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Während sich das deutsche Erziehungs-, Bildungs- und Sozialsystem durch Achtung und Expansion „institutioneller Vielfalt“ auszeichnet, wird in Spanien spätestens seit 1990 mit unterschiedlicher Intensität, je nach Regierung, ausgehend von der LOGSE Reform an einer „Schule für alle“ gearbeitet. Es werden vergleichsweise wenige Kinder in Sondereinrichtungen beschult. Die Strategien und die dahinter liegenden Vorstellungen, wie Partizipation zu realisieren sei, waren Ende letzten Jahrhunderts in beiden Ländern deutlich verschieden. Die in der Dissertation vorgestellten Daten zeigen jedoch, dass zu wenige Kinder die Kompetenzen für eine gegenwärtige und zukünftige persönlich und wirtschaftlich erfolgreiche Lebensführung erwerben. Zentral für die Arbeit ist die von Urie Bronfenbrenner entwickelte systemökologische Theorie der menschlichen Entwicklung. Im Kern geht es bei dieser Theorie immer um die Suche, das Finden und Gestalten optimaler Bedingungen für menschliche Entwicklung. Die Fragestellung der Arbeit ist, wie in Deutschland und Spanien, aber auch wie Professionelle, interdisziplinär die Aufgabe der Integration und Partizipation im Rahmen ihrer Vorgaben bewältigen. Die Arbeit ist in zwei große Teile unterteilt. Die ersten Kapitel sind eine Sammlung von Daten, Theorien, Praxen, Diskussionen und geschichtlichen Entwicklungen, die die schulische Integration von Kindern mit Behinderungen bzw. mit schwierigen Lebenslagen, darstellt. Ab Kapitel sieben wird dann mit Methoden der qualitativen Sozialforschung nach Ressourcen und Kompetenzen, die in Spanien wie in Deutschland vorliegen bzw. entwickelt werden müssen gesucht, um auch Kindern mit Schwierigkeiten eine für sie persönlich erfolgreiche Bildung zur ermöglichen. Nach einem Einführungskapitel werden im zweiten Kapitel Theorien und Modelle der Integrationspädagogik und der an ihr beteiligten Disziplinen diskutiert. Das folgende Kapitel stellt ausgewählte Studien vor, die sich mit Lern- und Lebenslagen von Kindern befassen, denn der gesellschaftliche wie der wissenschaftliche Blick auf die Kindheit hat sich gewandelt. Ein integratives bzw. inklusives Erziehungs- und Bildungssystem wäre eine passende Antwort auf den Wandel. Das vierte Kapitel gibt einen Einblick in das bundesdeutsche Bildungssystem und stellt statistische Daten zur integrativen Beschulung in den Bundesländern vor. Das fünfte Kapitel befasst sich mit dem spanischen Bildungssystem. Das starke Engagement der Katholischen Kirche im 19. und auch noch im 20. Jahrhundert, die Francozeit und die Transición sind die Basis, auf der in den 90 ziger Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts die, auf 10 Jahre angelegte LOGSE Reform geplant und teilweise umgesetzt wurde. Diese als top-down zu bezeichnende systemische Reform, wird mit ihren Elementen der integrativen und der kompensatorischen Erziehung dargestellt. Die Beschreibung der spanischen Reformentwicklungen endet im Jahr 2004. Der empirische Teil der Arbeit beginnt im Kapitel sechs mit Gedanken zur Qualitativen Sozialforschung. Im Kaptitel sieben wird die Gegenstandsnahe Theoriebildung vorgestellt. Das achte Kapitel befasst sich mit dem Zirkulären Dekonstruieren. Im neunten Kapitel werden die deutschen und die spanischen Interviewpartner in ihrer professionellen Expertenrolle als Grundschullehrerin, Sozialarbeiterin, Erziehungswissenschaftler, Psychologe, Unterstützungslehrerin, Physiotherapeut und Förderschullehrerin vorgestellt. Sechs Interviews fanden Ende 1999, also zu einer Zeit in der die LOGSE Reform bereits fast abgeschlossen sein sollte, statt. Das siebte Interview mit der Förderschullehrerin wurde 2001 geführt. Verständigung und Bewertung konnten aus den Kategorien der Interviews als wichtige Ressourcen für integrative schulische Arbeit erkannt werden. Im Kaptitel zehn wird der ökosystemische Ansatz vertieft dargestellt. Im elften Kapitel werden dann systematisch die Definitionen der Ökosystemischen Theorie auf die Lebensbereiche, die ein Kind betreffen, bzw. die herausgearbeiteten Kategorien angewendet. In diesen Lebensbereichen werden interdisziplinär und über die Ländergrenzen hinweg, die Kategorien diskutiert, um zu Aussagen über gute Entwicklungsbedingungen zu kommen. Die Kapitel zwölf bis vierzehn verbinden die Ergebnisse der Auswertung mit den zusammengetragenen Daten und Fakten zur Situation in Deutschland und Spanien. Als förderlich für die Integration, die auf allen Systemebenen angelegt sein sollte, werden beispielhaft folgende Kriterien beschrieben: eine integrative Grundhaltung, ein moderat konstruktivistischer Unterricht, die Anerkennung und Förderung aller Kompetenzen der Kinder, die Arbeit mit dem entwicklungsfördernden Potential, Kontinuität in den Beziehungen, Strukturen und Räumen, Bestreben nach müheloser Kommunikation. Seitenzahl: 400 Abbildungen: 55 Tabellen: 52
A financial system can only perform its function of channelling funds from savers to investors if it offers sufficient assurance to the providers of the funds that they will reap the rewards which have been promised to them. To the extent that this assurance is not provided by contracts alone, potential financiers will want to monitor and influence managerial decisions. This is why corporate governance is an essential part of any financial system. It is almost obvious that providers of equity have a genuine interest in the functioning of corporate governance. However, corporate governance encompasses more than investor protection. Similar considerations also apply to other stakeholders who invest their resources in a firm and whose expectations of later receiving an appropriate return on their investment also depend on decisions at the level of the individual firm which would be extremely difficult to anticipate and prescribe in a set of complete contingent contracts. Lenders, especially long-term lenders, are one such group of stakeholders who may also want to play a role in corporate governance; employees, especially those with high skill levels and firm-specific