Mehr Fiskalkompetenz für die EU?

Die Schuldenkrise der Euro-L?nder hat schlaglichtartig die erheblichen finanzpolitischen Unterschiede zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten verdeutlicht. Viele der damit verbundenen Konflikte und Probleme w?ren m?glicherweise zu entsch?rfen, wenn die EU mehr Kompetenzen im fiskalischen Bereich erhielte. Dies wird von den ?konomen aus verschiedenen Gründen aber mehrheitlich abgelehnt.     

The 1982 Characteristics of Business Owners dataset

The 1982 Characteristics of Business Owners (CBO) dataset is a microdata file containing data on approximately 91,000 small businesses and 100,000 owners of those businesses. This dataset is unique in that it unites information on the personal attributes of business owners with information on various attributes of their businesses. The CBO dataset is also distinguished by the large volume of data that it contains on minority and female business owners and their businesses. This paper provides an overview of the coverage and contents of the dataset, and the design of the survey upon which it is based. In addition, the strengths and limitations of the CBO dataset are discussed and illustrated through synopses of studies that made use of these data.Economist, U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. The views expressed in this paper are the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Small Business Administration.     

Was bringt eine geänderte Ertragskompetenz bei der Einkommensteuer? — eine Replik

The Reply

The reform proposal would complicate the rules for sharing income tax revenues. The measures proposed are not compatible with the rules set out in the German Federal Constitution and the relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court. The states would lose tax revenues, whereas the federal government would gain them. As to individual states, the financially strong ones would be the losers, despite the fact that economic strength and financial strength should be significantly related.

The Response

Future fiscal equalisation in Germany requires not only a new equalisation formula but also a fairer, more equal, broader and more transparent tax base for states and local governments. If necessary, changes to the Federal Constitution should be undertaken to achieve a more equal vertical assignment of tax powers. The actual reform discussion should not be a confrontation between rich and poor states but should lead to a financial constitution by 2020 which can be unanimously approved by all of the German states.     

How do changes in human resource management practices influence employee engagement? A longitudinal study in a hotel chain in the Philippines

ABSTRACT

Drawing from social exchange theory, this study investigates how changes in human resource management practices influence and affect employee engagement in a hotel chain. Changes in human resource management practices were identified, and corresponding changes in the level of employee engagement were observed. One hundred forty-five employees from a hotel chain in the Philippines participated in a longitudinal study. Results show that improvements in human resource management practices, particularly in the areas of reward management and training and development, yielded positive and significant change in the level of employee engagement. Implications for human resource management, particularly in the hospitality and tourism context, are discussed.     

Firm size and innovation

In an innovation survey in the Netherlands, we find considerably more SMEs which perform small scale R&D than are found in the official R&D surveys. Nonetheless, SMEs appear on average to be somewhat less R&D intensive than large firms. Only when we restrict our observations to firms which perform some R&D, there is no systematic relationship between size and R&D. Among the barriers to innovation the following are particularly important to SMEs: information deficits with respect to instruments of innovation policy; a lack of capital; a lack of management qualifications; problems in finding adequate technical information, and problems in finding qualified employees.     

Public interest leaders: Whom do they represent?

In this issue, Focus on Books offers an essay on public interest leaders and the movements they have founded. Our reviewer, Alfred A. Marcus, discusses one book in particular, Jeffrey M. Berry's Lobbying for the People, and also provides a bibliography of significant publications about the public interest movement that have appeared in the last fifteen years-indeed, since the inception of this allegedly neopopulist resurgence in the United States. In his essay, Marcus reflects on the conclusions of Berry, a sympathetic observer of so-called public interest leaders who nevertheless acknowledges that their constituencies are in fact an elitist minority.     

Neo-Keynesian Macroeconomic Policy is Throttling Britain

British policy-makers are crippled by a fixation with interest rates as the main economic regulator. High interest rates produce numerous distortions, including an over-valued pound. The only way to reduce inflation is to cut government spending.