Folgerungen einer Rationierung in der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung für die private Krankenversicherung und ökonomische Grenzen für die private Krankenversicherung

The compulsory health insurance fund in Germany is under huge cost pressure. The reasons are the demographic development and the proceeding medical-technical progress, which keep raising the expenses instead of reducing them. Seeing that financial means are getting scarce, there are multifaceted appendages of rationing the medical supply. New market potential arises, however, for the economy of private health insurance for which one can develop and offer answers. The contribution scetches which economic boarders the private health insurance needs to adhere to.     

The school as a social system: Indicators for change

In systems analysis, the school may be viewed as a functionally differentiated subsystem of the broader social system in which it is embedded. To maintain a viable relationship with that social system, the school is subject to continual changes to meet the shifting social, economic, political, and technological forces in its environment. However, the more successful the school organization is in assessing accurately changing environmental forces, and in making appropriate adjustments to those forces, the more successful will it be in resisting temporary pressures and transitory movements and in controlling its own directions.

A major research problem is to identify those organizational properties that enable the school to assess accurately new demands and to adjust appropriately to those demands. Theoretically, those properties might be expected to include: (1) operationalized statements of instrumental goals; (2) a work structure that involves interdependence in task performance; (3) participation in decision making; (4) an incentive system that utilizes performance criteria rather than expressive relationships; (5) personnel practices that encourage a cosmopolitan orientation; and (6) institutionalized provisions for change advocacy.

The specification of the relationships among these properties, or variables, and the determination of means for assessing them quantitatively, are tasks that remain to be accomplished.     

Bayesian inference in time series models using kernel quasi likelihoods

The paper takes up Bayesian inference in time series models when essentially nothing is known about the distribution of the dependent variable given past realizations or other covariates. It proposes the use of kernel quasi likelihoods upon which formal inference can be based. Gibbs sampling with data augmentation is used to perform the computations related to numerical Bayesian analysis of the model. The method is illustrated with artificial and real data sets.     

Adjustment costs and time-to-build in factor demand in the U.S. manufacturing industry

In order to explain cyclical behavior of factor demand, the static neoclassical model of the firm has been extended to include either adjustment costs (e.g. Lucas (1967)) or time-to-build considerations as in Kydland and Prescott (1982). This paper presents an intertemporal factor demand model which accounts for adjustment costs and gestation lags. The closed form solution of the model is a highly restricted vector ARMA-process that is estimated using quarterly data for the manufacturing industry in the U.S., 1960–1988. The main conclusion is that both sources of dynamics of factor demand are identifiable and found to be empirically of importance.     

Who should own it? An agency‐based explanation for multi‐outlet ownership and co‐location in plural form franchising

Plural forms exist when managers use two owners to perform one activity. Franchising is a plural form explained by agency theory, however, the theory is unable to explain two franchisor actions: 1) allowing franchisees to own multiple outlets and 2) co‐locating company‐owned and franchised outlets. We use research that describes a symbiosis between company‐owned and franchised outlets to extend agency theory and explain these actions. Our investigation of ownership patterns among 4,339 outlets of 16 plural form franchisors is consistent with our theory that multi‐outlet franchising is cost efficient and that co‐location occurs when franchisors fill market gaps left by franchisees. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teaching accountants to learn and "building blocks" for accounting education

Conclusions Accounting professionals and academicians have expressed significant interest and are pursuing a variety of changes in accounting curricula. There is a broad range of opinions regarding the nature of the changes needed in accounting education, which range from dramatic redesign to little or no change. There is a need to develop a framework for accounting education that is consistent but flexible to accommodate the majority of the accounting educational needs. The "building blocks" of accounting education presented in this paper provide educators with a basic pedagogical framework for an appropriate learning process. The framework of accounting education specifically focuses on the accounting component of the educational process and identifies the nature of courses and appropriate teaching strategies based upon their goals and objectives. Most educators recognize that only "one" accounting curriculum is insufficient to meet the needs of a variety of constituents. Therefore, it is essential to adopt an appropriate general framework for coursework is adopted to address the development of many diverse accounting programs.     

Passive Investment Strategies and Efficient Markets

This paper presents the case for and the evidence in favour of passive investment strategies and examines the major criticisms of the technique. I conclude that the evidence strongly supports passive investment management in all markets—small–capitalisation stocks as well as large–capitalisation equities, US markets as well as international markets, and bonds as well as stocks. Recent attacks on the efficient market hypothesis do not weaken the case for indexing.