knowledge, are another. The German corporate governance system is different from that of the Anglo-Saxon countries because it foresees the possibility, and even the necessity, to integrate lenders and employees in the governance of large corporations. The German corporate governance system is generally regarded as the standard example of an insider-controlled and stakeholder-oriented system. Moreover, only a few years ago it was a consistent system in the sense of being composed of complementary elements which fit together well. The first objective of this paper is to show why and in which respect these characterisations were once appropriate. However, the past decade has seen a wave of developments in the German corporate governance system, which make it worthwhile and indeed necessary to investigate whether German corporate governance has recently changed in a fundamental way. More specifically one can ask which elements and features of German corporate governance have in fact changed, why they have changed and whether those changes which did occur constitute a structural change which would have converted the old insider-controlled system into an outsider-controlled and shareholder-oriented system and/or would have deprived it of its former consistency. It is the second purpose of this paper to answer these questions.
This paper starts out by pointing out the challenges and weaknesses which the German banking systems faces according to the prevailing views among national and international observers. These challenges include a generalproblem of profitability and, possibly as its main reason, the strong role of public banks. These concerns raise the questions whether the facts support this assessment of a general profitability problem and whether there are reasons to expect a fundamental or structural transformation of the German banking system. The paper contains four sections. The first one presents the evidence concerning the profitability problem in a comparative, international perspective. The second section presents information about the so-called three-pillar system of German banking. What might be surprising in this context is that the group of pub lic banks is not only the largest segment of the German banking system, but that the primary savings banks also are its financially most successful part. The German banking system is highly fragmented. This fact suggests to discuss past, present and possible future consolidations in the banking system in the third section. The authors provide evidence to the effect that within- group consolidation has been going on at a rapid pace in the public and the cooperative banking groups in recent years and that this development has not yet come to an end, while within-group consolidation among the large private banks, consolidation across group boundaries at a national level and cross-border or international consolidation has so far only happened at a limited scale, and do not appear to gain momentum in the near future. In the last section, the authors develop their explanation for the fact that large-scale and cross border consolidation has so far not materialized to any great extent. Drawing on the concept of complementarity, they argue that it would be difficult to expect these kinds of mergers and acquisitions happening within a financial system which is itself surprisingly stable, or, as one cal also call it, resistant to change.
A financial system can only perform its function of channelling funds from savers to investors if it offers sufficient assurance to the providers of the funds that they will reap the rewards which have been promised to them. To the extent that this assurance is not provided by contracts alone, potential financiers will want to monitor and influence managerial decisions. This is why corporate governance is an essential part of any financial system. It is almost obvious that providers of equity have a genuine interest in the functioning of corporate governance. However, corporate governance encompasses more than investor protection. Similar considerations also apply to other stakeholders who invest their resources in a firm and whose expectations of later receiving an appropriate return on their investment also depend on decisions at the level of the individual firm which would be extremely difficult to anticipate and prescribe in a set of complete contingent contracts. Lenders, especially long-term lenders, are one such group of stakeholders who may also want to play a role in corporate governance; employees, especially those with high skill levels and firm-specific knowledge, are another. The German corporate governance system is different from that of the Anglo-Saxon countries because it foresees the possibility, and even the necessity, to integrate lenders and employees in the governance of large corporations. The German corporate governance system is generally regarded as the standard example of an insider-controlled and stakeholder-oriented system. Moreover, only a few years ago it was a consistent system in the sense of being composed of complementary elements which fit together well. The first objective of this paper is to show why and in which respect these characterisations were once appropriate. However, the past decade has seen a wave of developments in the German corporate governance system, which make it worthwhile and indeed necessary to investigate whether German corporate governance has recently changed in a fundamental way. More specifically one can ask which elements and features of German corporate governance have in fact changed, why they have changed and whether those changes which did occur constitute a structural change which would have converted the old insider-controlled system into an outsider-controlled and shareholder-oriented system and/or would have deprived it of its former consistency. It is the second purpose of this paper to answer these questions. Revised version forthcoming in "The German Financial System", edited by Jan P. Krahnen and Reinhard H. Schmidt, Oxford University Press.
