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In Germany, volunteering takes place in a broad range of fields and activities. But little is known about the activity profile of the volunteers and their quantitative distribution. This paper thus focuses on capturing and quantifying the breadth and depth of profiles of volunteer activity. For this purpose, we employ representative survey data from the German Survey on Volunteering (Deutscher Freiwilligensurvey, FWS 2014). The focus is on the analysis of 12,333 answers gathered from three open questions, containing detailed task descriptions of volunteers. Using content analysis, we examined, categorized and coded information, thereby enabling detailed statistical analyses of the fields of activities. Results of the analyses show that in addition to usual activities (e.g., caregivers; accident rescuer/firefighters; sports trainers; parents councils; refugee aids; lay judges), a hodgepodge of atypical activities exist. These can include, for example, groundskeeper in the allotment garden club, route guide in the motorcycle club, organizer of social evenings and helpers at festivals of all kinds. It also becomes clear that a large proportion of volunteers carry out non-sectoral activities (secondary ancillary activities, administrative tasks or management functions). In many areas of volunteering, these activities account for more than 50 percent of total activity. The analyses also demonstrate that volunteering in Germany is socially unevenly distributed. More highly edu- cated people not only volunteer more frequently, but also increasingly engage in activities through which sym- bolic capital (status, prestige) or social influence can be gained. Further, the study reveals significant differences between the sexes: on the one hand with regard to stereotypical role models (women are more likely to care for older people or engage as parents council, while men engage as coaches in sports or as firemen); on the other hand, women are significantly underrepresented in positions that result in increased status or influence. Overall, it becomes obvious that the questionnaire of the FWS (2014) covers a wide range of activities, but results in an overestimation of commitment in the narrower sense to the concept of civic engagement (cf. German Bun- destag 2002). It is therefore recommended to revise the approach to assessing volunteerism in future studies and to link it more closely to the actual fulfilment of certain criteria., DOI:10.3220/WP165597126800

Fiscal policy has a significant impact on us all. How governments mobilize resources and spend them on public goods and services, and how fiscal policy is used to steer the economy, are critical for the well-being of societies. The digital revolution holds vast potential to improve fiscal policy. By transforming the way countries collect, process, and act on information, digital technology can reshape the way governments design and implement their tax, spending and macro-fiscal policies. If technology is used in a smart way, fiscal policy will be more efficient, transparent, equitable, and impactful-improving lives all over the world. The purpose of the article is forming the theoretical concept of digital transformation of taxation – from modern methods and procedures to the digital world in the context of a global digital economy development trend and formation of a network interactions society. The basic approaches to understanding the phenomenon of digital economy and its fiscal consequences were determined. It was found that changes in the structure of trust and relationships between taxpayers and the government, tax inversion are the fundamental innovation in the world's tax systems. The main participants or stakeholders in the taxation process were determined. They are: individual taxpayers, legal entities, software companies, tax agents (intermediaries), and the government, represented by the national tax office. Their goals, objectives and functions were defined. Considerable attention to innovative tax procedures and tools was paid: pre-population of tax return, electronic tax administration, electronic receipt, digital taxpayer's office, automation and data analysis, automatic tips. The expediency of new tax instruments' implementation into Ukrainian tax practice was substantiated, and the terminology and mechanism of implementation were proposed. The phenomena of tax flow inversion and digital exclusion were justified. In order to disseminate the latest digital tools successfully, the fisc requires extensive collaboration between the government and taxpayers, which will change the nature of the agent, authority and taxpayer relationship in the future. The SWOT-analysis of digital tax instruments was carry out. It was proved that the government expenditures for tax system functioning transformed imperceptibly into additional costs by economic entities in the information age. World experience that can be used to improve tax efficiency in Ukraine was generalized.

The traditional life cycle hypothesis believes that the aging of population will not only drag down the level of social savings, but also adversely affect economic growth. However, the human capital factor may change the influence mechanism of population structure change. This study attempts to focus on a specific factor of improving healthy human capital (HHC), through endogenous treatment of fertility rate and survival rate, considering the aging expectation of rational man, to explore its effect de facto on savings rate and economic growth while using the inter-provincial panel data of China from 1996 to 2012 to verify the inherent logical relationship between the rapid improvement of HHC and the “high savings-high growth” model. The findings of this research are as follows: The improvement of HHC is an important factor to improve China’s savings rate and economic growth in corresponding period. It means that the improvement of HHC is enough to alter the mechanism of macro-impact of demographic changes, and therefore constitutes a crucial long-term regulation and control means outside the adjustment of birth policy. Among them, promoting public environmental governance, improving the social security system, strengthening individual expectations for health and driving the expected behavior of aging while achieving linkages with investment in educational human capital are worthy of attention.

The aim of this report is to map food waste in the retail and wholesale sector in Germany for the year 2019 collected as part of the Dialogue Forum on wholesale and retail trade, with the participating retail companies. In addition, the findings regarding the data basis and data collection process are intended to support the development of an accord by the participants in the Dialogue Forum on Wholesale and Retail (as part of the National Strategy to Reduce Food Waste). In the Dialogue Forum, the participating companies work together to ensure that the sustainable development goal 12.3 (halving global food waste per capita at retail and consumer level) can be achieved. This report documents the current status of the work in the Dialogue Forum with results from the food retail sector; the figures from the food wholesale sector will be added in the next report. The calculations are based on voluntarily provided data on sales losses (markdowns) from 13 food retail and Cash and Carry companies represented by approximately 13,000 points of sale3. The participating companies covera market share of the total retail trade in Germany of about 35%4. Markdowns include both food waste and redistributed food, such as food donations or as animal feed, as well as breakage and loss. The data do not distinguish between preventable and non-preventable food losses. In addition, they do not provide information on the actual recovery of food not sold at the retailstore, since the data collection serves accounting purposes. The extrapolation of food waste for the German retail food sectoris based on a high data quality; with markdown data of partly very large companies and sales figures of the entire sector. In this report, the entire food retail is reported for the first time in Germany (see chapter 4). Food waste in the entire retail sector is projected at around 500 thousand tons for 2019, which represents about 1.5% of food sales. The food waste identified here is 290 thousand tons in organised food retail and 210 thousand tons in the extended food retail. Due to data gaps, it is currently only possible to distinguish food waste from food redistribution (i.e. food donations) and other utilisation (i.e. animal feed) based on estimates-expert estimate for this report: 30% of losses are donated. In the course of further work, these quantities and the causes of losses must be analysed in order to derive measures for reduction., DOI:10.3220/WP1613554682000

The "Corona Crisis" caused by the Covid-19 virus has led to distortions in many labour markets in 2020 and may have exacerbated pre-existing social inequalities. This study asks to what extent different regions and types of regions are affected differently by the labour market effects of the Corona crisis. Using various descriptive analyses at the district level, the influence of the settlement structure, the economic structure and the income power of locations on the "Corona effects" in the labour market is examined. Key indicators of short-and medium-term dynamics are the share of short-time work as well as changes in 2020 compared to 2019 in cumulative entries into and exits from unemployment, in the same entries and exits in December ("compensation effect"), and in the unemployment rate. It can be shown that especially locations without initial structural problems have come through the Corona year 2020 relatively well. However, there is a danger that in the course of the Corona crisis, especially in the agglomeration areas, the inequality between persons and groups of persons within the labour markets will increase further and lastingly. According to the results, the Corona crisis could also contribute to an increase in disparities between locations with comparable settlement structures, at least in the medium term., DOI:10.3220/WP1616659974000

There is strong evidence that high quality early childhood programs targeting disadvantaged groups can have lasting benefits and high returns on investment. The evidence for universal programs, however, is less conclusive. The present paper examines the claims of universal and targeted approaches to preventing early education gaps. First, recent findings on the universal unitary early education and care systems in Denmark and Norway are reviewed regarding the educational quality and compensating effects on disadvantaged children. Second, the advantages and disadvantages of targeted approaches are discussed, focusing in particular on the trade-off between cost-effectiveness and aggregated impact on society. Third, the Dutch educational equity policy will be analyzed as a case in point to illustrate the dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes of equity policy pertaining to targeted and universal approaches. Finally, as a synthesis of the findings, two complementary approaches are outlined: a universal within targeted and a targeted within universal approach.

