German Exports to the Euro Area

This paper analyzes the determinants of German exports to the euro area, which is the biggest market for German products. Three conditional error-correction models based on regionally disaggregated data are developed. One specification includes EMU industrial production and a real external value based on consumer prices, the other two use different EMU investment aggregates, the orresponding real external values and a proxy for European market integration to explain exports. The models perform equally well in a number of diagnostic tests. For short-term forecasts, however, the model using industrial production seems to be the best, since it outperforms the other models in terms of one-step ahead out-of-sample forecasts.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual 2002 congress of the Verein für Socialpolitik.     

Transfer Pricing and Hold-Ups in Supply Chains

Abstract. We reconsider the hold‐up problem under symmetric information when more than two parties form a ‘supply chain’. The parties are assumed to renegotiate bilaterally and sequentially. Potential trade distortions then arise in addition to the usual investment problem. Following Edlin and Reichelstein (1995, 1996), we consider fixed‐quantity contracts. First‐best allocations are shown to be attainable if the parties are able to commit to a ‘forced‐compliance’ regime where a central office monitors the consistency of the bilateral renegotiations.     

SOME PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING

Abstract Propensity score matching (PSM) has become a popular approach to estimate causal treatment effects. It is widely applied when evaluating labour market policies, but empirical examples can be found in very diverse fields of study. Once the researcher has decided to use PSM, he is confronted with a lot of questions regarding its implementation. To begin with, a first decision has to be made concerning the estimation of the propensity score. Following that one has to decide which matching algorithm to choose and determine the region of common support. Subsequently, the matching quality has to be assessed and treatment effects and their standard errors have to be estimated. Furthermore, questions like ‘what to do if there is choice‐based sampling?’ or ‘when to measure effects?’ can be important in empirical studies. Finally, one might also want to test the sensitivity of estimated treatment effects with respect to unobserved heterogeneity or failure of the common support condition. Each implementation step involves a lot of decisions and different approaches can be thought of. The aim of this paper is to discuss these implementation issues and give some guidance to researchers who want to use PSM for evaluation purposes.     

Crossing the borders: the relationship between boundary management,work–family enrichment and job satisfaction

Building upon Boundary Theory, the present study aims at investigating boundary management as a predictor of work-to-family enrichment and, in turn, of job satisfaction. We conceptualize boundary management both as an individual (preferences of an employee) as well as a contextual variable (perceived supplies of a workplace), both with respect to the two dimensions permeability (psychological boundary) and flexibility (physical boundary). In a survey of 222 employees with at least one child at home, we assessed employees' permeability and flexibility preferences, perceived permeability and flexibility supplies of the workplace, work-to-family enrichment and job satisfaction. Regression analysis showed a strong positive association between employees' permeability preferences, work-to-family enrichment and job satisfaction and between perceived flexibility supplies of the workplace, work-to-family enrichment and job satisfaction. Work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between permeability preferences and job satisfaction. Furthermore, work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between perceived flexibility supplies and job satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the results will be discussed.     

Balancing dual missions for social venture growth: a comparative case study

ABSTRACT

Balancing social and economic missions in the pursuit of growth is one of the greatest challenges faced by social ventures. Although social ventures strive for growth to scale their social impact, pursuing growth often results in mission drift and the sacrifice of social objectives, which in turn eventually undermine the ventures’ raison d’être. In this study, we investigate how and with what outcomes social ventures that pursue growth can manage the balance of social and economic missions. Through a comparative case study of six for-profit social ventures, we find significant differences in how dual missions are selected, connected, and intertwined, leading to varying degrees of mission spillover effects between social and economic missions. Our findings show that two-sided mission spillover effects are a central mechanism in dual mission management, enabling social ventures to pursue balanced growth, avoid mission drift, and achieve social impact. With these findings, this study adds to the emergent literature on social entrepreneurship, dual mission management, and social venture growth.     

Alte Seelen ganzheitlich pflegen

Fachkraft für Gerontopsychiatrie – Im höheren Lebensalter entwickeln viele Menschen behandlungsbedürftige psychische Störungen. Für die Pflege dieser größer werdenden Gruppe von Patienten sind spezielle Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten notwendig. Denn ob Menschen in Würde altern können, ist nicht zuletzt eine Frage qualifizierter Fachpflege.     

Local government reform between ‘exogenous’ and ‘endogenous’ driving forces

Abstract

Configuration is an appealing concept to help understanding the complex arrangements that guide organizations' actions and contribute to their coherence. Although health care organizations are often described as professional bureaucracy a deep understanding of their structure and systems is still lacking. In this article, we draw on empirical data gathered in a Canadian teaching hospital to expose the nature of interdependencies and themes that drive some of its configurations at health care unit level. Five clinical activities were investigated (ocular surgery, brachytherapy, vascular surgery, rheumatology and geriatrics) using direct systematic observation. Four sub-orchestrating themes emerged. Based on the findings it is argued that the operating core of health care organizations is not homogeneous but rather heterogeneous. Therefore it is our contention that hospitals and other public organizations where professionals control the activities at operating level might be better regarded as ‘diversified professional federation’ than as professional bureaucracy.     

‘Better safe than sorry’: consumer perceptions of and deliberations on nanotechnologies

Although nanotechnologies are considered key technologies that can drive growth‐generating innovations in well‐saturated markets, worldwide investment in nanotechnologies has to date focused largely on technology‐related development programmes and little effort has been expended to research associated risks. As a result, even though prior discourses have sensitized western consumers to potential health‐related dangers, solid knowledge on, for example, the toxicological and eco‐toxicological risks and unintended side effects of nanotechnology are scarce. This paper therefore presents an overview of the current evidence on consumer knowledge and perceptions of nanotechnology and public engagement with it, with a focus on the US, the UK and Germany. Overall, even though survey data suggest that awareness of the term ‘nanotechnology’ has risen slightly, today's consumers are generally ill informed about its nature and its applications in consumer‐related products. Hence, based on our analysis of these data, we argue that early political engagement in the nanotechnology issue – for example, consumer policy options that support consumer interest in the marketing of ‘nanos’– would facilitate objective public discourse.     

Regulation and the connectedness of insurers to the banking sector: International evidence

Using variation across countries and time in the degree to which regulations restrict banks and insurers from engaging in the same activities, we find that property/liability insurers' connectedness to the banking sector declines when regulatory restrictions increase, but life insurers' connectedness to banks does not. The results suggest that the connectedness between life insurers and banks is largely due to these institutions sharing common underlying economic and financial risk factors that exist even when regulation restricts these institutions from engaging in each other's activities.     

Stürze vermeiden

Fachkraft für Sturzpr?vention - Gerade für ?ltere und kranke Menschen stellen Stürze ein hohes Risiko dar. Denn nicht selten verursachen sie Verletzungen, die nicht nur die Mobilit?t, sondern auch eine selbstbestimmte Lebensführung massiv einschr?nken. In der Klinik gef?hrden sie den Heilungsprozess. Gezielte Pr?vention lautet das Gebot der Stunde.