wind turbines. In contrast, the UK has the best wind resource in Europe but little installed capacity and an underdeveloped manufacturing base. This report analyses this starkly contrasting development and identifies the underlying reasons for it. These include not just the now widely acknowledged advantages of the German ‘feed-in tariff’ as compared to the quota system employed n the UK, but the wider institutional and socio-economic contexts which support and underpin these instruments. Perhaps the most important among these is a stable investment environment. The report also proposes a set of policy recommendations based on its analysis.

November 2006, ISBN 1-900834-62-6

The British Banking System: A good role model for Germany?

By Andrew Mullineux and Eva Terberger

The German financial system is a prototype of a bank-based system. In the 1980s, this was considered an important pillar of Germany’s economic strength. Nowadays, Germany is characterised as being overbanked and its banking system inefficient (relatively high cost), not particularly profitable and in need of radical restructuring and the need to reform the German financial system has been widely discussed. Does the British financial system provide a good role model? This study tackles this question with regard to the supply of retail banking services to households and micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

June 2006, ISBN 1-900834-61-8

Work-life Balance and Productivity - Trade Off or Complementarity?

By Nick Bloom, Tobias Kretschmer and John Van Reenen

Achieving work-life balance is often seen as being in conflict with good management, competition and globalization. Recent research by the Centre for Economic Performance and McKinsey on over 700 companies in Europe and the US shows that this is not true, with work-life balance strongly associated with good management and weakly associated with competition and globalization.

May 2006, ISBN 1-900834-60-X

For more reports please see previous years below or see Publications Archive.

2005   |   2004   |   2003