Quasi Score is more Efficient than Corrected Score in a Polynomial Measurement Error Model

We consider a polynomial regression model, where the covariate is measured with Gaussian errors. The measurement error variance is supposed to be known. The covariate is normally distributed with known mean and variance. Quasi score (QS) and corrected score (CS) are two consistent estimation methods, where the first makes use of the distribution of the covariate (structural method), while the latter does not (functional method). It may therefore be surmised that the former method is (asymptotically) more efficient than the latter one. This can, indeed, be proved for the regression parameters. We do this by introducing a third, so-called simple score (SS), estimator, the efficiency of which turns out to be intermediate between QS and CS. When one includes structural and functional estimators for the variance of the error in the equation, SS is still more efficient than CS. When the mean and variance of the covariate are not known and have to be estimated as well, one can still maintain that QS is more efficient than SS for the regression parameters.     

Margreth Lünenborg

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Who Benefits from the Reform of Pension Taxation in Germany?*

The present paper quantifies the revenue, distributional and efficiency effects of the recent reform of pension taxation in Germany. The starting point is the new legislation, which has introduced a switch to the deferred taxation of retirement benefits starting in 2005. We compare this reform with an alternative transition proposed by the Federation of German Pension Insurance Institutes (VDR), where double taxation is avoided at the cost of higher revenue losses. Our simulations indicate significant growth and efficiency gains from the new tax legislation. Winners from the reform are mainly younger workers, while older workers, civil servants and the self‐employed will lose. The VDR proposal would have resulted in higher efficiency gains, but also in stronger distributional consequences.     

Job profile research for the purchasing profession

The study reported in this article is based on theories about job and competence analysis and a project in which job profiles were developed that were aimed at providing a framework of reference for evaluating in‐service training programmes for purchasing professionals (professional buyers of goods and services in various sectors of the economy) provided by a training institution of an association for purchasing management. This project was commissioned as part of the permanent maintenance policy of the training institution, but also based on experience with an earlier comparable project, and concerns about test development using job profiles and related attainment targets. The study is part of a research programme on course development for professional training. Ideas about course content validation were explored and tested. The article addresses the issue of trustworthiness and uncertainty reduction in the job profile research process. It specifically looks at the methods used in job profile development and perennial research problems that are related to that, such as stratification of a professional sector, sector‐specificity of job information, formatting job profiles, and the value added of small‐scale in‐depth analyses of work processes versus large‐scale job surveys. It concludes that small‐scale, context‐related analyses of jobs adds most value, but that this is not sufficient for ensuring faith in the study results. Large‐scale surveys complement the in‐depth analyses in this respect. So using a mix of in‐depth and large‐scale methods is recommended in conducting job profile research.     

Schriftenverzeichnis

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Linking customer lifetime value with shareholder value

The measurement of customer lifetime value has become a key issue for developing and maintaining long-term profitable customer relationships. It plays a significant role in customer acquisition and retention decisions. Given the growing importance of creating value for shareholders, market strategies have to be evaluated by their capacity to achieve this goal. Accordingly, both the acquisition and maintenance of customers must result in superior cash flows and augmented shareholder value. However, little attention has been paid to the link between customer lifetime value and shareholder value. The authors of this paper provide a conceptual framework for linking customer lifetime value to shareholder value. It is argued that customers have to be treated as assets that increase shareholder value by accelerating and enhancing cash flows, reducing cash flow volatility and vulnerability and increasing the residual value of the firm.     

A dual description of the class of games with a population monotonic allocation scheme

A vector of balanced weights infers an inequality that games with a nonempty core obey. This paper gives a generalization of the notion ‘vector of balanced weights.’ Herewith, it provides necessary and sufficient conditions to determine whether a TU-game has a population monotonic allocation scheme or not. Furthermore, it shows that every four-person integer valued game with a population monotonic allocation scheme has an integer valued population monotonic allocation scheme and it gives an example of a seven-person integer valued game that has only noninteger valued population monotonic allocation schemes.