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Die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der deutschen Wirtschaft steht vor gewaltigen Herausforderungen. Traditionell starke Sektoren wie die Automobilindustrie oder der Maschinenbau befinden sich angesichts disruptiver Veränderungen durch neue Technologien, den Kampf gegen den Klimawandel und veränderte regulatorische Rahmenbedingungen in einer Umbruchphase. Zahlreiche Industriezweige wandeln sich durch den Einsatz von Künstlicher Intelligenz zu „Smart Industries“. Gleichzeitig gewinnt die Kompetenz in Querschnittstechnologien wie Cloud Computing oder Cyber Security an Bedeutung, da diese den effektiven Einsatz von Künstlicher Intelligenz erst ermöglichen. Eine Analyse der Wettbewerbsposition der deutschen Wirtschaft zeigt auf, dass in manchen Zukunftsfeldern ein erheblicher Nachholbedarf besteht.
Auf die Fragen kommt es an: "Woher kommt der Mensch? wo will er hin? – und warum um alles in der Welt ist er da nicht geblieben?" Der Meister zirkulärer Sinnsuche hat als Fragender seine beste Rolle gefunden und damit den postheroischen Typus Mensch erschaffen, der in der Vieldeutigkeit der Welt erleichtert seinen Unfrieden findet: damit, dass Pazifisten Kriege verteidigen, dass die Außerparlamentarischen eine Partei gründen, dass die Konservativen die interessanteren Zeitungen machen und die Komik zur wirksamsten Waffe gegen Dummheit und Schmerz geworden ist. Matthias Beltz hat beiläufig mit Lebensweisheiten und assoziativ aufgetürmtem Scharfsinn nicht nur seine Fragen bewaffnet, in denen gewagte Antworten ihren vitalen Keim austreiben, sondern auch das Misstrauen gesät gegenüber politisch korrekten, nachgeplapperten und smarten Antworten. ...
We investigate the default probability, recovery rates and loss distribution of a portfolio of securitised loans granted to Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). To this end, we use loan level data information provided by the European DataWarehouse platform and employ a logistic regression to estimate the company default probability. We include loan-level default probabilities and recovery rates to estimate the loss distribution of the underlying assets. We find that bank securitised loans are less risky, compared to the average bank lending to small and medium enterprises.
Advanced machine learning has achieved extraordinary success in recent years. “Active” operational risk beyond ex post analysis of measured-data machine learning could provide help beyond the regime of traditional statistical analysis when it comes to the “known unknown” or even the “unknown unknown.” While machine learning has been tested successfully in the regime of the “known,” heuristics typically provide better results for an active operational risk management (in the sense of forecasting). However, precursors in existing data can open a chance for machine learning to provide early warnings even for the regime of the “unknown unknown.”
A commentary on Commentary: Aesthetic Pleasure versus Aesthetic Interest: The Two Routes to Aesthetic Liking by Consoli, G. (2017). Front. Psychol. 8:1197. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01197
In his commentary on the paper “Aesthetic Pleasure versus Aesthetic Interest: The Two Routes to Aesthetic Liking,” authored by Jan R. Landwehr and myself (Graf and Landwehr, 2017), Consoli (2017) deplores two aspects of our paper. First, an inadequate definition and operationalization of the key constructs aesthetic pleasure, aesthetic interest, and aesthetic liking, respectively aesthetic attractiveness. Second, the conclusions drawn from our empirical studies. While I acknowledge that one may have a different theoretical perspective on aesthetic perception and evaluation, it appears that Consoli's (2017) commentary does not even address the empirical data of our studies but only our theoretical assumptions and definitions. In the following, I will address Consoli's (2016, 2017) arguments in more detail, and I will corroborate our theoretical reasoning with the empirical data of our studies (Graf and Landwehr, 2017).....