The aim of the present study is to reconstruct and analyse digitisation discourses observed at con-ferences on social services, volunteering and rural development attended in 2018 and 2019. At conferences, actors give a common meaning to their field of activity by representing points of view, formulating expectations and creating or reinforcing narratives. The analysis of the observation protocols, the documented lectures and the conference material identified the overarching discourses "organisation of social services" and "development of rural areas" with their respective sub-discourses "professional provision of social services", "organisation and work in civil society organisations", "social services in rural areas", "services of general interest and living conditions in rural areas", "citizen participation" and "economic development", in which the topic "digitisation" takes on specific functions in each case. The term "digitisation" remains open to many attributions and interpretations in the discourses. Different actors can thus discuss their own goals and activities under the sign of digitisation. Overall, the discourses observed are characterised by technology-optimistic hopes and visions of digital technological feasibility. The embedding of technologies in the respective institutional and social conditions became clear, for example, where it was pointed out that for the successful implementation of digitally supported reforms of work processes and organisational structures, the interests and needs of local actors must be considered. With regard to telemedicine and telecare, the legal framework, limited funding possibilities and lack of acceptance were discussed as the non-technical limits of digitally supported changes. Due to the conceptualisation of digitisation as a neutral, extra-societal technical change, which is widespread in the identified discourses, the interest-based and political dimension of the development, implementation and use of (digital) technology is not considered. Especially the discourse on the development of rural areas moreover shows how various stakeholders add authority to other demands with the narrative of digitization as progress. For example, political actors underline the supposedly forward-looking nature of the idea of mobilising unpaid work to overcome weaknesses in social services in rural areas by referring to digitisation. Moreover, by concentrating on the technological solution, the discourse hardly reflects on the approach of increasing the use of unpaid work or contrasts it with alternative solutions. In this way, projects can be legitimized with technical problem statements without further questioning the goal behind them. Within the discourses, however, digitisation was largely conceptualised as socially and politically neutral technical change. In this perspective, specific interests and the political dimensions inherent in the development, implementation, and usage of (digital) technology remain invisible. In the discourse on rural development it becomes apparent how the narrative of digital progress adds authority to further specific claims. Reference to digital solutions emphasizes, for example, the supposedly forward-looking character of the claim for an increase in unpaid work for the sake of social services provision in rural areas. Moreover, the discourse's concentration on technical solutions hinders reflections upon the actual approach to the problem, i.e. the increased reliance on unpaid work, or its comparisons with alternative approaches. Thereby, technical problems can legitimate projects without further questioning of the underlying aim., DOI:10.3220/WP1602153234000

The relevance of the study. Ensuring the competitiveness of mining enterprises in modern conditions requires search and decision-making. The decisions should provide better results than those of the business rivals. The purpose of the study is to improve the rate setting as one of the means to increase the viability of the enterprise. Mining enterprises are considered by the authors as socio-economic systems. Their purpose is to achieve the goals and meet the needs of each entity of the enterprise. One of the important features of a mining enterprise as a socio-economic system is a significant impact of the human factor on the production process. One of the main characteristics of the state of any socio-economic system and viability depends on what the impact of the human factor is aimed at. A norm which provides for the workers’ socio-economic needs and interests is a means, which ensures the direction of their work. In this regard, in order to improve the viability of the mining enterprise, it is proposed to include socio-economic rationing in the management activities of personnel. The authors’ conceptual approach to socio-economic rationing is based on ensuring the association of social and economic needs, goals, actions and means. This is done to achieve those goals, as well as the results of the activities of the enterprise entities. The introduction of socio-economic rationing of personnel into the practice of enterprises requires the development of a set of methods. Their use will allow solving problems of different scale and level of increasing the viability of the enterprise. These problems include the functional-structural transformation, the formation of a high labor culture, and the organization of innovative development of the enterprise. Improving the quality of the production process and the elimination of “narrow links” through organizational changes are also included into the list of these problems.This article presents a structural scheme of methods of socio-economic rationing of personnel. In its development the authors proceeded from the fact that they must comprehensively ensure the implementation of the normalization stages. The results and their application. The introduction of the socio-economic rate setting for the personnel activities in the operation process of the open-pit mine called Borodinsky was necessary. Other mining enterprises ensured the growth of intangible assets, which were necessary to improve their viability. The socio-economic rate setting proposed by the authors can be considered as an effective tool of human factor management. This contributes to improving the competitiveness of enterprises in the context of the growing dynamics of the socio-economic environment and increasing business competition.

The paper presents the legal and economic aspects of consumer protection in the Polish and international futures market and important issues for the extension of this topic. The purpose of the paper is to clarify the issue of supervision and reflections on the possibility of informing the consumer on the Polish futures market and illustrating how legal and economic protection looks in the EU and in the world. Also discussed is the general relationship between the client and the investment entities (Polish and foreign) and how such relationships affect the clarity of the futures market. W referacie przedstawione zostały prawne i ekonomiczne aspekty ochrony konsumenta na rynku terminowym w Polsce i na świecie, a także problemy istotne dla rozszerzenia tego tematu. Celem referatu jest wyjaśnienie kwestii nadzoru oraz refleksje na temat możliwości informowania konsumenta na polskim rynku terminowym, ponadto zobrazowanie jak ochrona prawna i ekonomiczna wygląda w Unii Europejskiej i na świecie. Omówiony został także wątek ogólnych relacji pomiędzy klientem, a podmiotami inwestycyjnymi (polskimi i zagranicznymi), ponadto jak takie relacje wpływają na klarowność rynku terminowego.

International audience; Many poor households cannot meet the requirements of automotive mobility. They suffer great inequalities in their daily mobility, especially when they live away from urban centers, in areas where the provision of public transport and local amenities are reduced. Nevertheless, a normative interpretation in terms of shortages, based on the observation of low mobility capacity, underestimates the concrete mobility practices of poor households, and secondly how these households bypass the injunction of mobility required of them. This set of alternative practices – be they tactics, strategies, and projects – can substitute expensive automotive mobility with a set of resources drawn fundamentally from spatial proximity. This article aims to analyze the diversity of these practices, their quantitative importance and nesting, for the case of Paris suburban and periurban areas. To conclude, it draws how the variety of adjustments exhibited by poor households could be taken into account by public action.; Les ménages pauvres qui vivent dans des territoires peu denses ne peuvent satisfaire les exigences de la mobilité automobile telle qu’elle est réalisée par la majorité de la population. Ces inégalités de mobilité quotidienne ne doivent cependant pas occulter les multiples manières d’y faire face. Cet article propose de recenser la diversité de ces ajustements, de souligner dans quelle mesure ils permettent de contrecarrer les inégalités d’accès aux ressources et de montrer comment ils se complètent les uns les autres. L’article croise une analyse quantitative du recensement et des enquêtes qualitatives sur plusieurs terrains afin d’éclairer la situation et les pratiques des ménages pauvres habitant la périphérie de la région parisienne. Il met en évidence l’importance et la complémentarité des tactiques de mobilité quotidienne, des stratégies résidentielles et des projets d’ancrage local. Ces trois types d’ajustements forment un système alternatif à la mobilité automobile. Ils suggèrent à la puissance publique autant de voies d’action alternatives au déploiement de la norme de mobilité automobile.

The focus of this paper is to identify certain socio-economic factors, which have an impact on alcohol preferences in Estonia. This is important in designing effective alcohol and fiscal policies. The analyses are based on a questionnaire (IARD, Washington DC) administered in the Baltic countries in 2016. The paper brings out relationship between preferences of alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and strong alcohol) and socio-economic characteristic of those consumers groups. A multinomial logistic regression model allows us to predict the likelihood of a person being allocated to a certain group of consumers of alcoholic beverages., Estonian Discussions on Economic Policy, Vol 27 No 1-2 (2019): Republic of Estonia – 15 years in EU and in NATO/ 35 years from the first, so-to-say ship conference and the foundation of journal “Estonian Discussions on Economic Policy”

Im Wettbewerb um Fachkr��fte sind attraktive Arbeits- und Lebensbedingen von entscheidender Bedeutung. Obwohl es seit vielen Jahren eine Zunahme von Erhebungen zur Arbeits- und Lebenszufriedenheit und darauf aufbauende empirische Studien gibt, existieren keine detaillierten regions- und betriebszweigbezogenen Beschreibungen der Arbeits- und Lebenszufriedenheit von Erwerbst��tigen in der Landwirtschaft. Dieser Beitrag stellt eine explorative Analyse auf der Basis von Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) der Jahre 2000 bis 2015 dar und liefert grundlegende Informationen ��ber die Arbeits- und Lebenszufriedenheit der Erwerbst��tigen in der Pflanzenproduktion im Vergleich zu Erwerbst��tigen in anderen Wirtschaftsbereichen in Ostdeutschland. Kernergebnisse dieser Studie sind: (i) Die Arbeitszufriedenheit der abh��ngig Besch��ftigten in der Landwirtschaft (Pflanzenproduktion) liegt deutlich ��ber ihrer Lebenszufriedenheit, wohingegen sie in den anderen Wirtschaftsbereichen eng zusammenliegen. (ii) Im Vergleich zu den anderen Wirtschaftssektoren weisen abh��ngig Besch��ftigte in der Landwirtschaft (Pflanzenproduktion) eine gr����ere Arbeitszufriedenheit auf. (iii) Auch die Arbeitszufriedenheit ungelernter landwirtschaftlicher Hilfskr��fte liegt deutlich ��ber der der Hilfskr��fte anderer Wirtschaftsbereiche. Diese Ergebnisse sprechen zun��chst nicht daf��r, dass schlechte Arbeitsbedingungen in der Landwirtschaft f��r den Fach- und Arbeitskr��ftemangel verantwortlich sind. Attractive working and living conditions are crucial in the competition for skilled workers. While the overall number of studies that investigate job and life satisfaction has increased substantially over the last few years, detailed regional and branch specific descriptions of the job and life satisfaction of agricultural workers are lacking. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2000 to 2015, we explore the job and life satisfaction of the agricultural workforce in crop production in East Germany in comparison to other sectors of the economy. The main findings of this study are: (i) the job satisfaction of agricultural workers (crop production) is considerably higher than their life satisfaction, whereas in other sectors job and life satisfaction levels are very similar. (ii) Compared to other sectors of the economy, agricultural workers (crop production) report higher levels of job satisfaction. (iii) Similarly, job satisfaction among unskilled agricultural workers exceeds the job satisfaction of unskilled workers in other sectors of the economy. These results do not indicate that poor working conditions in agriculture are the main reason for the shortage of (skilled) labor in the agricultural sector.

