Ein geometrischer Ansatz zur Modellierung von Versicherungsmärkten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung informationsökonomischer Aspekte

Using James Edward Meades geometrical technique for the solution of the various problems of International Trade this article gives a geometry of insurance markets and the solution of economic problems of the insurance industry.     

Comparative Advantage and the Pattern of Trade Within Industries

This paper investigates empirically one aspect of the vertically differentiated models of intraindustry trade. These models predict that the pattern of trade within an industry is based on comparative advantage rather than being completely random. An empirical model is specified in which the relative quality of two countries' bilateral exports within an industry depends on the relative differences in unit labor requirements. Using a variety of econometric methods, the results suggest that the quality of US manufacturing exports to the UK, Japan, and Germany relative to its imports from these countries is positively and significantly related to the relative differences in value added per worker.     

Programme Evaluation with Multiple Treatments

Abstract.  This paper reviews the main identification and estimation strategies for microeconometric policy evaluation. Particular emphasis is laid on evaluating policies consisting of multiple programmes, which is of high relevance in practice. For example, active labour market policies may consist of different training programmes, employment programmes and wage subsidies. Similarly, sickness rehabilitation policies often offer different vocational as well as non‐vocational rehabilitation measures. First, the main identification strategies (control‐for‐confounding‐variables, difference‐in‐difference, instrumental‐variable, and regression‐discontinuity identification) are discussed in the multiple‐programme setting. Thereafter, the different nonparametric matching and weighting estimators of the average treatment effects and their properties are examined.     

Reviewing Thailand's master plans and policies: implications for creative tourism?

This article contributes to an understanding of how creative tourism is perceived on a national level, by using Thailand as a case analysis. The primary objective of this article is to investigate Thailand's plans and policies for the creative economy at both national and ministry levels in relation to creative tourism. It also identifies how a national strategic plan can provide a blueprint for individual agency master plans to provide policy support for the development of the creative economy in the tourism sector. Thailand is chosen as an example of how government and related agencies can contribute to a national creative tourism movement in the country, especially in the light of the Tourism Authority of Thailand branding campaign to stimulate creative tourism to the destination. The qualitative research methodology through content analysis is used to scrutinise the plan and policy contents from the selected government agencies. The results demonstrate a better view of how creative tourism is positioned in the Thailand context and contribute to a policy study on the creative economy in the tourism sector as well as in creative tourism.     

Choosing the Joneses: Endogenous Goals and Reference Standards

A growing economic literature stresses the importance of relative comparisons, e.g., for savings and consumption or happiness. In this literature it is usually assumed that reference standards against which people compare themselves are exogenously given. In contrast, findings from social psychology suggest that people play an active role in determining their reference standards. We introduce a social comparison model where people choose their reference standards to serve motives of self‐improvement and self‐enhancement. The model predicts that reference standards increase in individuals’ abilities and that people thus tend to compare themselves to similar others. The results of a questionnaire study confirm the prediction of the model.     

Voluntary Environmental Agreements and Competition Policy

Voluntary environmental agreements are oftensuspected to promote collusive practicesbetween participating firms. The paperaddresses the antitrust implications ofGermany's voluntary Dual Management System forPackaging Waste Collection and Recycling (DSD). It uses analytical tools of the economictheory of the firm to examine features ofDSD's governance structure that were oftenidentified to impede competition. While thepaper does not argue that DSD performs asefficiently as a hypothetical solution in amore competitive setting, it shows that thesefeatures have an economic rationale from theviewpoint of the theory of the firm. Thegeneral conclusion is that it is necessary tocarefully analyze the institutional fine-tuningof a voluntary agreement in order to derive theoverall impact stemming from a formal lack ofcompetition. A more case-to-case-oriented,institutional research approach could thereforefruitfully supplement model-driven, theoreticalanalyses of voluntary environmental agreementsand their effect on market competition.     

Emission trading in Europe with an exchange rate

This paper explores the analytical and empirical properties of a new method for emission trading according to a fixed exchange rate. The exchange rate is based on the ratios of the marginal costs of abatement in the optimal solution in order to account for the impact of the location of emission sources on the deposition. It is shown that, generally, this system will not achieve the optimal solution and does not guarantee that environmental deposition constraints are not violated, although total abatement costs are always reduced. A routine was developed to mimic trading as a bilateral, sequential process, subject to an exchange rate. In the example used, results for SO₂ emissions in Europe show that, starting from a uniform reduction, exchange-rate trading achieves higher cost savings than one-to-one trading, without achieving the cost minimum. Sulfur deposition targets are not violated since the initial emission allocation overfulfilled targets at many places. The results are sensitive to: pre-trade emission levels, the transaction costs, the availability of information on potential cost savings and assumptions made on the behavior of trading partners.     

Does the Impact of Employment Protection Legislation on Foreign Direct Investment Differ by the Skill Intensity of Industries? An Empirical Note

In line with previous literature, we find that strict employment protection deters foreign direct investment. This finding is consistent with the view that rigid labour markets result in high adjustment and exit costs which discourage firm investment. Moreover, our results are consistent with the view that the deterrent effect of rigid labour markets depends on the skill intensity of an industry.