Inhibitory interneurons govern virtually all computations in neocortical circuits and are in turn controlled by neuromodulation. While a detailed understanding of the distinct marker expression, physiology, and neuromodulator responses of different interneuron types exists for rodents and recent studies have highlighted the role of specific interneurons in converting rapid neuromodulatory signals into altered sensory processing during locomotion, attention, and associative learning, it remains little understood whether similar mechanisms exist in human neocortex. Here, we use whole-cell recordings combined with agonist application, transgenic mouse lines, in situ hybridization, and unbiased clustering to directly determine these features in human layer 1 interneurons (L1-INs). Our results indicate pronounced nicotinic recruitment of all L1-INs, whereas only a small subset co-expresses the ionotropic HTR3 receptor. In addition to human specializations, we observe two comparable physiologically and genetically distinct L1-IN types in both species, together indicating conserved rapid neuromodulation of human neocortical circuits through layer 1.
Although existing research has established that aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic interest are two distinct positive aesthetic responses, empirical research on aesthetic preferences usually considers only aesthetic liking to capture participants’ aesthetic response. This causes some fundamental contradictions in the literature; some studies find a positive relationship between easy-to-process stimulus characteristics and aesthetic liking, while others suggest a negative relationship. The present research addresses these empirical contradictions by investigating the dual character of aesthetic liking as manifested in both the pleasure and interest components. Based on the Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking (PIA Model; Graf and Landwehr, 2015), two studies investigated the formation of pleasure and interest and their relationship with aesthetic liking responses. Using abstract art as the stimuli, Study 1 employed a 3 (stimulus fluency: low, medium, high) × 2 (processing style: automatic, controlled) × 2 (aesthetic response: pleasure, interest) experimental design to examine the processing dynamics responsible for experiencing aesthetic pleasure versus aesthetic interest. We find that the effect of stimulus fluency on pleasure is mediated by a gut-level fluency experience. Stimulus fluency and interest, by contrast, are related through a process of disfluency reduction, such that disfluent stimuli that grow more fluent due to processing efforts become interesting. The second study employed product designs (bikes, chairs, and lamps) as stimuli and a 2 (fluency: low, high) × 2 (processing style: automatic, controlled) × 3 (product type: bike, chair, lamp) experimental design to examine pleasure and interest as mediators of the relationship between stimulus fluency and design attractiveness. With respect to lamps and chairs, the results suggest that the effect of stimulus fluency on attractiveness is fully mediated by aesthetic pleasure, especially in the automatic processing style. Conversely, disfluent product designs can enhance design attractiveness judgments due to interest when a controlled processing style is adopted.
The purpose of the data presented in this article is to use it in ex post estimations of interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank (ECB), as it is done by Bletzinger and Wieland (2017) [1]. The data is of quarterly frequency from 1999 Q1 until 2013 Q2 and consists of the ECB's policy rate, inflation rate, real output growth and potential output growth in the euro area. To account for forward-looking decision making in the interest rate rule, the data consists of expectations about future inflation and output dynamics. While potential output is constructed based on data from the European Commission's annual macro-economic database, inflation and real output growth are taken from two different sources both provided by the ECB: the Survey of Professional Forecasters and projections made by ECB staff. Careful attention was given to the publication date of the collected data to ensure a real-time dataset only consisting of information which was available to the decision makers at the time of the decision.
Does the rotten child spoil his companion? : spatial peer effects among children in rural India
(2014)
This paper identifies the effect of neighborhood peer groups on childhood skill acquisition using observational data. We incorporate spatial peer interaction, defined as a child's nearest geographical neighbors, into a production function of child cognitive development in Andhra Pradesh, India. Our peer group definition takes the form of networks, whose structure allows us to identify endogenous peer effects and contextual effects separately. We exploit variation over time to avoid confounding correlated with social effects. Our results suggest that spatial peer and neighborhood effects are strongly positively associated with a child's cognitive skill formation. Further, we explore the effect of peer groups in helping to provide insurance against the negative impact of idiosyncratic shocks to child learning. We find that the data reject full risk-sharing, but cannot rule out the existence of partial risk-sharing on behalf of peers. We show that peer effects are robust to different specifications of peer interactions and investigate the sensitivity of our estimates to potential misspecification of the network structure using Monte Carlo experiments.
This paper presents a comprehensive extension of pricing two-dimensional derivatives depending on two barrier constraints. We assume randomness on the covariance matrix as a way of generalizing. We analyse common barrier derivatives, enabling us to study parameter uncertainty and the risk related to the estimation procedure (estimation risk). In particular, we use the distribution of empirical parameters from IBM and EURO STOXX50. The evidence suggests that estimation risk should not be neglected in the context of multidimensional barrier derivatives, as it could cause price differences of up to 70%.
