THE GERMAN SERVICE GAP OR: RE‐ORGANISING THE MANUFACTURING––SERVICES PUZZLE

Two phenomena make the distinction between services and manufacturing obsolete: the tertiarization of manufacturing and the introduction of information technologies in service industries. Competitiveness of manufacturing firms increasingly depends on the quality of service inputs and on packages of goods and services. Information and communication technologies introduce ‘industrial’ processes of production in service industries. Hence, it does not make sense any more to use categories such as ‘services’ or ‘manufacturing’. Instead, it would be more meaningful to group economic activities according to input configurations. This paper will discuss these issues in the context of the supposed German ‘service gap’.     

Herrscht Wettbewerb auf dem schweizerischen Markt für Autohaftpflichtversicherung?

This paper features a first-time analysis of the competitive conditions characterizing the Swiss market for automobile liability insurance using information from individual policies from 1996/1997. In the case of perfect competition, a risk of a given quality would have to be priced in accordance with the Law of One Price. Econometric evidence suggests that even among a population of particularly well-informed consumers, this law is violated on two accounts two years after liberalization of the market. However, gross premiums charged do reflect important risk characteristics such as engine size and miles driven.     

Ulcus cruris: Rezidive verhindern

Richtige Beratung optimiert Wundversorgung - Viele Menschen mit chronischen Wunden erleiden nach deren Abheilung ein Rezidiv. Woran liegt das und was k?nnen Pflegefachkr?fte dagegen tun? Am Dortmunder Pflege-Therapie Stützpunkt^? für Menschen mit chronischen Wunden arbeiten Pflegefachkr?fte gezielt an der Pr?vention von Rezidivwunden.     

Designing Fiscal Institutions in a Monetary Union

This article explores the policy and wealth consequences of alternative institutional arrangements through which fiscal policy interacts with monetary policy in a monetary union such as the EMU. The central issue of the article is the design of the appropriate monetary and fiscal institutions through a comparison of alternative arrangements to distribute power over monetary and fiscal authorities between the central authority of the union and the individual members of the union and evaluating their performance. The main results of this article reveal that delegation of the fiscal policy to a council of country representatives and the monetary policy to a council of governors is the appropriate institutional design to reduce inflation bias and better stabilize regional, idiosyncratic supply and demand shocks in a monetary union.     

Product placement disclosures: Exploring the moderating effect of placement frequency on brand responses via persuasion knowledge

The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not the effects of brand-unspecific product placement disclosures in a popular music video were moderated by product placement frequency. An experimental study exposed participants to the video clip ‘Telephone’ by Lady Gaga; the product placement frequency of the brand Polaroid (zero, moderate, high) and the presence of placement disclosures were varied experimentally. The results demonstrated that placement disclosures lead to an increase in brand memory for moderately frequently and frequently depicted placements. Disclosures also activate persuasion knowledge independent of placement frequency. However, persuasion knowledge did not lead to more negative brand attitudes. The paper concludes with the implications for researchers and marketers.     

Reputation and Imperfectly Observable Commitment: The Chain Store Paradox Revisited

This paper reconsiders Selten's famous chain store paradox and its solution by Kreps and Wilson, which is based on entrants' uncertainty concerning the incumbent monopolist's predisposition to fight entry. Following Milgrom and Roberts, we interpret the predisposition to fight entry as the result of a rationally chosen commitment. However, commitment is imperfectly observable. Other assumptions are maintained. We show that a rational monopolist never fights entry, even if he may commit himself to an aggressive course of action. Entry occurs in all markets and is never fought. Hence, Selten's chain store paradox comes back in full force.     

EQUIVALENCE SCALES, WELL-BEING, INEQUALITY, AND POVERTY: SENSITIVITY ESTIMATES ACROSS TEN COUNTRIES USING THE LUXEMBOURG INCOME STUDY (LIS) DATABASE

The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database on which this article is based offers researchers exciting new possibilities for international comparisons based on household income microdata. Among the choices the LIS microdata allows a researcher, e.g. income definition, income accounting unit, etc., is the choice of family equivalence scale, a method for estimating economic well-being by adjusting income for measurable differences in need.
The range of potential equivalence scales that can and are being used in the ten LIS countries and elsewhere to adjust incomes for size and related differences in need span a wide spectrum. The purpose of this paper is to review the available equivalence scales and to test the sensitivity of various income inequality and poverty measures to choice of equivalence scale using the LIS database. The results of our analysis indicate that choice of equivalence scale can sometimes systematically affect absolute and relative levels of poverty; and inequality and therefore rankings of countries (or population subgroups within countries). Because of these sensitivities, one must carefully consider summary statements and policy implications derived from cross-national comparisons of poverty and/or inequality.     

A Macro-Level Account of Money and Credit to Explain Gendered Financialization

ABSTRACT

The paper intervenes in the debate on macroeconomics, money, gender, and financialization. Generally, there is an omission in gender studies on gender-specific effects of monetary policy. Not only is there a blind-spot about the role of monetary policy in feminist political economy, there is equally a blind-spot in meso-level analysis which focus on the social construction of institutional mechanisms and the predatory market power of oligopolistic banks. Yet, monetary policy is neither neutral in the short-term nor long-term. Such policies have gender-differentiated effects on employment, income, consumption, savings which in turn have feed-back effects on economic growth. My intent is to focus on the changing role of monetary policy and highlight the omission in gender studies on financialization, as well as argue that the shift of the credit cycle to fictitious capital (future revenue) is one of the central explanatory variables in the predatory banking model of subprime lending. Yet, the financial crisis of 2007 did not usher in a normalisation of the credit and finance system. Exactly the opposite happened. Unconventional monetary policy continues to facilitate a credit system based on future claims which has gendered distributional effects, in the process increasing the wealth inequality on a global scale.     

XBRL to enhance external financial reporting: Should we implement or not? Case Company X

The growing use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) represents a fundamental change for financial information flows. In a number of countries XBRL has already been put to practical use, for instance through implementation within the financial processes of non-listed companies. This fictional case is designed to help identify the benefits of XBRL. In addition, it helps to create knowledge about the different strategies of XBRL implementation and to apply this knowledge when making investment decisions on accounting information processes.