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This paper examines contemporaneous and historical evidence on the structure of ownership and control of corporate sectors in developed countries to draw lessons for development of financial markets. It records the critical role that equity markets played in the ownership and financing of corporations at the beginning of the 20th century. It notes that this occurred in the absence of formal systems of regulation and that equity markets functioned on the basis of informal relationships of trust. These were sustained through local stock markets in the UK, banks in Germany, and business coordinators and family firms in Japan. The paper explores the concept of trust that is required to promote the development of financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the effect of different macro and micro variables on the distribution of unemployment duration in West Germany using censored quantile regressions. We analyze unemployment periods of more than 91,000 observations from the years 1981 to 1997 drawn from the IAB employment subsample. The latter is an administrative data set that is representative with respect to the socially insured workforce. Surprisingly, we find that the educational degree and variables indicating the macroeconomic environment such as the unemployment rate have a weak effect only. On the other hand, variables reflecting the (un-)employment history of an individual such as the length of tenure, recall to the same employer in the past, recent unemployment, and the position in the population income distribution before unemployment have the strongest effects on unemployment duration. We conclude that work history variables are the ones most suitable in characterizing the unemployment duration of an individual. From a methodological point of view, it is interesting that some regression coefficients have a different sign depending on the quantiles of the unemployment duration distribution. This clearly is a violation of the classical proportional hazard assumption which is very common in unemployment duration analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spatial Economic Analysis 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.)

Matuschewski A. (2006) Regional clusters of the information economy in Germany, Regional Studies 40, 409–422. In Germany, similar to other countries, enterprises that belong to the information economy (IE) tend to concentrate in a few regions. The paper takes a closer look at the reasons and driving forces for regional clustering within the IE. It is based on the analysis of three German IE clusters: Hamburg, Dresden and the Technology Region Karlsruhe. The analysis follows an explorative, actor-oriented approach using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative empirical methods. The paper concentrates on selected aspects of clustering, questioning the relevance of different theoretical concepts for regional clusters within the IE. It confirms that regional clusters rely on sectoral and regional factors that shape specific regional development paths. Matuschewski A. (2006) Regional clusters of the information economy in Germany, Regional Studies 40, 409–422. In Germany, similar to other countries, enterprises that belong to the information economy (IE) tend to concentrate in a few regions. The paper takes a closer look at the reasons and driving forces for regional clustering within the IE. It is based on the analysis of three German IE clusters: Hamburg, Dresden and the Technology Region Karlsruhe. The analysis follows an explorative, actor-oriented approach using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative empirical methods. The paper concentrates on selected aspects of clustering, questioning the relevance of different theoretical concepts for regional clusters within the IE. It confirms that regional clusters rely on sectoral and regional factors that shape specific regional development paths. Regroupements régionaux, Sentiers de croissance, Economie de l'information, Allemagne Matuschewski A. (2006) Regional clusters of the information economy in Germany, Regional Studies 40, 409–422. In Germany, similar to other countries, enterprises that belong to the information economy (IE) tend to concentrate in a few regions. The paper takes a closer look at the reasons and driving forces for regional clustering within the IE. It is based on the analysis of three German IE clusters: Hamburg, Dresden and the Technology Region Karlsruhe. The analysis follows an explorative, actor-oriented approach using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative empirical methods. The paper concentrates on selected aspects of clustering, questioning the relevance of different theoretical concepts for regional clusters within the IE. It confirms that regional clusters rely on sectoral and regional factors that shape specific regional development paths. Regionale Cluster, Entwicklungswege, Informationswirtschaft, Deutschland Matuschewski A. (2006) Regional clusters of the information economy in Germany, Regional Studies 40, 409–422. In Germany, similar to other countries, enterprises that belong to the information economy (IE) tend to concentrate in a few regions. The paper takes a closer look at the reasons and driving forces for regional clustering within the IE. It is based on the analysis of three German IE clusters: Hamburg, Dresden and the Technology Region Karlsruhe. The analysis follows an explorative, actor-oriented approach using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative empirical methods. The paper concentrates on selected aspects of clustering, questioning the relevance of different theoretical concepts for regional clusters within the IE. It confirms that regional clusters rely on sectoral and regional factors that shape specific regional development