A toolkit in SAS for the evaluation of multiple imputation methods

This paper outlines a strategy to validate multiple imputation methods. Rubin's criteria for proper multiple imputation are the point of departure. We describe a simulation method that yields insight into various aspects of bias and efficiency of the imputation process. We propose a new method for creating incomplete data under a general Missing At Random (MAR) mechanism. Software implementing the validation strategy is available as a SAS/IML module. The method is applied to investigate the behavior of polytomous regression imputation for categorical data.     

The efficiency of museums: a stochastic frontier production function approach

This article examines the technical efficiency of museums based upon data derived from a questionnaire survey of South West England. A stochastic frontier production function is estimated with output measured in terms of visitor numbers. The Cobb-Douglas function is shown to be the best representation of the production function. Average levels of efficiency are estimated to be fairly low at 45.5% with wide variations across museums. The results indicate that high levels of public funding and voluntary activity have a significantly negative impact on technical efficiency. It is argued that further research is needed to develop more sophisticated measures of the output of cultural industries and understand the economic importance of volunteers.     

Implications of the US Tax Reform for Transatlantic FDI

On 22 December 2017 President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This corporate tax reform can be considered the most significant amendment of the US corporate tax code since 1986. Besides the reduction of the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act entails features like a switch from worldwide income taxation to territorial taxation, as well as immediate deductions for certain assets. This leads to a substantial improvement for the US in global tax competition. In this paper, we analyse the effects of the US tax reform on FDI flows between Europe and the US. We find that European high-tax countries in particular will suffer from a net outflow of FDI.     

Innovationen im Zuge der Digitalisierung des Personenverkehrs

The transport system is an important sector in economies, both in terms of its own share of gross national product and in its role as a presupplier, prime location and facilitator of private and occupational mobility. Like other industries, the transport system is subject to changes in technological trends, especially with regards to digitalisation. When analysing the forms and effects of digitalisation, one may be overwhelmed by the multitude of terms, such as: Industry 4.0, Physical Internet, Internet of Things, Radical Innovation, New Business Models and Digital Transformation. These terms are often interpreted in different ways because they have been specifically designed for agenda setting and thus for the enforcement of the individual interests of consultants, researchers and industries. And while transport has high hopes for digitalisation, it doesn’t necessarily apply to all parameters of the transport system. There are several relevant issues to consider including the extent to which digitalisation affects the traffic supply and demand and whether this will lead to an increase or decrease in traffic movements.     

Werte und Normen als Sollensvorstellungen in der KommunikationswissenschaftValues and norms as ought-statements in communication studies

Values and norms as research topics are central theoretical and empirical constructs in communication studies and are also used to substantiate research questions or to interpret results. Despite the relevance of values and norms, a respective debate within the discipline has been neglected so far. It is a challenge to discuss the values and norms of our discipline and to initiate an exchange of the societal relevance of one’s own research. The network “Values and norms as research objects and guiding principles in communication research”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), makes a contribution to this by systematically analyzing values and norms in communication studies and by critically reflecting them. Therefore, the paper proposes to operationalize values and norms as “ought-statements”. Ought-statements either describe a situational state that is explicitly evaluated or address a desirable state. Three elements of an ought-statement are identified, which are coded in a multistage content analysis. The operationalization of norms and values as ought-statements allows not only to examine already known values and norms, but also to assess all possible values and norms, to assess the change of values and norms more validly in long-term studies, and to assess those constructs that are labeled as norms or values by the researchers themselves.     

Entangled (In)Securities: Sketching the Scope of Geosocial Approaches for Understanding “Webs of (In)Security”1

This paper makes the case for a broadening of conceptual vocabularies in security studies by extending the sub-discipline’s predominantly geopolitical focus to the ‘geosocial’. Based on a review of work on human security and of feminist and anthropological research on (in)security and violence, we argue that there remains a need for further conceptual development to which geosocial approaches can make a significant contribution. They move us beyond compartmentalisation towards understanding social relations as a key medium through which connections between different forms of (in)security are forged. This prompts the mapping of a wider kaleidoscope of intersecting security issues, experiences, practices, subjects and topographies that include, but are not exhaustively explained by, geopolitical and geoeconomic processes. Drawing on findings from a participatory research project conducted with marginalised young people in Leipzig (Germany) between 2014 and 2015, we argue for greater attention to four issues that are rarely thematised in security studies and which geosocial approaches bring more squarely into focus: 1) social relations as a key connective tissue through which different dimensions of (in)security are entangled and through which these entanglements are given shape; 2) social relations as sources of security and insecurity; 3) security practices as including the emotional and practical labour invested in sustaining, moulding or dealing with the breakdown of social relations; and 4) the topographic stretching and hybridisation of social relations that furnishes not just cultures of fear but can also generate greater senses of security.