We consider a class of panel tests of the null hypothesis of no cointegration and cointegration. All tests under investigation rely on single-equations estimated by least squares, and they may be residual-based or not. We focus on test statistics computed from regressions with intercept only (i.e., without detrending) and with at least one of the regressors (integrated of order 1) being dominated by a linear time trend. In such a setting, often encountered in practice, the limiting distributions and critical values provided for and applied with the situation “with intercept only” are not correct. It is demonstrated that their usage results in size distortions growing with the panel size N. Moreover, we show which are the appropriate distributions, and how correct critical values can be obtained from the literature.
Two alternative hypotheses – referred to as opportunity- and stigma-based behavior – suggest that the magnitude of the link between unemployment and crime also depends on preexisting local crime levels. In order to analyze conjectured nonlinearities between both variables, we use quantile regressions applied to German district panel data. While both conventional OLS and quantile regressions confirm the positive link between unemployment and crime for property crimes, results for assault differ with respect to the method of estimation. Whereas conventional mean regressions do not show any significant effect (which would confirm the usual result found for violent crimes in the literature), quantile regression reveals that size and importance of the relationship are conditional on the crime rate. The partial effect is significantly positive for moderately low and median quantiles of local assault rates.
We analyze and compare the social, cultural and historical determinants that influence the international competitiveness of China and India. Starting with the discussion why pure economic determinants cannot solely explain a country's competitiveness, we will analyze previous qualitative research and evaluate quantitative data to assess which country has more favorable socio-economic factors influencing its economic performance in the long run.
We study platform design in online markets in which buying involves a (nonmonetary) cost for consumers caused by privacy and security concerns. Firms decide whether to require registration at their website before consumers learn relevant product information. We derive conditions under which a monopoly seller benefits from ex ante registration requirements and demonstrate that the profitability of registration requirements is increased when taking into account the prospect of future purchases or an informational value of consumer registration to the firm. Moreover, we consider the effectiveness of discounts (store credit) as a means to influence the consumers’ registration decision. Finally, we confirm the profitability of ex ante registration requirements in the presence of price competition.
Telecommunications companies traditionally offer several tariffs from which their customers can choose the tariff that best suits their preferences. Yet, customers sometimes make choices that are not optimal for them because they do not minimize their bill for a certain usage amount. We show in this paper that companies should be very concerned about choices in which customers pick tariffs that are too small for them because they lead to a significant increase in customers churn. In contrast, this is not the case if customers choose tariffs that are too big for them. The reason is that in particular flat-rates provide customers with the additional benefit that they guarantee a constant bill amount that consumption can be enjoyed more freely because all costs are already accounted for.
Marketers increasingly use word of mouth to promote products or acquire new customers. But is such companystimulated WOM effective? Are customers who are referred by other customers really worth the effort? A recent study clearly says “yes”. In a study of almost 10,000 accounts at a German bank, the referred customers turned out to be 25 % more profi table than customers acquired by other means. Over a 33-month period, they generated higher profi t margins, were more loyal and showed a higher customer lifetime value. The difference in lifetime value between referred and non-referred customers was most pronounced among younger people and among retail (as opposed to private banking) customers. The reward of € 25 per acquired customer clearly paid off. Given the average difference in customer lifetime value of € 40, this amount implied a return on investment (ROI) of roughly 60 % over a six-year period. The encouraging results of this study, however, do not imply that “viral-for-hire” works in each and every case. Referral programs would be most beneficial for products and services that customers might not appreciate immediately. Products and services that imply some kind of risk would also benefit to a more than average degree from referrals because prospects are likely to feel more confi dent when a trusted person has positive experiences. Companies should consider carefully which prospects to target with referral programs and how large a referral fee to provide.
The success stories of design-oriented companies like Apple, Audi or Nike have put design on the agenda in many marketing departments. Consumers cannot elude the effect of aesthetics and therefore design is a major factor for business success. Typically consumers choose the product with the best design, all other aspects being equal. Only when the interplay of product characteristics, brand and design is carefully coordinated can successful products be created. This requires an integrated approach to design, one which is applied right at the beginning of the value chain. Product development, marketing and design need to work in close cooperation, communicate well and frequently, and collect feedback from the market. Superior aesthetics are always important but should be a top priority in cases where efficiency-oriented Asian competitors are able to offer functionally similar products at much lower prices.