paths. Aglomeraciones regionales, Vías de desarrollo, Economía de la información, Alemania [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By contrasting endogenous growth models with facts, one is frequently confronted with the prediction that levels of economic variables, such as R&D expenditures, imply lasting effects on the growth rate of an economy. As stylized facts show, the research intensity in most advanced countries has dramatically increased, mostly more than the GDP. Yet, the growth rates have roughly remained constant or even declined. In this paper we modify the Romer endogenous growth model and test our variant of the model using time series data. We estimate the market version both for the US and Germany for the time period January 1962 to April 1996. Our results demonstrate that the model is compatible with the time series for aggregate data in those countries. All parameters fall into a reasonable range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We define international technological specialisation (ITS) as the technological performance of a country in a specific technology relative to its overall international technological performance. This paper uses patent applications and patent citations at the European Patent Office for five countries (US, UK, Italy, France, Germany) from 1989 to 1994 for 135 technological classes in three industrial sectors (Chemicals, Electronics and Machinery). It shows that ITS is significantly persistent and is affected by the direction of cross-sectoral knowledge spillovers within countries. In addition, the paper shows that the concentration of innovative activities, the emergence of new innovators and technological co-operation positively affect ITS. Some differences across sectors emerge. Keywords: Technological specialization; Knowledge spillover; Market structure [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Opioids are one of the most important and effective drug classes in pain medicine with a key role in most medical fields. The increase of opioid prescription over time has led to higher numbers of prescription opioid misuse, abuse and opioid-related deaths in most developed OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries around the world. Whilst reliable data on the prevalence of opioid treatment is accessible for many countries, data on Germany specifically is still scarce. Considering Germany being the largest country in the European Union, the lack of evidence-based strategies from long-term studies is crucial. The aim of this work is to review and summarise relevant published literature on the prevalence of opioid prescription in Germany to adequately inform health policy strategies. Methods: A systematic review of the epidemiology of opioid prescription in Germany was conducted, searching PubMed and Web of Science. Eligibility criteria were defined prior to conducting the search. Literature concerning Germany, published in English and German was included and the search was replicated by three independent researchers. Two levels of screening were employed. Disagreement was resolved by face-to-face discussion, leading to a consensus judgement. Results: Our electronic search yielded 735 articles. Reviewing titles and abstracts yielded 19 relevant articles. Three authors examined each article’s full text more closely and determined that twelve papers should be included. Of the twelve identified studies—with publication dates ranging from 1985 to 2016—six were retrospective cross-sectional studies and six were retrospective repeated-measures cross-sectional studies. Sample sizes ranged from 92,842 to ≈ 11,000,000 participants. Data sources of included studies showed vast heterogeneity. The reviewed literature suggested an increase in the number of patients with opioid prescriptions and defined daily doses of opioids per recipient in Germany over time. The majority of opioid prescriptions was used for patients with non-cancer pain. Opioid use was more common in older people, women and in the north of Germany. Fentanyl was shown to be the most prescribed strong opioid in outpatient settings in Germany, despite not being the first-line choice for chronic pain conditions. All data published before 2000—but none of the more recent studies—suggested an insufficient treatment of pain using opioids. There were no signs for a current opioid epidemic in Germany. Conclusions: Despite some limitations of the review and the heterogeneity of studies, it can be stated that the number of opioid prescriptions overall as well as the number of people receiving opioid treatment have increased over time. Most prescriptions were found to be for strong opioids and patients with non-cancer pain. Even though patterns of opioid prescription follow trends observed in other developed countries, there are no signs of an opioid epidemic in Germany. Therefore, this review could currently not find a need for urgent health policy interventions regarding opioid prescription practices. However, critical gaps in the literature remain and more research is needed to make more reliable judgements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a patent search strategy for photovoltaics which allows distinguishing patents of the photovoltaic system into sub-trajectories. Identifying and analyzing sub-trajectories is of particular importance for understanding micro patterns of technological change. The proposed search strategy is modular and replicable. It performs similar to benchmark search strategies and allows us to distinguish three cell sub-trajectories and two system components. The identified sub-trajectories allow a more detailed economic analysis previously not possible. Descriptive analyses reveal that inventive activity differs between sub-trajectories and countries. The market dominating silicon wafer cell sub-trajectory shows hardly any