Planning or free market economy in LDCs?

On the face of it it looks as if there should be no great difference between less developed countries (LDCs) and the advanced national economies as far as planning is concerned. And yet in reality such differences do exist, even if they do not necessarily stem from the inequalities in the standard of living.     

Points mechanisms and rewards programs

I study points programs, such as frequent flyer and other rewards programs, as a revenue management tool. I develop a two‐period contracting model where a capacity‐constrained firm faces consumers who privately learn their valuations over time. The firm cannot commit to long‐term contracts, but it can commit to allocate any unsold capacity through a points program. This points scheme creates an endogenous and type‐dependent outside option for consumers, which generates novel incentives in the firm's pricing problem. It induces the firm to screen less ex interim, and to offer lower equilibrium prices, reversing the intuition of demand cannibalization.     

Changing EU agricultural policy discourses? The discourse analysis of Commissioner’s speeches 2000–2007

This paper is a combination of political economy and critical discourse analysis of public texts about the common agricultural policy (CAP) by concerned agents and the EU’s agricultural Commissioner in the period of November, 2004 until October, 2007. The analysis reveals how concerned agents articulated three competing discourses (neomercantilism, multifunctionality, and neoliberalism). It also shows that elements of the discourse of neoliberalism in the Commissioner’s speeches, despite her use of different discourses for different audiences, are becoming more and more important in order to facilitate further reforms and liberalisation of the CAP.     

Bedürfnis,Wert und Vorzug

Ohne ZusammenfassungAus dem Nachlaß herausgegeben und mit Anmerkungen versehen von Oskar Kraus     

World economic policy—what’s it all about

A world government does not seem to be indispensable for a world economic policy. The work of international agencies, as inter alia IMF, GATT, ILO, WHO, UN Economic and Social Council and World Bank, proves the contrary. Global tasks can in many instances be tackled through treaties and specialized organisations with appropriate mandates.