European Green Mutual Fund Performance: A Comparative Analysis with their Conventional and Black Peers

In recent years, several countries have enacted guidelines and/or mandatory laws to increase the presence of women on the boards of companies. Through these regulatory interventions, the aim is to eradicate the social and labor grievances that women have traditionally experienced and which has relegated them to smaller-scale jobs. Nevertheless, and despite the advances achieved, the female representation in the boardroom remains far from the desired levels. In this context, it is now necessary to enhance the advantages of board gender diversity from both ethical and economic points of view. This article examines the relation between board gender diversity and economic results in Spain: the second country in the world to legally require gender quotas in boardrooms and historically characterized by a minimal female participation in the workforce. Based on a sample of 125 non-financial firms listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange from 2005 to 2009, our findings show that in the period analyzed the increase of the number of women on boards was over 98 %. This suggests that compulsory legislation offers an efficient framework to execute the recommendation of Spanish codes of good governance by means of the increase in the number of women in the boards of firms. Furthermore, we find that the increase in the number of women on the boards is positively related to higher economic results. Therefore, both results suggest that gender diversity in boardrooms should be incremented, mandatory laws being a key factor to do so.     

Ökonomie und Glück – zurück zu den Wurzeln?

Die wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung wendet sich nach langen Jahren der Besch?ftigung mit dem Wachstum als Ziel des Wirtschaftens wieder dem Thema Nutzen oder Glück zu. Mit welchen Methoden arbeitet die Lebenszufriedenheitsforschung? Welche Implikationen sind aus ihren Ergebnissen für die ?konomische Theorie und ihre Annahmen zu ziehen? Welche Konsequenzen haben sie für die Wirtschaftspolitik? Steffen R?tzel, 27, Dipl.-Volkswirt, ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Fakult?t für Wirtschaftswissenschaft der Otto-von-Guericke-Universit?t Magdeburg.     

Welfare Analysis of Regulating Mobile Termination Rates in the U.K.

We develop a calibrated simulation model of the U.K. mobile telephony market and use it to analyze the effects of reducing mobile termination rates (MTR's) as recommended by the European Commission. We find that reducing MTR's is likely to increase both consumer surplus and networks' profits. Depending on the strength of call externalities (i.e., benefits to the recipient of a call), social welfare may increase by as much as £1 billion to £4.6 billion per year. We also use the model to estimate the welfare effects of the 2010 merger between Orange and T‐Mobile and find that the merger led to a substantial reduction in consumer surplus.     

Works Councils and Labour Productivity: Looking beyond the Mean

After more than 25 years of empirical investigation, the analysis of works council effects on establishment productivity is still an active field of economic research. I present first evidence for works council regression coefficients along the unconditional log labour productivity distribution in Germany. The highest (lowest) coefficients were found at the bottom (top) of the distribution, which suggests that works councils have the most beneficial effects at low levels of productivity. Importantly, coefficients are positive at each productivity level. The results shed light on a classical theoretical argument concerning moderating factors for the productivity effect of employee participation.     

Erfolgsfaktoren der Versicherungsmakler vor dem Hintergrund der Entwicklungen auf den nationalen und internationalen Versicherungsmärkten

Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft -