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This article presents abstracts of several papers about economics published in the July 1965 of the journal Zeitschrift Für Die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft. In the article The Optimal Location of Industry: An Interregional Linear Program for the West German Paper Industry, Heinz König and Rainer Thoss gave a general formulation of an interregional optimization model and discussed the advantages and limitations of this method of regional analysis. While in the article Development Theories of Balanced and Unbalanced Growth: A Confrontation, Lutz Hoffman reviewed the discussion on balanced growth and unbalanced growth.

This section presents information and updates related to the economics profession as of March 1988. The Electoral College on March 18, 1988, chose Gerard Debreu as nominee for President-elect of the American Economic Association in the balloting to be held in the autumn of 1988. Other nominees (chosen by the 1988 Nominating Committee) are; Vice-President (two to be elected) Alan S. Blinder, Andrew F. Brimmer, Christopher A. Sims, and Oliver E. Williamson; for members of the Executive Committee (two to be elected) William A. Darity Jr., Stanley Fischer, John B. Shoven, and Lawrence H. Summers. The Southern Economic Association will hold its annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, November 20-22, 1988. The second annual meeting of the European Society for Population Economics will be held at the University of Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany in June 1988. The Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago has received authorization to grant a Ph.D. in Business Economics. The new doctoral degree program is intended to prepare students for research careers in the business community or research/teaching careers in business colleges. Applicants with or without an MBA degree are welcome to apply. The new program complements the department's existing Ph.D. program which emphasizes public policy analysis.

Economists began to conceptualize average total cost functions during the early decades of the twentieth century. But a century before, a German music publishing firm calculated and used in its internal decision making output-dependent average cost estimates for two methods of printing sheet music. Plainly, the printing processes entailed fixed setup costs and then the variable costs associated with labor, paper, ink, wiping cloths and spoilage. The first known volume-dependent average cost function mentioned in the formal literature of economics was by another railroad engineer. In the important theoretical developments emerging toward the end of the 19th century, marginal cost functions continued to be emphasized, and average, costs neglected, by neo-classicists. The concept of volume-dependent average costs began to enter the mainstream of economic theory only as the twentieth century dawned; it was fully integrated three decades later. The received economic literature traces the first real-world application of the concept to the 1880s. His example from the field of music publishing turns the practical application clock back by eight decades.

The article presents information on the book "Private Action and the Public Good," edited by Walter W. Powell and Elizabeth S. Clemens. The book describes twenty papers which contribute to an understanding of the nonprofit mission and its performance. These papers discuss the contested nature of the public good; the public good as a social and cultural project; the meaning of altruism; the religious ethic and the spirit of nonprofit entrepreneurship; institutional form and organizational behavior; external influences and the comparative performance of public, for-profit, and private nonprofit organizations; the quality of day care for children in Canada, by auspice; parental perceptions about the quality of day care centers in comparison with actual differentials in the industry by organizational form; nonprofit in the political economy; government nonprofit collaboration in Germany and the U.S.; nonprofit organizations and the welfare state in France.

The article evaluates the journal "Economics," which reports results of German research studies in the field of economics, published biannually by the Institute for Scientific Cooperation.

Presents information related to several articles on economics. Economic growth and productivity in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Japan in the post war period; Dividend policies of electric utility firms; Relationship between the quantity of materials imported by the United States and the level of industrial production and prices of imports.

This paper is centered on two major theses—The formal social security system is a minor factor in the quest for economic stability, and the utility of a social security system such as that toward which people are tending is dubious unless economic stability is attained. Those who have lived through two world wars scarcely need be reminded of what wars do to economic stability. The victorious nations emerge to face situations which from the standpoint of what ought to be done and how it should be done are more difficult than war itself. Political divisions among the victorious allies and among the people of a single victorious nation are broadened and intensified and lead to bitter controversies. As to the vanquished, many will recall studies of the social security legislation of Germany prior to the first World War and possibly the admiration for the efficiency that country had attained in the administration of government. The example of Germany today does not greatly advance the cause of those who would have the United States follow the policies adopted in Western Europe.

Over the last 20 years the wage-education relationships in the United States and Germany have evolved very differently, while the education compositions of employment have evolved in a parallel fashion. In this paper, we show how these patterns shed light on the nature of recent technological change and highlight the importance of taking into account movements in the ratio of human capital to physical capital when examining changes in the returns to skill. Our analysis indicates that the United States could have prevented the increase in wage inequality observed in the 1980's by a faster accumulation of physical capital. (JEL J3, 03) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rarely have economists been treated to an economic "experiment" comparable to the one of German reunification. In less than a year, a single political and economic entity is being fused from two economies with fundamentally different underlying principles of economic organization and substantially different levels of economic development. German Economic and Monetary Union (GEMU) on the process of European economic and political integration, many European Community (EC) policymakers have perceived German reunification as adding impetus to the "1992" program. This paper examines economic implications of GEMU for the European integration process. In so doing, it makes reference to the burgeoning literature on the economic consequences of German reunification. Consideration of statistical information related to the performance of eastern and western Germany since June 1990 permits some evaluation of the validity of certain hypotheses underlying earlier studies of GEMU, as well as an assessment of likely consequences for EC policymaking and performance.