This paper is a draft for the chapter "German banks and banking structure" of the forthcoming book "The German financial system" edited by J.P. Krahnen and R.H. Schmidt (Oxford University Press). As such, the paper starts out with a description of past and present structural features of the German banking industry. Given the presented empirical evidence it then argues that great care has to be taken when generalising structural trends from one financial system to another. Whilst conventional commercial banking is clearly in decline in the US, it is far from clear whether the dominance of banks in the German financial system has been significantly eroded over the last decades. We interpret the immense stability in intermediation ratios and financing patterns of firms between 1970 and 2000 as strong evidence for our view that the way in which and the extent to which German banks fulfil the central functions for the financial system are still consistent with the overall logic of the German financial system. In spite of the current dire business environment for financial intermediaries we do not expect the German financial system and its banking industry as an integral part of this system to converge to the institutional arrangements typical for a market-oriented financial system.
We present a survey on the role of initial public offerings (Epos) and venture capital (VC) in Germany after the Second World War. Between 1945 and 1983 IPOs hardly played a role at all and only a minor role thereafter. In addition, companies that chose an IPO were much older and larger than the average companies going public for the first time in the US or the UK. The level of IPO underpricing in Germany, in contrast, has not been fundamentally different from that in other countries. The picture for venture capital financing is not much different from that provided by IPOs in Germany. For a long time venture capital financing was hardly significant, particularly as a source of early stage financing. The unprecedented boom on the Neuer Markt between 1997 and 2000, when many small venture capital financed firms entered the market, provides a striking contrast to the preceding era. However, by US standards, the levels of both IPO and venture capital activities remained rather low even in this boom phase. The extent to which recent developments will have a lasting impact on the financing of German firms, the level of IPO activity, and venture capital financing, remains to be seen. At the time of writing, activity has come to a near stand still and the Neuer Markt has just been dissolved. The low number of IPOs and the fairly low volume of VC financing in Germany before the introduction of the Neuer Markt are a striking and much debated phenomenon. Understanding the reasons for these apparent peculiarities is vital to understanding the German financial system. The potential explanations that have been put forward range from differentces in mentality to legal and institutional impediments and the availability of alternative sources of financing. Moreover the recent literature discusses how interest groups may have benefited and influenced the situation. These groups include politicians, unions/workers, managers/controlling-owners of established firms as well as banks. Revised version forthcoming in "The German Financial System", edited by Jan P. Krahnen and Reinhard H. Schmidt, Oxford University Press.
This chapter analyzes the role of financial accounting in the German financial system. It starts from the common perception that German accounting is rather "uninformative". This characterization is appropriate from the perspective of an arm´s length or outside investor and when confined to the financial statements per se. But it is no longer accurate when a broader perspective is adopted. The German accounting system exhibits several arrangements that privately communicate information to insiders, notably the supervisory board. Due to these features, the key financing and contracting parties seem reasonably well informed. The same cannot be said about outside investors relying primarily on public disclosure. A descriptive analysis of the main elements of the Germany system and a survey of extant empirical accounting research generally support these arguments.
No one seems to be neutral about the effects of EMU on the German economy. Roughly speaking, there are two camps: those who see the euro as the advent of a newly open, large, and efficient regime which will lead to improvements in European and in particular in German competitiveness; those who see the euro as a weakening of the German commitment to price stability. From a broader macroeconomic perspective, however, it is clear that EMU is unlikely to cause directly any meaningful change either for the better in Standort Deutschland or for the worse in the German price stability. There is ample evidence that changes in monetary regimes (so long as non leaving hyperinflation) induce little changes in real economic structures such as labor or financial markets. Regional asymmetries of the sorts in the EU do not tend to translate into monetary differences. Most importantly, there is no good reason to believe that the ECB will behave any differently than the Bundesbank.
The paper analyses the financial structure of German inward FDI. From a tax perspective, intra-company loans granted by the parent should be all the more strongly preferred over equity the lower the tax rate of the parent and the higher the tax rate of the German affiliate. From our study of a panel of more than 8,000 non-financial affiliates in Germany, we find only small effects of the tax rate of the foreign parent. However, our empirical results show that subsidiaries that on average are profitable react more strongly to changes in the German corporate tax rate than this is the case for less profitable firms. This gives support to the frequent concern that high German taxes are partly responsible for the high levels of intracompany loans. Taxation, however, does not fully explain the high levels of intra-company borrowing. Roughly 60% of the cross-border intra-company loans turn out to be held by firms that are running losses. JEL - Klassifikation H25 , F23 .