WAGE INTERDEPENDENCE THROUGH DECENTRALIZED BARGAINING

Abstract. The idea that sector-specific unions are influenced by the wages obtained by other unions has mainly been used to support the empirical observation that wages are highly correlated among industries. The sources of wage interdependence can mainly be found in unions'preferences, in the nature of technology and in price and demand determination. The presence of externalities and of strategic complementarity among unions leads to suboptimal equilibria, which generates non-desired inflation, unemployment and possibly also trade balance deficit. This enforces the idea that part of current unemployment can be eliminated by improving the cooperation between social actors.     

Real options as a component of the market value of stocks: evidence from the Spanish Stock Market

This paper aims to examine how investors’ expectations about the value of a firm's real options are reflected in the price of its stocks. If the real-option approach is correct, then the efficient-market hypothesis predicts that stock prices will reflect the available information relative to the real options held by firms and their ability to identify, acquire, maintain and exercise them. The role of investment irreversibility, operating and financial flexibility, business and geographical diversification, and size are examined as indicators of a firm's real option strategy. The empirical analysis of a panel of 101 companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange during the period 1991–1997 provides evidence consistent with predictions. The market value of the real option portfolio is significantly and positively related to business diversification, asset irreversibility and operating leverage, and negatively related to size. In addition, financial leverage and geographical diversification are not significantly related to our proxies for the market value of real options. These results are robust even after controlling for industry, and alternative measures of investment flexibility and business diversification.     

Intertemporal preference parameters for some European monetary union countries

In the European Monetary Union, the estimation and analysis of preference parameters in its members is of special interest because possible differences could help us to understand why a common monetary policy could have different effects on the different economies involved. In this article, we have focused our attention on the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, one of the key preference parameters in intertemporal macroeconomic models. Several studies have shown a possible underestimation of such elasticity for different countries. It is common practice to estimate the parameter using only nondurable goods and services consumption data, without referring to the flow of services generated by durable consumption. This is only admissible if the intratemporal utility can be separated among the different consumption components. Our first objective is, therefore, to test the assumption of intratemporal separability for a selection of European countries (Germany, Spain and France), and then to analyse the effect of durable consumption on the estimated values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution of these countries, our ultimate goal. Knowledge of such elasticity will enable us to characterise how saving in these economies reacts to variations in the real interest rate.     

The immigration surplus and the substitutability of immigrant and native labor: evidence from Spain

How immigration affects the labor market of the host country is a topic of major concern for many immigrant-receiving nations. Spain is no exception, as a consequence of the rapid increase in immigrant flows experienced over the past few decades. We assess the impact of immigration on Spanish natives’ incomes by estimating the net immigration surplus (IS) under the assumption of perfect and imperfect substitutabilities between immigrant and native labor of similar educational attainment. To address the imperfect substitutability between immigrant and native labor, we use information on the occupational distribution of immigrants and natives of similar educational attainment to learn about the equivalency of skilled immigrants to skilled and unskilled natives. The results show that the magnitude of the IS significantly rises with the degree of imperfect substitutability between immigrant and native labor.     

The Influence of Tourist Satisfaction on Tourism Expenditure in Emerging Urban Cultural Destinations

Satisfaction is an excellent predictor of tourist behavior, often used in marketing and destination management. This paper analyzes the extent to which tourist satisfaction influences tourism expenditure at the destination using a gamma regression model, based on the information obtained from 2967 surveys conducted in 14 emerging urban cultural destinations in Andalusia, Spain. The results obtained show that there is indeed a correlation between tourist satisfaction and tourism expenditure at the destination, and guide the implementation of specific policies by stakeholders in these destinations, in order to increase the economic impact generated by this activity.     