This article discusses various aspects of the role of fiscal and monetary policy in German economic recovery. One of the prerequisites of economic recovery, but by no means the only one, was the restoration of a workable currency. The spectacular increase in production and delivery through legitimate channels of trade and the achievement of substantial price stability in spite of rapid decontrol of prices demonstrate the immediate success of currency reform. From the beginning of the debate on currency reform for Germany it was recognized, however, that restoration of a new, stable money was an important, but by no means the only, contribution currency reform had to make towards German economic rehabilitation and recovery. Other objectives, were restoring incentives to save and channeling scarce funds into capital investments of the highest economic priority. It was also necessary to assure a distribution of incomes and goods which would provide sufficient rewards to farmers and workers for productive efforts and at the same time meet the minimum demands of equity.

The article presents information on the book "European Economies Since the Second World War," edited by Bernard J. Foley. The book provides analyses of the postwar economic history of a number of European economies. The book also address the evolution of the British economy, West Germany, France, Italy, and others. In addition to that, the article presents information on various other features of the book.

This article focuses on the book "The Germany in Transition: A Unified Nation's Search for Identity," edited by Gale A. Mattox, Geoffrey D. Oliver and Jonathan B. Tucker. In this book papers discusses Europe and the politics of public memory in unified Germany, power, politics and the new "German question, the restructuring of the German railway system, the liberalization of telecommunications markets, regional planning and politics in Berlin and Brandenburg, the factors that lead U.S. businesses, U.S.-German friendship and German foreign policy beyond the East-West conflict, the German economy, the development of eastern Germany, and social issues.

This article focuses on the book "Varieties of Transition: The East European and East German Experience," by Claus Offe. This book explores problems of transformation in post communist systems, with particular reference to Germany. Discusses the joint characteristics and shortcomings of state socialist societies and democratic capitalism; modes of societal integration and the German journey from socialism to capitalism; democratic theory facing the transition in East Central Europe; ethnic politics in East European transitions; disqualification, retribution, and restitution as dilemmas of justice in post-communist transitions.

The interplay between religion and the economy has long occupied social scientists. We construct a unique panel of income and Protestant church attendance using 175 Prussian counties, presented in six waves from 1886 to 1911. The data reveal a marked decline in church attendance coinciding with increasing income. The cross-section also shows a negative association between income and church attendance. The associations disappear in panel analyses, including first-differenced models of the 1886 to 1911 change, panel models with county and time fixed effects, and panel Granger-causality tests. The results cast doubt on causal interpretations of the religion-economy nexus in Prussian secularization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The French Revolution had a momentous impact on neighboring countries. It removed the legal and economic barriers protecting oligarchies, established the principle of equality before the law, and prepared economies for the new industrial opportunities of the second half of the 19th century. We present within-Germany evidence on the long-run implications of these institutional reforms. Occupied areas appear to have experienced more rapid urbanization growth, especially after 1850. A two-stage least squares strategy provides evidence consistent with the hypothesis that the reforms instigated by the French had a positive impact on growth. JEL: N13, N43, O47 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German reunification was a large, unexpected shock for East Germans. Exploiting German reunification as a natural experiment, I analyze the validity of the life-cycle consumption model. I derive three stylized features concerning the saving behavior of East versus West Germans after reunification: (i) East Germans have higher saving rates than West Germans; (ii) this East-West gap is increasing in age at reunification; and (iii) for every cohort, this gap is declining over time. I show that a comprehensive life-cycle model can replicate these features. The precautionary saving motive is essential for the success of the model. (JEL D14, D91, E21) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a theme in recent regulatory changes that creates universal banks as foundation of the financial system in European countries, including Germany, offering a range of financial services under one corporate roof. The interested economists in banking have often used a contrast between the German and other financial systems to realize the nature and significance of the different forms of banking institutions. For economists, financial systems are important for the growth in the economy to renew the interest in banking and financial systems.

The article evaluates the periodical "Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung," published by the Institute of Employment Research. Some of the topics discussed in the volume 26 issue are as follows: the dual system of vocational training in Germany; employment prospects; changing status passages and structural changes in initial vocational training; case studies on the willingness of East German firms to provide vocational training; unemployment among foreign workers; unemployment rates and developments in labor market policies.

Presents economic policies of Germany as of January 1963. Interdependence of industry and agriculture in West Germany; Relation between productivity, wage rates and balanced growths.

This article focuses on recent trends in the literature of German economics. No shortcut is open to the reviewer of economic literature written in German. Though most of the writing naturally comes from Germany, accuracy would require the constant use of such clumsy phrases as "economic theory in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland" or "economic theory in the German-speaking countries." To simplify matters the word German frequently needs to stand for developments in all three countries. It would be much easier for the reviewer of current economic thinking in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to arrange his material if there were any clear-cut "schools" that originated in these countries in the postwar period. At the turn of the century the "Austrian school," the German "historical school," the "Kathedersozialisten," the intense Marxist controversy, outside the universities, would have provided obvious starting points for a panorama of German economic theory. Today there are no such definite German "schools," neoliberalism perhaps being the only exception. But neoliberalism has little to offer in the field of economic theory that is new. The main stress of the neoliberal writings lies on programmatic aspects.