Virtual Currencies,Distributed Ledgers and the Future of Financial Services

The phenomenon of virtual currencies has to be distinguished from the underlying distributed ledger technologies. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies need to be subject to strict financial regulation and supervision to ensure investor protection. At the same time, distributed ledger technologies will shape the future of the financial services in many respects. The disruptive potential is illustrated for selected financial products and processes.     

Débridement mit topischer Therapie kombinieren

Bew?hrte und neue Therapieans?tze zur Behandlung chronischer Wunden – Unter chronischen, schlecht heilenden Wunden leiden in Deutschland etwa 800.000 Menschen. Weil die Erkrankung für den Patienten schwerwiegende Einschr?nkungen im Alltag mit sich bringt, steht eine effektive Wundbehandlung im Zentrum des Interesses.     

The spatial effects of trade openness: a survey

This paper surveys the literature on the implications of trade liberalisation for intra-national economic geographies. Three results stand out. First, neither urban systems models nor new economic geography models imply a robust prediction for the impact of trade openness on spatial concentration. Whether trade promotes concentration or dispersion depends on subtle modelling choices among which it is impossible to adjudicate a priori. Second, empirical evidence mirrors the theoretical indeterminacy: a majority of cross-country studies find no significant effect of openness on urban concentration or regional inequality. Third, the available models predict that, other things equal, regions with inherently less costly access to foreign markets, such as border or port regions, stand to reap the largest gains from trade liberalisation. This prediction is confirmed by the available evidence. Whether trade liberalisation raises or lowers regional inequality therefore depends on each country’s specific geography.     

BOOK REVIEWSS

Gordon, John S. and Jack R. Arnold, Profitable Exporting: A Complete Guide to Marketing Your Products Abroad, New York: John Wiley &; Sons, 1988, vii + 358 pages.

Haggard, Stephan and Chung-in Moon (Eds.), Pacific Dynamics: The International Politics of Industrial Change, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, ix + 389 pages.

Eichengreen, Barry, and Lindert, Peter H. (Eds.), The International Debt Crisis in Historical Perspective, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989, 282 pages.

Cohen, Richard, World Trade and Payments Cycles: The Advance and Retreat of the Postwar Order, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1989, xxiii + 229 pages.

Schaffer, Matt, Winning the Countertrade War: New Export Strategies for America, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1989, xvii + 226 pages.

Grimwade, Nigel, International Trade: New Patterns of Trade Production and Investment, New York: Routledge, 1989, xv + 459 pages.

Salvatore, Dominick, International Economics, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990, xxxii + 695 pages.

Hibbert, Edgar P., The Management of International Trade Promotion, London: Routledge, 1990, x + 287 pages.

United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, Services and Development: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade, New York: United Nations, 1989, x + 181 pages.

Friedländer, Michael (Ed.), Foreign Trade in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990, xiii + 241 pages.

Rollo, J. M. C., The New Eastern Europe: Western Responses, New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1990, 137 pages.

Gill, William J., Trade Wars Against America: A History of United States Trade and Monetary Policy, New York: Praeger, 1990, xvi + 325 pages.

Destler, I. M., and C. Randall Henning, Dollar Politics: Exchange Rate Policy-making in the United States, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1989, xi + 174 pages.

Schott, Jeffrey J. (Ed.), Completing the Uruguay Round, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1990, x + 223 pages.     

Prüfungsforschung im deutschen Sprachraum – Bestandsaufnahme, Entwicklungstendenzen und Herausforderungen

National and European regulatory initiatives like the Bologna process frame the conditions for research activities at universities. The changed conditions increase the pressure to publish articles in highly-ranked, mostly international academic journals. It seems likely that expectations of the international research community will affect the applied research methods, the regional focus of the research object and the tendency towards co-authorship. Against this background, the present article conducts a literature review in order to examine the publication activities of German-speaking auditing researchers and discusses further explanations for the observed developments. We examine 308 journal articles by German-speaking auditing researchers between 2000 and 2011. Our analysis documents an increase in the number of articles over time as well as an increase in articles in highly ranked journals. In recent years a higher share of the research applies empirical methods, in particular statistical interference. A dominant topic of the articles is the audit market and environment. Thematic focuses vary over time, partly due to day to day events. The research object remains focused on a European and especially national context in many cases. We present selected key research results and finally discuss challenges for research activities coming along with the described developments.     

Ein Modell für existenzsichernde Beschäftigung

Die hohe Langzeit-Arbeitslosigkeit ist nach wie vor ein schwerwiegendes wirtschaftspolitisches Problem. Die aktuellen Regelungen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Transferund Arbeitseinkommen haben bisher nur unzureichend zu seiner L?sung beigetragen. Die verschiedenen diskutierten Kombilohnmodelle sind dagegen oft nicht praxistauglich. Die Autoren stellen hier das Modell für eine existenzsichernde Besch?ftigung des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Technologie vor. Dr. Walther Otremba, 55, ist Staatssekret?r im Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie; Dr. Daniela B?nstrup, 34, ist dort Referentin im Referat für Arbeitsmarktpolitik.     

Convergence of interest rate pass-through in a wider euro zone?

This study investigates interest rate pass-through convergence for the eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) that joined the European Union. Based on a unifying empirical pass-through model that allows for thresholds, asymmetric adjustment, and structural changes, we find that the pass-through in many CEECs has become faster over time and is generally more complete than in the euro zone. We find evidence for convergence across CEECs with market concentration, bank health, foreign bank participation and monetary policy regime as conditioning factors. No convergence of the CEEC pass-through is found vis-à-vis the heterogeneous euro zone.     

Management of the political imperative in international business

In this paper we develop a framework for analyzing the political imperative. We argue that the effects of the political imperative on the firm will be a function of industry structure. Strategies that management employs in coping with the political imperative are a function of its impact on the firm and the firm's strategic predisposition. We also speculate on why strategic predisposition may lead firms to employ strategies that are not responsive to the demands of the political imperative.