Zu den zwei Versicherungsbegriffen von Werner Mahr und ihrer Bedeutung in der heutigen Zeit

Werner Mahr differentiates between two notions of insurance based upon either the mutuality or the speculation principle. While Mahr however supposes that these two principles melt into the pure insurance-technological economics through the interplay of the probability principle, the differences will be stressed. In the first step, the (theoretical) distinctions are elaborated between the “ideal” insurance model of K. J. Arrow, based on the mutuality principle, and the “classical” insurance model of K. Borch, building on the speculation principle or the reserve theory according to A. Willett. In the second step, these differentiations are elucidated with the help of three examples: uncertainty about the risks, correlated risks, and macroeconomic, in particular demographic risks.     

On the economic evaluation of the Stabex system

The discussion on the significance for development policy of the Stabex system, which gained additional impetus as a result of the financing problems observed for the first time in 1981, has up to now suffered from a lack of empirical analysis of the scheme’s effects. The following article attempts to quantitatively determine some of these effects for the period 1975–79 and to evaluate the scheme according to aspects of stabilisation, distribution and allocation.     

The Optimal Speed of Transition: A General Equilibrium Analysis

We present a benchmark model for the optimal speed of transition from a state-owned to a private market economy, based on the consumption-savings decision in a closed economy. We abstract from frictions to focus on the macroeconomic conditions for accumulation of private capital and closure or restructuring of state-owned enterprises. It is shown that hard budget constraints compensate for too slow speed of enterprise closure but that an excess speed of closure may slow down transition because of output contraction effects. This will especially be the case if such a deviation occurs at early stages of transition.     

Do Foreign Experts Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms?

While most countries welcome (and some even subsidize) high‐skilled immigrants, there is very limited evidence of their importance for domestic firms. To guide our empirical analysis, we first set up a simple theoretical model to show how foreign experts can affect the productivity and wages of domestic firms. Using matched worker–firm data from Denmark and a matching difference‐in‐differences approach, we then find that firms that hire foreign experts instead of domestic experts become more productive, in the sense that they pay higher wages to high‐skilled co‐workers.     

Aufschwung in Deutschland festigt sich trotz weltwirtschaftlicher Risiken

The German economy is already in the fifth year of a moderate upturn, which will continue in 2018. Global economic activity is also expanding rapidly. The increase in economic policy uncertainty seems to have few adverse effects on the world economy. The economic policy agenda of the new US government carries both risks and opportunities for the economic outlook for the US and the world. The Joint Economic Forecast predicts consumer prices in advanced economies to increase by 1.9% in 2018 and expects a change in the ECB’s policy.     

Does a scopic regime produce conformism? Herding behavior among trade leaders on social trading platforms

Social trading platforms (STPs) are transparent online markets governed by a scopic regime, where order flow is publicly disclosed and participants are subject to constant reciprocal scrutiny. Participants on STPs can be categorized into trade leaders and copiers, where the former execute unique trades and manage the funds allocated to them by the latter in return for compensation. Given limited individual capacity and the competition to attract copiers, we investigate whether the scopic regime produces excess and perpetual conformism among trade leaders. Using data from a popular STP, and from an anonymous traditional foreign exchange broker, we show that the scopic regime produces excess levels of herding. Under the scopic environment, we find that herding is high when market information is scarce, which is evidence of herding due to informational cascades. We find herding to be relatively low among risk-seeking trade leaders, which may be a sign of overconfidence. Herding is high for larger trades, suggesting that traders herd to avoid the disappointment associated with underperforming on large positions. Finally, we show that herding in the scopic environment persists at much higher levels compared to traditional environments. Our findings indicate that exposure to a scopic information-rich environment augments the limitations and personal biases of individual traders, thus producing excess and perpetual herding.     

Motivations for enterprise system adoption in transition economies: insights from Poland

Enterprise system (ES) adoption can bring many benefits, but may also put tremendous strain on an organisation or business, sometimes with disastrous outcomes. The specific motivations and expectations that lead to ES adoption may impact the success or failure of these endeavours, and understanding these motivations may be useful in predicting the success of ES projects. Most of the published research on ES adoption motivation has been in the context of highly developed countries. The social, cultural, economic and political conditions in developing, emerging and transition economies make for a different business environment, and insights obtained from developed countries may not always transfer to these settings. This study seeks to identify and help understand the motivations for ES adoption specifically in transition economies, as these economies play a significant role in the global market, but have not been receiving adequate research attention. Drawing on the experience of 129 ES adopters in Poland, a transition economy, this study categorises motivations into coherent groups of issues and evaluates the influence of discovered motivations on ES adoption success. Further, motivations revealed by this study are compared with motivations reported by prior research conducted in developed countries.