patented inventive activity even though it dominates the market. Furthermore, there are shifts in relative patenting activity between sub-trajectories, previously unnoticed at the trajectory level. Country comparison reveals that Asian countries focus on the emerging cell sub-trajectory, fostering their competitive advantage. The USA focuses on the established thin-film sub-trajectory, and inventive activity in Germany focuses on module components. The results have several implications for policy, for example, questioning the effectiveness of demand pull policies for inventive activity, and economic theory. The empirical assessment of sub-trajectories can increase understanding of technological change and uncover dynamics not observable at the trajectory level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a dataset of 3540 economists working in 2007 in 125 of the best academic centers in 22 countries, this paper presents some evidence on spatial mobility patterns in Spain and other countries conditional on some personal, department, and country characteristics. There are productivity and other reasons for designing a scientific policy with the aims of attracting foreign talent (brain gain), minimizing the elite brain drain, and recovering nationals who have earned a Ph.D. or have spent some time abroad (brain circulation). Our main result is that Spain has more brain gain, more brain circulation and less brain drain than comparable large, continental European countries, i.e., Germany, France, and Italy, where economists have similar opportunities for publishing their research in English or in their own languages. We suggest that these results can be mostly explained by the governance changes introduced in a number of Spanish institutions in 1975–1990 by a sizable contingent of Spanish economists coming back home after attending graduate school abroad. These initiatives were also favored by the availability of resources to finance certain research-related activities, including international Ph.D. programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a research conducted in 2014–2016, aimed at characterising the milieu of the Polish academic economists with respect to their self-identification with modern schools of economic thought. Using econometric modelling, the social variables determining the theoretical choices made by the economists themselves were identified. We found that the largest group of the Polish academic economists identifies themselves with new institutional economics. Nearly half of the respondents declared their association with heterodox approaches, while only about a quarter of the respondents showed association with economic orthodoxy. Such a structure of self-identification of the Polish academic economists with schools of economic thought distinguishes it from the ones in other European countries, such as Italy and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslide impacts on infrastructure and society in the Federal Republic of Germany are associated with damage costs of about US$300 million on annual average. Despite the large overall losses due to widespread landslide activity, there is a lack of historical impact assessments, not just for Germany's low mountain areas but those of entire Central Europe as well. This paper is a collection of three case studies from Germany that seek a better understanding of landslide impacts and their economic relevance at local and regional level. The first case study investigates damage types and mitigation measures at a representative landslide site in ways that support to gain insight into historical hazard interactions with land use practices. This case history is followed by a case study dealing with fiscal cost impacts of landslide damages for an example city and the highway system of the Lower Saxon Uplands, NW Germany. In addition to a cost-burden analysis for affected public budgets, an overview of the principles of disaster financing in landslide practice is given. The third case study is focused on the conflicts of urban development in hazard areas, with an economic approach to balancing safety and public welfare interests. Each case study is based on historical data sets extracted from Germany's national landslide database. This paper presents three different case studies that in combination are a first step towards assessing landslide impacts in integrated perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift fur Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter 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 provides scarce insider econometric evidence on the structure of management compensation and on the incentive effects of fixed base salaries and bonus payments. Six years of personnel data of 177 managers in a German company are analyzed with special emphasis on the highest achievable bonuses under a Management-by-Objectives ( MBO) incentive scheme. The main finding of panel negative binomial regressions is that higher achievable bonus payments are correlated with fewer absent working days, which supports the incentive effect of performance pay for managers. The fixed base salary component is, however, not significantly correlated with managers' work absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mainstream nursing history often positions itself in opposition to philosophy and many nursing historians are reticent of theorizing. In the quest to illuminate the lives of nurses and women current historical approaches are driven by reformist aspirations but are based on the conception that nursing or caring is basically good and the timelessness of universal values. This has the effect of essentialising political categories of identity such as class, race and gender. This kind of history is about affirmation rather than friction and about the conservation of memory and musealization. In contrast, we