Social dialogues—the state of the art a decade after Maastricht

The article asks whether social dialogues, according the procedures of the Social Protocol and the Amsterdam Treaty, have proved to be valuable instruments able to make major contributions to the development of social integration. More recent developments at the inter‐professional as well as at the sectoral level are evaluated. Furthermore, major trajectories for likely future trends at both levels are highlighted. The final part discusses the problem of whether social dialogues will profit from the introduction of new modes of governance, especially the more recently preferred open method of co‐ordination.     

Across-the-Curve Credit Spread Indices

We design a novel across-the-curve credit spread index, AXI, a measure of the recent cost of wholesale unsecured debt funding for publicly listed US bank holding companies and commercial banks. AXI, a benchmark for bank lending and risk management, is the weighted average of credit spreads for unsecured debt instruments with maturities ranging from overnight to five years, with weights that reflect both transaction and issuance volumes. We provide illustrative output of the bond-based component of AXI. By widening coverage to include all corporate debt issuers, we also build a financial conditions index (FXI).     

Costs, Institutional Mobility Barriers, and Market Structure: Advertising Agencies as Multiproduct Firms

What accounts for the diversity and limited concentration that has long characterized the organization of the advertising agency industry? This question is addressed by treating an advertising agency as a multiproduct firm. The firm's product line or service mix is defined in terms of the set of different media categories where an agency places the advertising messages that it creates on behalf of its clients. Evidence is presented indicating that the structure of demand and costs in the advertising agency industry conforms to the conditions that MacDonald and Slivinski showed were required for an industry to sustain an equilibrium with diversified firms. Building on this framework, we formulate a set of three hypotheses relating to the realization of product-specific scale and scope economies. The first two hypotheses posit that given low fixed costs and minimal entry barriers, both media-specific scale and scope economies are available and can be exploited by relatively small-size agencies. The third hypothesis suggests that large agencies may experience diseconomies of scope as a consequence of excessive diversification induced by two pervasive industry institutional phenomena: (1) “bundling” of agency services to match client demand for a mix of media advertising, and (2) “conflict policy,” which prohibits an agency from serving competing accounts and operates as a mobility constraint. Utilizing a multiproduct cost function, we estimate media-specific scale and scope economies for a cross section of 401 U.S. agencies in 1987. The results obtained support the set of three hypotheses outlined above. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the restructuring currently underway in this industry.     

Vorschlag für ein prognose- und simulationsmodell des umwandlungsbereichs der energiewirtschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Summary A Proposal for a Forecast and Simulation Model of the Energy Transformation Sector in the Federal Republic of Germany. — In this article an attempt is made to develop a forecast and simulation model of the energy transformation sector in the Federal Republic of Germany. First of all a method is shown by which energy balances can be transformed into energy input-output tables. Such tables enable a more detailed view of the energy sector in a flow diagram than those developed by the "Working Committee on Energy Balances." Furthermore, they lead to a critical evaluation of current balance methods, and reveal that certain assumptions — made in setting up these balances — do not hold up with respect to the transformation technology. In interpreting the theoretical implications of the input-output set-up, it is also possible to adequately consider the transformation losses and thus arrive at a definite solution to the simultaneous equation system.

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Résumé Une proposition d’un modèle de pronostic et de simulation du secteur de transformation de l’économie énergétique dans la République Fédérale d’Allemagne. — Dans cet article on essaie de développer un modèle de pronostic et de simulation pour le secteur de transformation de l’économie énergétique dans la RFA. D’abord l’auteur développe une méthode pour la transformation des bilans énergétiques dans des tableaux économiques-énergétiques d’input-output. D’une part ces tableaux permettent une compréhension plus profonde de la structure de l’économie énergétique au sens d’un tableau de flux que peut être donnée par les bilans énergétiques construites par la ?Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen?. D’autre part ils permettent quelques remarques critiques sur la méthode d’évaluation au bilan en découvrant que plusieurs des suppositions contenues dans le bilan énergétique ne sont pas compatibles avec la technologie de transformation. L’interprétation modèle-théorique du système économique-énergétique d’input-output conduit de plus à une considération apte des pertes de transformation et de cette manière à une solution claire du système d’équations simultanées.

