Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Fiscal consolidation in Germany

The German federal government’s fiscal consolidation package, announced in June, is designed to permanently reduce the federal deficit to a new target level. This article uses a three-region version of the European Commission’s QUEST model to gauge the impact of the package on Germany and the spillover to the rest of the euro area and the rest of the world.     

Efficiency, subsidies, and environmental adaptation of animal farming under CAP

The purpose of this article is to model the interaction between the targets of the current Comman Agriculture Politic (CAP): environmental adaptation, subsidies, and efficiency of animal farming. To this end we first have to identify the production frontier and relative efficiency level for each animal‐oriented farm in the sample. The production frontier and efficiency index for each type of farm (assuming no specific production functions) are identified using Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) techniques. We then address the relationship between relative efficiency, farm size, and environmentally friendly behavior by carrying out a nonparametric regression of efficiency, on economic size, a proxy for the degree of environmental appropriateness, and regional dummies. Calculations of the efficiency of the farms including direct subsidies are compared with the counterfactual exercise in the case in which direct subsidies are not considered. Finally, we look for relations between subsidies and factors such as farm size, efficiency, and environmentally friendly behavior. One key result shows that, on average direct payments generally tend to increase efficiency. However, in most of the cases the mean efficiency decreases as the percentage of direct payments rises. Direct payments are found to be positively related to environmentally friendly production, at least in Germany. However, in general, the direct payment system is not sufficient to offset the fact that the less environmentally friendly farms as well as the larger farms are more efficient.     

Russia’s foreign trade and the economic reforms

The Russian Federation now faces a totally new beginning as regards the shaping of its foreign trade relations. The demands made upon its external economic policy by the changes in the political and economic systems on the one hand and the collapse of the formerly unified economic zone of the Soviet Union on the other are so great that, in many respects, consistent answers have yet to be found. To what extent has the Russian government so far succeeded in developing a new foreign trade regime?     

Kurzarbeit — Sinnvoller Konjunkturpuffer oder verlängertes Arbeitslosengeld?

Zusammenfassung  Zur überwindung der aktuellen Krise wird nicht nur in Deutschland das Instrument der Kurzarbeit verwendet. Es ist in Deutschland im Vergleich zu anderen L?ndern jedoch sehr gro?zügig gestaltet und wurde kürzlich sogar noch ausgeweitet. Damit besteht die Gefahr, dass nicht nur — wie beabsichtigt — bei einem vorübergehenden Arbeitsausfall Entlassungen verhindert werden, sondern notwendige strukturelle Anpassungen verz?gert werden. Wie ist die Ausgestaltung der deutschen Kurzarbeit zu bewerten? Dr. Werner Eichhorst, 40, ist stellvertretender Direktor am Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, IZA in Bonn; Paul Marx, 26, Dipl.-Politologe, ist dort als Doktorand t?tig. Erweiterte und aktualisierte Fassung von W. Eichhorst, P. Marx: Le ch?mage partiel, ammortisateur social de la crise?, in: Regards sur l’Economie Allemande, H. 90, S. 23–30.     

Marketing sustainable tourism: the role of value orientation,well-being and credibility

Abstract

Marketing for sustainable tourism primarily attracts customers with a biospheric–altruistic value orientation. To reach a broader consumer group and also persuade people with a self-enhancement orientation to book sustainable hotels, the effectiveness of three different communication styles (emotionality levels, amount of sustainability information and inclusion of a label) is investigated, considering the consumer’s value orientation. An experiment with 337 participants was conducted to analyze the effects of communication on consumer perceptions of well-being and credibility. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to compare the impacts of communication style on participant’s attitude toward booking a sustainable hotel, mediated by well-being and credibility. The results highlight significantly different communication effects among the two contrasting target groups. Consumers who are highly interested in sustainability (biospheric–altruistic value orientation) are persuaded by messages that include details about the hotel’s sustainability performance, in order to increase the social–environmental well-being, whereas for customers who are less interested in sustainability (self-enhancement value orientation), a self-referential emotionally communication is essential, as it increases the emotional well-being. Inconsistent findings regarding the role of communication in raising the perception of credibility were obtained.