will focus on how we imagine nursing history could be used as a philosophical, critical perspective to challenge the ongoing transformations of our societies. Existing reality must be confronted with strangeness and the historically different can assume the function of this counterpart, meaning present and past must continuously be set in relation to each other. Thus, critical history is always the history of the present but not merely the pre‐history of the present – critique must rather present different realities and different certainties. In this paper, we use this approach to discuss the implementation of the nursing process (NP) in Germany. The nursing process appears to be a technology that helped to set up an infrastructure ‐ or assemblage ‐ to transform nursing interventions into a commodity exchangable between consumers and nurses in a free market. In our theoretical perspective, we argue that NP was a step in the realization of the German ordoliberal program, a specific variety of neoliberalism. In order to implement market‐orientation in the healthcare system it was necessary to transform hospitals into calculable spaces and to make all performances in the hospital calculable. This radically transformed not just the systems, but the ways in which nurses and patients conveived of themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal-based power stations rely on water for cooling purposes. These water sources may be subject to incidents of scarcity, environmental regulations, and competing economic concerns. This paper analyzes the effect of water scarcity and increased river temperatures on German electricity prices from 2002 to 2009. Having controlled for demand effects, the results indicate that the electricity price is significantly impacted by both a change in river temperatures and the relative abundance of river water. An implication is that future climate change will affect electricity prices not only through changes in demand, but also via increased water temperatures and scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conference report on the issues surrounding the emergence of e-books discussed during panels and presentations at the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair (October 12-16). Design/methodology/approach – This report was generated based on the author's personal observations at the Book Fair, combined with research into the topic of e-book pricing and purchasing models. Findings – The paper finds that publishers have not yet developed an appropriate business model for pricing and distributing e-books, which will affect libraries. While this business model is still "up in the air," libraries should communicate their needs to publishers. Ideally, this can help in creating a model that benefits both publishers and libraries, and therefore the public. Originality/value – This paper provides a look at the issues publishers are facing from the perspective of one of their major markets – libraries. The unique perspective of a librarian at a publisher's trade fair is given through the hot topic of e-books – which will continue to be a hot topic in the world of publishers and libraries, at least until a solid business model is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between the German Kiel Institute of World Economics and the Rockefeller Foundation in the years 1925-1950. It focuses on the role of politics in the promotion of science and shows the great difficulties the foundation had in developing a strategy to react to the Nazi’s seizure of power in 1933. The Kiel Institute disguised itself as an unpolitical and “objective” institute and managed to regain support after 1934. During the Second World War, the Rockefeller Foundation abandoned the idea of science as an area detached from politics by definition. In the late 1940s, it carefully reassessed the German academic landscape and, in the case of the Kiel Institute, came to the conclusion not to resume a significant amount of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spatial Economic Analysis 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.)

The paper aims at measuring the general state intervention in rental housing market in Germany from 1913 through 2015. Four policy classes are considered: Incentives for social housing, tenant protection, housing rationing, and rent controls. Based on a legislation analysis, for each class an index measuring the degree of regulation is constructed. The indices reflect dramatic increases in regulations during and after the World Wars. The 2010s are characterized by a surge in all classes of regulations related to the growing housing scarcity in large cities due to interregional migration leading to a geographical mismatch between housing supply and demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The topic of this paper is related to equity in health within a country. In public health care sectors of many countries decisions on priority setting with respect to treatment of different types of diseases or patient groups are implicitly or explicitly made. Priorities are realized by allocation decisions for medical resources where moral judgments play an important role with respect to goals and measures that should be applied. The aim of this study is to explore the moral intuitions held in the German society related to priorities in medical treatment. Methods: We use an experimental questionnaire method established in the Empirical Social Choice literature. Participants are asked to make decisions in a sequence of distributive problems where a limited amount of treatment time has to be allocated to hypothetically described patients. The decision problems serve as an intuition pump. Situations are systematically varied with respect to patients' initial health levels, their ability to benefit from treatment time, and the amount of