Technological Threat and Opportunity Assessment

One of the major challenges in the management of innovation is a practical and useful implementation of technology forecasting. This article proposes the concept of aniticpating the technological future, and that a structured approach to this concept could be an invaluable aid to technical decision-making. The notion of technological threat and opportunity assessment is presented as a useful framework for anticipating technological change. This notion is based on a dual approach.Firstly, a rapidly changing global technological landscape necessitates keeping track of technological developments. However, since we are dealing with innovation (rather than mere invention), the market implications are as important as the technological ones and have to be accounted for as such. Secondly, any organisation could be considered to be technology-based to some or other degree, implying that technologies have the ability to affect the bottom line of the organisation in some way. It is thus required to assess the business impact of such technologies, typically through a technology or innovation audit.Having assessed specific technological threats and opportunities facing the organisation, an innovation strategy needs to be developed in response to the identified threats and opportunities. Various possible offensive and/or defensive responses should be considered, culminating in the selection and implementation of an optimal strategy.     

Volkswirtschaftliche Politikberatung

Ohne Zusammenfassung Gert G. Wagner ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Volkswirtschaftslehre an der TU Berlin, Forschungsdirektor am Deutschen Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin) und Mitglied im Wissenschaftsrat     

Gesetzliche Mindestlöhne: mit der Einführung kommen die Tücken der Umsetzung

Looking around the world, one realizes that national minimum wages are not uncommon. Yet it is still very difficult to estimate what effects a minimum wage might have in Germany. This is not just a question of how high the minimum wage should be — its impacts would also depend on many details of practical implementation. The present article addresses these issues.     

Eine Bibliographie der allgemeinen Lehrgeschichten der Nationalökonomie: 1933–1958

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Ungleiche Verteilung der Einkommen bremst das Wirtschaftswachstum

In Germany in the last decade, corporate incomes have increased much more sharply than private household incomes. At the same time, the inequality of household incomes has increased. High-income households have profited particularly from investment income and self-employment. The income gap has not widened further in recent years, but the high level of inequality already reached in 2005 has resulted in a sustained reduction of consumer spending. What is needed now is a level of income and wealth distribution that will strengthen domestic demand.