An experiment on emissions trading: the effect of different allocation mechanisms

In theory, efficiency and compliance levels induced by an emission trading system should not depend on the initial allocation mechanism for permits in the absence of transaction costs. In a laboratory experiment we investigate this prediction by comparing frequent and infrequent auctioning as well as two different grandfathering schemes under market rules that closely resemble those of the European Union Emission Trading System. Our experimental results suggest that, contrary to theoretical predictions, the initial allocation procedure has the potential to affect efficiency of the final permit allocation. While we do not identify an effect of the initial allocation procedure itself (auction vs. grandfathering), we observe higher final efficiency after infrequent auctioning of permits than for frequent auctioning. Surprisingly, for a grandfathering scheme that distributes permits proportional to expected needs the high initial efficiency is substantially reduced by secondary market trading. An analysis of behavioral patterns shows that permit prices and abatement levels are initially substantially higher if permits are allocated by auction and we also find more over-banking as compared to the grandfathering treatments. Treatment differences diminish in the course of the experiment.     

Structural Features of Female Employment Status and Earnings Mobility: The Experience in Germany

Structural changes in basic economic indicators, changes in traditional role patterns, and in female employment behavior shed light on the performance of the European labor markets in the 90s. This paper focuses on the cyclical sensitivity of women's employment status and earnings position in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) we test the hypothesis that labor market adjustments are not gender-neutral but affect women's employment status and women's relative earnings position to a greater extent than those of men. Cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analysis indicate positive effects on female employment status and earnings position during a period with worsening economic indicators. Logistic regression analysis confirms an increasing likelihood of an upward earnings mobility for women in the 90s. Notwithstanding these positive trends the results show that - due to social norms and attitudes - women are still discriminated against in the labor market and in terms of their relative earnings position. Thus social policy is called upon to improve women's social and employment conditions.     

The IMF’s adjustment concept

Both creditor and debtor countries ascribe an important medium-term role to the International Monetary Fund in tackling the debt problem. What possibilities are there for the IMF to exert influence and what use does it make of them?     

Strength of preference and cardinal utility

Summary. This paper provides simpler and more general preference foundations for difference representations than known before and shows how to obtain cardinal utility from those difference representations. In addition, this paper unifies all earlier derivations of cardinal utility by showing that they are implied as direct corollaries.Received: 9 November 2002, Revised: 27 December 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: C6.The author particularly thanks Peter P. Wakker and an anonymous referee for many helpful comments and suggestions. The author also thanks Han Bleichrodt and Horst Zank. The paper was partly written during a visit at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. The author thanks the Dutch Science Foundation NWO for financial support under grant 425-11-003.     

Sustainability-oriented future EU funding: a financial transaction tax

Although responsibility for realizing the Europe 2020 strategy is shared between the EU and its 28 member states, the main criticism of the current EU budget relates to the lack of a link between the budget and the Europe 2020 strategy. Therefore the paper focuses on a new budget design as well as alternative revenue sources. One of the possible candidates is a financial transaction tax (FTT). To research FTT revenue potential, a model based on a remittance system was designed. We analyse full or partial replacement of VAT- and GNI-based own resources by the transfer of tax revenues from a FTT raised on the national level to the EU budget. The research reveals that FTT-based own resource would be able to fully replace GNI-based own resource only for some EU member states; however, VAT-based own resource can be fully replaced by a FTT-based own resource for the entire EU. Further, results also show that from the EU11 (28) perspective, the tax is sufficient to fully replace VAT- or GNI-contributions if levied on the EU11 (28) level (not on the national level) as a direct payment to the EU budget without tracking the source member State.     

Die Folgen eines russischen Erdgasembargos

Wirtschaftsdienst - Sanctions and their effectiveness are at the centre of the discussion about an appropriate response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. At the latest since the...     

Kohleausstieg 2030 unter neuen Vorzeichen

Wirtschaftsdienst - Der russische Angriff auf die Ukraine und die Abhängigkeit der deutschen Energiewirtschaft von russischem Gas führen aktuell zu einer sehr angespannten...     

Selling shares to retail investors: auction vs. fixed price

We analyze the problem of selling shares of a divisible good to a large number of buyers when demand is uncertain. We characterize equilibria of two popular mechanisms, a fixed price mechanism and a uniform price auction, and compare the revenues. While in the auction truthful bidding is a dominant strategy, we find that bidders have an incentive to overstate their demand in the fixed price mechanism. For some parameter values we find that the fixed price mechanism outperforms the auction.     

The phenomenon of young talent management in Russia—A context‐embedded analysis

This article describes the particularities of young talent management (TM) in Russia and explains them through a context‐specific analysis. It adopts a multilevel perspective that acknowledges the relevance of context at three levels: the macro environment, the organizational, and the individual. Data were gathered through 46 interviews with HR managers and young talents from six Russian companies and six Russian subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies (MNCs) active in a variety of industries. Following the contextualization approach, this study offers important insights into the interplay between macro, organizational, and individual factors as well as their isolated or interrelated effects on TM. While multilevel contextualization provides the rationale behind certain TM practices and the particular focus on young talents in Russia, it also explains why Russian companies are inspired by global best TM practices. Thus, contextualization allows for explaining the coexistence of a specific environment and nonspecific (global best) TM practices. Important particularities are revealed also when compared to the results of TM studies in other emerging countries. The article contributes not only to the TM discussion, but also to the wider field of international human resource management and the international management literature regarding contextualization.