treatment time available. Subjects are also asked to describe their deliberations. We focus on the acceptance of different allocation principles including equity concepts and utilitarian properties. We investigate rule characteristics like order preservation or monotonicity with respect to resources, severity, or effectiveness. We check the consistency of individual choices with stated reasoning. Results: The goals and allocation principles revealed show that the moral intuitions held by our experimental subjects are much more complex than the principles commonly applied in health economic theory. Especially, cost-utility principles are rarely applied, whereas the goal of equality of health gain is observed more often. The principle not to leave any patient untreated is very dominant. We also observe the degrees to which extent certain monotonicity principles, known from welfare economics, are followed. Subjects were able to describe their moral judgments in written statements. We also find evidence that they followed their respective intuitions very consistently in their decisions. Conclusions: Findings of the kind presented in this paper may serve as an important input for the public and political discussion when decisions on priorities in the public health care sector are formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of ergonomic workplace design has been rising incredibly. The knowledge of the interaction with a view to many indicators (e.g. operators' health, quality, productivity etc.) in the automotive assembly shop pushed into another thinking of ergonomics and an increasing awareness of economic possibilities relating to benefits and cost savings aligned with ergonomics. The paper discusses exemplary the various indicators and factors which could be influenced by ergonomic workplace design. These factors are linked each other and support the statement of ergonomic efficiency. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present a model which describes that investments in ergonomic work placement acts with preventive measurements, minimization of losses (refinishing operations, compensation money etc.) and extensive economies on the whole company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the intellectual and structural change that German economics experienced after the Second World War. This development often was described as ‘Americanisation’, since it seemed to rest upon the influences of the American occupation regime. In contrast, the paper applies another meaning of ‘Americanisation’. It is considered a ‘discourse’ that serves to structure the disciplinary procedures to produce progress. As it can be shown by the adoption of Keynesianism and neoclassical microeconomics, the change of the discipline was not primarily driven by direct American influences. Rather, in some respect the German reception took a path of its own. That contradiction can be solved by a theoretical modification of the classical concept of ‘Americanisation’. ‘Americanisation’ there meant a change of the operational procedure of German economics to generate progress. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most German states amended their local constitutions during the 1990s and now allow for the direct election of mayors, initiatives and referendums, and vote aggregation, as well as vote splitting. In this paper, it is asked whether these reforms had any effects on local fiscal policies. It is shown that the direct election of mayors led to lower government spending, whereas the introduction of direct democratic elements led to higher expenditures. The empirical results concerning direct democracy are substantially different from findings in relation to both Switzerland and the US. It is argued that this difference may be due to a lack of fiscal referendums in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, municipal economic activities have undergone considerable changes. Particularly due to market access liberalization in many fields, services of general economic interest are no longer part of the undisputed realm of official bodies. Dividing tasks between privately owned, profit-oriented enterprises and public authorities has become a fundamental issue of governance. Moreover, static and fixed notions of how to assign responsibilities in these sectors may be not sufficiently resilient to respond to dynamic effects such as the volatility of markets. The paper discusses the inherent difficulties by drawing on a controversy in Germany in the field of waste management. German waste management law has long departed from just curbing risks that typically result from unorganized waste disposal. Pursuant to the Waste Disposal and Recycling Management Act of 1996, German waste disposal policies follow two equally important objectives. First, legal provisions are designed to ensure orderly waste disposal by public authorities, in practice by municipalities and local communities. Alongside this classic end of waste management regulation, the Waste Disposal and Recycling Management Act establish a system that is meant to allow for and encourage waste recycling. Under the current regime, privately owned companies are entitled to handle waste materials that could be utilized for any substantial purpose other than just disposal. One of the dividing lines between those two areas is drawn by Sec. 13 of the Waste Disposal and Recycling Management Act. The provision stipulates that waste collected from private households has to be ceded to "public disposal bodies", e.g. to municipalities. However, this obligation ("Überlassungspflicht") does not apply to cases in which (1) household waste can be properly disposed of by commercial collection, and (2) „predominant public interests" do not require transferral to public disposal bodies (Sec. 13 subsec. 