In many markets, design is one of the key factors in determining a product’s success. The present research offers insights into the role of design for the success of cars, and offers procedures to measure the quality of the designs objectively. The authors show that visual design plays a major role in a product’s success in the automobile market. In the study, two visual design aspects were already sufficient to significantly improve traditional sales forecasting models for cars. Visual prototypicality and visual complexity both had a positive impact on sales, and designs that were perceived as both prototypical and complex were the ones that displayed the best results. Most design evaluation used to be based on subjective measures, but the researcher applied a new, objective procedure to measure prototypicality and complexity. While the latter was detected by the disk space needed by the compressed image file, the new approach for measuring prototypicality was even more sophisticated. It relied on the technique of image morphing. Morphing is a technique that allows the construction of a visual synthesis – or average picture – from a number of individual pictures. Once a car morph is developed, one can determine the visual similarity of different car models to the morph in order to obtain its prototypicality. In principle, this procedure can be automated completely, and including a large number of versions is possible. These measures therefore seem suitable for supporting design decision processes in practice.
We study the effects of the recent economic crisis on firms׳ bidding behavior and markups in sealed bid auctions. Using data from Austrian construction procurements, we estimate bidders׳ construction costs within a private value auction model. We find that markups of all bids submitted decrease by 1.5 percentage points in the recent economic crisis, markups of winning bids decrease by 3.3 percentage points. We also find that without the government stimulus package this decrease would have been larger. These two pieces of evidence point to pro-cyclical markups.
Markets are central to modern society, so their failures can have devastating effects. Here, we examine a prominent failure: price bubbles. We propose that bubbles are affected by ethnic homogeneity in the market and can be thwarted by diversity. Using experimental markets in Southeast Asia and North America, we find a marked difference: Market prices fit true values 58% better in diverse markets. In homogenous markets, overpricing is higher and traders’ errors are more correlated than in diverse markets. The findings suggest that price bubbles arise not only from individual errors or financial conditions, but also from the social context of decision making. Informing public discussion, our findings suggest that diversity facilitates friction that enhances deliberation and upends conformity.
Spätestens seit die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) ihr Ankaufprogramm für Wertpapiere bekannt gegeben hat, ist die Diskussion über die Wirksamkeit dieser Maßnahmen auch in Europa angekommen. Wegen der besonderen institutionellen Umstände des Euroraums – Kauf von Anleihen der einzelnen Nationalstaaten und des Verbots der monetären Finanzierung – reichen die möglichen Nebenwirkungen hierzulande über den rein geldpolitischen Horizont hinaus.
"Ökonomische Modelle und Geschichtswissenschaften gehören zusammen", konstatiert der französische Wissenschaftler Thomas Piketty, dessen Thesen weltweit diskutiert werden, und ergänzt in einem Interview in der "Süddeutschen Zeitung" provokant: "Forscher arbeiten mit hochentwickelten Modellen und anspruchsvoller Mathematik, um Kleinigkeiten zu erklären. Manchmal zeigen diese Modelle auch gar nichts." Der Frankfurter Ökonom Bertram Schefold nimmt die Entwicklung seines Fachs – insbesondere in Frankfurt – unter die Lupe.
The aim of the following paper is to examine the complementarities (and divergences) between the paleoliberal Adam Smith and the ordoliberal Walter Eucken. Following the hypothesis that Smith is among the forerunners and predecessors of Ordoliberalism and Social Market Economy, we try to provide the reader with an insight into the socio-political philosophy of Smith and Eucken pointing at similarities and differences alike. Therefore, we base our examination on a systematic primary source text analysis comparing the books and essays written by Eucken and Smith. The paper tackles these questions in two main steps: The first part highlights Smith's and Eucken's complex and interdependent system of natural liberty. The second section reviews Smith's and Eucken's philosophy of the state.
