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Works Councils and Firm Profits Revisited

Steffen Müller
British Journal of Industrial Relations, Nr. 1, 2011
Abstract
As they are employee associations, it is typically presumed that works councils redistribute economic rents from firm owners to workers. And indeed, the empirical literature suggests that German works councils reduce profits. The studies on the profitability effect of works councils mainly use self-reported subjective profit evaluations of managers as the dependent variable. I argue that these are poor measures of real profits. Newly available information on firms' capital stock allows me to revisit the profit effect now using an objective profit measure. When utilizing the subjective measure I find the standard results; with the objective measure, however, the works council effect on profits is positive and significant.
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Betriebsräte und betriebliche Produktivität

Steffen Müller
Schmollers Jahrbuch, Nr. 1, 2011
Abstract
Betriebliche Mitbestimmung der Arbeitnehmer durch Betriebsräte ist ein zentrales Element der industriellen Beziehungen in Deutschland. Dennoch besteht trotz langjähriger Forschung keine Einigkeit über ihre Wirkung auf die betriebliche Produktivität. In diesem Papier wird zunächst der statistische Zusammenhang zwischen Betriebsrat und Produktivität mit Hilfe des IAB Betriebspanels empirisch untersucht. Betriebe mit Betriebsrat erweisen sich als um 9 Prozent produktiver. Es wird anhand der Ergebnisse dieser und anderer Studien argumentiert, dass die Wirkung von Betriebsräten auf die Produktivität den geschätzten statistischen Zusammenhang übersteigt.
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Path Dependence and QWERTY's Lock-in: Toward a Veblenian Interpretation

John B. Hall, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Jutta Günther
Journal of Economic Issues, Nr. 2, 2011
Abstract
In “Clio and the Economics of QWERTY,“ Paul David challenges an overarching, mainstream assumption that market forces should indeed lead toward efficient and optimal outcomes that include technology selection. David seeks to explain the endurance of technologies that his use of historiography judges inefficient and suboptimal. We challenge David's research, arguing that failure to consider the original institutional economics (OIE) tradition limits his grasp of complex processes to reduced notions of “path dependence“ based upon a “lock-in.“ This inquiry offers an alternative account of QWERTY and technology selection based upon Veblenian thinking, further supported by Paul Dale Bush's emphasis upon the ceremonial.
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Distance Functions for Matching in Small Samples

Eva Dettmann, Christian Schmeißer, Claudia Becker
Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Nr. 5, 2011
Abstract
The development of ‘standards’ for the application of matching algorithms in empirical evaluation studies is still an outstanding goal. The first step of the matching procedure is the choice of an appropriate distance function. In empirical evaluation situations often the sample sizes are small. Moreover, they consist of variables with different scale levels which have to be considered explicitly in the matching process. A simulation is performed which is directed towards these empirical challenges and supplements former studies in this respect. The choice of the analysed distance functions is determined by the results of former theoretical studies and recommendations in the empirical literature. Thus, two balancing scores (the propensity score and the index score) and the Mahalanobis distance are considered. Additionally, aggregated statistical distance functions not yet used for empirical evaluation are included. The matching outcomes are compared using non-parametric scale-specific tests for identical distributions of the characteristics in the treatment and the control groups. The simulation results show that, in small samples, aggregated statistical distance functions are the better choice for summarising similarities in differently scaled variables compared to the commonly used measures.
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What Drives FDI in Central-eastern Europe? Evidence from the IWH-FDI-Micro Database

Andrea Gauselmann, Mark Knell, Johannes Stephan
Post-Communist Economies, Nr. 3, 2011
Abstract
The focus of this paper is on the match between strategic motives of foreign investments into Central-Eastern Europe and locational advantages offered by these countries. Our analysis makes use of the IWH-FDI-Micro Database, a unique dataset that contains information from 2009 about the determinants of locational factors, technological activity of the subsidiaries, and the potentials for knowledge spillovers in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The analysis suggests that investors in these countries are mainly interested in low (unit) labour costs coupled with a well-trained and educated workforce and an expanding market with the high growth rates in the purchasing power of potential buyers. It also suggests that the financial crisis reduced the attractiveness of the region as a source for localised knowledge and technology. There appears to be a match between investors’ expectations and the quantitative supply of unqualified labour, not however for the supply of medium qualified workers. But the analysis suggests that it is not technology-seeking investments that are particularly content with the capabilities of their host economies in terms of technological cooperation. Finally, technological cooperation within the local host economy is assessed more favourably with domestic firms than with local scientific institutions – an important message for domestic economic policy.
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An Introduction to the IWH FDI Micro Database