3 No 3 Waste Disposal and Recycling Management Act). Since the price for wood has been rising over the last decade, profit-oriented companies have found it economically attractive to collect waste paper even from households, thereby reducing the margins of municipal waste disposal entities. Jurisprudence on the interpretation of the semantically vague language of the act ("predominant public interests") varied heavily, until the German Federal Administrative Court recently ruled that it is the municipalities' near-exclusive responsibility to take care of household waste, including waste paper. Taking case law into account as well as the latest amendment of the European Waste Directive (2008/98/EC), the article addresses the implications of the controversy with respect to goods whose essential regulatory features depend on external factors such as unsteady markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low investment rates are a puzzling phenomenon particularly in transition economies with an urgent need for modernisation. The literature offers two alternative explanations: imperfect capital markets and investment reluctance due to real options effects. In this paper, we develop a generalised model that combines both aspects. The econometric implementation has the structure of a generalised Tobit model. Applying this model to German farm-level panel data, we show that ignoring real option effects may lead to erroneous conclusions in the context of empirical investment equations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues that the assumption of strict exogeneity, which is usually invoked in estimating models of state dependence with unobserved heterogeneity, is violated in the poverty context as important variables determining contemporaneous poverty status, in particular employment status and household composition, are likely to be influenced by past poverty outcomes. Therefore, a model of state dependence is developed that explicitly allows for possible feedback effects from past poverty to future employment and household composition outcomes. Empirical results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) suggest that there are indeed such feedback effects and that failure to take them into account may lead to biased estimates of the state dependence effect. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants are much less likely to own their homes than natives, even after controlling for a broad range of life-cycle and socioeconomic characteristics and housing market conditions. This paper extends the analysis of immigrant housing tenure choice by explicitly accounting for ethnic identity as a potential influence on the homeowner-ship decision, using a two-dimensional composite index of ethnic identity that incorporates attachments to both origin and host cultures. In the case of Germany, the evidence suggests that immigrants with a stronger commitment to the host country are more likely to achieve homeownership for a given set of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, regardless of their level of attachment to their home country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of the current discussion of statutory minimum wages in Germany, this paper analyzes the potential employment and fiscal effects of such a policy. Based on estimated labor demand elasticities obtained from a structural labor demand model, the empirical results imply that minimum wages in Germany will be associated with significant employment losses among marginal and low- and semi-skilled full-time workers. Even though minimum wages will lead to increased public revenues from income taxes and social security benefits, they will result in a significant fiscal burden, due to increased unemployment benefits and decreased revenues from corporate taxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate how label information detailing the performance of the Fair Trade labelling programme with respect to coffee affect consumers' willingness to pay in the US and in Germany. We provide respondents (university students in the US and Germany) information regarding the hypothetical benefits of the Fair Trade coffee programme on its intended beneficiaries on the production side [the revenue gains to participating marginal farmers (scope of the programme)] and, using stated preference conjoint methods, test how this performance criterion relates to the willingness to pay for Fair Trade coffee. Our empirical results identify a ‘threshold’ property of performance-based labels. In effect, the willingness-to-pay for performance-based Fair Trade labelled coffee exhibits an inverted U shape in the sense that the willingness to pay is positively related to the scope of the programme, but only up to a critical level. Thereafter, the willingness to pay declines as the income gains to participating growers increase further. Interestingly, this inverted U property is exhibited by both the US and German respondents with different critical thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to account for the empirical stylized facts related to changes in sectoral structures that have led to the growth of services in most advanced countries over recent decades. A growth model with evolutionary micro–founded structural change is developed, which formalizes the role of technical change and changes in intermediate demand as they affect the evolution of the sectoral composition of the economy and macro-economic growth. The simulated results are based on the use of the actual data, including Input–Output coefficients in the case of Germany. Three scenarios are identified, which account for the effects of a set of key parameters on changes in the structure of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private insurance markets in Germany are characterized by the coexistence of different distribution systems. Insurance products are mainly distributed