Capitalization of Farm Policy Benefits and the Rate of Return to Policy-Created Assets: Evidence from California Dairy Quota

The rate of return to ownership of California dairy quota is about 27% per year—well above that of typical financial assets, but in line with other measured returns to agricultural quotas. Ownership of dairy quota does not contribute positively to total variation of typical portfolios, including those of dairy farm assets, and so contributes little or no portfolio risk. A plausible alternative hypothesis for the high rate of return is that quota owners see significant risk of policy change that would reduce future quota values. That is, they face default risk in quota ownership.     

Dienstleistungshandel: Ökonomische Effekte der Liberalisierung

Die Liberalisierung des internationalen Dienstleistungshandels birgt gro?e ?konomische Potentiale und k?nnte zu steigender Wohlfahrt in vielen L?ndern führen. Wer w?ren die Gewinner und Verlierer? Warum gibt es ungeachtet dieser Potentiale kaum Fortschritte bei den Verhandlungen über das Dienstleistungsabkommen (GATS) im Rahmen der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO)? Wie stehen die Chancen für die Zukunft? Eine Analyse der aktuellen Literatur zum Thema gibt Auskunft über prognostizierte ?konomische Effekte.     

Modeling corner solutions with panel data: Application to the industrial energy demand in France

This paper provides an empirical application of Lee and Pitts (1986) approach to the problem of corner solutions in the case of panel data. This model deals with corner solutions in a manner consistent with the firm behavior theory while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. In this model, energy demand at industrial plant level is the result of a discrete choice of the type of the energy to be consumed and a continuous choice that defines the level of demand. The econometric model is, essentially, an endogenous switching regime model which requires the evaluation of multivariate probability integrals. We estimate the random effect model by maximum likelihood using a panel of industrial French plants from the paper and pulp industry. We calculate empirical price elasticities of energy demand from the model. We also study the effects on energy demand of an environmental policy aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions. The authors are grateful to the Institut Français de eEnergie for its financial support and to the SESSI for providing the data. We would like to thank two anonymous referees for useful comments and suggestions. the usual disclaimer applies.     

6+5-Protektionismus im Fußball

Ohne Zusammenfassung Norbert Berthold ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Volkswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Wirtschaftsordnung und Sozialpolitik, an der Universit?t Würzburg und Mitglied des wissenschaftlichen Beirats beim Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie     

Do components of smooth tests of fit have diagnostic properties?

Smooth goodness of fit tests were introduced by Neyman (1937). They can be regarded as a compromise between globally consistent (“omnibus”) tests of fit and procedures having high power in the direction of a specific alternative. It is commonly believed that components of smooth tests like, e.g., skewness and kurtosis measures in the context of testing for normality, have special diagnostic properties in case of rejection of a hypothesisH ₀ in the sense that they constitute direct measures of the kind of departure fromH ₀. Recent years, however, have witnessed a complete change of attitude towards the diagnostic capabilities of skewness and kurtosis measures in connection with normality testing. In this paper, we argue that any component of any smooth test of fit is strictly non-diagnostic when used conventionally. However, a proper rescaling of components does indeed achieve the desired “directed diagnosis”.     

Household Social Mobility for Paid Domestic Workers and Other Low-Skilled Women Employed in South Africa

This paper explores the theme of patronage by examining how the social mobility prospects of paid domestic workers differ from other vulnerable low-skilled black and colored women in post-apartheid South Africa. The literature provides contradictory predictions about the effects of a relationship with an affluent employer on a vulnerable employed woman and her household. Using data from the 2002–8 General Household Survey, this study uses propensity score matching (PSM) to compare paid domestic workers versus employed women with similar labor market characteristics. It finds that the household members of paid domestic workers tend to have a lower likelihood of unemployment, lower unemployment duration, higher likelihood of owning assets, and lower prevalence of hunger. It is, however, important to see evidence of such benefits in the context of a complicated employment relationship and to highlight that such benefits can reflect both altruistic and self-serving employer motivations.     

Zillmerung, Stille Reserven, Intransparenz der Vertragsabwicklung — die Todsünden der Lebensversicherung?

Life Assurance is a very complex, but highly efficient product for individual risk management and old-age insurance. Yet some of its features, mainly connected with profit participation, are sometimes difficult to understand or explain — this is particularly true for the role of Zillmerisation and the use of hidden reserves in the smoothing process which typically is part of profit participation of german life assurance products. Also, Life Assurance is often considered to be an intransparent product. The author expresses his view that Zillmerisation, Hidden Reserves and Intransparency are not ?deadly sins“ of Life Assurance but guarantors of a verifiable product efficiency which finally is of benefit to policy holders. He explains the function of the said product features and substantiates his view by a number of qualitative arguments and quantitative examples.     

Die Finanzwirtschaft des Fürstentums Liechtenstein unter Berücksichtigung des vom Landtag am 30.1.1961 beschlossenen neuen Steuergesetzes

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

IX. Geld und kapital

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Der Deutsche Juristentag und die Reform des Konsumentenkreditrechtes

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag berichtet über Verfahren und Ergebnisse der zivilrechtlichen Abteilung des 53. Deutschen Juristentages in Berlin zum Thema »Reform des Konsumentenkreditrechts«. Der DJT hat sich neueren Anliegen des Verbraucherschutzes weitgehend verschlossen. Das — zersplitterte, unklare — Recht soll nur wenig modifiziert werden. Dies wird an einzelnen Sachfragen unter kurzem Blick auf die in- und ausländische Diskussion dargestellt (Anwendungsbereich, Vertragsschluß, Wucher, Verzug). Der Autor stellt grundsätzlich den Reformauftrag des DJT in Frage.

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German lawyers and the reform of consumer credit legislation

The German Lawyers and Law Teachers Association (Deutscher Juristentag) held its 53rd biannual conference in Berlin. One of the working committees discussed proposals for the reform of consumer credit. The author describes and criticizes the proceedings and results of the working committee. The Juristentag provided no answer to the pressing legal and social problems of consumer credit, e. g., the idea of contracting as a process, defining the sphere of application of credit law, extortionate dealings, the consequences of default. The Juristentag did not consider the reform movement abroad, the initiative of the EC-Commission, or the (still rather tentative) results of social science research. The author suggests that the German legislator should not follow the recommendations of the Juristentag.

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Norbert Reich ist Professor für Zivilrecht an der Universität Hamburg, Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft II (Einstufige Juristenausbildung), Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, D-2000 Hamburg 13.