Public policies addressing societal problems typically aim to change citizens’ behaviors and attitudes. While scholars frequently link cross-national differences in specific policies with individuals’ attitudinal or behavioral outcomes, the specific operating mechanisms often remain veiled. The policy feedback literature provides an explanatory framework for how policies affect citizens’ political orientations and behavior, which in turn has an impact on subsequent policy developments. This article provides an overview of policy feedback mechanisms, and reviews comparative empirical studies that link policy indicators and forms of individual-level political engagement. As illustrative examples, I have focused on social policies and immigrant integration policies as two widely publicized policy areas. Since the identification of policy effects is challenging for a number of methodological reasons, I also discuss advances related to empirical design.

Aktuell gibt es viele Einzelvorschläge mit dem Ziel, das Hartz-IV-System zu reformieren. Aber auch seine völlige Abschaffung und die Ersetzung durch ein Bürgergeld ist in der Diskussion. In diesem Beitrag wird vorgeschlagen, eine völlig neue Standardeinstellung im Steuer- und Transfersystem zunächst experimentell zu erproben. Damit könnten die Finanzämter den Regelsatz der Grundsicherung an alle Bürger auszahlen und Steuergutschriften für bedürftige The author proposes randomised controlled trials in Germany with a partial non-conditional basic income scheme in combination with tax credits for full-time employment of low-income recipients. Such a new default option might lead to favourable behavioural responses such as more full-time work, less poverty and a higher acceptance of basic income by taxpayers. Fiscal introduction costs are low if targeting minimises deadweight effects und the poverty line is set appropriately. Field experiments with control groups are complementary to microsimulation studies and reduce uncertainties with respect to the empirical relevance of behavioural reactions.

Die Vereinbarkeit von Klimazielen und Finanzströmen ist eine enorme Herausforderung des 21. Jahrhunderts. Gemäß dem Abkommen von Paris ist ein zentrales Ziel „Finanzmittelflüsse“ mit einer „emissionsarmen und gegenüber Klimaänderungen widerstandsfähigen Entwicklung“ in Einklang zu bringen. Staaten allgemein und Deutschland im Besonderen stehen zahlreiche Instrumente zur Verfügung, um entsprechende Maßnahmen anzustoßen. Zum einen kann der Staat direkt Einfluss üben, indem Eigenaktivitäten nachhaltig ausgerichtet werden, beispielsweise indem Anlagen und Beteiligungen öffentlicher Institutionen Nachhaltigkeitsstandards gerecht werden und Divestmentstrategien gesetzlich verankert werden. Zum anderen sind die Entwicklung geeigneter Rahmenbedingungen Voraussetzung dafür, dass die Ausrichtung privater Finanzmarktakteure auf Nachhaltigkeit gefördert wird. Eine wesentliche Voraussetzung für die Entwicklung eines nachhaltigen Finanzsystems ist eine einheitliche Taxonomie von Nachhaltigkeit. Die Entwicklung politischer Rahmenbedingungen steht auf europäischer und nationaler Ebene derzeit vor weitreichenden Herausforderungen: Es besteht das Risiko, dass derzeitige Ansätze für ein Instrumentarium nur eine begrenzte und keine breite Anwendung erfahren werden. Mit diesem Beitrag soll fokussiert werden, inwieweit politische Rahmenbedingungen, die derzeit auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene entwickelt werden, zur Entwicklung eines nachhaltigen Finanzwesens beitragen können. Neben Herausforderungen der Implementierung und Entwicklung neuer politischer Ansätze werden Grenzen bestehender Instrumentarien herausgearbeitet. Über die indirekte Einflussmöglichkeit des Staates hinaus, werden Anlagestrategien und -kriterien öffentlicher Institutionen und des Beschaffungswesens analysiert, die eine direkte Einflussmöglichkeit des Staates für die Entwicklung eines nachhaltigen Finanzsektors darstellen. Hierzu wird ein Fallbeispiel zur Versorgungsrücklage des Landes Berlins herangezogen. According to the 2015 Paris Agreement, a long-term goal is the commitment to “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.” Reconciling climate change objectives and financial flows is an enormous challenge in the 21st century. States in general and Germany in particular have various instruments at their disposal to initiate appropriate measures. On the one hand, the state can exert direct influence by orienting its own activities towards sustainability, for example by meeting sustainability standards for investments and participations by public institutions and by anchoring divestment strategies in law. On the other hand, the development of suitable framework conditions is a requirement for encouraging private financial market players towards sustainability. A key requirement for the development of sustainable financial system is a uniform taxonomy of sustainability. Standards and labels for identifying business activities can then be implemented. The development of political framework conditions is currently facing far-reaching challenges at European and national level: There is a risk that current approaches to a set of instruments will only be applied to a limited extent and not on a broad scale. This article aims to focus on the extent to which policy frameworks currently being developed at national and European level can contribute to the development of sustainable finance. In addition to the challenges of implementing and developing new policy approaches, the limits of existing instruments will be identified. Beyond the indirect influence of the state, investment strategies and criteria of public institutions and procurement are analysed, which represent a direct influence of the state for the development of a sustainable financial sector. A case study on the Divestment Strategies is used for this purpose.

Following policy shifts and research results about positive effects on employee retention and performance, pay transparency is increasingly debated as a suitable managerial tool in performance management. However, laboratory research in management and economics has pointed to associated costs of transparency (i.e., the “dark side” of pay transparency), among them envy and decays in cooperation. Interestingly, empirical evidence from the field is largely missing in this debate. In the present research, we exploit a naturally occurring shift in the transparency policy of a mid-sized firm to investigate whether falling short of one’s expectations regarding relative pay (i.e., a reference point violation) influences experience of episodic envy and, subsequently, affects job satisfaction. We administered surveys before and after the firm introduced a transparency initiative to measure a transparency-induced update of prior beliefs. The results show an effect of reference point violation on job satisfaction through episodic envy, an effect driven by people who initially hold optimistic views regarding their own relative pay (i.e., those low in victim-sensitivity).

Nature conservation contracts or payments for nature conservation measures are de facto sporadically implemented in forests. Focusing this background the joint research project “Nature conservation contracts in forests (WaVerNa project)” aims to analyze the actual implementation status as well as opportunities and constraints of nature conservation contracts in the field of forest ecology, economics, and legislation. In the field of economics the joint research project deals with aspects of demand and supply. In the process of analyzing the demand side, public and private institutions for an efficient implementation of nature conservations contracts or payments for nature conservation are focused. In the present working paper results from the survey of the status quo for the implementation of those payments on the public demand are represented. The survey is based on literature research, analysis of legal texts, interviewing experts and a written consultation of the highest federal state authorities for forestry and nature conservation. Due to stagnating development of payments for nature conservation in forests, aspects of institutional economics as well as of legislation were taken in to account for the survey. Therefore the survey is determined by the following questions: 1. What are the financing systems for instruments of public demand? 2. What kind of objectives and purposes are pursued with the applied instruments? 3. Which measurements are demanded with the applied instruments? 4. What restrictions and exclusions are determined by the applied instruments? 5. What are the earmarking periods for measurements? 6. What are the types and modalities of donations? 7. How and where are competences for the public demand allocated? 8. Are elements of cooperation intended by the applied instruments? As the results of the survey show, the implementation of payments for nature conservation in forests is characterized by four variations of financing: Three of the four variations are based on a co-funding mechanism. Within these three co-funding mechanisms the funding structure varies to the extent as EU- and/or federal-funding is involved. Due to higher administrative expenses as well as a lack of continuity, most of the analyzed instruments are not based on EU-co-funding and some of the instruments are even decoupled from federal co-funding. As demonstrated by the results of the analysis, the pursued objectives of the administrative regulations are determined by the conservation of biodiversity for its own sake. Being focused on the conservations of biodiversity for its own sake, in general pertinent administrative regulations are not aiming to enforce the interests of forestry operations. The “Hessian Model” is the only instrument that takes into account all conflicting and contradicting interests. Albeit the institutional arrangements are varying among the instruments, those variations are not influencing practical applications of nature conservation in a severe way. The main differences in practical application are related to the mode of payment. Measurements that are sponsored by investments can be mainly defined as active and target-oriented. Those measurements that are payed for within fixed rates can mainly be characterized as being of passive nature and status-oriented as well as target-oriented. As another result the survey shows, that most of the conventional nature conservation measurements in forestry are bounded to areas of special interest for nature conservation. These are in general areas of the Natura 2000-network. Being contextualized to the conflict of the Natura 2000-regime is one major barrier for implementing conservation contracts in forests. There are only very few regulations that are vaguely promoting cooperation and therefore intending to overcome the conflict., DOI:10.3220/WP1513067013000