both by independent and dependent agents. Economic theory provides different explanations for the coexistence of distribution channels: the product quality hypothesis states that independent agents provide both insurers and customers with higher service intensity and product quality and, therefore, remain on the market. We sent a written questionnaire to German insurance intermediaries designed to measure service quality. Our analysis shows that a higher level of service quality among independent agents supports the product quality hypothesis.The Geneva Papers (2008) 33, 389–407. doi:10.1057/gpp.2008.16 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the long-run relationship between consumption, asset wealth and income—the consumption–wealth ratio—based on German data from 1980 to 2003. We find that departures from this long-run relationship mainly predict adjustments in income. The German consumption–wealth ratio also contains considerable forecasting power for a range of business cycle indicators, including the unemployment rate. This finding is in contrast to earlier studies for some of the Anglo-Saxon economies that have shown that the consumption–wealth ratio reverts to its long-run mean mainly through subsequent adjustments in asset prices. While the German consumption wealth ratio contains little information about future changes in German asset prices, we report that the U.S. consumption–wealth ratio has considerable forecasting power for the German stock market. One explanation of these findings is that in Germany—due to structural differences in the financial and pension systems—the share of publicly traded equity in aggregate household wealth is much smaller than in the Anglo-Saxon countries. We discuss the implications of our results for the measurement of a potential wealth effect on consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how fiscal adjustment comes about when both central and sub-national governments are involved in consolidation. We test sustainability of public debt with a fiscal rule for both federal and regional government. Results for the German Länder show that lower tier governments bear a relatively smaller part of the burden of debt consolidation, if they consolidate at all. Most of the fiscal adjustment occurs via central government debt. In contrast, both the US federal and state levels contribute to consolidation of public finances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a few studies so far have tried to assess the role of HRM-flexibility in cross-national location decisions. None of these, however, investigates a potential heterogeneity across multinationals in terms of their specific needs concerning different types of flexibility in HRM. In this paper, I theoretically and empirically analyse the impact of HRM-flexibility on the type of investment being attracted. The theoretical implications are based on a real options framework and are derived in the context of a British-German comparison. They are confronted with data from an original survey on US-multinationals with manufacturing subsidiaries in Germany and the UK. The analysis reveals that in UK subsidiaries, investments in R&D are significantly lower, and technological uncertainty is significantly felt less strongly than in their German counterparts. Both results are compatible with the implications derived from the real options framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the modern theory of social cost–benefit analysis in a dynamic economy. The theory emphasizes the role of a comprehensive, forward-looking, dynamic welfare index within the period of the project rather than that of a project's long-term consequences. However, what constitutes such a welfare index remains controversial in the recent literature. In this paper, we attempt to shed light on the issue by deriving three equivalent cost–benefit rules for evaluating a small project. In particular, we show that the direct change in a net national product (NNP) qualifies as a convenient welfare index without involving any other induced side effects. The project evaluation criterion thus becomes the present discounted value of the direct changes in NNP over the project period. We also illustrate the application of this theory in a few stylized examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to map some of the diversity in employee relations in Germany that is overlooked, first, within assessments of the German labour market that focus on the national level and second, within separate studies in this ares that emphasize attempts by employers to circumvent important institutions. Design/methodology/approach - The research adopts a quantitative approach to examine data for German manufacturing and service sectors on both the spread of industry-wide collective agreements and the extent to which workers are paid wage rates that are higher than those set out in those agreements. It also assesses the prevalence of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes. Findings - Industry-wide collective agreements are not the burden that they are often portrayed. Actual wage rates and the prevalence of profit sharing and ESOSs make German workplaces more heterogeneous than critics and advocates of the German economic model posit. Research limitations/implications - The data are limited to Germany; however, Germany occupies a prominent position, not just within much of the employment relations literature, but also in terms of economic output. The research is also limited by an inability to provide evidence on workplaces that undercut sectoral collective agreements and to disaggregate the data further by sector and firm size/location. Originality/value - The paper provides a counterpoint to the portrayals of employee relations in Germany that often present a homogeneous picture of those relations. For the first time, data on the spread of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes in German workplaces at the sectoral level are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the seminal contribution of McCallum (1995) economists have tried to estimate the border effect for other countries than the United States and Canada, but have been confronted with a key data problem: data on regional trade flows are extremely rare. The different approaches put forward to overcome this lack of information have been shown to hinge crucially on certain distance measures. