The distinction between commercial and non-commercial bus services in Germany: Given by nature?

German public transport services by bus are characterized by a regulatory framework that distinguishes between commercial and non-commercial services. Contrary to the apparent views of legislators, this paper shows that costs and revenues are not the only parameters determining whether or not operators are able to provide services in a commercially viable way.Apart from the local characteristics of the specific service, we show that the classification of services as commercial versus non-commercial is determined in large part by the public transport authorities that set minimum quality standards to be provided by operators. Our analysis shows that the authorities awarding the contracts in some cases affect market organization significantly depending on how they make use of this power. Furthermore, market organization differs substantially with respect to the awarding structure and the contractual relationships, thus creating a challenge for operators and authorities in an embryonic market.     

Investment in Africa's Manufacturing Sector: A Four Country Panel Data Analysis

Firm level data for the manufacturing sector in Africa, presented in this paper, shows very low levels of investment. The importance of profit effects on investment is investigated using a flexible accelerator, a specification based on the Euler equation and a simple generalisation of these specificiations. There are controls for firm fixed effects. It is shown that the profit effect is very similar for both the accelerator and Euler equation specifications. A comparison with other studies shows that, for small firms, the effect is much smaller in Africa than for other countries. Reasons for the relative insensitivity of investment to profits in African firms are suggested. For the most general specification tested there are no significant differences in the size of the profit effect across the four countries in the study.     

The Anatomy of Income Distribution in Urban Ethiopia

Poverty is gradually spreading to the urban areas of Ethiopia, although it remains more extensive in the rural areas. This paper presents the first substantial analysis, since the 1960s, of the distribution of urban incomes and their determinants. It uses data for 1994 for an analysis of the economic well-being of urban households; it shows that income diversification is a typical characteristic of the poor, while those who are better off derive more than 75 per cent of their income from wage employment. Multiple activity remains less common in urban Ethiopia than in comparable countries, which is not surprising, since the two-decade socialist rule ruined the private sector. — La pauvreté, déjà généralisée dans les régions rurales de l’Ethiopie, se répand progressivement dans les zones urbaines de ce pays. Cet article présente la première analyse approfondie relative à la distribution des revenus dans les villes et aux déterminants de ces revenus, depuis les années 60. Les données pour 1994 sont utilisées pour analyser les conditions de vie des ménages urbains; l’article montre que la diversification du revenu est une caractéristique des pauvres tandis que les couches de la population mieux nanties tirent plus de 75 pour cent de leurs revenus d’un emploi salarié. Par rapport à d’autres pays analogues, la multiplicité de l’activité reste peu courante dans les zones urbaines d’Ethiopie, ce qui n’est guère surprenant étant donné que les deux décennies de régime socialiste ont ruiné le secteur privé.     

Note on a new method of construction of mortality tables when the number of lives exposed to risk is unknown

Abstract

It has been known for some time that the d^bx column in a mortality table can be considered as a compound frequency curve with a limited number of maxima and minima. From a theoretical point of view this is of course a self evident conclusion which follows directly from the so-called genetic theory of frequency originally introduced by Laplace. He showed that any frequency distribution can be considered or generated as the sum of a very large number of elementary errors, referrable to several sources of error, each group or error having its own peculiar law of error. While the pure theory of the generation of frequency curves from such secondary sources of elementary errors is simple enough, the inverse and essentially practical problem of decomposing a compound frequency curve into its component or constituent elements is by no means simple and often presents great difficulties, especially if certain restrictions are imposed upon the component curves. An example of such restrictions would be the requirement that all the component curves should be normal Laplacean probability curves.     

The Fear of Exclusion: Individual Effort when Group Formation is Endogenous*

To secure their membership in a popular group, individuals may contribute more to the group's local public good than they would if group formation were exogenous. Those in the most unpopular group do not have this incentive to contribute. This may result in substantial differences in individual effort level between groups. Our model thus provides one explanation for the existence of group‐specific behavioral norms. A principal will prefer exogenous or endogenous group formation depending on whether he prefers high or low levels of the local public good. We analyze two stylized examples: social interaction in schools, and multiple‐task teamwork.     

