Struktureller Wandel und Krisenbewältigung der deutschen Volkswirtschaft

Die Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise wirkt wie ein externer Schock auf die deutsche Konjunktur. Mit zwei makro?konomischen Simulationsmodellen weisen die Autoren nach, dass die Krise in Deutschland allein auf diesen Schock zurückzuführen ist. Die Exportabh?ngigkeit der Wirtschaft führt dazu, dass die Produktion zunehmend volatiler wird. Demgegenüber hat sich die Besch?ftigungsentwicklung stabilisiert und von der Konjunktur abgekoppelt — vor allem dank der staatlichen Hilfen.     

The Representation of Social Actors in Corporate Codes of Ethics. How Code Language Positions Internal Actors

This article understands codes of ethics as written documents that represent social actors in specific ways through the use of language. It presents an empirical study that investigated the codes of ethics of the German Dax30 companies. The study adopted a critical discourse analysis-approach in order to reveal how the code-texts produce a particular understanding of the various internal social groups for the readers. Language is regarded as social practice that functions at creating particular understandings of individuals and groups, how they are interrelated, and how they should behave. Findings show that codes of ethics do not represent employees as a group that is empowered or morally enlightened; instead they are positioned as passive receivers of rules and regulations. Furthermore, codes of ethics classify employees as having a need to be monitored and controlled by the higher levels of the corporate hierarchy. Overall, code language enforces compliance through maintaining existing and building new asymmetries between the different groups within a company. As a consequence, the article discusses a somewhat different understanding of code effectiveness. Reproducing and reemphasizing hierarchical relations could also lead to code compliance, perhaps without any need for developing the moral employee that is committed to ethical values.     

Temporary layoff unemployment in Austria: empirical evidence from administrative data

Temporary layoffs (rehires, recalls) have been widely recognized as an important feature of North America's labour markets. For Europe, however, several observers have suggested that tighter regulatory impediments to the recruitment and dismissal of employees are responsible for temporary layoff unemployment being virtually non-existent. Against this background this paper uses administrative data to evaluate the quantitative importance of temporary separations among the unemployed in Austria and to track its composition by industries. The main finding of our empirical analysis is that about one-third of all unemployment spells in Austria in 1985 ended with the individual returning to the former employer. Since temporary layoff unemployment was found to be on average of shoter duration, it comprised a somewhat lower fraction of total weeks of unemployment. However, temporary layoff unemployment thus accounts for the same proportion of unemployment in Austria as in the US or Canada.     

EZB-Krisenpolitik: OMT-Programm, Vollzuteilungspolitik und Lender of Last Resort

This paper applies the economic argumentation put forth by the OMT’s opponents before the German Federal Constitutional Court [Bundesverfassungsgericht] to the full allotment policy practiced by the ECB since October 2008. The comparison shows that under this line of reasoning, the full allotment policy also contravenes the ECB’s mandate. Ultimately, therefore, the ECB is not in court because of monetary financing, but rather in its role as a lender of last resort. Accordingly, a court decision against the OMT would endorse an economic argumentation which contradicts 150 years of modern central bank history.     

EC trade policy beyond 1992

The initiative to set up the single European market has aroused fears abroad, and indeed even within Europe itself, that the intention is to turn the Community into a “Fortress Europe”. Attempts to allay these fears by the Council of Ministers, the EC Commission or individuals representing them have achieved little success, and on occasion have actually tended to be counter-productive. Is “Fortress Europe” an illusion or a real danger?     

The Q Theory of Housing Investment

This paper presents estimates of a Q model of housing investment, using quarterly data for the United States. The empirical model is estimated using building permits, housing starts, and housing investment expenditures as measures of investment. The current and lagged values of the Q ratio are found to be positively and significantly associated with housing investment, whichever way investment is measured. The findings suggest that the housing market indeed functions as Tobin has theorized. Housing suppliers appear to respond to the demands of housing consumers, building more new homes when existing home prices are high relative to new home prices.     

Was sind Marken wirklich wert?

Wenn Produkte und Services immer vergleichbarer werden, wird die Marke zu einem immer wichtigeren Differenzierungsfaktor. Diese Entwicklung trifft viele Branchen — Telekommunikation, Energieversorgung, Automobilindustrie — insbesondere aber die Banken. Um die Angebote und Preise optimal zu strukturieren, ist eine genaue Kenntnis der kundenindividuellen Markenmehrwerte unerl?sslich. Das im Folgenden beschriebene Vorgehen erl?utert, wie durch eine am individuellen Kunden ausgerichtete, computerbasierte Trade-Off-Analyse der Mehrwert einer Marke und dessen Treiber exakt bestimmt werden k?nnen. Basierend auf diesen Informationen liefern die Autoren Vorschl?ge zur Bildung von Kundensegmenten und zur Implementierung der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse in der Front-Organisation.     

Welfare and Macroeconomic Effects of the German Pension Acts of 1992 and 1999: A Dynamic CGE Study

The German Pension Act of 1992 raises the mandatory retirement age while the Act of 1999 adjusts pension benefits to demographic changes. To examine welfare and macroeconomic effects of these reform schemes, we have carried out a dynamic CGE study. The model used is an enlarged version of the Auerbach–Kotlikoff model with endogenous retirement decisions, unemployment, age-dependent rates of unemployment, health, and long-term care insurance. The simulation is performed in two stages: first, the effects of the population decline in Germany are computed ignoring the reforms and, second, the effects of the reform schemes are examined and compared with the benchmark case. The results suggest that the Act of 1992 implies welfare gains while suspending the Act of 1999 induces welfare losses.