Gene-environment interactions and the complexity of human genetic diseases

In the assessment of mortality and morbidity risk, the ability of family history and genetic test results to predict the age of occurrence, severity, and long-term prognosis of 'genetic' diseases is important. An increasing number of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions have been demonstrated in a number of monogenic Mendelian diseases. These interactions can significantly modify the clinical presentation (disease phenotype) of diseases previously regarded purely as 'genetic.' As a result, 'genetic' diseases can be positioned in a continuum between classic Mendelian and complex disease where the extremes, pure genetic or solely non-genetic, do not exist. The position of any given disease in this continuum is defined by three components: the major gene(s) contributing to the phenotype, the variability added by modifier genes and the significance of environmental factors influencing the phenotype. As the predictive value of genetic test results can be significantly influenced by additional genetic and environmental risk factors, a better understanding of these factors may influence the quantification of mortality and morbidity risk.     

Interaktivität, Interaktion, Internet

In recent years, numerous suggestions have been made to clarify the concept of interactivity in communication science. Most often, an inclusion strategy is used, in which diverse definitions are summarized into a multi-dimensional notion of interactivity. Aside from this, there is also an exclusion strategy: On the one hand, certain technical media (computer-mediated communication, »interactive television«) or communicative situations (face-to-face communication) are marked as »interactive«. In doing this, no differentiation is made between potential and process, and betwen »interactivity« and »interaction«. On the other hand, the notion of interaction as it is rooted in sociology offers itself for a theoretically grounded definition. Seven ways of using the term in relationsship to the notion of communication can be found. It is suggested to conceptualize interaction as a type of communication in the sense of Rafaeli: Interactive communication is reciprocal and relates to earlier messages. The concept of interactive communication chosen here can be linked with systems theory and the deliberative theory of the public sphere.     

PRICE SETTING OF MARKET MAKERS: A FILTERING PROBLEM WITH ENDOGENOUS FILTRATION

This paper studies the price‐setting problem of market makers under risk neutrality and perfect competition in continuous time. The classic approach of Glosten–Milgrom is followed. Bid and ask prices are defined as conditional expectations of a true value of the asset given the market makers' partial information that includes the customers' trading decisions. The true value is modeled as a Markov process that can be observed by the customers with some noise at Poisson times. A mathematically rigorous analysis of the price‐setting problem is carried out, solving a filtering problem with endogenous filtration that depends on the bid and ask price processes quoted by the market maker. The existence and uniqueness of the bid and ask price processes is shown under some conditions.     

Die offene Mitversicherung als Outsourcing

Transfer of tasks to the leading insurer when establishing a co-insurance is common. German insurance supervision law classifies this delegation as an outsourcing and provides legal requirements regarding its performance. After the full installation of the Solvency II-regime this form of outsourcing will have to meet changed legal requirements. Fulfillment of legal requirements needs to be harmonized with the legal specifities of co-insurance, which evolve from the legal relationships of the co-insurers with each other.     

Young SMEs as a Motor of Europe’s Innovation Machine

Intereconomics - Using large scale EIB Investment Survey evidence for 2016 covering 8,900 non-financial firms from all size and age classes across all sectors and all EU member states, the authors...     

Können Fiskalräte die europäische Schuldenkrise lösen?

This article analyses the role of independent fiscal institutions (IFIs) in dealing with the debt crisis in Europe. IFIs take the role of a fiscal watchdog by producing their own (or assessing the government’s) budget and macroeconomic forecast and have recently spread across many industrialized countries. Empirical evidence suggests that IFIs can contribute to solid public finances in conjunction with fiscal rules if these institutions are truly independent, have a clear mandate and access to sufficient resources, as well as a strong media impact.     

Abschaffung der Abgeltungsteuer — gerechter und steuersystematisch einheitlicher?

There is a rising political discussion in Germany around abolishing the final withholding tax on capital income. The German tax reforms that introduced this tax lowered tax rates, in particular on interest income. According to some authors, the growing inequality of income and property is a strong argument for the higher taxation of capital income. However, other authors argue that the neutrality aspects concerning private investment are inadequate. An abolishment of the final withholding tax would not solve these problems and, moreover, would turn back the achieved improvements. Therefore, the German Council of Economic Experts suggests complementing the previous reforms by introducing an allowance for corporate equity.     

Current Account Adjustment in the Eurozone: Lessons From a Flexible Price Model

This paper discusses the desired size of the internal devaluation in the Eurozone for a scenario of current account adjustment induced by shifts in relative demand. Based on Obstfeld and Rogoff, I develop a four‐region model of the world economy consisting of the Eurozone‐core, Eurozone‐periphery, United States and Asia. In contrast to most of the existing literature, this model structure enables studying the impact of global current account adjustment on the rebalancing process in the Eurozone. In addition, the model allows for movements of factors of production between tradable and non‐tradable sectors. The results point to the important impact of sectoral reallocation and increases in Asian demand on the size of the internal devaluation as well as on the implied length of the adjustment period.     

Gas storage valuation under limited market liquidity: an application in Germany

Natural gas storages may be valued by applying real options theory. However, it is crucial to take into account that most evolving gas markets, like the German spot market, lack liquidity. This implies that large-scale operation of storages reduces the achievable operating margin since storage operators will pay higher prices for injected gas and earn less on withdrawn gas. Optimal storage operation will take this into account. In this context, considering storage operators as price takers does not account for interdependencies of storage operations and market prices. This paper offers a novel approach to storage valuation taking into account the effect of management decisions on market prices. The methodology proposed within this paper determines the optimal production schedule and value by determining the stochastic differential equation describing the storage value and then applying a finite difference scheme. We find that limited liquidity lowers the storage value and reduces withdrawal and injection amounts. Further, we observe decreasing reservation prices for injection and withdrawing for growing illiquidity resulting in a left shift of injection and withdrawing threshold prices.