Donor coordination and specialization: did the Paris Declaration make a difference?

We assess whether bilateral and multilateral donors of foreign aid specialized and coordinated their activities with other donors as agreed in the Paris Declaration of 2005. We account for donor heterogeneity, varying aid priorities and recipient characteristics in order to isolate changes in donor behaviour over time. Recent shifts in aid priorities, such as the rising importance of general budget support, have reduced the fragmentation of aid. Nevertheless, our results reveal that aid fragmentation persisted after the Paris Declaration and coordination among donors has even weakened.     

Partial credibility and policy announcements: The problem of time inconsistency in macroeconomics revisited

This paper studies the credibility of policy announcements in macroeconomics. This issue is exemplified by the problem of monetary policy design in light of an expectations-augmented Phillips curve. In contrast to reputational models of the repeated games literature, the credibility problem between the central bank and the private sector, which results from the policymaker's temptation to create surprise inflation to raise employment, cannot be eliminated. The paper shows that credibility in any sequential equilibrium is generally only partial, in that market participants do not fully believe policy announcements of low inflation rates, even if forthright policies have been implemented in all periods. Indicating reputation-building, credibility improves over time. The example is then used to show the policy implications of partial credibility.     

Die Gestaltung von Gründungswettbewerben

Founding competitions have recently been very popular in the German-speaking world. They are considered as being important tools to foster an entrepreneurial culture. This paper addresses three important questions: (1) How should founding competitions be structured? (2) How can founders be motivated to submit promising concepts? (3) How can the participants be supported in the subsequent founding process? We provide a number of Hypotheses that can be used as a starting point for future empirical research in this area.     

The Effect of Cross-Border Group Taxation on Ownership Chains

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the influence of taxation on ownership chains and specifically on the location decision for intermediate holding companies. By examining the effect of the introduction of a cross-border group taxation regime in Austria in 2005 on ownership chains of European multinational firms, I find evidence that foreign parent companies already invested in Austria restructured their ownership chains in order to meet the requirements of the group taxation regime. This effect is larger for foreign parent companies with loss-generating subsidiaries. Collectively, the empirical findings suggest that, when evaluating the effect of cross-border group taxation regimes, companies follow a detailed tax planning strategy that takes tax-base effects into account.     

Altruistic values,satisfaction and loyalty among first-time blood donors

This article is related to the recently initiated discussion on mechanisms of charitable giving and the lack of research on the mix of those mechanisms. On the basis of a comprehensive and interdisciplinary literature review in the area of blood donation management (1970–2010), the authors found that pure altruism, respectively altruistic values, is very often seen as the most important mechanism for giving blood the first time and, moreover, for building blood donor loyalty. This study argues that more knowledge on the mix of mechanisms in blood giving is needed. Therefore, this research examined the impact of altruistic values and the donors' satisfaction with the treatment on blood donor loyalty. Using survey data of the German Red Cross (N = 2149), the authors found that the impact of satisfaction with the treatment on blood donor loyalty is higher compared with altruistic values. Consequently and as one managerial implication, satisfaction measurement and management systems should be reflected more critically by blood donation centres in order to increase blood donations in the future. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Profession and residency matter: Farmers' preferences for farmland price regulation in Germany

Local farmers' preferences for farmland price regulations in competitive markets have not been studied systematically. We investigate farmers' preferences in Germany, where recent price increases have driven calls for regulatory changes. The results of an online vignette experiment show that farmers prefer stricter regulation against the admission of non-local (but even more so of non-farmer) land buyers. Our analysis also shows that local farmers' preferences are motivated primarily by self-interest rather than adherence to principles. We conclude that most farmers prefer price regulations that consider their particular concerns about increasing competition in Germany.     

Drivers of sustainable intensification in Kenyan rural and peri-urban vegetable production

Sustainable intensification promotes environmentally sound and productive agriculture. However, use of sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) is low in many sub-Sharan African countries. This study examined the adoption of SIPs in Kenyan rural and peri-urban vegetable production to understand the scale of and underlying factors in the use of SIPs. A multistage sampling technique was employed to randomly select 685 rural and peri-urban vegetable farm households. Household data was then collected and anaylsed for four practices namely improved irrigation, integrated soil fertility, organic manure and crop diversification using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. A multivariate probit model was run to model simultaneous interdependent adoption decisions. Adoption of organic manure and African indigenous vegetables (AIV) diversification was high in both rural and peri-urban areas. However, adoption of improved irrigation systems and integrated soil fertility management was low, and even significantly lower in rural areas than in peri-urban areas (p?相似文献   

Redistributive Taxation in the Era of Globalization

This paper analyzes the impact globalization has on voting for redistributive policies in an increasingly integrated world. It explains why tax competition has so far not led to a significant decline in redistributive taxation. The voting process is considered for the two alternatives of direct democracy and representative democracy. In both regimes, globalization pushes down the scope for redistribution, but this effect is mitigated with political representation, since the electorate votes strategically for a slightly more left-wing politician with stronger preferences for redistribution. Moreover, voting polarizes twice, with respect to governments' preferences for redistribution and to equilibrium tax rates.     

The effect of air traffic delays on airline prices

A legislative change in takeoff and landing restrictions at LaGuardia Airport provides an opportunity to study the effect of an exogenous shock to product quality on prices in the airline industry. I test how the price response varies with the degree of competition in the market. I find that prices fall by $1.42 on average for each additional minute of flight delay, and that the price response is substantially larger in more competitive markets.