Do Higher Per Capita Incomes Lead to More R&D Expenditure?

This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between R&D and growth. The estimated elasticity of per capita R&D expenditures with respect to domestic per capita incomes lies between 1.81 and 2.93 for the ten OECDcountries studied, whereas the elasticity of R&D with respect to foreign demand lies between 0.43 and 0.68. The paper introduces a "standard" GDP growth accounting equation where current productivity is a function ofprevious R&D. The results indicate that OLS estimates of spillovers from R&D have an upward bias of more than 40%.     

Distributional Implications of Environmental Taxation in Denmark

Environmental taxes have been introduced in many countries. However, few countries have reached the level of environmental taxation that is seen in Denmark today. This paper analyses the individual taxes as well as the combination of all these taxes and duties related to environmental concerns, including taxes on heating, transport fuels, electricity, water, waste, plastic bags, registration of cars, annual car use and pesticides. The distributional effect of taxes is examined in relation to household income, socio‐economic class, residential location and family status. The shifting of the tax structure from high marginal income tax to consumption‐based taxes, especially environmental taxes, might have distributional impacts that have not been considered part of the tax policy. The results suggest that in Denmark taxes on petrol and registration duties for cars are progressive, whereas most other environmental taxes are regressive, especially the green taxes on water, retail containers and CO2 emissions.     

ERP‐Supported Teamworking in Danish Manufacturing?

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and teamworking both entail significant changes to work on the shop-floor. However, a study of 24 Danish manufacturing enterprises found both change programs were rarely explicitly tuned to each other, with little direct interaction in a majority of cases. A case study shows the importance of, and the micro-political difficulties involved in getting companies to configure ERP-systems to support teamworking.     

Are Internet surveys an alternative to face-to-face interviews in contingent valuation?

Internet is an increasingly popular data collection mode for stated preference research in environmental economics. However, little is known about how this survey mode may influence data quality and welfare estimates. As part of a national contingent valuation (CV) survey estimating willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity protection plans, we assign two groups of respondents either to an Internet or face-to-face (in-home) interview mode. Our design aims to better isolate measurement effects from sample composition effects by drawing both samples from the same sample frame. We find little evidence of social desirability bias in the interview setting or satisficing (shortcutting the response process) in the Internet survey. The share of “don't knows”, zeros and protest responses to the WTP question with a payment card is very similar between modes and equality of mean WTP cannot be rejected. Results are fairly encouraging for the use of Internet in CV as stated preferences do not seem to be significantly different or biased compared to face-to-face interviews.     

Ein Treffen der Top Management Team Forschung im privaten Kreis

PRAXIS | Magazin

Ein Treffen der Top Management Team Forschung im privaten Kreis Konferenz-Review     

A series of persuasive events. Sequencing effects of negative and positive messages on party evaluations and perceptions of negativity

We test how party evaluations and perceptions of negativity are affected by sequences of positive/negative persuasive messages. In an experimental survey collected in Denmark, respondents were exposed to either a positive or a negative message on three issues in a random order; this creates a setting where we can test for the effects of eight different sequences of positive and/or negative messages. We find consistent effects. Being exposed to a higher volume of negative messages often depresses evaluations of the target, whereas being exposed to a higher volume of positive messages enhances evaluation of the sponsor. These effects are nuanced by recency effects: when a sequence ends on a negative message, regardless of its overall valence, evaluation of the target is depressed; similarly, negatively valenced sequences harm the target except when the sequence ends on a positive message. Backlash effects are unlikely, and no sequence simultaneously harms the target and promotes a positive evaluation of the sponsor. Finally, negatively valenced sequences of messages enhance perceptions of negativity, whereas positively valenced sequences do not reduce it; this trend is also nuanced by recency effects.     

Reallocating sugar beet contracts: can sugar production survive in Denmark?

The reform of the EU sugar regime involves significant pricereductions for sugar and sugar beet. We examine whether theDanish sugar industry can maintain production and profit levelsby reallocating production from less to more efficient farmers.The impact of alternative reallocation mechanisms is estimatedusing a DEA model of sugar beet production, together with informationabout processing capacity at the three Danish plants, beet transportationcosts and alternative crop options. The analysis shows thatthe present allocation is far from efficient. With the new reformfully implemented and the quota efficiently reallocated, actualproduction will fall by only 25 per cent, although profit willbe substantially lower.