THE ECONOMICS OF COUNTERTERRORISM: A SURVEY

We provide a review of theoretical and empirical contributions on the economic analysis of terrorism and counterterrorism. We argue that simple rational‐choice models of terrorist behavior – in the form of cost‐benefit models – already provide a well‐founded theoretical framework for the study of terrorism and counterterrorism. We also hint at their limitations which relate to the failure of accounting for the dynamics between terrorism and counterterrorism that may produce unintended second‐order effects as well as for the costs associated with counterterrorism and its international dimension. We reevaluate previously proposed counterterrorism strategies accordingly. Finally, in the light of our findings, we discuss interesting areas of future research.     

Solvency II,asset liability management,and the European bond market – theory and empirical evidence

It is already foreseeable that Solvency II will tie capital requirements to a very comprehensive risk definition including underwriting and market risks. The new regulatory framework will demand more sophisticated tools to detect interest rate risks on both sides of the balance sheet in an integrated approach. Efforts by life insurers to level these risks could lead to an increased demand for long term fixed income securities. At this point the question arises if this industry wide change in asset demand will have or already has had an impact on prices of long-term bonds and the yield curve in the Euro-Zone?     

Umsetzungsbarrieren bei Produktinnovationen: Führt der „Weg des geringsten Widerstands“ zum Innovationserfolg?

Welche Innovationsbarrieren gef?hrden die Umsetzung kreativer Ideen in neue Produkte? Was bedeuten Umsetzungsbarrieren für den Erfolg eines Innovationsprozesses? Welche Strategien des Innovationsmanagements bew?hren sich? Mit Daten von 408 Produktinnovationsprozessen aus Technologiebranchen werden diese Zusammenh?nge für vier Innovationstypen vergleichend analysiert: Umsetzungsbarrieren in den Phasen Forschung & Entwicklung, Produktion und Markteinführung treten, insbesondere bei hohem Neuheitsgrad, nahezu immer auf. Der Intensit?t dieser Barrieren kommt jedoch nur geringe Erkl?rungskraft für den Innovationserfolg zu. Offensichtlich führen nicht nur „Wege des geringsten Widerstands“ zum Erfolg. Die Befunde zeigen, dass eine frühzeitige Integration von Akteuren und Funktionen dazu beitragen kann, Innovationserfolge auch „über Barrieren“ zu erreichen.     

Mehr Anreize,weniger Sanktionen: Vorschlag für eine Reform der Grundsicherung

Wirtschaftsdienst - Die Bundesregierung will das System der Grundsicherung für Arbeitsfähige radikal reformieren. Neben der Abschaffung des Vermittlungsvorrangs und der Stärkung der...     

Web-Exzellenz als Schlüsselfaktor im Online-Handel

Web-Exzellenz zeichnet erfolgreiche Online-H?ndler aus, die besser performen als der Durchschnitt und in der Lage sind, mit ihren Leistungen im E-Commerce den Benchmark zu setzen. Obwohl in der Online-Praxis der Begriff Web-Exzellenz bereits umfassend Verwendung findet, ist er bisher wissenschaftlich weder fundiert noch belegt worden. Dieser Beitrag zeigt Best Practices und Erfolgsfaktoren.     

Die Zukunft der Pflegeversicherung in Deutschland: Umlage und Kapitaldeckung

Due to the dramatic ageing of the population, the German welfare state expects enormous challenges in the decades until 2060: either the contribution rates have to be increased by a full 20 percentage points, or the benefits must be cut by one-third – relative to their present growth path. Moreover, even in the otherwise copious German welfare state, the system of publicly financed long-term care benefits is characterized by a considerable coverage gap. In this paper, we analyze past and current reforms of the German financing system for LTC expenditures, and we argue that the coverage gap should be reduced by supplementing the welfare state with an element of mandatory funding. The financial crisis should not induce policy makers to default on this necessary financing reform.     

Measuring large comovements in financial markets

A general, copula-based framework for measuring the dependence among financial time series is presented. Particular emphasis is placed on multivariate conditional Spearman's rho (MCS), a new measure of multivariate conditional dependence that describes the association between large or extreme negative returns—so-called tail dependence. We demonstrate that MCS has a number of advantages over conventional measures of tail dependence, both in theory and in practical applications. In the analysis of univariate financial series, data are filtered to remove temporal dependence as a matter of routine. We show that standard filtering procedures may strongly influence the conclusions drawn concerning tail dependence. We give empirical applications to two large data sets of high-frequency asset returns. Our results have immediate implications for portfolio risk management, derivative pricing and portfolio selection. In this context we address portfolio tail diversification and tail hedging. Amongst other aspects, it is shown that the proposed modeling framework improves the estimation of portfolio risk measures such as the value at risk.