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a method that allows us determining border effects with a high degree of accuracy in the absence of intra-national trade data. We show how to improve the estimation of border effects with the example of France and Germany using data on regional transportation flows. Our results indicate that France trades about eight times more and Germany about three times more with itself than with other EU countries, respectively, compared to the predictions of the gravity equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Nairu in the Euro Area and the influence that hysteresis had on its development. Using the Kalman-filter technique we find that the Nairu has varied considerably since the early 1970s. The Kalman-filter technique is applied here using explicit exogenous variables. In order to test for hysteresis, the dependence of the Nairu on actual unemployment and long-term unemployment is estimated and found to be significant for the Euro Area and Germany, respectively. The existence of hysteresis effects implies the possibility of a long-run non-superneutrality of monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent discussion about the revision of German merger control underlines the relevance of media economic questions. This discussion frequently neglects the particularities of media markets, for example the mutual interconnection of advertising and media markets, i.e. of "two-sided markets". In this paper the impact of "two-sided markets" on mergers is analyzed. The results indicate that an intensive analysis of each case because of the heterogeneity of each market and a stronger economization of merger control would be useful. The basis for an economization could be quantitative analyses that are conducted using existing market data. The print media market is an example of the peculiarities of "two-sided markets" at which network externalities lead to pricing behavior that deviates from that on normal markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper suggests that an adequate understanding of the notion of the social market economy, which has become a prominent aspect of debates on the social model of the European Constitution, is to be assessed in the context of the historist tradition in German economic and social thought Design/methodology/approach — The paper explores the intellectual history of the notion of the social market economy and its conceptual relevance for a dynamic European social model by highlighting Alfred Müller-Armack's contributions to ordoliberalism and their relationship with German historism, in particular with Gustav von Schmoller's approach to Socialpolitik. Findings — The paper finds that the decisive concern of the notion of the social market economy is the reconciliation of economic dynamism and social cohesion in a basic setting of legal rules and cultural values, reaching beyond common interpretations that focus more narrowly on institutional aspects of social policy. Practical implications — By highlighting the interplay of economic, social and cultural dimensions, the paper suggests an extension of the conceptual horizon of current debates on the social model of the European Union, promoting policy implications that account for the possibilities of balancing conflicting social interests in the process of integration. Originality/value — The paper applies a reconstruction of the intellectual history of the notion of the social market economy to the problem of designing a social order for the European Union with its underlying discourse on the constitutional status of a European social market economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the role of preference shocks during the Great Depression in Germany. From Euler equation residuals, I am able to identify a series of contractionary shocks that struck the German economy from 1929 to 1932. I apply the sequence of these taste innovations to a dynamic general-equilibrium model and find that the size and the order of shocks can generate a pattern that can explain the lion's share of the decline in economic activity. The artificial economy also predicts a swift recovery after 1932, thereby questioning any significant effects of Nazi economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this paper analyzes the dynamics of equivalent income in East and West Germany in the years following reunification. Special emphasis is given to the separation of permanent and transitory components, the persistence of transitory shocks and their implications for the persistence of poverty and inequality. The results suggest that in West Germany, between 52 and 69 per cent of cross-sectional income inequality was permanent, and that poor individuals stayed in poverty for two years on average. In East Germany, the share of the permanent component in overall income inequality rose continuously from 20 per cent in 1990 to 72 per cent in 1998, reaching a level near the one that prevailed in West Germany during the same period. The rising importance of time-invariant components in East German incomes was also reflected in expected poverty durations which slightly increased from 1.47 years in 1990 to 1.67 years in 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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