Eucken's writings are rich in content not only from an (constitutional) economic perspective but also from an economic and business ethics perspective – an often neglected perspective of the reception of German Ordoliberalism in general and the Freiburg School of Economics in particular. The paper gives a first insight into the ethical-normative thinking of Eucken, as one of the main representatives of Ordoliberalism, and explains Eucken’s conception of Social Market Economy as a functioning and humane order as well as Eucken’s Kantian understanding of freedom. To conclude the essay tries to classify Eucken’s Ordoliberalism as a part of the spectrum of modern economic and business ethics.
Wie lässt sich das anthropologische Fundament des Ordoliberalismus und der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft beschreiben? Welche Prämissen liegen ihm zugrunde? Ist ein derartiges Menschenbild überhaupt noch zeitgemäß? Welchen Gefahren ist es ausgesetzt und welche institutionellen Vorkehrungen lassen sich treffen? Diese und andere Fragen stehen im Mittelpunkt des nachfolgenden Essays. Dieser ist dabei wie folgt gegliedert: Das zweite Kapitel analysiert die anthropologischen Grundlagen des Ordoliberalismus. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf dem kantischen ‚Programm der Freiheit als Autonomie‘. Das darauf folgende dritte Kapitel thematisiert mögliche Gefahrenpotenziale für eben jenes ordoliberale Menschenbild. Hierbei werden insbesondere die Vermachtung der Wirtschaft und die Instrumentalisierung und Funktionalisierung der Wissenschaft eingehender untersucht. Im vorletzten Kapitel schließlich werden die häufig vorgeschlagenen institutionellen Vorkehrungen kritisch evaluiert. Wichtige Beiträge hierzu stammen aus der Feder von Röpke (Clercs und Nobilitas naturalis) und Hayek (Zwei-Kammern-Verfassungsmodell).
As recent newspaper headlines show the topic of patents/patent laws is still heavily disputed. In this paper I will approach this topic from a theoretical-historical and history of economic thought-perspective. In this regard I will link the patent controversy of the nineteenth century with Walter Eucken’s Ordoliberalism – a German version of neoliberalism. My paper is structured as follows: The second chapter provides the reader with a historical introduction. At the heart of this paragraph are the controversy and discourse on patent laws in nineteenth century Europe as well as the pro and contra arguments presented by the anti-patent/free-trade movement respectively by the advocates of patent protection. The focus of my paper is on the struggle for the protection of inventions and innovations in nineteenth century Germany, since Walter Eucken, main representative of the Freiburg School of Law and Economics, picks up the counter-arguments presented in the national debate and in particular by the Kongress deutscher Volkswirthe. The third chapter deals intensively with the question whether patent laws are just ‘nonsense upon stilts’ from an ordoliberal perspective. Here, Eucken’s arguments against the current patent system are elaborated in great detail. The paper ends with a summary of my main findings.
Zeit seines Lebens beschäftigte sich Goethe mit ökonomischen Theorien; in seinem dichterischen Werk entwarf er wirtschaftliche Visionen, die das späte 19. und das frühe 20. Jahrhundert übersahen. Seine positive Vision des Kapitalismus ist von einer Sittlichkeit durchdrungen, die extreme Formen des Erwerbsstrebens und der Ausbeutung hemmt. Dagegen steht Goethes Schreckensbild eines uns modern erscheinenden Kapitalismus, wie es im »Faust« beschworen wird.
Vielfältige Einschnitte im Rentensystem haben die Bedeutung der privaten Altersvorsorge in den vergangenen Jahren massiv erhöht. Neben Immobilienbesitz, Lebensversicherungen und staatlich geförderten Programmen zur privaten Vorsorge hat sich inzwischen auch die eigenverantwortliche Altersvorsorge mit Wertpapierdepots etabliert, so dass die Anzahl privater Depots in den letzten 25 Jahren von 8,0 auf 27,9 Millionen gestiegen ist. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist die Frage von zentraler Bedeutung, wie gut Anleger ihr Geld investieren.
Kaum eine andere Industrie wurde in den vergangenen beiden Jahrzehnten so massiv durch den Einzug der Informationstechnologie geprägt wie der Wertpapierhandel. Traditionelle Geschäftsmodelle haben sich grundlegend verändert. Das klassische Börsenparkett ist nahezu vollständig elektronischen Handelsplattformen gewichen.
