Organisatorische Planung des Asset-Liability-Managements von Versicherungsunternehmen

How to organize an insurance company’s asset-liability-Management? To answer this question a decision model is constructed which can support decisionmakers in practice. To operate the model it is assumed that the utility produced by different organizational solutions depend on the relevance of savings the insurance company manages on behalf of the insured. The relevance is (a) lower in casualty related branches and it is (b) higher in life or life related branches. The model’s outcome is that an organizational solution which gives the units more autonomy is best in situation (a). In Situation (b), however, a more centralised coordination is favourable.     

Belief-value structures as determinants of consumer behaviour: A study of housing preferences and choices

The role of consumers' belief-value structures was investigated in the context of residential preferences and simulated residential choices by means of a questionnaire answered by 36 adult Swedish respondents. Three models with different assumptions concerning how beliefs about the attainment of life values affect consumer behaviour were used for predicting preferences for and choices among hypothetical housing alternatives. A model assuming that the evaluation of a given alternative is determined by a weighted sum of the evaluations of the life values which it is believed to lead to, without specifying how individual attributes contribute to this value-fulfillment, was found to be the most successful one in predicting both preference ratings and choices. The results further suggested that whereas the age of the respondents and the format of the information about attributes may have an effect on belief-value structures, the ability to use such structures in order to predict preferences and choices may not be much affected by these factors. The present approach was compared with the laddering technique, and it was suggested that the two methods may be fruitfully combined in the study of consumer attitudes and behaviour.     

The Inada Conditions for Material Resource Inputs Reconsidered

It is shown that the thermodynamic law of conservation of mass, the so-called Materials-Balance-Principle, implies that the marginal product as well as the average product of a material resource input are bounded from above. This means that the Inada conditions, one of the standard assumptions of economic growth theory, when applied to material resource inputs are inconsistent with a basic law of nature. The analysis is based on a model of multi-level production where intermediate goods are produced from elementary resources, and an all-purpose final commodity is produced from these intermediates.     

Monetary policy and EMU enlargement: Issues regarding ERM II and adoption of the euro in Estonia

The aim of the paper is to give an overview of the issues related to Estonia's entry into ERM II. For that purpose the article describes the official position of the Estonian authorities regarding entry into ERM II and the adoption of the euro, explains the rationale for early entry into ERM II, and presents the reasons for maintaining the currency board arrangement until full membership in EMU. Also, the challenges of the adoption of the euro are discussed. The article concludes that early entry into ERM II is appropriate as the perceived costs—short-term costs of fiscal consolidation and the cost of giving up independent monetary policy and flexible exchange rates as stabilization tools—are practically non-existent in Estonia. The paper argues that the high level of exchange rate stability and nominal convergence, relatively high flexibility of the economy, and integration with the euro area support the rationale for maintaining the currency board arrangement and adopting the euro early.     

Streuellipsoide räumlicher Punkthaufen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Free entry into telecommunications?

The two leading principles of pricing for public enterprises are outlined: Value based and cost based pricing. It is shown that optimal pricing à la Ramsey-Boiteux is closely related to value based pricing which itself is connected with Lindahl pricing of public goods. Cost based pricing is related to the pricing in competitive markets. Opening up of telecommunication to competition implies a change from value based (public good) pricing to cost based (pritate good) pricing. It is shown why specific developments in telecommunication technology make a switch to cost based pricing and a competitive environment appropriate. At the end a proposal is developed for a gradual change towards competition which would meet less political resistance.