Full currency convertibility in Eastern Europe?

In the countries of Eastern Europe the question as to the degree of currency convertibility is among the most important decisions to be taken when setting the framework for a free market economy. This article attempts to indicate the monetary and fiscal measures that will be required if the reform countries willing and able to be integrated into the EC and OECD are to proceed rapidly to the liberalisation of capital transactions.     

Cross-border innovation intermediaries – matchmaking across institutional contexts

This paper draws attention to the specific aspect of institutional environments in international matchmaking for innovation. While technology is largely global this exploratory study of 18 cross-border cases between Europe and China points to the impact of distant institutional environments on the success and structure of cross-border collaborative innovation. Addressing differences in governance, market regulation, policy, IPR protection, language and culture like the Chinese guanxi are specific services based on dedicated capabilities of international innovation intermediaries.     

EU-Investitionsförderung für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen in Südeuropa: empfehlenswert?

The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has repeatedly pointed out that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face major constraints to access to credit and that removing these constraints could contribute to reducing unemployment. According to press reports, the new president of the EU Commission and even the European Central Bank are also considering low-cost loans for national banks if they provide credit for SMEs. It is argued theoretically and empirically that single-firm investment support does not address the causes of high unemployment and, due to the difficulty in monitoring, could result in great inefficiencies.     

Zwischen theoretischer Begründung und praktischer Anwendung: Medienethik auf dem Weg zur kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Teildisziplin

This article serves as an introduction to the tow following articles on media ethics by Thomas Hausmanninger and Horst Pöttker, which grew out of presentations at the most recent annual meeting of the communication and media ethics section of the DGPuK and the »Netzwerk Medienethik«. It sketches the problem of institutionally establishing media ethics as a form of applied ethics in university teaching. It further argues that steps must also be taken on the level of media organizations to create the preconditions for responsible behavior in the media: Ethical values specific to the profession must be internalized by individuals as norms that guide action, and anchored as guiding principles in media organizations. In addition to this orientational function of applied ethics, media ethics also has a reflective function. This encompasses the moral philosophical task of reflecting on media actions and the media system from an ethical perspective and of justifying norms and values in media ethics. It would be highly beneficial if media ethics gained greater recognition and became more strongly institutionalized within the university as a subdiscipline of communication studies.     

„Infotainment“ in der Presse

This paper answers, by means of a content analysis of three regional daily papers, the question of whether political journalism in regional newspapers is more entertaining today than it was in 1980. On the level of articles, increased entertainment can consist of using specific design elements. On the thematic level, topics that are entertaining per se (e. g. human interest topics) can take the place of or occur in addition to political information. In all the papers that were examined, political articles possess a larger potential for entertainment today than they did in 1980. Additionally, the percentage of political information has decreased, while the number of articles on human interest topics has increased. Finally, this paper discusses how that result is to be evaluated from the point of view of the theory of democracy: “Infotainment” can be beneficial in some circumstances. Therefore, entertainment should not be disparaged in general; one needs to be careful when assessing it normatively.