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Resumen Proposición para un modelo de pronóstico y simulación del ámbito de transformación del sector energético en la República Federal de Alemania. — En este artículo se intenta desarrollar un modelo de pronóstico y simulación para el ámbito de transformación del sector energético en la República Federal de Alemania. Con este propósito se desarrolla primeramente un método que permite transformar los balances de energía en tablas de input-output energéticas. Estas tablas permiten, por un lado una visión más profunda de la estructura del sector energético en el sentido de un cuadro de secuencia que lo que permiten los balances de energia confeccionados por la ?Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen? (Comisión de Balances de Energia). Por el otro lado llevan a formular algunos comentarios críticos sobre los métodos para efectuar balances, donde se revela que algunos supuestos contenidos en el balance de energía no son compatibles con la tecnología de transformación. Por medio de la interpretación modelo-teórica del sistema de input-output energético se logra, además, contemplar pérdidas por transformación en forma adecuada y encontrar con ello una solución clara al sistema de ecuaciones simultáneas.

     

Employment relations without collective bargaining and strikes: the unusual case of civil servants in Germany

The article deals with the widely neglected employment relations in the public sector of Germany with a special focus on civil servants. It is subdivided into two main parts. A shorter part elaborates on public employees and collective bargaining, a longer one on civil servants and their diverging forms of employment relations without the right to collective bargaining and strike. In order to better understand major changes that have taken place since the mid2000s, we chose a long-term perspective and examine traditional as well as present forms of interest representation. Limited degrees of decentralisation and their lasting diverging consequences are analysed in great detail.     

Moral hazard and adverse selection in the originate-to-distribute model of bank credit

Bank credit has evolved from the traditional relationship banking model to an originate-to-distribute model. We show that the borrowers whose loans are sold in the secondary market underperform their peers by about 9% per year (risk-adjusted) over the three-year period following the initial sale of their loans. Therefore, either banks are originating and selling loans of lower quality borrowers based on unobservable private information (adverse selection), and/or loan sales lead to diminished bank monitoring that affects borrowers negatively (moral hazard). We propose regulatory restrictions on loan sales, increased disclosure, and a loan trading exchange/clearinghouse as mechanisms to alleviate these problems.     

Impacts of Patent Expiry on Daily Cost of Pharmaceutical Treatments in Eight OECD Countries, 2004–2010

Variability in regulatory frameworks, industrial policy, physician/pharmacy autonomy, brand/generic distinctions, and the practice of medicine contribute to ambiguous interpretations of cross-country pharmaceutical cost comparisons. Here, we report cross-country comparisons that: (i) focus on ten therapeutic classes experiencing patent expiration and loss of exclusivity 2004–2010 in eight industrialized countries; (ii) convert revenues and unit sales to cost per day of treatment and number patient days treated using the World Health Organization’s Defined Daily Dosage metrics; (iii) compare patterns in costs per day of treatment with price index measures based on average price per day of treatment for each molecule computed over all molecule versions; (iv) utilizing econometric methods, model and quantify various factors affecting variations in daily treatment price indexes such as national regulatory and reimbursement policy changes, physician/pharmacy autonomy, and other factors; and (v) simulate changes in expenditures by country and therapeutic class had counterfactual policies been implemented.     

Understanding farmers' decision making processes and improving managerial assistance

Few studies have been made of how farmers make decisions. Most research and teaching has focused on the decision event, not the whole process. Current knowledge of the decision making process is reviewed and described as a set of eight functions or elements: values and goals, problem detection, problem definition, observation, analysis, development of intention, implementation, and responsibility bearing. The relevancy of this view of farmers' decision making behavior is tested through a series of case studies. Based on these observations, the conceptual model of the decision process is revised to include four phases and four subprocesses. The four phases are problem detection, problem definition, analysis and choice, and implementation. The four subprocesses are searching and paying attention, planning, evaluating and choosing, and checking the choice. In addition, we note that farmers prefer the ability to continually update their evaluation and plans, a qualitative vs. quantitative analysis, a “quick and simple” vs. detailed and elaborate analysis, small tests and incremental implementation, and feed forward and compensation vs. post-implementation evaluation. Implications of this fuller view of the decision making process for management assistance are discussed.