A Proposal for the Efficient Taxation of All Business Income in the EU

There is a growing awareness in many EU member states that business taxation solely on the basis of “taxable profits” enables, in particular, multinational companies to avoid paying taxes, with negative consequences both for tax revenue and—in the longer run—also for the stability of the economy. The following article proposes the taxation of all compensation of capital—not only profit for equity, but also interest for outside capital and licence fees for outside rights—at the site of production.     

The Role of Stakeholders in Sustainability Reporting Assurance

The main purpose of this exploratory analysis is to understand whether, based on evidence gathered from international best practices selected among corporations which adopt the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines in sustainability reporting (SR), stakeholders are significantly consulted and involved—as international literature would indicate—by assurance providers, during assurance processes of SR. We aim at verifying if this practice—known as stakeholder assurance—is in fact widespread in SR assurance by carrying out empirical research, through content analysis, into a sample of 161 assurance statements of international corporations, in order to test characteristics of any stakeholder assurance implemented.     

The fight over the global development agenda: How the west tries to marginalise UNCTAD

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has a long history of intellectual independence. This article details how Western countries tried to marginalise the organisation and its work — which is often critical of Western powers — during the 2012 UNCTAD conference. While developing countries were able to mobilise and partially beat back these attempts for now, the organisation’s ability to contribute to global macroeconomics remains under threat.     

Price V. Fishback et al. Government and the American Economy: A New History

In Government and the American Economy: A New History, a distinguishedpanel of economic historians chronicles and evaluates how governmenthas shaped U.S. economic development and growth from the colonialperiod to the present. The volume is dedicated to Robert Higgs,whose seminal thesis on the growth of government—thatit is a crisis-induced and persistent process—is one ofthe volume's underlying themes (and the subject of Higgs’chapter titled, "The World Wars"). The other is that government     

Which Socio-economic Model for Europe?

Disappointing growth rates and high unemployment in Europe have given rise to a debate on whether the European socio-economic model—or which of its variations—has a future in the face of increasing international competition. The following two articles discuss the current challenges facing Europe in this field and the options for meeting these challenges.      

Digital- und Medienpolitik in Parteiprogrammen zur Bundestagswahl 2021

Wirtschaftsdienst - Vier Parteien — Die Linke, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen und FDP — haben bis Ende April 2021 den Entwurf ihres Programms zur Bundestagswahl am 26. September...     

Garret Epps. Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America

In the spring of 1866, Congress drafted what would become theFourteenth Amendment—a promise of citizenship and civilrights for all Americans regardless of race. However, the Redeemeryears following its ratification blurred its importance, illuminatedlatent racial prejudice, and then provided for the failure ofcivil rights—not normally the makings of a success story.Yet, despite the racial issues of this nation, the FourteenthAmendment has remained a part of the Constitution—readyto serve its duty to     

George Feifer. Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853

Commodore Matthew Perry commanded a squadron of US Navy shipsthat sailed east from Norfolk in November, 1852, carrying aletter from President Millard Fillmore to the Japanese Government.In it, the USA asked Japan, which had been essentially closedto westerners for more than two centuries, to provide for thehumane treatment and return of US seamen—mostly whalers—shipwreckedin Japanese waters, to open Japanese ports to US ships for provisioningand refueling, and to establish trading relationships—Perryat     

Modernisation of EC competition law, economy and horizontal cooperation between undertakings

Conclusion  From both the Commission's explanatory comments to the proposal for the new “Regulation 17” and the new approach towards horizontal co-operation agreements as witnessed in the Guidelines and the two group exemption regulations, it seems abundantly clear that the Commission holds the view that the time is not yet ripe for an overall safe harbour approach for horizontal co-operation agreements. That being the case, there would have been no objection—if only for an intermediate step and until the moment that the horizontal market would be ripe for an overall safe harbour approach—to the introduction of a notification system for such horizontal agreements similar to the one applicable for vertical restraints by virtue of Regulation 1216/1999.⁴⁷ This would have considerably alleviated the Commission's workload as far as reducing the number of and dealing with notifications is concerned. If this system had been combined with the sharing of the exemption powers by the Commission with the NCAs—which would have been a truly appropriate and proportional signal regarding the application of the principle of subsidiarity—this would have left the complicated economic assessment under article 81(3) where it belongs, i.e. with the administrative authorities that would be best placed (and trained) to perform this task. The national courts could then continue to concentrate on their tasks as defined by the ECJ in Delimitis, with the result that these institutions would also be doing exactly that for which they are best placed and trained, i.e. the application of the legal norms provided for in article 81(1) and (2) and article 82. The proposals of the Commission are deemed to be premature—at least in the view of this author—in the light of the forthcoming enlargement of the EU, the enforcement puzzles as described above, the monitoring of the cohesion of Community competition law and all the problems of training that come with it. The Commission's workload is likely to increase as a result of all this, and not just for an intermediate period of time but expectedly forever.     

Organizational ethics: A stacked deck

The astute manger should be aware that, in organizations, the deck is frequently ‘stacked’ against higher levels of ethical behavior. This deck stacking occurs because of socialization processes, environmental influences, and the organization hierarchy. As a result of bosses using hierarchical leverage to take the ethical dimension of decision-making away from subordinates, the stage is set for a they-made-me-do-it defense of their moral integrity by these subordinates if and when violations of ethical norms come to light. There is also at work, however, an I-made-them-do-it situation in which professionals who prefer to ‘nest’ in the more technical aspects of their work ‘delegate’ — upward — to their bosses ethical decision-making. Understanding these dynamics is crucial in an age which is especially sensitized to the ethical facet of organizational behavior. He has taught at the University of Georgia since World War II, with the exception of a Rockefeller Foundation Year at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and two years with the Ford Foudation in Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of four books on management and public policy — the co-author of a recent Principles of Management text — and he has written many articles on economics and management in a wide variety of journals. His most important publications are:Business and Society: Managing Corporate Social Performance (Little, Brown, Boston, 1981), ‘A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Performance’,Academy of Management Review (Oct., 1979), pp. 497–506, and ‘Business Ethics and the Management Hierarchy’,National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal (Summer, 1978), pp. 37–40.     

