Measuring input-specific productivity change based on the principle of least action

In for-profit organizations, efficiency and productivity measurement with reference to the potential for input-specific reductions is particularly important and has been the focus of interest in the recent literature. Different approaches can be formulated to measure and decompose input-specific productivity change over time. In this paper, we highlight some problems within existing approaches and propose a new methodology based on the Principle of Least Action. In particular, this model is operationalized in the form of a non-radial Luenberger productivity indicator based on the determination of the least distance to the strongly efficient frontier of the considered production possibility sets, which are estimated by non-parametric techniques based upon Data Envelopment Analysis. In our approach, overall productivity change is the sum of input-specific productivity changes. Overall productivity change and input-specific changes are broken up into indicators of efficiency change and technical change. This decomposition enables the researcher to quantify the contributions of each production factor to productivity change and its components. In this way, the drivers of productivity development are revealed. For illustration purposes the new approach is applied to a recent dataset of Polish dairy processing firms.     

Decline of Controlled Foreign Company Rules and Rise of Intellectual Property Boxes: How the European Court of Justice Affects Tax Competition and Economic Distortions in Europe

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has become an influential player in the field of direct taxation in the European Union (EU) in the past 20 years. However, it is unclear whether or not the ECJ's decisions and the corresponding reactions by the member states actually contribute to tax neutrality in economic terms and, therefore, to the achievement of the internal market. In 2006, the ECJ limited the applicability of specific tax rules in the EU that are intended to prohibit the excessive use of low‐tax countries by multinationals. Our counterfactual analysis shows that the court's restriction of so‐called controlled foreign company rules and the related second‐round reactions by some member states – i.e. the introduction of low‐tax regimes for income from acquired intellectual properties (IP boxes for acquired IP) – cast doubt on the seemingly positive effects the ECJ has on reducing tax distortions. In addition, we demonstrate that the restricted applicability of IP boxes as endorsed by the OECD and the European Commission would strengthen tax neutrality in Europe.     

Correcting for the Missing Rich: An Application to Wealth Survey Data

It is a well‐known criticism that if the distribution of wealth is highly concentrated, survey data are hardly reliable when it comes to analyzing the richest parts of society. This paper addresses this criticism by providing a general rationale of the underlying methodological problem as well as by proposing a specific methodological approach tailored to correcting the arising bias. We illustrate the latter approach by using Austrian data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey. Specifically, we identify suitable parameter combinations by using a series of maximum‐likelihood estimates and appropriate goodness‐of‐fit tests to avoid arbitrariness with respect to the fitting of the Pareto distribution. Our results suggest that the alleged non‐observation bias is considerable, accounting for about one quarter of total net wealth in the case of Austria. The method developed in this paper can easily be applied to other countries where survey data on wealth are available.     

利维坦之形塑:财政、国家能力与治理

财政是国家发展的重要因素,是国家保护公民、提供正义和行政管理的前提。税收是国家获取财政的主要方式,不仅维系着国家与纳税人之间的关系,还与代表制、问责制与国家能力息息相关。揆诸史实,欧洲国家的历史发展验证了财政筹集与制度变革的重要联系,对财政的需求催生了制度的变革,并产生了代议制度。税收是国家能力和国家财权的先决条件,唯有抓住国家治理的税收脉络,在税收、能力、代议制与问责制之间形成了良性的制度循环,方能实现国家治理体系和治理能力的现代化。     

OPEC's Response to International Climate Agreements

This paper studies a game between a group of countries that have agreed to participate in an international climate agreement (the signatories) and OPEC. The purpose of the signatories is to design carbon taxes that maximize their total net income, given a goal on global carbon emissions. As a response to the climate agreement, OPEC imposes an oil tax on its member states that maximizes OPEC's profits. Within a numerical model we find the subgame-perfect equilibrium of a game in which each player chooses when to fix his decision variables. It is shown that in equilibrium the group of signatories chooses to be the leader and OPEC chooses to be the follower. It is demonstrated, however, that for both agents the order of move is of minor (numerical) importance. Hence, the players have limited incentives for strategic behaviour.     

Single Market effects on productivity in the German insurance industry

The Single Market project of the European Commission was supposed to foster productivity growth in the financial service industry. We assess its consequences on productivity development in the German insurance industry, one of the largest insurance markets within the European Union, by applying Data Envelopment Analysis to a panel of German insurance companies. We estimate standard and bootstrapped efficiency scores for the years 1991 through 2006 and apply a test on scale efficiency based on bootstrapped statistics. Furthermore, we compute a Malmquist index and test for different types of productivity convergence across firms.     

Die Kosten der Flüchtlingskrise in Deutschland – eine Investition in die Zukunft?

The high costs of the refugee crisis are often a subject of public discussion. However, one should distinguish between the fiscal and the overall economic effects of this current wave of immigration. A financial economic model shows that the “fiscal break-even” point can be reached by the year 2031. This is the first point at which the taxes and contributions of employed refugees exceed the costs to the public sector resulting from the refugees who are not in the labour market. The “economic break-even” point can be reached as early as 2025 if the gross value added contributions of the employed refugees by that time exceed the costs of caring for and integrating the refugees who are not in employment. This will require a “smart” integration of the refugees into the labour market, requiring high investment in the qualification of individuals and a flexible use of labour policy tools.     

Der Lehrstuhl für Unternehmensplanung und Controlling an der ESCP-EAP Europäische Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Interweaving threads of credit and debt: Trading (through) textiles in colonial Dar es Salaam

Tracing the modus operandi of textile traders in colonial Dar es Salaam, this article makes a case for viewing the availability and extension of credit in the form of textiles as a central aspect of traders’ lives. The versatility of textiles in the local context of Dar es Salaam not only contributed to their high demand, their use as the main medium of exchange and the basis on which credit was extended; it also shaped the local conceptualisation of entrepreneurship. For textile traders in colonial Dar es Salaam, it was of economic, social and cultural importance to always be both in debt and have others in debt to them.