Zusammenfassung: In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat die Politik in Großbritannien durch verschiedene Reformen den Schwerpunkt der Altersvorsorge von der gesetzlichen Rente hin zu privater und betrieblicher Altersvorsorge verschoben. Im Gegenzug hat die Finanzkompetenz der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher sowie für Politiker und für Regulierungsbehörden an Relevanz gewonnen. Die experimentelle Überprüfung der Regulierung von Websiten, die Anlage- und Vorsorgeprodukte vergleichen sowie der Präsentation und Gestaltung von Produktinformationen durch Nudging entwickelt sich in Großbritannien gegenwärtig zu einem neuen Tätigkeitsfeld für Regulierungsbehörden. Wir haben für verschiedene britische Behörden experimentelle Studien zur individuellen Entscheidungsfindung von Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern auf dem Markt für Rentenprodukte durchgeführt. Wir nutzten für unsere Studien informationelle Nudges. Ein wesentliches Ergebnis, das wir aus diesen Studien gewinnen konnten, ist, dass personalisierte, auf individuelle demografische Faktoren zugeschnittene Nudges effektiv zum Vergleich von Rentenprodukten anregen. Eine deutliche Beeinflussung der Rentenentscheidung durch die individuelle Finanzkompetenz konnten wir aber nicht feststellen. Summary: Over the last decades, politics in the UK has shifted away its focus from government-managed pensions to privatized pension solutions and services. In turn, financial literacy has become a critical issue for consumers, politicians and regulation agencies. The precise experimental examination of website regulation used to compare investment and pension products, as well as the design and presentation of product information through nudging become new fields of activity for regulatory agencies. We have undertaken a number of experimental projects on consumer decision making on pension product markets for U.K. authorities. These experiments used informational nudges. A key finding that we have gained from these studies is that personalized nudges tailored to individual demographic factors effectively encourage comparison of pension products. However, we were not able to determine a clear influence on the pension decision by the individual financial literacy.

Educational institutions – especially ‘allgemeinbildende Regelschulen des ersten Bildungswegs’1 – are an important part of services of general interest. Therefore, in order to create a nationwide data basis on school accessibility, we analyzed the regional accessibility of ‘allgemeinbildende Regelschulen des ersten Bildungswegs’ subdivided in primary schools, schools with ‘Sekundarstufe 1’2 and schools with ‘Sekundarstufe 2’3 with the help of the Thünen-Accessibility- Model. The results provide a nationwide and small scale (in a 250 m x 250 m grid) picture about school accessibility in Germany below the administrative level of the communities. As such the data allow to identify regions in Germany with already suboptimal school accessibility and re-gions where future school closures are going to intensify the present situation. Educational institutions – especially ‘allgemeinbildende Regelschulen des ersten Bildungswegs’1 – are an important part of services of general interest. Therefore, in order to create a nationwide data basis on school accessibility, we analyzed the regional accessibility of ‘allgemeinbildende Regelschulen des ersten Bildungswegs’ subdivided in primary schools, schools with ‘Sekundarstufe 1’2 and schools with ‘Sekundarstufe 2’3 with the help of the Thünen-Accessibility- Model. The results provide a nationwide and small scale (in a 250 m x 250 m grid) picture about school accessibility in Germany below the administrative level of the communities. As such the data allow to identify regions in Germany with already suboptimal school accessibility and re-gions where future school closures are going to intensify the present situation. The analysis leads to following overall conclusion: At present all analyzed schools are good acces-sible by car. That is within a travel time of 30 minutes. By bicycle in great parts of Germany pri-mary schools and schools with Sekundarstufe 1 are accessible. That is within a travel time of 15 minutes 91 % of the population can reach a primary school by bicycle and 77 % of the population a school with Sekundarstufe 1. However, in large parts of the rural areas by foot school are bad accessible., DOI:10.3220/WP1544175754000

This thesis consists of four independent chapters. The first two chapters cover topics in the fields of public economics and political economy, respectively. Chapters three and four focus on questions from the field of labor economics.

Zusammenfassung: Wir nehmen die Bedeutung verhaltensökonomischer Erkenntnisse für den sozialpolitisch relevanten Bereich der Alterssicherung in den Blick. Zunächst stellen wir aktuelle Daten zur Entwicklung der Altersvorsorge in Deutschland vor, insbesondere seit der Einführung der Riester-Rente, die mit einer Veränderung des Leitbilds in der Sozialpolitik verbunden war. Dabei haben sich erklärungsbedürftige Besonderheiten im Verhalten der Bürger ergeben. Mit dem Ziel, die Konsumentensouveränität zu stärken und vor dem Hintergrund wichtiger Verhaltensanomalien, die in der Forschung zur Verhaltensökonomie beschrieben werden, diskutieren wir die Einführung von Nudges in der Sozialpolitik als Unterstützung bei der Entscheidungsfindung. Dabei muss die Frage gestellt werden, wie stark die Politik das Verhalten der Bürger steuern will. Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage hilft ein Blick nach Schweden. Dort ist das System der Alterssicherung anders organisiert, und es werden verschiedene Instrumente als Nudges eingesetzt. Durch diese Analysen können Implikationen für die Einführung von Nudges in Deutschland besser bewertet werden. Summary: This article focuses on the importance of behavioral economic findings for pensions as a sociopolitically relevant field. First, current data on the development of old-age provision in Germany are presented, especially since the introduction of the Riester pension, which was associated with a change in the guiding principles in social policy. With the aim of strengthening consumer sovereignty and against the background of important behavioral anomalies described by behavioral economics research, the introduction of nudges to support decision-making is discussed. Furthermore, it is discussed how much politics should be involved in influencing the behavior of the citizens. To answer this question, we look at Sweden, where the old-age pension system is organized slightly different and nudges are implemented. By conducting these analyses implications for the introduction of nudges in Germany can be better assessed.

Feed-in tariffs are a widely used policy instrument to support deployment of renewable energy technologies. The aim of this paper is to estimate the causal effect of a cut in feed-in tariffs on solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. I isolate this effect by a differences-in-differences approach using data on all grid-connected PV systems within Germany from 2009 until 2013 on a county level. A policy change of administrative size classes in 2012 provides exogenous variation in feed-in tariffs. I find that a cut in feed-in tariffs of five percent leads to a decrease in newly installed capacity of around 46 kilowatt (kW) in a county per month. This is equivalent to approximately three percent of the average annual solar PV deployment on a national level from 2009 to 2011. The re-evaluation of size classes implies de facto the introduction of attribute-based regulation for small installations. The design of differentiated rates incentivizes smaller individual capacity choices at the border of size classes. This leads to excess bunching at the ceiling of the smaller size class. Neglecting this leads to overestimating treatment effects by around double the size. This potential bias underlines the impact of attribute-based regulation on technology adoption for solar PV.

In this article, we expect to underscore the importance of investment in education for sustainable human development by analysing the degree of correlation and interdependence that exists in Romania, between the Human Development Index and two different factors: the public spending for education and the public and private investment in the form of R & D expenditure.

This article discusses the smallness of subsidiary jurisdictions as a third dimension of centrality, besides vertical centrality and fragmentation (horizontal centrality). A panel analysis concerning all 26 Swiss cantons (from 1990 to 2003) shows that public expenditure per capita increases with the number of inhabitants of a canton. This holds for the aggregate expenditure level and for six expenditure categories of the Government Finance Statistics. The positive elasticity of per capita expenditure with respect to population size can be understood as an indicator for increasing government failure in jurisdictions with bigger population size.

Fiscal competition is supposed to lead to the collapse of the welfare state because, first, it will become difficult for a single jurisdiction to levy a redistribution tax upon the rich and mobile, and second, such a policy, if undertaken in one jurisdiction, will attract poor individuals from other jurisdictions and erode the internal redistribution policy. In this paper, theoretical and empirical studies concerning the impact of taxes and transfer payments on residence decisions of taxpayers are reviewed. The relationship of fiscal competition and the erosion of the welfare state is illustrated with aggregate data on income redistribution in Switzerland.