Jutta Günther, Andrea Gauselmann, Philipp Marek, Johannes Stephan, Björn Jindra
Schmollers Jahrbuch, Nr. 3, 2011
Abstract
Der Beitrag stellt die IWH-FDI-Mikrodatenbank vor. Er beschreibt die konzeptionellen Ideen der Datenbank und wie sich die Datenbank von anderen, existierenden Mikrodaten zu ausländischen Direktinvestitionen unterscheidet. Seit 2007 werden im Rahmen der IWH-FDI-Mikrodatenbank auf Unternehmensebene Informationen gesammelt zur allgemeinen Geschäftsentwicklung, zu technologischen Aktivitäten und zu Informationen über die konzerninternen Governancestrukturen. Die Daten werden bei den ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften multinationaler Unternehmen in Ostdeutschland und Osteuropa erhoben. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, welche Forschungslücken mit dem Datensatz bisher geschlossen wurden und schließt mit einem Ausblick bezüglich zukünftiger Forschungspotentiale.
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On the Economic Architecture of the Workplace: Repercussions of Social Comparisons among Heterogeneous Workers

Oded Stark, Walter Hyll
Journal of Labor Economics, Nr. 2, 2011
Abstract
We analyze the impact on a firm’s profits and optimal wage rates, and on the distribution of workers’ earnings, when workers compare their earnings with those of co-workers. We consider a low-productivity worker who receives lower wage earnings than a high-productivity worker. When the low-productivity worker derives (dis)utility not only from his own effort but also from comparing his earnings with those of the high-productivity worker, his response to the sensing of relative deprivation is to increase the optimal level of effort. Consequently, the firm’s profits are higher, its wage rates remain unchanged, and the distribution of earnings is compressed.
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Endogenous Selection of Comparison Groups, Human Capital Formation, and Tax Policy

Oded Stark, Walter Hyll, Y. Wang
Economica, Nr. 313, 2012
Abstract
We consider a setting in which the acquisition of human capital entails a change of location in social space that causes individuals to revise their comparison groups. Skill levels are viewed as occupational groups. Moving up the skill ladder by acquiring additional human capital, in itself rewarding, leads to a shift in the individual’s inclination to compare himself with a different, and on average better-paid, comparison group, in itself penalizing. We shed new light on the dynamics of human capital formation, and suggest novel policy interventions to encourage human capital formation in the aggregate and reduce inter-group income inequality.
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Stochastic Income Statement Planning as a Basis for Risk Assessment in the Context of Emissions Trading

Henry Dannenberg, Wilfried Ehrenfeld
Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Management, Nr. 1, 2011
Abstract
Die Einführung des Europäischen Emissionshandels bedeutet, dass teilnehmende Unternehmen einen neuen Unsicherheitsfaktor bei ihrer Planung zu berücksichtigen haben - Emissionszertifikate. In diesem Artikel untersuchen wir, wie dieses Risiko um Rahmen einer stochastischen Plan- Gewinn- und Verlustrechnung (GuV) berücksichtige werden kann. Dafür erkunden wir welche Plangrößen durch den Emissionshandel beeinflusst werden. Weiter zeigen wir einen Ansatz, diese Größen in einer Plan-GuV zu modellieren. Dabei werden Unsicherheiten und Abhängigkeiten explizit berücksichtigt. Deshalb stellt das vorgestellte Modell eine Basis für Risikobewertungen und Investitionsentscheidungen im unsicheren Umfeld des CO2-Zertifikatehandels dar.
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The Identification of Regional Industrial Clusters Using Qualitative Input-Output Analysis (QIOA)

Mirko Titze, Matthias Brachert, Alexander Kubis
Regional Studies, Nr. 1, 2011
Abstract
The 'cluster theory' has become one of the main concepts promoting regional competitiveness, innovation, and growth. As most empirical applications focus on measures of concentration of one industrial branch in order to identify regional clusters, the appropriate analysis of specific vertical relations is developing in this discussion. This paper tries to identify interrelated sectors via national input-output tables with the help of minimal flow analysis (MFA). The regionalization of these national industry templates is carried out with the allocation of branch-specific production values on regional employment. As a result, the paper shows concentrations of vertical clusters in only 27 of 439 German Nomenclature des Units Territoriales Statistiques (NUTS)-3 regions.
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