In this article, we simulate the concentration process within the German dairy sector employing a sector–wide optimization model. As a result, we get cost minimizing structures of the dairy sector for various time horizons depending on varying levels of transportation costs. We show that the model is capable of describing the current trend characterized by a decrease of the number of dairies while average capacity increases and that – ceteris paribus – this trend is likely to continue. In contrast, the trend may weaken or reverse if transportation costs rise in comparison to other types of costs.

This paper views authority as the right to undertake decisions that impose externalities on other members of the organization. When only decision rights can be contractually assigned to one of the organization's stakeholders, the optimal assignment minimizes the resulting ineffciencies by giving control rights to the party with the highest stake in the organization's decisions. Under asymmetric information, the effcient allocation of authority depends on the communication of private information. In the case of multiple decision areas, divided control rights may enhance organizational effciency unless there exist complementarities between different decisions.

If firms compete in all-pay auctions with complete information, silent shareholdings introduce asymmetric externalities into the allpay auction framework. If the strongest firm owns a large share in the second strongest firm, this may make the strongest firm abstain from bidding. As a consequence, equilibrium profits of both firms may increase, but the prize may be allocated less efficiently. The reverse ownership structure is also likely to increase the profits of the firms involved in the ownership relationship but without these negative efficiency effects.

Untersuchungen im Rahmen der Persönlichkeitspsychologie zeigen, dass zwischen bestimmten Dimensionen der menschlichen Persönlichkeit (‚Big Five’) und dem Erfolg des Individuums sowohl positive als auch negative Beziehungen bestehen. In der vorliegenden Studie wird untersucht, inwieweit sich diese Zusammenhänge auf das Konzept der Markenpersönlichkeit übertragen lassen. Dazu wird Markenerfolg über die wahrgenommene Einzigartigkeit der Marke und die Einstellung zur Marke operationalisiert. Zur Messung der Markenpersönlichkeit wird die ‚Brand Personality Scale’ von J. L. Aaker verwendet, die auf Analogien zur menschlichen Persönlichkeit beruht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Markenpersönlichkeitsdimensionen Kompetenz und Erregung/ Spannung die untersuchten Erfolggrößen positiv beeinflussen. Gleichzeitig zeigt sich, dass sich erfolgreiche Markenpersönlichkeiten durch eine nicht zu stark akzentuierte Schwerpunktsetzung auf eine einzelne Dimension und/oder eine hohe Variabilität über die Dimensionen hinweg auszeichnen. Die Ergebnisse korrespondieren mit den Befunden der Persönlichkeitspsychologie und leisten damit einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Fundierung des in der Praxis sehr gängigen Konzepts der Markenpersönlichkeit und bestätigen zugleich die Brauchbarkeit des zugrunde liegenden Anthropomorphismus.

Since objective news coverage is vital to democracy, captured media can seriously distort collective decisions. The current paper develops a voting model where citizens are uncertain about the welfare e¤ects induced by alternative policy options and derive information about those e¤ects from the mass media. The media might however secretly collude with interest groups in order to in uence the public opinion. In the case of voting over the level of a productivity-enhancing public bad, it is shown that an increase in the concentration of rm ownership makes the occurrence of media bias more likely. Although media bias is not always welfare worsening, conditions for it to raise welfare are restrictive.

This paper explores the pre-First World War Austro-Hungarian economy as a prominent case where growing conflict between various ethnic and national groups within an empire might have contributed to the emergence of internal borders and even its eventual dissolution. To this end we adopt an Engel-and- Rogers–type approach to examine on an annual basis the extent of co-movements in grain prices across a sample of ten regional capital cities in the empire and over the period 1877-1910. There are two key findings. First, the political borders that emerged from 1918 onwards became visible in the price dynamics of grain markets already 20 years before the Great War. Second, this effect of a “border before a border” can be explained by the extent of language heterogeneity across the various parts of the Habsburg Empire. These results raise several important questions about both the forces that shaped pre-war market integration as well as the economic costs of breaking up the Habsburg customs union after 1918.

Authority is modelled as the right to undertake a non-contractible decision in a joint project. We show that the allocation of authority depends on bargaining power and differences in both parties cost functions. The decision- maker is assumed to exert an externality on the other parties. Overall surplus is shared according to generalized Nash bargaining. Under limited liability, the agent with the larger cost parameter receives authority if the agents’ cost parameters are very different. If the agents have similar cost parameters, bargaining power determines the allocation of authority. Possible applications include the introduction of a new product.

How did the location of industry across interwar Poland react to the Polish reunification? After more than 120 years of political and economic separation, Poland was reunified at the end of 1918. In consequence, the removal of internal tariff barriers and improved infrastructure strengthened the domestic market, while foreign market relations were cut off. Similarly, the geographical distribution of factor endowments was changed, for example through internal migration. How did these forces interact to determine the location of industry? We survey the dynamics of industrial location between 1902 and 1925-1937 andestimate a specification that nests market potential and comparative advantage to quantify their respective impact during the interwar years. The results point to a role for both, comparative advantage and access to markets. We show that both statistically and economically the most important factors were the endowment with skilled labour and interindustry- linkages.