I investigate if, how, and why the effect of a contribution rule in a public goods game depends on how it is implemented: endogenously chosen or externally imposed. The rule prescribes full contributions to the public good backed by a nondeterrent sanction for those who do not comply. My experimental design allows me to disentangle to what extent the effect of the contribution rule under democracy is driven by self-selection of treatments, information transmitted via the outcome of the referendum, and democracy per se. In case treatments are endogenously chosen via a democratic decision-making process, the contribution rule significantly increases contributions to the public good. However, democratic participation does not affect participants’ contribution behavior directly, after controlling for self-selection of treatments and the information transmitted by voting.

Due to actions taken to moderate the level of management remuneration and its structure, the present article deals with the effectiveness of such governmental regulations. The ways of regulations differ around the world, but this article focuses on three particular measurements: the so-called Say on Pay, the tax deductibility of compensation, and the limitation of remuneration components. The aim of this article is to analyse existing empirical studies which deal with the three stated actions' effectiveness.

W założeniu postępowanie podatkowe jest procedurą nieodpłatną dla podatnika, któremu umożliwiono obronę swojego sposobu interpretacji prawa podatkowego przed dwoma instancjami (organy podatkowe). Jeśli koszty postępowania wystąpią wskutek ekstraordynaryjnych środków dowodowych (np. oględziny), to wydatki z tym związane co do zasady pokrywa Skarb Państwa. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie trybu ponoszenia niezbędnych wydatków postępowania podatkowego, zarówno przez Skarb Państwa, jak i też wyjątkowo przez podatnika. Organ podatkowy decydujący o wymiarze postępowania oraz liczebności m. in. czynności dowodowych w sprawie, powinien mieć jasne ustawowe wytyczne dotyczące sposobu organizacji kosztów proceduralnych. Dlatego też autor odnosi się do przesłanek pozytywnych i negatywnych, których wystąpienie umożliwia obciążenie podatnika kosztami postępowania podatkowego. Opisano również sytuacje wyłączające obowiązek ponoszenia wydatków związanych z nowymi dowodami, organizacją rozprawy podatkowej lub udziałem biegłych, tłumaczy. Autor odniósł się do możliwości wystąpienia przez podatnika z wnioskiem o zwrot nakładów poniesionych przez niego podczas udziału w postępowaniu. W konsekwencji prowadzonych badań nad tym zagadnieniem poruszono materię pojęć nieostrych (niedookreślonych) takich jak: ,,interes publiczny” lub ,,ważny interes podatnika”. Jako postulat de lege ferenda przyjęto potrzebę sprecyzowania przez ustawodawcę pozytywnych przesłanek ustawowych umożliwiających obciążenie podatnika kosztami postępowania podatkowego.

The purpose of this article is to examine how strong impact on local government revenues has an inheritance and gift tax. The author presents three different classifications of local government revenues: statutory and two classifications taken from Beata Guziejewska’s and Krystyna Piotrowska-Marczak’s books. The analysis shows that the inheritance and gift tax, mentioned in the statutory division as a local government income, has a marginal impact on revenue’s formation. However, in the case of book definitions, an author excludes the tax from local government revenues, making it a foreign income and depriving it of any influence on the formation of local government income.

В статье был исследован набор показателей, предложенный ОЭСР, который предназначен для оценки экономических возможностей, возникающих с развитием зеленой экономики, а также для поддержки принятия политических решений по экологическим вопросам. Приведено сравнение показателей, которые были выбраны и использованы для оценки зеленого роста статистическими службами Чешской Республики, Дании, Германии, Нидерландов и Кореи. Также проанализирована возможность применения предложенного ОЭСР набора показателей для Украины., A set of indicators proposed by the OECD that assesses economic opportunities arising from the green growth as well as helps policy-making concerning environmental issues, in particular indicators on technology and innovation, production and consumption of environmental goods and services, environmentally related prices and transfers as well as associated to green growth financial flows, have been studied in detail in this article. The results of the comparison analysis of the application of the abovementioned indicators by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Korea are presented in the article. Based on the performed analysis possible application of the proposed by OECD set of indicators to the Ukraine"s national context has been explored. Proposed set of green growth indicators can be applied in Ukraine, however further development is required to enhance the statistical data accounting and availability. Among the main challenges to the implementation of such system in Ukraine is the lack of data as well as medium compliance of the Ukraine"s Environmental Accounts with the European regulation, which complicates the development of national policy towards green economy and the international comparison.

International approaches to life quality evaluation are analyzed in the article. Possibilities of using international experience for life quality evaluation as a measure for social development are investigated.

While investments in renewable energy sources (RES) are incentivized around the world, the policy tools that do so are still poorly understood, leading to costly misadjustments in many cases. As a case study, the deployment dynamics of residential solar photovoltaics (PV) invoked by the German feed-in tariff legislation are investigated. Here we report a model showing that the question of when people invest in residential PV systems is found to be not only determined by profitability, but also by profitability's change compared to the status quo. This finding is interpreted in the light of loss aversion, a concept developed in Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory. The model is able to reproduce most of the dynamics of the uptake with only a few financial and behavioral assumptions.

According to Republic of Lithuania law on corporate income tax Article 7 paragraph 1 income and costs shall be recognised on an accrual basis and in accordance with other accounting principles laid down in the legal acts that regulate accounting, except for the cases where, in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, income may be recognised in accordance with the principle of cash accounting and in accordance with the provisions of this Article. One of these other principles is the matching principle. Fiscal substance of matching principle means that income earned during the tax period is related to expenses incurred to earn such income. The object of this article is disclosure of matching principle substance and its application aspects according to Law on corporate income tax. The purpose of this article is to raise discussion about matching principle fiscal substance with the intention to verify appropriate explanation of this principle as tax law element. Analysis is performed to discuss if comparison between costs and income is self-dependent principle or just one of conditions based on application of accrual principle for the purpose of legal entities taxation on corporate income tax. Consequently, there are analyzed other application of matching principle aspects. This scientific research reveals that comparison between costs and income (matching requirement) can not be described as self-dependent principle. The core subject-matter should be identified as one of the term following accrual principle application for the purpose to tax on corporate income tax. With reference to the purpose of this article, there are defined that according to matching principle (requirement) costs related to different tax periods should be recognized in tax periods in which tax payers gain income as it shall not be reversed (income shall not be recognized in different tax periods as relating to incurred costs). Furthermore, research reveals that comparison between costs and income as costs should be directly linked to income gained in exactly tax period is not absolute in tax law. Formal contravention of matching principle (requirement) could be acceptable if tax abuse or distortion of corporate income tax base are not identified. Inter alia, the article emphasizes that analysis of matching principle (requirement) shows that identification of tax payer dishonesty automatically does not lead to the forfeit of costs related to income deduction.

This paper investigates the major drivers of governmental redistribution. Extended and harmonised data on effective redistribution recently provided by the newest version of the Standardized World Income Inequality Database allows for the assessment of the origins of governmental redistribution for a broad sample of countries. Our findings confirm the Meltzer-Richard hypothesis, pointing to a robust positive relationship between market inequality and redistribution. We show that perceptions of inequality are often biased and that the redistribution-enhancing effect of gross inequality is even stronger when individuals are aware of national income disparities. The results also suggest that top income shares tend to impede redistributive policies.

