Hosting major sports events: the challenge of taming white elephants

While the literature on the economic impacts of major sports events has grown considerably over the years, the question of utilisation of venues built for these events after the party is over has received little attention. This article fills some of the gaps in the literature. By means of a Stadium Utilisation Index, it measures the post-event utilisation of venues that were constructed of significantly refurbished to host major sports events in the period from 1996 to 2010. It reveals some of the challenges facing the utilisation of the venues once ‘the circus has left town’. The regressions identify that private owned stadiums have a higher rate of utilisation than publicly built venues. The stadiums with the highest capacity tend to have higher utilisation. Last, but not least in terms of importance, stadiums in nations with a high degree of corruption had the lowest utilisation.     

Struktureller Wandel und Krisenbewältigung der deutschen Volkswirtschaft

Die Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise wirkt wie ein externer Schock auf die deutsche Konjunktur. Mit zwei makro?konomischen Simulationsmodellen weisen die Autoren nach, dass die Krise in Deutschland allein auf diesen Schock zurückzuführen ist. Die Exportabh?ngigkeit der Wirtschaft führt dazu, dass die Produktion zunehmend volatiler wird. Demgegenüber hat sich die Besch?ftigungsentwicklung stabilisiert und von der Konjunktur abgekoppelt — vor allem dank der staatlichen Hilfen.     

Managing Legitimacy in Complex and Heterogeneous Environments: Sustainable Development in a Globalized World

The sustainability problems with regard to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services increasingly challenge the legitimacy of corporations. The literature distinguishes three strategies that corporations commonly employ to respond to legitimacy problems: adapt to external expectations, manipulate the perception of their stakeholders, or engage in a discourse with those who question their legitimacy. We discuss three approaches to determine the appropriate response strategy: one‐best‐way approach, contingency approach, and paradox approach. We argue that in the face of heterogeneous environments with conflicting demands, corporations that follow a paradox approach are likely to be more successful in preserving their legitimacy than those that adopt one of the other two approaches. We develop a theoretical framework for the application of different response strategies and explore the management of paradoxes by way of structural, contextual, or reflective means.     

Kritische Anmerkungen zum „Währungskrieg“

In der Februarausgabe 2011 ver?ffentlichte der Wirtschaftsdienst einen Beitrag von Gunther Schnabl zum Thema „Strukturelle Verzerrungen im W?hrungskrieg“. Georg Quaas setzt sich kritisch mit diesem Beitrag auseinander.     

Localized Technological Progress And Industry Structure: An Empirical Approach *

Modem innovation theory holds that the choice of production technique and technical porgress are unseparable activities so that technological progress can be described as localized. Based on this conception one has to expect an intra-sectoral firm heterogeneity in the production techniques applied and the technical efficiency achieved which contrasts to the presumption of intra-sectoral homogeneity as suggested by neoclassical theory. For measuring intra-industry heterogeneity an empirical tool is required which does not rest on the assumption of homogeneity, i.e. on a common production function for all firms under consideration. The method which does not require this assumption, Data Envelopment Analysis, is non-parametric, allows for firm-specific production functions and helps to determine differences in both technical efficiency and production technique applied. This tool is introduced in its basic formulation, its main features are discussed on ihe basis of modern innovation theory, and an empirical analysis for the German machinery, electronics and chemical industry is presented.     

Intercultural Discourse Ethics: Testing Trompenaars' and Hampden-Turner's Conclusions about Americans and the French

Are culture driven ethical conflicts apparent in the discourse of the protagonists? A multi-year, multi-cultural study of managers by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner resulted in two conclusions relevant to business ethics. The first is that intercultural business conflicts can often be traced to a finite set of cultural differences. The second is that enough similarities exist between cultures to provide the grounds for conflict resolution. The research reported here gives credence to their study when applied to an ethical conflict viewed from French and American perspectives.     

In Memory of Michael Watts (November 3, 1950–December 5, 2014)

In an experimental economics simulation, Ukrainian teachers of economics chose free riding responses at a rate similar to those found by Leuthold in an undergraduate class on public economics at the University of Illinois. The authors speculate that those who become academic economists may do so because they have certain insights in deductive logic.