Die Umsetzung der EU-Richtlinie über Wohnimmobilienkredite

The Directive 2014/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 February 2014 on credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property (Mortgage Credit Directive) was complemented by new regulations regarding the assessment of customers’ creditworthiness through the Act Implementing the Mortgage Credit Directive and Amending Accounting Rules (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Wohnimmobilienkreditrichtlinie und zur Änderung handelsrechtlicher Vorschriften) of 11 March 2016 in the law of obligations (Section 505a ff. Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) and the regulatory law (Section 18a Kreditwesengesetz). Firstly, the dangers of the ‘extraordinary’ monetary policy of the ECB to the real estate market and a possible connectivity regarding the regulatory initiative are indicated. The contribution describes the purpose of the Directive, compares the new principles of creditworthiness assessment with the previous practice and analyses the consequences for banks and potential borrowers. It closes with a critical assessment of the EU wide regulation in this field and specifies approaches concerning a different German implementation in accordance with the Directive.     

White response to potentially discriminatory actions in a services setting

Discrimination in the marketplace is a significant problem for many blacks and for service providers. However, recent research suggests that some whites may respond similarly to blacks when they witness what they perceive to be a discriminatory act in a service encounter. Using an experimental design methodology, this research investigates the extent to which this occurs. The degree to which an observing customer values the other customer's welfare and feels empathy has been found to explain differences in service failure perceptions among white study participants. White participants high in empathy for blacks were found to react similarly to blacks relative to the inherent negativity of the service failure. This suggests that a service failure involving black customers that hints of discrimination has a greater overall impact on the long‐term success of the service firm than originally envisioned. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Scoping the Extent of Tourist Road Safety: Motor Vehicle Transport Accidents in New Zealand 1982-1996

There is a growing interest in tourism safety within the travel medicine and safety management literature. From this body of research, motor vehicle traffic accidents (MVTA) are identified as a leading cause of tourist morbidity and mortality. There is, however, a dearth of tourist road safety literature where the tourism context is taken into account. This paper examines the extent of overseas visitor MVTA in New Zealand, based on data collected by the New Zealand Health Information Service for the 15-year period 1982–1996. Some 1604 MVTA cases were recorded in the NZHIS database for non-New Zealand residents, representing 27.4% of all non-resident injuries resulting in hospitalisation during the period of the study. The majority of these incidents involved collisions between vehicles, with 1121 (70% of MVTA cases) involving a car. Highest counts of MVTA were found for males and females in the 20–39 years age range. Largest proportions of MVTA were observed for the Auckland, Otago and Southland regions, although highest incidence rates (based on visitor numbers in each region for the year 1995/6) were found for the Taranaki, Northland, Marlborough, Hawkes Bay and Southland regions. The paper discusses possible reasons for patterns and trends in the MVTA data, drawing on comparisons with existing international studies from the travel medicine and safety management literature.     

The effect of personal portfolio reporting on private investors

Information search is costly for private households, especially in relation to their wealth. This paper investigates how retail customers react to free portfolio reporting—and thus reduced search costs—in a unique experimental setting. A large German direct bank sends portfolio reports to 10,000 customers while maintaining a control group of equal size and structure that receives no reports. Analyzing demographics as well as detailed portfolio and trade data, we find that gender, wealth, trade frequency, risk tolerance, and diversification drive the interest in portfolio information. Reading a portfolio report also triggers trading actions; thus, investors seem to appreciate the reduced information costs and act on the information. In addition to contributing to the financial literature on households’ information acquisition, this study derives valuable implications for financial institutions regarding communications and services for their customers.     

360-Grad-Kommunikation und Customer Touchpoint Management — Die Pepsi-Kampagne „I CAN be a Star“

Fragmentierte Kommunikationskan?le, sich fast t?glich wandelndes Informationsverhalten der Konsumenten und immer neue Optionen für Ansprache und Dialog mit den Konsumenten: Marken artikler stehen vor immer komplexeren Aufgabenstellungen. Wie Markenverantwortliche die Vielzahl m?glicher Kommunikationskan?le am effizientesten orchestrieren und die Customer Touchpoints am wirksamsten gestalten, um ihre Marke nachhaltig in den K?pfen der Zielgruppe zu verankern, zeigt dieses Fallbeispiel.     

Consumer-driven health plans: design features to promote quality improvement

The most prevalent form of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) presents risks in terms of the cost, quality and appropriate use of health care. This article identifies those risks and shows employers how they can reduce them without compromising the overall cost-control potential of CDHPs. A good CDHP strategy should work on both the demand and supply sides of the market.     

Work costs and nonconvex preferences in the estimation of labor supply models

Works costs have not been adequately handled in labor supply estimation, likely due to their complexity. We show that, if work costs are not accounted for in the budget and time constraints in a structural labor supply model, they will be subsumed into the data generating preferences. Even if underlying preferences over consumption and leisure are convex, the presence of unobservable work costs can make these preferences appear nonconvex. However, we show that, under plausible conditions, policy relevant calculations, such as estimates of the effect of tax changes on labor supply and deadweight loss measures, are not affected by the fact that estimated preferences incorporate work costs.