Zusammenfassung Die gegenwärtige Verteilung von Flüchtlingen in Deutschland auf der Grundlage von Steueraufkommen und Bevölkerungszahl wird weithin als integrationspolitisch suboptimal angesehen. Das vorliegende Thünen-Workingpaper leistet zu dieser Diskussion einen Beitrag, indem es die Integrationspotenziale der Landkreise in Deutschland über Indikatoren aus verschiedenen integrationsrelevanten Bereichen erfasst, die insbesondere auch die Perspektive der ländlichen Räume berücksichtigen. Mit insgesamt 16 Indikato-ren werden die sieben Bereiche Arbeitsmarkt, Wohlstand, Wohnungsmarkt, Demographischer Handlungs-bedarf und Daseinsvorsorge, Zentralität und Erreichbarkeit, Reaktionen aus der Gesellschaft auf die Flüchtlingskrise sowie Integrationsbedarf erfasst. Die Darstellung der Ergebnisse für Deutschland erfolgt auf Landkreisebene und in Kartenform. Dabei wird zunächst der einzelne Indikator vorgestellt, danach die regionale Verteilung des Indikators in Form von Ergebnis-Karten dargestellt und schließlich werden zentra-le Ergebnisse zum Indikator erläutert, eingeordnet und kommentiert („Lesehilfe zur Karte“). Soweit die Datengrundlage es ermöglicht, werden neben der Kreisebene auch Karten auf Gemeindeebene darge-stellt. Die verwendeten 16 Indikatoren bilden die Integrationspotenziale von Kreisen in den einzelnen, hier als integrationsrelevant angenommenen Bereichen, differenziert ab. Wir haben ganz bewusst davon Abstand genommen, diese sechzehn Indikatoren zu einem zusammenfassenden Integrationsindex zu verdichten, weil wichtige Voraussetzungen hierfür nicht gegeben sind. Insbesondere war das Problem der Gewichtung der Indices nicht zufriedenstellend zu lösen. Der Vergleich mit den Karten des empirica-Instituts belegt, wie stark die jeweiligen Ergebnisse vom gewählten Indikator und von der Anzahl, dem Zuschnitt der gebil-deten Klassen sowie der räumlichen Bezugsebene abhängen. Mit der Entscheidung für die jeweilige Vari-ante wird erheblicher Einfluss auf das dargestellte Ergebnis und die daraus möglicherweise daraus abgelei-teten Empfehlungen und Entscheidungen genommen. Mit einer einzigen zusammenfassenden Karte der Integrationspotenziale der Landkreise würden daher Gewissheiten suggeriert, die dem jetzigen Stand des Wissens nicht entsprechen. Mit den dargestellten Indikatoren und Karten wird versucht, die Integrationspotenziale der lokalen Auf-nahmegesellschaft bzw. der dortigen administrativen und politischen Instanzen regional differenziert und in unterschiedlichen Bereichen auf Ebene der Landkreise in Deutschland zu erfassen. Ausgeblendet blei-ben dabei die Perspektive der aufgenommenen Menschen und die Frage, welche Faktoren ihren Integrationswillen und ihr Integrationspotenzial positiv beeinflussen.///////////////////////////////Summary The current distribution of refugees in Germany based on tax revenue and population levels continues to be perceived as sub-optimal in terms of integration policy. This Thuenen Working Paper contributes to the discussion in that it documents the integration potential of counties in Germany with indicators from vari-ous integration-relevant fields, considering in particular the perspective of rural areas. With a total of 16 indicators in seven areas including: labor market, economic well-being, housing availability, demographic needs, provision of basic services, centrality and accessibility, social reactions to the refugee crisis and the need for integration are considered. The presentation of the results for Germany is given in the form of county level maps. Here, single indicators are first introduced, then the regional distribution of the indica-tors is shown in the form of thematic maps, and ultimately central results for the indicators are expressed with a short description, a summary and a discussion of the main results (“Spark Note”). Where possible, the county level maps are also supplemented with community level maps. The 16 socio-economic indicators used illustrate the integration potential of the counties, differentiated by the single indicators relevant for integration. We purposely abstained from combining these into a comprehensive integration index because important requirements for this task are not met. In particular it was not possible to solve the problem of the weighting of the indicators. The comparison with the maps of the empirica-institute clearly show that the results strongly depend on the selected indicator and the re-gional level of depiction as well as on class size, class number and method of classification. Thus, meth-odological decisions on the basis of maps and indicators strongly influence the results and information depicted, and as a consequence also the decisions made based on those maps and indicators. A combined index of all 16 indicators to show the integration potential of the counties would imply a certainty not provided by the current level of knowledge. The depicted indicators and maps attempt to assess the integration potential of the local host society, or rather the differentiated potential of the regional administration and political bodies to integrate refu-gees, as well as thematic differences at the county level in Germany. Here, the perspective of the arriving refugees and the question of which factors have a positive influence on their desire and potential to be integrated is not addressed

O artigo investiga se uma renda mínima assegurada pelo Estado (que não é a mesma coisa que uma renda básica) é uma condição necessária para que indivíduos (1) atinjam um patamar básico de autonomia e (2) desenvolvam “capabilidades” que os permitam incrementar a sua qualidade de vida. Como embasamento teórico para a minha análise, utilizarei a teoria do reconhecimento de Honneth, a abordagem de “capabilidade” de Sen (também na versão oferecida por Nussbaum) e o conceito de independência de Simmel, como foi desenvolvido em sua Filosofia do Dinheiro. A renda mínima visa garantir não só a sobrevivência dos extremamente pobres (isso também poderia ser realizado através de programas emergenciais), mas também – em cooperação com outros programas do Estado, tais como educação, assistência médica e jurídica etc – permitir que esses indivíduos sejam mais independentes do seu ambiente social, onde muitas vezes a dependência constitui um forte obstáculo ao desenvolvimento da sua autonomia. A inclusão social e política de milhões de pessoas, tanto em países em desenvolvimento quanto nos países pobres, depende da existência de tais programas.

Apstrakt: U ovom radu biaee analizirane Daunsove koncepcije ekonomske teorije demokratije i racionalnog glasaea. Autor aee braniti tezu da paradoks racio- nalnog glasaea koji je karakteristiean za Daunsovu teoriju ne moe adekvatno da bude resen uvoðenjem pojma dunosti u model ekonomske teorije demokratije. Kljuene reei: racionalnost, demokratija, glasanje, korisnost, teorija racio- nalnog izbora Daunsova (A. Downs) knjiga Ekonomska teorija demokrati- je, zajedno sa Erouovom knjigom (K. J. Arrow) Drustveni izbor i in- dividualne vrednosti i Olsonovom (M. Olson) Logikom kolektivnog delovanja, predstavlja jedan od kamena temeljaca teorije racional- nog izbora (Downs, 1957a; Arrow, 1951; Olson, 1965). Glavna ka- rakteristika teorije racionalnog izbora jeste objasnjenje postupaka individua u svetlu racionalnosti, pod pretpostavkom da je racional- nost adekvatno definisana u okvirima ekonomije. Zato se na teoriju racionalnog izbora moe gledati kao na pokusaj primene ekonom - skog viðenja racionalnosti kao modela objasnjenja na oblasti drugih drustvenih nauka. Daunsu pripada posebna zasluga sto je ukazao na koji naein se pretpostavka ekonomske racionalnosti moe uspesno primeniti na politiku, ili nesto ue gledano, na demokratiju. On sam smatra da je glavna mana prethodnog naeina razmisljanja o demo- kratiji, koji je bio preteno normativan, to sto u obzir nije uzeta eko - nomija politiekog delovanja. Da bi otklonio taj nedostatak u teoriji demokratije, Dauns je smatrao kako primarni zadatak treba da bude izgradnja modela koji bi pokazao kakvo ponasanje treba oeekivati

A sizeable literature studies strategic interactions between governments. In this paper, we ask whether, in the presence of direct democratic institutions, voters' actions in vetoing a decision or inaugurating a policy by a binding initiative in their jurisdiction have spillover effects on the actions of voters in neighboring jurisdictions. We collect (and make available) data on 3300 initiatives in German towns from 2002 to 2014 and match these to panel data on the towns' sociodemographic and fiscal characteristics. We apply an instrumental variables approach and find that a jurisdiction's probability of hosting an initiative is positively driven by the neighbors' direct democratic activity. The size of the estimated average effect peaks around a 20 km neighborhood - where a standard deviation change of neighbors' activity increases the probability of hosting an initiative by 5 percentage points - then gradually declines and fades away after around 60 km. This effect is driven by spillovers in similar policy areas and by successful initiatives, and is stronger in towns with relatively more information flows (measured by newspaper consumption and commuter flows).

Die seit Jahren niedrigen Zertifikatpreise werden häufig als Begründung dafür angeführt, dass eine Reformierung des EU-Emissionshandels zwingend notwendig wäre. Der von der Europäischen Kommission favorisierte Reformvorschlag ist die Marktstabilitätsreserve. Dies ist ein regelbasierter Mechanismus, über den die Menge an Emissionsberechtigungen gesteuert werden kann. Davon erhofft sich die Kommission die mittel- bis langfristige Stabilisierung des Zertifikatpreises auf einem höheren als dem gegenwärtigen Niveau. Alternative Vorschläge sind die Einführung einer Mindestpreisregelung oder eines Preiskorridors. In diesem Beitrag erörtern wir, warum es empfehlenswert wäre, den Emissionshandel möglichst in seiner Reinform zu belassen, anstatt ihn durch eine Mindestpreisregelung, einen Preiskorridor oder eine Marktstabilitätsreserve zu ergänzen. Fehler aus der Vergangenheit sollten durch einen einmalig erfolgenden Eingriff beseitigt werden: durch die Löschung der 900 Millionen Zertifikate, die im Jahr 2014 aus dem Markt genommen wurden, aber in Zukunft wieder auf den Markt gelangen sollen. In Europe's Emission Trading System (ETS), prices for emission per-mits have remained low for many years now. This fact gave rise to contro-versies on whether there is a need for fundamentally reforming the ETS. Potential reform proposals include the introduction of a minimum price for certificates and a market stability reserve (MSR). This is a rule-based mechanism to steering the volume of permits in the market. While prepar-ing the introduction of this instrument, the European Commission hopes to be able to increase and stabilize certificate prices in the medium- and long-term. In this article, we recommend retaining the ETS as it is, rather than supplementing it by introducing a minimum price floor or a market stability reserve. Instead, mistakes from the past should be corrected by a single intervention: the final elimination of those 900 million permits that were taken out of the market in 2014, but would again emerge in the market in 2019 and 2020 (backloading).

