  In this letter we study (2+1)-dimensional QED. The first part contains the
computation of the flavor symmetry-breaking condensate and its relation to the
trace of the energy-momentum tensor, while the second part is concerned with
the computation of the effective action allowing for non-constant static
external magnetic fields. We do not find that space derivatives in the magnetic
field lower the energy of the ground state as compared to a constant field
configuration.