Kosten und Streitwert in Verfahren wegen unlauteren Wettbewerbs aus verbraucherpolitischer Sicht

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag berichtet über die Ergebnisse einer rechtstatsächlichen Untersuchung über Streitwert und Kosten in Verfahren wegen unlauteren Wettbewerbs, die vom Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Wettbewerbsrecht, München, durchgeführt wurde. Bei der Bestandsaufnahme von Streitwerten in Verfahren wegen unlauteren Wettbewerbs in über 3000 einschlägigen Fällen bestätigte sich der allgemein vorherrschende Eindruck, daß die Streitwerte in Wettbewerbssachen im Vergleich zu den «normalen» Zivilverfahren außerordentlich hoch sind. Für die gem. 13 Abs. 1 a UWK klagebefugten Verbrauchervereine folgt daraus, daß die Kostenbelastung bei einem Unterliegen im Prozeß schon bei durchschnittlicher Streitwerthöhe zu einem ernsten Problem werden kann. Die Einstellung der Gerichte zur Gewährung der Streitwertbegünstigung gem. § 23 a UWG ist uneinheitlich; von einigen Gerichten wird in dieser Hinsicht eine sehr restriktive Auffassung vertreten. Eine Auswertung der im Verlauf der Untersuchung bekanntgewordenen Fälle, in denen der Verbraucherschutzverein in Berlin von der ihm gewährten Streitwertbegünstigung wegen Unterliegens in der Sache Gebrauch machen mußte, hat ergeben, daß die Belastung der gewerblichen Wirtschaft weder nach ihrem Umfang noch den sachlichen Umständen ihrer Realisierung nach als unbillig oder gar unzumutbar angesehen werden kann.

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The present article deals with the results of a study on litigation value and the costs of unfair competition litigation. In German procedural law, litigation value is the sum representing the value of the plaintiff's interests involved in the case, or — if it is not a personal interest, but, as is the case with claims made by consumer associations, rather a general one — the public interest involved in the claim as expressed in monetary value. This value determines the magnitude of the costs (court costs and lawyer fees) that the losing party has to pay.According to the prevailing opinion, litigation value in unfair competition litigation is usually very high, compared with normal litigation in civil cases. By gathering the data of more than 3000 cases, the study was able to verify this impression. For consumer associations, which, according to § 13 sec. 1 a UWG, have the right to act as a plaintiff in cases of special interest for consumers, this means that the costs of losing a case, even one of average importance, can be ruinous. Courts have, however, the possibility to split up the litigation value, that is, fix a low sum as litigation value regarding the poor party (which in this case would be the consumer association), while the normal value remains valid for the other party. The main effect of the splitting-up is that the poor party, if the case should be lost, only has to pay both court costs and lawyer's fees according to the low value, while the other party, even if he won the case, has to pay the difference. As the study reveals, this regulation meets with varying degrees of approval from the courts' side; some courts seem to be fairly restrictive in handling it. Due to this, consumer associations cannot know beforehand if they will be granted the benefit of value-splitting, and thus have to refrain from any further procedural activities if they do not feel able to take the full risk — this effect, of course, from the consumer's point of view, is a very unfavourable one. On the other hand, it is argued that the obligation to bear part of the costs will place an unfair burden on the innocent winner. However, an enumeration of those cases in which one important consumer association, the Verbraucherschutzverein in Berlin, had to take advantage of the above mentioned litigation value assessment, shows that the effect for the opponent has not been as damaging as could have been expected.

     

Von »Kommunikation für Entwicklung« zur »cultura mediática«

In Latin America, theoretical and empirical approaches in media research concerning the interrelation of changes in the media, community, and society have a long tradition. They include the analysis of changes in interpersonal communication and cultural communities as well as research on the relation between communication, development and »nation building«. It is a tradition that can be successfully applied to the analysis of the impact of the implementation of New Information and Communication Technologies, and to changes in communication, the constitution of meaning, and identity. This article describes the development of the theoretical debate and studies concerning the interrelation of changes in the media, community, and society in Latin America, and stresses the impulses for European communication research.