Search

In November 2000 the 10th annual conference of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) took place in Berlin. The meeting drew together 164 academics and researchers from America, Asia and Europe. The conference was organized with the title "Economics and Social Sciences: Complements, Competitors, Accomplices?". As well addressing its central theme, the conference was opened to different economic topics. In this paper, three participants present selected sessions and papers which are of interest for and related to spatial perspectives, that is 'Technology', 'Economy, Society and Territory', 'The Firm', 'Culture and Technology', 'Economics and Social Sciences', 'Borrowing Ideas from the Social Sciences', 'Economic Methodology', 'Conceptual Frameworks' and, in addition to these sessions, Michael Storper's opening keynote address on 'Economic Geography in the Internet Age'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of electric power is an important prerequisite for the development or maintenance of high living standards. Global change, including socio-economic change and climate change, is a challenge for those who have to deal with the long-term management of thermoelectric power plants. Power plants have lifetimes of several decades. Their water demand changes with climate parameters in the short and medium term. In the long term, the water demand will change as old units are retired and new generating units are built. The present paper analyses the effects of global change and options for adapting to water shortages for power plants in the German capital Berlin in the short and long term. The interconnection between power plants, i.e. water demand, and water resources management, i.e. water availability, is described. Using different models, scenarios of socio-economic and climate change are analysed. One finding is that by changing the cooling system of power plants from a once-through system to a closed-circuit cooling system the vulnerability of power plants can be reduced considerably. Such modified cooling systems also are much more robust with respect to the effects of climate change and declining streamflows due to human activities in the basin under study. Notwithstanding the possible adaptations analysed for power plants in Berlin, increased economic costs are expected due to declining streamflows and higher water temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper discusses the past and future economic situation of Berlin in the German city system. Comparing the shares of employment in various service sectors of total employment in Germany from 1939 to 1997 shows the significant changes in the role as a metropolis. Berlin has lost its dominant position as a consequence of isolation from international development for 40 years. Despite successful expansion and restructuring processes in superregionally oriented services, Berlin is still behind the West German economic centers. Futureoriented perspectives for Berlin cannot be found in a regaining of lost functions, but in developing new fields of international service functions. Berlin's potential therefore is its cultural diversity as a context for productive innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide new evidence on the efficiency of the Berlin Stock Exchange prior to World War I, when it ranked among the top few markets worldwide by market capitalization. Using a new set of monthly stock price data for a random sample of German companies between 1904 and 1910, we estimate a typical three-factor model and find that returns relate positively to risk (beta), but that book-to-market ratios enter as well (negatively). Firm size and earnings/price ratio relate positively but weakly to returns. The results indicate that the Berlin market did not suffer from unusually large pricing anomalies; thus, its performance was not substantially different from modern markets. Also supporting the conclusion of market efficiency, a momentum portfolio earns returns not different from zero, on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine how contemporary Berlin is governed, with a particular focus on the production of urban space. My points of reference are the term 'government' (as employed by Foucault) and the field of governmentality studies (where it is applied empirically). Based on a critical discourse and dispositive analysis of the city's current urban development policy, I propose that urban governance in Berlin may be analysed through the lens of three central dispositives: the dispositive of governing through citizenship; the dispositive of the creative city; and the dispositive of the social city. I discuss the characteristics of these dispositives of urban governance, drawing on a number of examples taken from the discipline of urban space production in order to look specifically at the aims and objectives of governance, its subjects and the ways it manifests itself. In conclusion, I suggest that the new forms of governance based on empowerment and cooperation have by no means replaced disciplinary technologies of governance, but are rather embedded within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current state of play regarding the interaction of labour market and regional economics, in particular the New Economic Geography, was discussed at an international workshop organised by the DIW Berlin, Germany. New theoretical ideas and the more powerful sets of microdata available to scientists today signal an increasing significance of this area of research. An important insight recognised at this workshop was that the labour market does not exist. Individual labour markets develop in very different ways. Wage levels and employment opportunities depend on the regional concentration of these markets. Empirical studies show, for example, that those with higher qualifications in particular benefit from the strength of economic activity in a region. Theoretical studies have concluded that investment in human capital is worthwhile particularly in markets with a high degree of concentration. Labour market policy would be ill advised to rashly follow economic policy recommendations emphasising only regionally undifferentiated measures.

Discusses the local bread rationing during the first World War in Berlin, Germany. Consequences of wartime scarcity; History of rationing of bread in Berlin; Food policy in Germany.

Copyright of Papers: Revista de Sociologia is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)