Fünf Prozent sind (zu) viel

Griechenland ist gerettet — zumindest vorerst. Nach den Beschlüssen des Euro-Sondergipfels vom 21. Juli 2011 stehen dem Land zus?tzliche Finanzmittel von über 100 Mrd. Euro zur Verfügung, die es erlauben, die aktuellen L?cher bei der Refi nanzierung der Staatsschulden zu stopfen. Doch ist der Staatsbankrott damit wirklich verhindert? Die Autoren beantworten diese Frage mit nein. Dafür analysieren sie die Entwicklung der griechischen Staatsfi nanzen mit dem Konzept des fi skalischen Prim?rüberschusses.     

Altersvorsorge und Konsumverhalten von Frauen in Deutschland

Die Renten aus der Gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung werden aufgrund der demografischen Entwicklung sowohl für M?nner als auch für Frauen relativ zu den Erwerbseinkommen sinken. Frauen sind dabei zus?tzlich spezifischen Rentenrisiken ausgesetzt. Um die Unterschiede zukünftig auszugleichen, helfen insbesondere Ma?nahmen, die die Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf verbessern.     

Managing platform architectures and manufacturing processes for nonassembled products

The article presents methods for defining product platforms and measuring business performance in process intensive industries. We first show how process intensive product platforms can be defined using the products and processes of a film manufacturer. We then present an empirical method for understanding the dynamics of process intensive platform innovation, allocating engineering and sales data to specific platform and product development efforts within a product family. We applied this method to a major product line of a materials manufacturer. We gathered ten years of engineering and manufacturing cost data and allocated these to successive platforms and products, and then generated R&D performance measures. These data show the dynamic of heavy capital spending relative to product engineering as one might expect in a process intensive industries. The data also show how derivative products can be leveraged from underlying product platforms and processes for nonassembled products. Embedded within these data are strategies for creating reusable subsystems (comprising components, materials, etc.) and common production processes. Hard data on the degree to which subsystems and processes are shared across different products frequently are typically not maintained by corporations for the duration needed to understand the dynamics of evolving product families. For this reason, we developed and applied a second method to assess the degree of reuse of subsystems and processes. This method asks engineering managers to provide subjective ratings on an ordinal scale regarding the use of technology and processes from one product to the next in a cumulative manner. We find that high levels of reuse generally indicate that a product family was developed with a platform discipline. We applied this measure of platform intensity to two product lines of integrated circuits from another large manufacturer. We used this method to gather approximately ten years of information for each product family. Upon analysis, one product family showed substantial platform discipline, emphasizing a common architecture and processes across specific products within the product line. The other product family was developed with significantly less sharing and reuse of architecture, components, and processes. We then found that the platform centric product family outperformed the latter along a number of performance dimensions over the course of the decade under examination.     

Overcrowding,a disease of social growth

Overcrowding satisfies the physician's criteria for a disease—of society, caused by the lack of a doctrine for the future. This article is a clinical examination of the disease, its symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment.     

A Multisectoral Econometric Model with Markets for Commodities and Financial Assets

The paper illustrates a multisector econometric model for the Federal Republic of Germany. A new model concept has been realized in two respects. First the model combines a disaggregated real system with a disaggregated monetary system. Second, both systems are disaggregated functionally (commodities) and institutionally (industries). This demands a specific theoretical structure and an appropriate database.; First a synopsis of the theoretical structure of the model is given. Afterwards an ex post solution of the model is discussed, which shows that the system works. Finally a simulation examines which effects a fall of the dollar has on the structure and the level of production and employment in the Federal Republic of Germany.     

Elderly activity patterns and demand for transportation in a small city setting2

Although elderly in a small city setting leave their homes for approximately the same purposes and at the same frequency as elderly in metropolitan settings, they are much more dependent on the automobile. A higher proportion of the elderly in a small city drive, but driving status did not have a significant impact on frequency of travel or the spatial extent of travel. Health status was not an important factor when other variables were taken into account, but the older elderly did take fewer trips than the younger elderly. Income, sex and residential location had modest impacts on activity patterns, but the use of a well-established Dial-a-Ride system was minimal. Variation in activity patterns among the elderly in a small city suggested continuity of behavior, a modest decline with age and a strong preference for automobile travel or walking from conveniently located housing complexes.     

Spatial aspects of the diffusion of technological innovations among American municipal governments

Examination of the spatial diffusion patterns of a sample of 43 technological innovations organized into four functional areas—fire fighting, traffic control, air pollution control, solid waste collection, and disposal—indicates the absence of systematic patterns of either rank-size or contagious diffusion of these innovations among municipal governments in the United States. Absence of these general patterns reflects an inadequate identification in existing theories of spatial diffusion processes of variables that enter into agency decisions to adopt new technologies and the inadequate identification of possible interactions among variables. In particular, attempts to model diffusion patterns based on neighborhood effect or on hierarchical relationships fail to take into account, it least for the classes of adopters and innovations studied here, polynuclear propagation and the role of intermediaries (e.g. professional associations, governmental agencies, suppliers) in communication patterns or the role of site-specific factors that determine the “suitability” or “worth” or an innovation to different potential adopters.     

Price elasticity of water allocations demand in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District*

Bid prices for the demand and supply of water allocations between 2001 and 2007, and average monthly prices paid for water allocations from 1997 to 2007 in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District are analysed to estimate price elasticities. Based on bid prices, the price elasticity of demand for water allocations appears highly elastic, with elasticities strongly influenced by the season and drought. The price elasticity of supply for water allocations is also elastic, albeit less elastic than demand. Using actual prices paid, water demand is negatively related to price and is inelastic, and appears to be most influenced by demand the previous month, drought and seasonality factors.     

An experimental approach to valuing new differentiated products

An experimental store was created to evaluate initial demand for locally produced and guaranteed tender steak products as a more realistic alternative to contingent valuation (CV) and dichotomous-choice experimental methods. Strengths of the approach are incentive compatibility, a realistic consumption set, and a familiar choice environment. Consumers selected among USDA Choice, premium quality, lean, guaranteed tender and locaily produced strip steaks. A double-hurdle count data model indicated initial willingness-to-pay (WTP) for locally produced steak comparable to prior CV results, but demand was highly elastic. Demand for premium quality steak crowded out demand for the guaranteed tender product, contrasting with prior dichotomous-choice experimental results.