Attracting responsible employees: Green production as labor market screening

Corporate social responsibility can improve firms’ ability to recruit highly motivated employees. This can secure socially responsible firms’ survival even in a highly competitive environment. We show that if both socially responsible (green) and non-responsible (brown) firms exist in equilibrium, workers with high moral motivation, who shirk less than others, will self-select into the green firms. If unobservable effort is sufficiently important for firm productivity, this can drive every brown firm out of business—even in the case where many workers have no moral motivation whatsoever.     

Tensions between the Prescriptive and Descriptive Ethics of Psychologists

Ethical guidelines for psychologists are meant to stimulate and help psychologists to act appropriately with respect to clients, colleagues, and other individuals involved in their professional relations. This paper focuses on the similarity of codes of ethics of psychologists in European countries in general, and on specific ethical dilemmas in the area of work and organizations in particular. First, an overview is given of the development of ethical guidelines in Europe and the USA. Second, the results are presented of a survey by E-mail amongst members of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) to identify the differences and similarities between ethical guidelines of the affiliate members. Third, the potential dilemmas of stakeholders in work and organizational assessment are addressed. Finally, the results of a survey among Dutch selection psychologists are presented. The purpose of this study was to examine a possible tension between normative behavior and attitudes about normal behavior. It was concluded that ethical guidelines of European countries cover comparable (sub-)principles and that there are indications that individual psychologists agree with the written principles. In addition, suggestions for future research are given. Olga Voskuijl is Assistant Professor in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include codes of ethics, ethical dilemas in psychology, personnel selection; theory, and measurement of job performance; job analysis; measurement and analysis, of ability, personality, and vocational development. She has published on these topics in journals such as International Journal of Selection and Assessment, International Journal of Human Resource Management and European Journal of Psychological Assessment. Arne Evers is Associate Professor in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests include personnel selection, discrimination in selection, test and scale construction, organizational diagnosis and work stress. His publications have appeared in such journals as Journal of Organizational Behavior, European Journal of Psychological Assessment, and Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. Arne is a member of the Committee on Testing of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (COTAN) and of the standing Committee on Tests and Testing of the European Federation of Psychological Associations (EFPA).     

Has Germany Been Europeanised or Has Europe Become (too) Germanic?

It has often been argued that European monetary unification must basically be seen as a device to Europeanise re-unified Germany. For the Germans it seemed to be the best possible way to prevent a German “Sonderweg” and end any German ambition for hegemony. For the rest of Europe, and particularly France, it seemed to be the best way to curb German monetary dominance and to secure a French imprint on EU policy-making. In this article, however, it is argued that the German impact on the economic governance regime of EMU and its fencing off the French proposal of a “gouvernement economique” is so substantial that the term “Germanic Europe” seems in fact to be appropriate. More importantly, the economic governance system of “Germanic Europe” has locked the European Union into a politics of disinflation which makes it difficult for the EU to prosper and reap the potential fruits of European integration.

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* This paper was written while the author was a guest researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Brussels, from March to April 2005. He is most grateful to Andrew Watt for his help and the ETUI for its support.     

Market Constellations and Macroeconomic Policymaking: Institutional Impacts on Economic Performance

The following article presents a broad outline of a market participation theory of economic policy and attempts to determine how macroeconomic demand management can be used to influence market constellations. On that basis it then inquires into how far macroeconomic governance can be used to explain the different growth and employment performances of selected EU countries.

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The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Hans B?ckler foundation. This paper is part of a larger project on “Employment systems in international comparison”. The author’s thanks also go to Andrew Watt, Hansj?rg Herr and Carol Hogg for fruitful comments. However, the usual caveats apply.     

Customer segmentation using unobserved heterogeneity in the perceived-value–loyalty–intentions link

Multiple facets of perceived value perceptions drive loyalty intentions. However, this value–loyalty link is not uniform for all customers. In fact, the present study identifies three different segments that are internally consistent and stable across different service industries, using two data sets: the wireless telecommunication industry (sample size 1122) and the financial services industry (sample size 982). Comparing the results of a single-class solution with finite mixture results confirms the existence of unobserved customer segments. The three established segments are “rationalists”, “functionalists” and “value maximizers”. These results point the way for value-based segmentation in loyalty initiatives and reflect the importance of a multidimensional conceptualization of perceived value, comprising cognitive and affective components. The present results substantiate the fact that assuming a homogeneous value–loyalty link provides a misleading view of the market. The paper derives implications for marketing research and practice in terms of segmentation, positioning, loyalty programs and strategic alliances.