Comparing Customer and Supplier Perceptions of Value Offerings: An Exploratory Assessment

This paper proposes an exploratory assessment of similarities and differences between the perceptions of suppliers and their customers about what is important in a value offering—and to which extent—in a specific business sector.     

EUCO2 80/50 — Entwicklung regionaler Reduktionsstrategien durch Stakeholder-Beteiligung

Analysen und BerichteInvestitionen

Die deutsche Investitionsschw?che und die EWU — Fakt oder Fiktion? — eine Replik     

Doing Right Leads to Doing Well: When the Type of CSR and Reputation Interact to Affect Consumer Evaluations of the Firm

This study investigates the efficacy of three corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives—sponsorship, cause-related marketing (CRM), and philanthropy—on consumer–company identification (C–C identification) and brand attitude and, in turn, consumer citizenship behaviors. CSR reputation is proposed as the moderating variable that affects the relationship between CSR initiatives, C–C identification, and brand attitude. A conceptual model that integrates the hypothesized relationships and the moderating effect of CSR reputation is used to frame the study. Using a between-subjects factorial designed experiment, the results showed that all three CSR initiatives have a significant effect on C–C identification and brand attitude. The level of that influence, however, varied according to a firm’s CSR reputation. Managerial implications of these findings are also discussed.     

Customers�� zone of tolerance for retail stores

The present study describes the zone of tolerance for customers’ service expectations and determines their satisfaction level for retail stores. It attempts to diagnose the service quality level of customers’ in retail store setting. A conceptual model RETZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations—‘desired’ and ‘adequate’—and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating retail store services. The findings reveal that customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regards to the services provided by retail stores.     

Speculative attack against the Hungarian forint

In mid-January 2003 a severe speculative attack was launched against the exchange rate of the Hungarian forint. The attack was very unusual in the history of foreign exchange speculations, since it was aimed at enforcing the appreciation — and not the depreciation — of the currency targeted. The specific nature of this kind of speculation is closely related to Hungary’s accession to the European Union in general and to EMU in particular. Since the other Central and Eastern European acceding countries face similar problems and challenges, the Hungarian experience may involve some instructive lessons on monetary and economic policy for them too.     

Economic development and the WTO: Back to basics?

Conclusion  An effective WTO is critical for developing countries —the alternatives, bilateral and regional agreements, will give rise to trade diversion and discrimination, and most likely exclude sectors such as agriculture and policies such as antidumping. Developing countries have a strong incentive to put together an agenda that offers potential benefits to OECD countries as well as themselves. The Singapore issues are arguably not necessary to move forward on the market access agenda. There is huge scope to trade “concessions” on tariffs — both applied rates and tariff binding. The same is true for access to service markets. A refocused effort centered on market access, complemented by an emphasis on transparency predictability and reciprocity, could help realize the development promise of the Doha round. The views expressed are personal and should not be attributed to the World Bank.     

Does banking consolidation worsen firms’ access to credit? Evidence from the German economy

This paper deals with the question whether the ongoing process of banking consolidation, which can be observed all over the world, worsens SMEs’ access to credit. We focus in our empirical study on SMEs in Germany, a country where SMEs are the backbone of the economy. A negative trend in the provision with bank credit may thus adversely affect growth and employment. Based on a comprehensive dataset on German firms and banks we find—contrary to public fear—that the ongoing banking consolidation in Germany does not have a significant negative impact on the financing of German firms during the observation period from 1996 to 2002.     

David P. Billington and David P. Billington, Jr. Power, Speed, and Form: Engineers and the Making of the Twentieth Century

This is an enjoyable book. Historians of technology will findit especially appealing, but this book deserves—and willno doubt find—a wide audience. The Billingtons, a father-sonteam of engineer and historian, have written an engaging andcomprehensible account of modern engineering. They examine eighttechnologies fundamental to the modern world: electric power,the telephone, oil refining, the automobile,     

Corporate social responsibility of financial organizations in the social economy: a case study on savings banks

The implementation of corporate social responsibility policies in firm management processes is becoming increasingly relevant. In the particular case of the financial sector, the incorporation of these policies often has huge repercussions as their role as intermediaries means that firms depend on them for investment which, in turn, affects the way firms perform. Within the financial sector, those organizations form part of the social economy—credit cooperatives and savings banks—are a very particular case as one of the principles on which they are based is their social nature. In this study, we examine the social responsibility situation in these financial organizations, focusing on the case of savings banks. We provide information that will help us better understand the real state of Spanish savings banks with respect to these two areas of social responsibility: The “Obra Social” (or charitable activities) and the incorporation of social and environmental criteria in their business policies.     

Paul Jobling. Man Appeal: Advertising, Modernism, and Menswear * Linda Welters and Patricia Cunningham, eds. Twentieth-Century American Fashion

Since the New Millennium, the study of fashion and apparel hasblossomed as an academic subdiscipline, riding on the achievementsof curatorial pioneers like Claudia Kidwell and the next generationof historians, Valerie Steele and Christopher Breward. In thepublishing world, Berg Press has capitalized on the fervor withthe journal Fashion Theory and the dress, body, and culturebook series. Over the past decade, more than three dozen books—monographsand edited volumes—have come out of the dress, body, andculture series. Many of