Seit vielen Jahren wird der Gesundheitstourismus oder eine seiner Unterformen als ein zukunfts-trächtiger Wachstumsmarkt betrachtet. Treiber sind u. a. Rahmenbedingungen in Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft, die eine wachsende Nachfrage nach gesundheitsorientierten Urlaubsformen plausibel erscheinen lassen. Vor diesem Hintergrund fragt der Beitrag auf empirischer Basis mit den Daten der Reiseanalyse, ob es in der deutschen Tourismusnachfrage einen Trend zum Gesundheitsurlaub gibt. Dafür wird die Entwicklung verschiedener Indikatoren im Konsumentenverhalten zum Ge-sundheitsurlaub (Motive, Präferenzen, faktisches Verhalten) überblickshaft dargestellt. Die Daten zeigen auf allen Ebenen eine allenfalls stabile, eher aber rückläufige Nachfrage für die Vergan-genheit wie auch die absehbare Zukunft. Mögliche Gründe für diese Situation werden diskutiert.Schlüsselbegriffe: Gesundheitsurlaub; Trend, Tourismusnachfrag Health tourism and other segments in tourism focussing on health issues are widely considered as a growth market. Drivers for this growth and the related future potentials may derive from framework conditions within the German society. The paper tries to identify trends with respect to health oriented vacation forms within the German holiday travel demand. Based on the annual survey “Reiseanalyse”, empirical data on motivation, preferences and factual behavior are pre-sented. The results do not reveal an upward trend in the past and do not indicate a growth of the segment in the future. Possible underlying reasons for these findings are discussed.

Vielen Gemeinden fehlen Kenntnisse und Werkzeuge, um die Auswirkung geplanter Bauvorhaben auf Steuereinnahmen sowie Ausgaben für die technische und soziale Infrastruktur abschätzen zu können. Dieser Artikel fasst daher einerseits die Theorie fiskalischer Wirkungsanalysen zusammen und stellt anderseits Werkzeuge vor. Abschliessend werden Empfehlungen abgegeben zur Weiterentwicklung dieser Werkzeuge. Many local authorities lack the necessary knowledge and analytical tools to be able to estimate the effects that planned construction projects will have on tax revenues and on technical and social infrastructure expenditure. This article summarizes fiscal impact analysis theory as well as introducing relevant tools. Finally, it makes recommendations regarding ongoing development of these tools.

In my view, globalization is a process that has taken place episodically since approximately the beginning of the 16th century. Previously, there were a number of attemps at globalization, which however failed to attain the precondition of regular commercial and communicative relationships among the parts of the globe; nor did they lead to the kind of stable multilateral interdependence that later took place (Osterhamme/Petersson). In chronologically sequenced chapters, I briefly present the driving forces and the consequences of globalization. In the respective chapters, Chinas highly variegated role is explored: from the first attempt at globalization in the 14/15 centuries, which was of an expansive nature; in the first push at globalization from 1500, China was increasingly in retreat; during the surge of globalization in the 19th century, China was an almost insignificant push-toy of the European powers; and in the current situation China may be characterized as a tardive beginner, yet then advancing to a leadership role. In concluding I undertake a framework for understanding the so-called "Chinese Economic Miracle", for which the German term Wirtschaftswunder may readily be substituted. The highly differential significance of China for these various phases of globalization is an arresting example for my hypothesis that globalization may not unreasonably be regarded as a market-driven and invariably politically-fashioned process.

During economic crisis well developed public private partnerships (PPP) give an opportunity to even though realise necessary infrastructural projects. Four key characteristics of PPP – lifecycle view of the project, risk allocation, performance-oriented payments, output-oriented tenders – may lead to high efficiency advantages compared to traditional procurement as a result. So far three different types of PPP were used within motorway-projects in Germany – the so called F-Modell, A-Modell and Funktionsbauvertrag. An analysis of the to date realised projects showed, that – besides the actual choice of the project – the risk to determine the future traffic volume is a key issue of success. The in the course of this thesis developed availability based approach changes the projects financial basis from the PPP-traditional traffic volume based payments to availability remunerations. To obtain the basic availability payment it is necessary to calculate the total amount of costs that will occur during the projects entire lifecycle. Based on the thus determined net present value and the duration of payments you may identify a yearly annuity, which represents the maximum amount of the availability based payments and upper ceiling during the tender procedure. If the private operator is not able to provide full availability – be it quality or quantity based –, the public body is given the possibility to withhold parts of the payment as contractual penalties. These contractual penalties may be determined as a percentage of the payments (if quality based availability is not sufficient) or as a monetary amount, which is calculated by valuating the due to the construction site caused consequences to the national economy. For this purpose the necessary evaluation criteria are the extra time of traffic congestion, the change of costs of car accidents, the change of operating resources consumption and the variation of pollutant emissions. The in chapter 5 calculated example proved that this new approach offers more service for the same costs of the so far used A-Modell and gives the public body even the possibility to gain time, as there are some variations of payment which allow the concession donator not to pay during the entire construction phase. Another advantage of this new model is that the contractual penalties really do show the effects of an operators failure to the economy and are therefore not a result of negotiations between the public and private contracting partners but engineering calculations.

