Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Family Background and Economic Status in Finland

The importance of family background for economic outcomes is analyzed, using a Finnish data set. The estimates for intergenerational and sibling correlations in earnings are comparatively low. By estimating the magnitude of family influence conditional on parental earnings, children with poor parents are found to have lower intergenerational elasticities, while the sibling resemblance is higher. Children with rich parents have higher intergenerational elasticities and the sibling resemblance is also higher, except for daughters. The results also indicate that the largest share of the intergenerational correlation is transmitted through observed characteristics, such as education and, in particular, occupation.
JEL classification : D 1; D 3; J 6     

High precision registration of complicated longitudinal and cross-sectional data

In the article are given examples showing how, by using musical notation in registering (complicated) developments, considerably more qualitative variables may be taken into account than we were used to; furthermore, the temporal element may be represented with a degree of precision that corresponds to our needs. In case of cross-sectional data modifications of musical notation may be used. However, we have to recognize that there are also variables, maybe important ones, that — for several reasons — cannot be registered with a very high precision. Other complications are hinted at. The method described is rather a working method by means of which to improve the basis for a further quantitative analysis than a method suitable for showing final research results.     

Exports, economic growth and the consolidation of peace in El Salvador

The pillars of inclusive growth in El Salvador have to be nontraditional export growth, investment, and government determination to reduce income inequality and poverty. This article analyzes the key obstacles to the development of a competitive and dynamic export sector: Dutch Disease driven by aid and remittances, a significant decline in real wages, and lack of productivity growth. Policies can and must focus on productivity growth rather than wage repression, in the pursuit of peace consolidation and long-term competitiveness.     

The impact of electricity prices on foreign direct investment: evidence from the European Union

We examine the impact of electricity price variation on net FDI (%GDP) inflows in countries of the European Union. We use panel data of 27 EU countries for a period of 2003 – 2013. We show that electricity prices of south-western and north-eastern EU countries did not converge to one price until now. Dynamic panel data analysis using system GMM shows that besides unit labour costs, tax rates and competitive disadvantage in secondary education, also higher electricity prices reduce countries’ ability to attract FDI. The immediate effects are statistically significant across both sub-regions analysed: in the short run, a 10% increase in electricity prices leads to a decrease in net FDI inflows as a share of GDP by 0.4 percentage points for the south-western and 0.33 for the north-eastern region. In the long run, the response is 0.60 percentage points for south-western and 0.48 for north-eastern regions. Policies should aim at reducing electricity market price differences on the European level through investment in transborder transmission capacity; reductions in FDI, when environmental policy increases after-tax electricity prices, should be countered by other tax reductions as well as harmonization of property rights, absence of corruption and labour market regulations at best-practice level.     

Crisis of Capitalism and (De-)Politicisation of Monetary Policymaking: Reflections from Hungary and Turkey

This article explores the changes in monetary policymaking in Hungary and Turkey in the context of the post-2008 global financial crisis and restructuring. Both countries went through a thorough restructuring process in the pre-2008 context. While this process has introduced and consolidated depoliticised forms of governing to a certain degree in both countries, we suggest that the latest crisis has contributed to the emergence of a politicisation process. In the Hungarian case, these processes are reflected in both discursive attempts and the instalment of visible centralised control over the management of money. In Turkey, intensifying discursive attempts to politicize monetary policy have not led to an explicit change in the formally depoliticised character of central banking until recently but politicised other policy areas. In both countries, the process has accompanied the entrenchment of increasingly oppressive discourse and practices as part of the overall management of the crisis-ridden capitalist social relations. The paper aims to explore these similarities and differences within a critical political economy approach to state, governing strategies and (de)politicisation and to contribute to advancing research beyond the established case studies in the existing literature.     

Influence of Corporate Image on Brand Extensions: A Model Applied to the Service Sector

The paper presented here provides a new perspective in the study of service brand extensions, which has become a popular strategy for launching new services. Specifically, the paper proposes and estimates a model that shows how potential consumers evaluate service extensions. The findings show that the corporate image affects both the perceived service quality and the perceived fit between the new service and the parent brand, which in turn affects attitudes towards the extension. In consequence, the service extension is more likely to be successful when the corporate image is reinforced by effective marketing communications. The perception of service quality will be better and consumers will think that the company is more able to offer the new services.     

The Difficult Relation between International Law and Politics: The Legal Turn from a Critical IPE Perspective

International law is currently undergoing a major transformation that has provoked a ‘legal turn’ in the field of International Relations. At the heart of this transformation are the juridification of international politics and subsequently the judicialisation of international law. This contribution argues that scholars of critical International Political Economy have not yet paid enough attention to this process. What is needed is a theory of international law that is able to grasp the societal implications of this transformation. In a first step some accounts drawing on Antonio Gramsci and Evgeny Pashukanis are presented, with a view to making their theory fruitful for analysing international law. Against the background of an empirical study that compares the global regulation of trade in goods with the trade in services, delivered notably through natural persons, some major shortcomings of these accounts are outlined. The last part of the contribution presents some ideas on how to further develop a critical theory of international (trade) law that introduces a communicative dimension into the legal turn with a view to distinguishing between different extra-economic dynamics.     

Improving the absorptive capacity through unlearning context: an empirical investigation in hospital-in-the-home units

The Spanish healthcare system has undergone important changes, particularly in the development of new homecare services. In practice, however, results have been mixed. Some homecare services have been successful, but implementation failures are common and the intended patients are frequently reluctant to use the homecare services. A possible explanation for efficiency and effectiveness gaps of services provided by hospital-in-the-home units (HHUs) may relate to the advantages and disadvantages of the knowledge processes that these units highlight as a result of their different structural properties. This study examines the impact of an unlearning (forgetting) context on the HHU's ability to challenge basic beliefs and to implement processes that are explicitly or tacitly helpful in the reception of new ideas (absorptive capacity). These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 54 doctors and 62 nurses belonging to 44 HHUs. The results show that the unlearning context plays a key role in managing the tension between potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity.