Schuldenkrise in der Europäischen Union

Die Krise Griechenlands w?chst sich zu einer Gefahr für den gesamten Euroraum aus. Wie soll die Europ?ische Union darauf reagieren? Sie befindet sich im Dilemma zwischen Bailout und Bestrafung des „Defizitsünders“. Das erste scheint für den Bestand der W?hrungsunion unvermeidlich, das zweite ist erforderlich, um einen Moral Hazard zu vermeiden.     

Price competition under universal service obligations

In industries like telecom, postal services or energy provision, universal service obligations (uniform price and universal coverage) are often imposed on one market participant. Universal service obligations are likely to alter firms' strategic behavior in such competitive markets. In the present paper, we show that, depending on the entrant's market coverage and the degree of product differentiation, the Nash equilibrium in prices involves either pure or mixed strategies. We show that the pure strategy market sharing equilibrium, as identified by Valletti, Hoernig, and Barros (2002), defines a lower bound on the level of equilibrium prices.     

Kapitalprivatisierung der Deutschen Bahn AG

Die geplante materielle Privatisierung der Deutschen Bahn AG kann als logischer Schritt der formalen Bahnprivatisierung vom 1.1.1994 angesehen werden. Welche Privatisierungsmodelle werden gegenw?rtig diskutiert? Sollte die Deutsche Bahn AG mit oder ohne ihr Betriebsnetz an die B?rse gehen? Ist die Deutsche Bahn AG überhaupt b?rsenf?hig?     

The Liberalisation of Rail Transport in the EU

On 1 January 2007 the European rail freight market, which has long suffered from fragmentation and a declining share of total transport services, will be fully opened to competition. What will be the consequences for the transport sector and the economy as whole? What further measures are needed to stabilise or increase the railways' share in the freight market? * Member and speaker of the EPP-ED Group (Christian Democrats) in the Committee on Transport and Tourism; rapporteur of the European Parliament responsible for railway issues. ** Views expressed here are not those of NDU or Minnesota.     

Institutional Prerequisites of Economic Partnership Agreements

At the end of 2007 the WTO waiver granted for the non-reciprocal EU/ACP trade preferences will phase out. New economic partnership agreements are currently under negotiation, but whether the ACP countries will be able to benefit from them depends to a large extent on the institutional setting in those countries. The following article takes the example of the Economic Community of West African States to examine the situation more closely.     

Implications of the mandatory transition from national GAAP to IFRS — Empirical evidence from Germany

This paper analyses the differences between German GAAP and IFRS by quantifying the effects of the first-time adoption of IFRS of German companies in their reporting practices. Due to the IAS Regulation EC No.1606/2002, all publicly traded European companies (including those in Germany) are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS for accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2005. This paper measures the effect of the transition from German GAAP to IFRS by using indices of comparability that were developed by Gray (1980). Therefore, the impact on equity and net income is quantified by examining the reconciliations of 103 German companies which had to adopt IFRS for their consolidated financial statements in 2005. On average a significant increase in stockholders' equity and in net income could be observed. The increase in stockholders' equity is primarily due to the adoption of IAS 11, IAS 16, IAS 37, IAS 38 and IFRS 3. Concerning net income, the increase especially results from the adoption of IFRS 3.     

Reciprocity and statehood in Africa: from clientelism to cleptocracy

There is considerable quarrel as to what extent the shape and malfunctioning of contemporary African states can be attributed to the colonial experience or whether the precolonial heritage must be taken into account. Generally, the correct answer is that both, precolonial forms of political organization and the imposition of the colonial state, characterize the African situation. Yet, it is possible to distinguish more specifically between the two formative influences and to gauge their particular importance. Empirically, the result of the colonial encounter was, on the one hand, a subversion of traditional concepts of legitimacy and, on the other hand, still is the fact that the development of market economies and liberal democracies remains unlikely. Theoretically, I propose to use the notion of reciprocity to describe and analyze three historical forms of power relations, namely, clientelism, colonialism and cleptocracy. By reconstructing the historicity and malleability of the concept, I try to show its usefulness and adequacy to outline basic features of societal organization.     

What is going on in the oil market?

Conclusion In this article, we propose a consistent view on the recent oil-price history based on fundamental data and economic theory. We sum up: After the turn of the century three major stylized shocks have hit market. First, the demand curve has shifted fight outwards, mainly driven, as extensively reported in the media, by sustained growth in China and other Asian Countries. Second, supply disruptions in countries with low extraction costs (Iraq and Venezuela) have shifted the supply curve to the left. Third, we show that speculators adjust their inventories in order to take advantage of predictable price fluctuations and play themselves a major role in the price formation. Optimal storage theory implies that aggregate inventories are negatively related to the oil price and positively to the volatility of supply and demand shocks. We provide evidence that the political events in the last years have increased volatility and induced the inventory curve to shift right outwards. We analyze in a graphical framework the interaction of all these shocks and conclude that speculators have caused the oil price to overshoot in the short run its long-run fundamental value. However, this is not at all attributable to market failure or the harmfulness of speculators. In fact, the opposite is true. Speculators have in general a dampening effect on the oil price. The record oil price in the very recent history is partly a consequence of speculators maintaining or building-up inventories to cope with the supply and demand shocks to come. Hence, high prices represent a short-term toll for future price stability. It follows from our analysis that the oil price is expected to fall towards its long-term mean, provided that no further shocks hit the economy and, critically, the oil supply. As we saw, this prediction is consistent with the observed prices in the futures markets. Also in terms of future price volatility, the outlook is rather upbeat. The increased inventory levels held by speculators will cushion the spot market against fluctuations in natural supply and demand and limit the degree to which the currently high underlying volatility will translate into higher price volatility. We would like to thank Manuel Ammann, Bernd Brommundt, Stephan Kessler, Ralf Seiz, Michael Verhofen, Hemrich von Wyss, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments We are particularly indebted to Sergej Peisotchenko at United Energy System (UES) of Russia and Jan Gjerde at Shell for clearing us up on technical aspects of oil production