Zusammenfassung Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird dargelegt, • vor welchen Herausforderungen unsere Landwirtschaft steht, • dass die EU-Agrarpolitik hierauf nicht gut zugeschnitten ist, • wie eine grundlegend verbesserte Agrarpolitik aussehen könnte, • weshalb ein solcher Politikwandel aber wenig wahrscheinlich ist, • wie sich die Agrarpolitik wohl stattdessen weiterentwickeln wird.Die wichtigsten Einschätzungen lassen sich wie folgt zusammenfassen: • Der Agrarsektor boomt weltweit. Die meisten Regionen Deutschlands wären in der pflanzlichen Produktion auch ohne finanzielle Unterstützung wettbewerbsfähig. In der Nutztierhaltung bestehen demgegenüber größere Risiken für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit. • Der Agrarstrukturwandel hat den Weg zu einer wettbewerbsfähigeren Landwirtschaft geebnet. Manche Erscheinungsformen dieses Wandels (z. B. „industrielle Tierhaltung“) laufen jedoch den Erwartungen zuwider, die die deutsche Bevölkerung an die Landwirtschaft stellt. • Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsmethoden und -strukturen möglichst gut in Einklang mit den gesellschaftlichen Anforderungen zu bringen, ist im Kern eine Aufgabe der Politik. Sie muss die Leitplanken für die Wirtschaft setzen. Freiwillige Labelling-Aktivitäten der Wirtschaft können die Agrarpolitik ergänzen, diese aber nicht ersetzen. • Die Politik tappt bei der Einschätzung der gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen teilweise im Dunkeln. Beispielsweise werden aus dem Befund „Bevölkerungsmehrheit kritisiert Billigfleisch, kauft es aber“ vollkommen unterschiedliche Schlüsse gezogen – kein guter Startpunkt für eine rationale Politik. Daher sollte die Politik verstärkt in die Analyse gesellschaftlicher Erwartungen und in den öffentlichen Diskurs investieren. • Auch Expertengremien geben auf die Frage „Wo werden die gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen derzeit am stärksten verfehlt?“ recht unterschiedliche Antworten. In Deutschland stehen Nutztierhaltung und Umweltschutz weit oben auf der Agenda, doch auch Flächenversiegelung, Bodendegradation, Phosphorverbrauch, ländliche Entwicklung u. a. m. werden genannt. • Die EU-Agrarpolitik setzt den größten Teil der Finanzmittel für entkoppelte, flächengebundene Direktzahlungen ein, die allen Landwirten zugutekommen und kaum Steuerungswirkung entfalten. Die Zahlungen werden künftig an bestimmte Umweltauflagen gebunden; dieses „Greening“ ist jedoch kein effizientes Instrument zur Erreichung der gesellschaftlichen Ziele für den Agrarbereich. • Die 2. Säule der EU-Agrarpolitik ist besser geeignet, um gesellschaftliche Ziele zu erreichen. Mit den hier verankerten Fördermaßnahmen versucht die Politik gesellschaftlich erwünschtes Verhalten gezielt bei den Landwirten „einzukaufen“. Viele Herausforderungen im Agrarbereich lassen sich jedoch auch mit der derzeitigen 2. Säule nicht bewältigen, da die hier verankerten Maßnahmen noch zu sehr auf „Förderung von Einzelbetrieben“ und zu wenig auf „Erreichung konkreter gesellschaftlicher Ziele“ ausgerichtet sind. • Daraus leitet sich folgender Politikvorschlag ab: Schrittweiser Abbau der 1. Säule und finanzielle Aufstockung der 2. Säule der EU-Agrarpolitik, verbunden mit einer Aufteilung dieser Säule in (a) eine ländliche Entwicklungspolitik (dezentral betrieben, sektorübergreifend konzipiert) sowie (b) eine moderne Agrarstrukturpolitik, deren Ziel es ist, die Landwirtschaft möglichst gut mit den gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen in Einklang zu bringen. • Die Agrarstrukturpolitik der 2. Säule ist bisher im Wesentlichen so konzipiert, dass die Politik Fördertatbestände formuliert (bzw. aus der Vorperiode übernimmt), diese mit gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen begründet und dann alle Betriebe fördert, die die Tatbestände erfüllen. Als Alternativkonzept wäre zu erwägen, dass die Politik künftig zunächst die gesellschaftlichen Ziele formuliert (als konkrete Ziele, nicht als vage „Begründungen“ für Fördermaßnahmen), die Zuständigkeiten für die Zielerreichung klärt, die bestgeeignete Strategie entwickeln lässt und anschließend gemäß dieser Strategie die öffentlichen Mittel so einsetzt, dass die Ziele auch tatsächlich erreicht werden. • Um eine insoweit weiterentwickelte Agrarstrukturpolitik zu etablieren, müssten die EU und auch Deutschland im institutionellen Bereich Neuland betreten. Die derzeit etablierten Politikstrukturen sind darauf ausgerichtet, Produktionsbeschränkungen (Auflagen) zu erlassen und Fördermittel auszuhändigen (Investitionsförderung, Flächenförderung, Forschungsförderung usw.). Für die Entwicklung und Umsetzung kraftvoller, kohärenter Strategien sind sie weniger geeignet, wie die vielen „offen Baustellen“ aus der jüngeren Vergangenheit anschaulich zeigen (Biodiversität, Nutztierhaltung, ländliche Entwicklung, …). • Aus heutiger Sicht erscheint es aber sehr unwahrscheinlich, dass sich die Realpolitik zu solch weitreichenden Veränderungen durchringen wird. Die bestehende Mehrebenen-Verflechtung in diesem Politikfeld, die Gesetzmäßigkeiten des föderalen Politikbetriebes und die Interessenlage einiger wichtiger Akteure sprechen dagegen. • Deshalb ist eher davon auszugehen, dass die jetzt beschlossene Architektur der EU-Agrarpolitik auch über das Jahr 2020 hinaus beibehalten wird, dann aber voraussichtlich mit einer erhöhten Greening-Dosis und einer verstärkten betriebsgrößenbezogenen Staffelung der Direktzahlungen. Je mehr Finanzmittel in diesem Bereich gebunden werden, desto stärker muss dann bei den vielfältigen anderen Herausforderungen im Agrarbereich auf Politikmaßnahmen ausgewichen werden, die eher in die Kategorie „Symbolpolitik“ fallen.///////////Summary This paper shall outline • which challenges our agricultural sector will be facing, • why the current Common Agricultural Policy is not well-suited to meet these challenges, • how an improved agricultural policy could be designed, • why such a fundamental policy switch is rather unlikely to happen, • how agricultural policy will probably evolve instead. The most important findings can be summarized as follows:• The agricultural sector is booming worldwide. In Germany, plant production would probably remain profitably even if there were no public support available. In contrast, the international competitiveness of German livestock production is much more vulnerable. • Agricultural structures have changed considerably, and this change has paved the sector´s way towards international competitiveness. Some features of this structural change (e. g. „factory livestock farming) are not appreciated by the majority of German citizens. • Aligning agricultural production systems with public expectations is in first place a political task. Policy must create “guarding rails” for the economy. Voluntary entrepreneurial actions such as labeling can be regarded as valuable contributions but not as a substitute for political measures. • Policymakers find it difficult to truly assess public expectations with regard to agriculture. When for example the majority of a society is buying cheap meat while complaining at the same time about „industrial“ livestock production, this observation leads to highly different conclusions about the “real” public expectations. The high degree of uncertainty about public expectations is not a good starting point for a rational policy. Hence, policy should invest in the scientific analysis of public expectations and in the public dialogue about the results. • Even in expert groups, there is currently no clear answer to the question „Where is currently the greatest mismatch of public expectations and agricultural reality?”. In Germany, animal welfare and pollution control are relatively high on the agenda, but also other challenges such as loss of agricultural land, degradation of soils, scarcity of phosphorous fertilizers, or rural development are nominated. • The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) uses the largest share of its budget for per hectarepayments which are decoupled from agricultural production and distributed more or less evenly to all EU regions. These payments have only little impact on the structure of agricultural production. In future, part of these payments will be subject to the so called “greening” (requirements with regard to crop rotation; maintenance of grassland; ecologically sensitive areas). This type of greening, however, cannot be regarded as an efficient policy instrument to achieve public goals in agriculture • In principal, the second pillar of the CAP provides a more suitable concept to efficiently reach public goals. Public money is used in a more target-oriented way to “purchase” certain public goods from a certain number of farmers. For many challenges in the agricultural sector, however, even the second pillar (in its current shape) is still not an adequate policy instrument because the measures are mainly geared to “support farms” and not enough geared to “achieve well-defined public goals”. • This discussion leads to the following policy proposal: Stepwise transfer of the CAP budget from the first into the second pillar, and a separation of the second pillar into (a) one pillar for regional development aid (to be operated in a decentral and cross-sectoral manner) and (b) a modern agricultural structural policy attempting to align agricultural production systems with public expectations. • Until now, the agricultural structural policy in the second pillar basically works as follows: Policy is (a) formulating criteria for individual farm support (or taking such criteria from the past period), (b) justifying these criteria with public expectations, (b) giving financial support to all farms which meet the criteria. An alternative concept would be: Policy is (a) formulating public goals (as well-defined targets and not as vague „justification“ for farm support measures), (b) clarifying responsibilities, (c) developing the best-possible strategy, (d) afterwards using public money according to the strategy so that the goals are really achieved. • Establishing such an agricultural structural policy would mean that the EU and Germany would have to break new ground (with regard to institution-building). Current policy mechanisms are mainly geared to either setting certain limitations (bans, decrees, etc.) or giving financial support for certain activities (investment aid, area payments, research funding). They are less suitable, however, to „purchase“ the development and/or the operation of a powerful, target-oriented, coherent strategy. This is exemplified by a large number of pending “construction areas” (so-called strategies in the fields of biodiversity, animal welfare, rural development etc. – none of them being sensu stricto a strategy) • From where we stand, it seems highly unlikely that such far-reaching policy changes will ever come true. This expectation is backed by a number of reasons, e.g. the current interaction of several „policy levels“ (EU, member state, region), the mechanisms of political opinionmaking in a federal system with many actors, and the economic interest of some important stakeholder groups. • It can rather be expected that the architecture of the current CAP will be maintained beyond 2020, then however with an increased dose of greening and a more pronounced degression of direct payments with increasing farm size. The more financial means are tied in pillar 1 of the CAP, the more our politicians will be forced to address all the unsolved issues in agriculture (animal welfare, climate change, biodiversity, rural development etc.) by policy measures which rather belong to the category „symbolic political gesture”.

We analyse intended and unintended solidarity transfers between the young and the old in the Swiss retirement system. In addition to the intended solidarity transfers in the pay-as-you-go system, we identify a systematic unintended solidarity transfer from the active population to new retirees in the occupational pension system, which occurs due to the statutory conversion rates not being actuarially fair. After providing an overview of intergenerational transfers in Switzerland, we briefly review the Swiss retirement system. Then, we quantify the unintended transfer in the occupational pension system and finish by discussing several policy measures that could be implemented to avoid this intergenerational transfer. The unintended solidarity transfer casts some doubt on the financial stability and social acceptability of the Swiss retirement system, which is often considered one of the best in the world. As such, the problems of and recommendations for the Swiss system are of interest to other pension systems as well.

Dieser Beitrag geht der Frage nach, wie Unternehmen der Lebensmittelindustrie in Nordrhein-Westfalen angesichts des neuen Umwelt- und Ressourcenschutzbewusstseins der Konsumenten und neuer politischer Zielvorstellungen, wie etwa die Strategie der Europäischen Union (EU) für Nachhaltige Entwicklung, die nationale Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie der Bundesregierung, neue Verpackungsverordnungen etc., das Themenfeld Nachhaltigkeit behandeln und intern umsetzen.Die industrieökonomische Analyse umfasst dabei alle Ebenen der Wertschöpfungskette vom vorgelagerten Bereich über Primärproduktion und Verarbeitung bis zum Handel. In diesem Beitrag wird aufgezeigt, wo die Unternehmen Defizite im Verständnis der Nachhaltigkeit aufweisen und wodurch Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement induziert wird, dabei wird auf branchenspezifische Unterschiede eingegangen.