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Ohne Zusammenfassung Gustav A. Horn ist wissenschaftlicher Direktor des Instituts für Makro?konomie und Konjunkturforschung (IMK) in der Hans-B?ckler-Stiftung in Düsseldorf     

Another Look at the East Asian Miracle

This article examines the main ingredients of the East Asiansuccess story in each subphase of its post-war transition growthprocess. It focuses mainly on Taiwan (China), with comparativeside glances at the Republic of Korea. The initial conditionsfacing the region were favorable, especially in Taiwan (China).The early import substitution subphase was unusually mild andcontributed to the emergence of strong linkages between agriculturaland nonagricultural activities. Subsequently, flexible labormarkets, human capital policies, and major macro and structuralpolicy reforms culminated in an increasingly export-orientedindustrialization effort. Once labor surpluses were ultimatelyexhausted, government policies accommodated Taiwan (China)'sentry into the technological era of the 1970s and 1980s. Duringthe past four decades of a signally successful transition growtheffort, public policies in East Asia have consistently accommodatedthe changing needs of the economy, rather than guide its pathdirectly.     

Export tariffs in central African Countries

In recent years the export tariff has Increasingly been abandoned as a policy tool by the developed countries, yet it has been maintained by the less developed countries.     

Process principle- The way to company＇s competitiveness

Seeking ways to increase company＇s competitiveness under current economic and social conditions brought us to investigate internal and external barriers. These reflect contradictions between participants to creation of company＇s output both in internal and external value creation process. These contradictions were identified and their causes are determined. That requires also considering about the trends that are characteristic of the current development in marketing where versatile development of customer orientation dominates. The general governing principle of overcoming the barriers to the growth of company＇s competitiveness is applied by the process approach in organisation and management. The mater is namely using the potential of supply chain management, as well as product and manufacture management, last but not least systematic creation of customer value with the objective of creating a loyal customer and employee.     

Der deutsche Leistungsbilanzüberschuss — Fluch oder Segen?

Germany has one of the highest current account surpluses in the world. This is criticised by its global trading partners and is subject to the European Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. The authors interpret this phenomenon quite disparately. Some state that the surplus is not the result of continuously and structurally slower imports relative to export growth. Instead, two periods of weak domestic demand have left lasting traces. This should not result in programmes to stimulate the demand side. Others, however, find that Germany should identify ways to increase its domestic demand, especially its public and private investment, in order to reduce its surplus. It is hard to exactly quantify and target an appropriate level of the current account, and thus political action should focus directly on the distortions and misallocations that potentially result from an imbalance. By 2020, however, the German surplus is likely to decrease due to demographic developments, the housing boom and slowing globalisation. Since the rotation of fixed income assets out of Europe (“Euroglut”) is likely to continue, the outlook for the future value of the euro is therefore even more bearish.     

Efficient Grid Extension for Strongly Fluctuating Energy Sources

The statistical distribution function of the yield of a source of strongly varying output is usually presented as a ‘power-duration-curve’. We show that the decisive economic curve representing the marginal benefit of such fluctuating sources like wind energy can be derived directly from this distribution function. This may allow to determine the optimum investment in renewable energy systems. As one application we determine the economic optimum limit power of high voltage lines devoted to long distance transmission of wind energy as the intersection of the marginal-benefit-curve of the energy produced and the marginal-cost-curve of the transmission line.