Personal Taxation and Investment Incentives in a Small Open Economy

A simple portfolio model is used to investigate the effects of personal taxes on real investment incentives in a small open economy with large and small firms. When shares in large firms can be traded internationally and their rate of return is exogenously determined on international equity markets, a tax on the return on riskless bonds will induce a portfolio shift from bonds to shares in large firms. This shift reduces the impact of the bond tax on the required rate of return on shares in domestically owned small firms, provided that returns on shares in small and large firms are positively correlated. The total impact of the bond tax may even change from a negative to a counter-intuitive positive one if the “beta” between the returns on small and large firms is above unity. A personal tax on equity returns does in general have an ambiguous impact on the pre-tax rate of return requirement of domestically owned firms. An exogenous rate of return on large company shares is shown to enhance the possibility for the equity tax to reduce the required pre-tax rate of return in small domestic firms. A sufficient condition for a negative relationship is again that the “beta” between the returns in small and large firms is above unity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A framework for micropayment evaluation

Lacking payment systems become a bottleneck for the vision of the Information Economy. In many cases, the payments of a fraction of a cent, the so-called micropayments, are of particular interest. In this paper we propose a framework to evaluate the payment systems. The framework consists of a well structured parameter vector of the desired attributes. For the evaluation of attribute values, we suggest to use VTS diagrams from object-oriented analysis and design. The framework is applied to DigiCash, SET and First Virtual. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Where is the EC drifting?

The squabbles in the European Community have made the headlines in the last few months. Wide-spread is the impression that the EC is laboriously threading its way from compromise to compromise without evolving proper longer-lasting solutions for its problems. The community is adrift. Where will the drift take it? Prof. Möller advances a medium-term projection. Prof. Hrbek follows it up with a presentation of this thesis that to view the EC as an artefact drifting erratically without purpose, direction or orientation gives a wrong picture of the Community.     

Risk taking under transition: An empirical comparison between Chinese,western-, and eastern-German managers

Even after 10 years, countries under transition are still on their way to becoming developed, internationally competitive countries. At this stage it is helpful for business cooperation to know whether managers in countries undergoing transition are behaving like socialists or Western managers, or somewhere in between. Many joint ventures and other alliances between Western companies and companies in countries in transition are seeking to establish new markets with new products or new technologies (i.e., new processes). They are risky because the returns are uncertain. Understanding the risk attitudes of managers in countries in transition can explain different investment behavior and provide vital information for installing the right incentives. This study compares the risk attitudes of Chinese, eastern, and western German managers. Chinese managers' risk attitudes seem to be more similar to the attitudes of western German managers than to those of their counterparts in eastern Germany. Some of the reasons and consequences are discussed in this article. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Bemerkungen zur theorie der statistischen funktion

Abstract

In einer früheren Arbeit habe ich u. a. verschiedene kritische Anmerkungen über die Ansichten der Korrelationisten veröffentlicht. Um leicht entstehende Missverständnisse gleich von Anfang an zu vermeiden, möchte ich einige Ergänzungen zur angeführten Arbeit geben. Ich schicke folgende Erklärungen voraus.     

新春贺辞

金虎辞旧岁,玉兔迎新春。在这辞旧迎新之际,我谨代表中共济南市委宣传部,向长期以来关心、支持济南经济社会发展的海内外读者朋友和网民朋友表示衷心的感谢!向辛勤工作在外宣战线上的同志们表示亲切的慰问!     

The failure of integrated transport policy in Germany: a historical perspective

In order to reach a sustainable traffic development, the European Union follows the central idea of an integrated transport policy. In contrast to the widely accepted concept, the EU recently had to admit that in fact transport development goes in the opposite direction. This contradiction has to be explained. The article describes the long lasting succession of efforts to implement a far-reaching cooperation in the transport sector as is aspired to by an integrated transport policy. In each case, though, the political idea of cooperation was superseded by the economic one of competition. Therefore, the author argues in favour of a detailed scientific analysis of the necessary political conditions for an integrated transport policy, instead of continuing an untested concept.