We analyze the deficits of the German Länder for the period from 1960 to 2000 and test a number of hypotheses derived from the literature on the political economy of public expenditures and public deficits. Estimating a dynamic panel data model, we find evidence for political opportunism of the Rogoff/Sibert- type. German voters seem to favor fiscal discipline as debt issue is significantly lower in pre-election years. There is no evidence for partisan behavior. Party ideology thus plays a negligible role. As suggested by the theory, coalition governments issue more debt. This effect is, however, not statistically significant. If the probability of reelection is small, the incumbent government may find it beneficial to issue more debt. We consider four different approximations of the reelection probability but find evidence for none of them.

The paper discusses key elements of optimal central bank design and applies its findings to the Eurosystem. A particular focus is on the size of monetary policy committees, the degree of centralization, and the representation of relative economic size in the voting rights of regional (or sectoral) interests. Broad benchmarks for the optimal design of monetary policy committees are derived, combining relevant theoretical arguments with available empirical evidence. A new indicator compares the mismatch of relative regional economic size and voting rights in the monetary policy committees of the US Fed, the pre-1999 German Bundesbank, and the ECB over time. Based on these benchmarks, there seems to be room to improve the organization of the ECB Governing Board and current plans for reform.

A distinguishing feature among households is whether adult members work or not, since the employment status affects a household’s available time for home activities. Using a survey method in two countries, Belgium and Germany, we provide household incomes that retain the level of well-being across different family types, distinguished by family size and employment status of adults. Our tests support that specialization in home production and childcare-time costs are important determinants of household well-being. Estimates of child costs relative to an adult are higher for households that are time-constrained (all adults in the household work), and also higher for poorer households.

Modelle der neu-keynesianischen ¨Okonomie geben eine Erkl¨arung f¨ur die kurzfristige Nichtneutralit¨at des Geldes. Als Erkl¨arungsansatz dient hierbei die Annahme nominaler Rigidit¨aten auf dem Arbeits- und G¨utermarkt. Der vorliegende Beitrag zielt auf einen Vergleich zweier Modelle der neukeynesianischen Literatur. Zum einen wird das Modell von Fisher (1977) analysiert, zum anderen das Modell von Calvo (1983). Beide Modelle beruhen auf der Annahme der zeitlich gestaffelten Preissetzung (“Staggered Pricing“). Ein wesentlicher Unterschied zwischen beiden ist, dass das Fisher- Modell von einer festen Fixierung der Preise auf dem Arbeitsmarkt, d.h. der Nominall¨ohne ausgeht, das Calvo-Modell hingegen von einer stochastischen Fixierung der Preise auf dem G¨utermarkt. Im folgenden wird - im anschließenden Abschnitt 2, 3 und 4 - das Modell von Fisher (1977) und Calvo (1983) formal und verbal analysiert. Dabei wird im Abschnitt 4.2 das Verfahren der Dynamischen Programmierung erl¨autert, um im Rahmen des Modells von Calvo (1983) eine dynamische Analyse durchf¨uhren zu k¨onnen. Gegenstand des Abschnittes 5 ist ein Vergleich beider Modelle bez¨uglich der neu-keynesianischen Phillipskurve. Der Beitrag endet mit einer Zusammenfassung.

Recent research suggests that adopting a common currency increases bilateral trade. In this paper, I explore experiences of currency union entry in the post-war period and find no effect on trade. Previous results derived from a large panel data set (covering more than 200 countries from 1948 through 1997) appear to depend crucially on the assumption of symmetry between currency union exits and entries: While countries leaving a currency union experience significant declines in trade, currency union entry appears to have no measurable effect on trade. Also, in a detailed analysis of the enlargement of the CFA franc zone, I find no consistent results on changes in the pattern of trade.

Das Modell von Warburton zur analytischen Untersuchung des Peitscheneffekts für den Fall eines konstanten Nachfrageverlaufs führt zu einer verzögerten Differentialgleichung, wobei die Einflussgrößen des Peitscheneffekts die Wiederbeschaffungsverzögerungszeit und die Lagerperiode sind. Die Wirkungen anderer Nachfrageprozesse auf die Lösung der verzögerten Differentialgleichung und damit des Peitscheneffektes sind zu untersuchen. Dementsprechend ist zu zeigen, dass der Nachfrageprozess des Typs „ Autoregressiver Prozess erster Ordnung “ (AR(1)) die Lösung der zugehörigen Differentialgleichung bestimmt und der Peitscheneffekt berechnet werden kann.

Reexamining foreign direct investment (FDI) as a potential channel for knowledge diffusion - based on industry data from seventeen OECD countries during the period 1973-2000 - we find that FDI-receiving countries benefit strongly from FDI-related knowledge spillovers. We do not find evidence for positive FDI-related technology sourcing effects. Instead, our results suggest that outward FDI might have negative effects on the output of the FDI- sending country.