Exporting and labour demand: Micro‐level evidence from Germany

It is widely believed that globalization increases the extent of employment and wage responses to economic shocks. In this paper, we investigate the effect of firms’ exporting activities on the wage elasticity of labour demand. Using rich, administrative linked employer–employee panel data from Germany and destination‐specific industry‐level information on trade flows, we explicitly control for self‐selection into exporting and endogeneity concerns. Overall, we find that exporting has a significant positive effect on the (absolute value of the) unconditional wage elasticity of labour demand. In line with our hypothesis, we further show that the effect is particularly strong for those plants that export a significant share of their output to low‐ and medium‐income countries, hence face relatively more price‐elastic product demand.     

The determinants of commercial banking profitability in low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Using a broad bank-level dataset and the GMM estimator technique described by Arellano and Bover (1995), this paper analyses how bank-specific characteristics, macroeconomic variables, and industry-specific factors affect the profitability of 10,165 commercial banks across 118 countries over the period from 1998 to 2012. Grouping the countries according to three income levels, we show that the determinants of bank profitability included in our model can explain existing profitability differences among commercial banks in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The profitability determinants vary quite widely across the different levels of income in terms of significance, sign and size of the effect. The level of income has thus an important impact on the determinants of bank profitability.     

Willingness to Pay for Green Products in Air Travel: Ready for Take‐Off?

We examine the willingness to pay (WTP) for green products in air travel. Green products in aviation are supplementary services, which are sold on top of the travel service (e.g. carbon offsets, organic on‐board food). We identify a set of potential green products in aviation and report the preferences for additional airline services of 811 Swiss air travellers using an adaptive choice‐based conjoint survey. We find that 20% of those passengers who are interested in purchasing supplementary services show a considerable WTP for green products. The green segment differs from the regular segment only in terms of behavioural features, not in terms of demographic or socio‐economic characteristics. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Renewable energy and local development: Seven lessons from the mining industry

Having long depended on fossil fuels for energy generation, South Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications. Renewable energy companies are therefore required by government to engage with communities to contribute to socio-economic development. We present seven lessons we believe the renewable energy sector can learn from the mining industry. We argue that the new industry must: manage social disruption, understand community complexities, create responsive institutions and the capacity to support industry practice, employ trained community practitioners, be clear about the aims of local development, encourage economic diversification in remote areas and, importantly, in view of problems caused by downscaling in the mining industry, plan for the possible closure of projects. Renewable energy projects could then serve and shape local development.     

Military casualties and exchange rates during the First World War: did the Eastern Front matter?

Although the First World War was ultimately decided in the west, historians have emphasized the importance of the often ‘forgotten’ Eastern Front in understanding its complex evolution. This article examines the perception of contemporary foreign exchange traders concerning the relative importance of the Eastern Front over time. Using a newly compiled dataset on prisoners of war and on soldiers killed and wounded, we show that traders were concerned with casualties on both fronts, recognizing the significance of the two‐front war in the early war years. From the autumn of 1916 onwards, traders seemed to believe the key to winning the war lay in the west only.     

Inclusion or Dualization? The Political Economy of Employment Relations in Italian and Greek Telecommunications

Recent literature argues that trade unions in restructuring service industries have responded to the challenges of the post‐industrial era by accepting different forms of labour market dualization. This article examines two case studies from Italy and Greece, in which unions adopted divergent responses to intensified market pressures unleashed by the liberalization of national telecommunications markets. In the Italian case, collective bargaining was successfully centralized, resulting in the inclusion of traditional labour market ‘outsiders’. In contrast, bargaining centralization failed in Greek telecommunications, leading to intensified dualization. These different paths of institutional change are explained as resulting from differences in ideological cleavages among unions and distinct legacies in employers’ associations.     

Is a flat tax reform feasible in a grown-up democracy of Western Europe? A simulation study for Germany

The success of the flat rate income tax in eastern Europe suggests that this concept could also be a model for countries of western Europe. The present paper uses a simulation model to analyze the effects of revenue neutral flat rate tax reforms on equity and efficiency for the case of Germany. We find that a flat rate tax with a low tax rate and a low basic allowance yields positive static welfare effects amounting to approximately 1.8% of income tax revenue but increases income inequality. The increase in income inequality can be avoided by combining a higher tax rate with a higher basic allowance. But in this case, the efficiency gains vanish. We conclude that due to their limited efficiency effects and their problematic distributional impact, flat tax reforms are unlikely to spill over to the grown-up democracies of western Europe.      

Kundenwertermittlung — wie viel Vertrieb ist uns der Kunde wert?

Ohne Zusammenfassung Prof. Dr. Andreas Mengen lehrt Controlling und General Management im Fachbereich Betriebswirtschaft der Fachhochschule Koblenz — University of Applied Sciences und ist Partner von B?cker Ziemen Management Consultants, Bonn. Dipl.-Betriebswirtin (FH) Alina Mettler studierte Betriebswirtschaft an der Fachhochschule Koblenz und ist Mitarbeiterin bei einem gro?enmittelst?ndischen Unternehmen für Kunststoff- und Metallverarbeitung, Gesch?ftsbereich Industrieverpackungen.