Die Rechnung kommt immer zum Schluss – und sie zu bezahlen, macht in der Regel keine Freude. Wenn wir aber schon eher ungern bezahlen, soll die Zahlungsmethode selbst wenigstens einfach, überall verfügbar und sehr sicher sein. Insbesondere die Sicherheit ist beim Bezahlen im 21. Jahrhundert ein wichtiges Thema, zu dem es interdisziplinäre Forschungsansätze aus Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Informatik und Recht in einem von dynamischer Entwicklung geprägten Umfeld gibt.
We analyze the implications of the governance structure in academic faculties for their recruitment decisions when competing for new researchers. The value to individual members through social interaction within the faculty depends on the average status of their fellow members. In recruitment decisions, incumbent members trade off the effect of entry on average faculty status against alternative uses of the recruitment budget if no entry takes place. We show that the best candidates join the best faculties but that they receive lower wages than some lesser ranking candidates. We also study the allocation of surplus created by the entry of a new faculty member and show that faculties with symmetric status distributions maximize their joint surplus under majority voting.
Der verstärkte Umgang mit Wissen in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften ist in den letzten Jahren in den Fokus der Wissenschaftler geraten. Ausgeblendet wurde dabei größtenteils die Kehrseite von Wissen, die Frage nach dem "Nichtwissen". Das Nichtwissen ist aufgrund der vorherrschenden Auffassung des gesellschaftlichen Bildes mit einer negativen Notation behaftet. Die zunehmende Auseinandersetzung des Nichtwissens in den Geisteswissenschaften bringt die positiven Funktionen zur Geltung. Der vorliegende Artikel zeigt zunächst die erfolgsfördernden Funktionen des Nichtwissens auf und implementiert somit Chancen des Nichtwissens in einem wirtschaftwissenschaftlichen Rahmen. Im Anschluss werden empirische Befunde, resultierend aus einer Befragung, die an der Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main durchgeführt wurde, präsentiert.
We propose a model of the dynamics of organizational communication. Our model specifies the mechanics by which communication impact is fed back to communication inputs and closes the gap between sender and receiver of messages. We draw on language critique, a branch of language philosophy, and derive joint linguistic actions of interlocutors to explain the emergence and adaptation of communication on the group level. The model is framed by Te'eni's cognitive-affective model of organizational communication.
An information system is more than just the information technology; it is the system that emerges from the complex interactions and relationships between the information technology and the organization. However, what impact information technology has on an organization and how organizational structures and organizational change influence information technology remains an open question. We propose a theory to explain how communication structures emerge and adapt to environmental changes. We operationalize the interplay of information technology and organization as language communities whose members use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in the philosophy of language. In developing it as an emergent perspective, we argue that information systems are self-organizing and that control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself, to the members of the language community. Information technology influences the dynamics of this adaptation process as a fundamental constraint leading to perturbations for the information system. We demonstrate how this view is separated from the entanglement in practice perspective and show that this understanding has far-reaching consequences for developing, managing, and examining information systems.
Theory building is not only underdeveloped in IT services management research, but in
general in IS. Given the paradigm shift that comes from the development away from a
networked economy towards a network economy, the lack of spending enough attention to
theorizing in IS becomes even more obvious. In the light of other "megatrends" in IS
research, such as the increasing professionalization and use of statistical methods and the
exploitation of extremely large sets of data (often harvested from social media sites), we
might lose interest in theorizing in the presence of the tremendous amount of available
empirical data. In this position paper, the author advocates that services science researchers
should focus on rigor and relevance in their research approaches.
Vom "Netz-Doktor" bis "Health 2.0" : welche Möglichkeiten das Internet chronisch Kranken bieten kann
(2011)
Jeder fünfte Deutsche ist inzwischen bereits über 65 Jahre, und der demografische Wandel schreitet voran. Mit dem wachsenden Anteil Älterer nimmt auch die Zahl der chronisch Kranken stetig zu. Diese Patienten haben einen besonders hohen Bedarf an aktuellen medizinischen Informationen; das stellt neue Herausforderungen an alle Beteiligten im Gesundheitssystem. Unter dem Stichwort "Health 2.0" untersucht der Wirtschaftsinformatiker Christoph Rosenkranz, welche interaktiven Möglichkeiten das Internet den Betroffenen bisher schon bietet und was es darüber hinaus in Zukunft leisten sollte.
The Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop "Online Privacy: Towards Informational Self-Determination on the Internet" (11061) has been held in February 6-11, 2011 at Schloss Dagstuhl. 30 participants from academia, public sector, and industry have identified the current status-of-the-art of and challenges for online privacy as well as derived recommendations for improving online privacy. Whereas the Dagstuhl Manifesto of this workshop concludes the results of the working groups and panel discussions, this article presents the talks of this workshop by their abstracts.
Der "Generationenvertrag" der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung hat die Grenzen seiner Leistungsfähigkeit erreicht. Damit ist die "erste Säule" der Alterssicherung, die auf diesem Umlageverfahren basiert, ins Wanken geraten. Schuld daran ist die zunehmende Überalterung der Gesellschaft, aber auch die anhaltend hohe Arbeitslosigkeit, die zu enormen Beitragsausfällen führt. Schon heute sind die Rentenzahlungen nur noch zu rund 75 Prozent durch die Sozialversicherungsbeiträge der arbeitenden Bevölkerung gedeckt, der Rest muss – ähnlich wie bei den Beamtenpensionen – aus dem allgemeinen Steueraufkommen finanziert werden. Das birgt vor allem für die jungen Beitragszahler substanzielle Risiken. Angesichts dieser Perspektiven sind immer weniger junge Menschen bereit, steigende Rentenbeiträge bei stetig sinkenden Leistungen zu akzeptieren. Kann die kapitalgedeckte Alterssicherung diese Defizite auffangen? Wie lassen sich die vielfältigen Konzepte der privaten Alterssicherung bewerten?
We propose a theory characterizing information systems (IS) as language communities which use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in Language Critique, a branch of philosophy of language. In developing our theory, we draw on Systems Theory and Cybernetics as a theoretical framework. "Organization" of a system is directly related to communication of its sub-systems. "Big systems" are self-organizing and the control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself. Therefore, the influence on changes of the system from its outside is limited. Operations intended to change an organization are restricted to indirect approaches. The creation of domain-specific languages by the system itself leads to advantageous communication costs compared to colloquial communication at the price of set-up costs for language communities. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our theoretical constructs help to describe and predict the behavior of IS. Finally, we discuss implications of our theory for further research and IS in general. Keywords: Language Critique, language communities, communication, self-organization, IS research
Immer auf den ersten Rängen : Leibniz-Preis für den Frankfurter Volkswirtschaftler Roman Inderst
(2010)
Wenn es um Superlative geht, dann steht der 40-jährige Prof. Roman Inderst immer ganz oben auf dem Treppchen: jung und schon auf den ersten Rängen unter den Top Ten der europäischen Wirtschaftswissenschaftler. Und am 15. März wurde er auch noch als jüngster unter den zehn Preisträgern mit dem wichtigsten deutschen Forschungspreis, dem mit 2,5 Millionen Euro dotierten Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis 2010, ausgezeichnet.
Plattformen für Social Communities im Internet, wie Facebook, StudiVZ und XING, haben in den vergangenen Jahren rasant an Popularität gewonnen. Auf ihnen versammeln sich bereits heute Millionen von Nutzern weltweit. Sie verbinden sich über virtuelle Freundeslisten und tauschen sich über gemeinsame Interessen und Aktivitäten aus. Immer häufger werden dazu auch mobile Endgeräte wie Handys verwendet, erlauben diese doch ständig in Kontakt mit der Community zu bleiben. Allerdings wollen viele Nutzer längst nicht jedem Mitglied einer Community alles preisgeben. Doch wie lässt sich die Privatsphäre in solchen Communities besser schützen? Dieser Frage geht das Forschungsprojekt PICOS nach.
In diesem Beitrag zur Frage nach dem Ausmaß von Einkommensarmut von Familien stehen zwei Aspekte im Mittelpunkt. – Zum einen ist im Vorfeld von Verteilungsanalysen die Art der Einkommensgewichtung in Mehrpersonenhaushalten zu klären. Nach Abwägung verschiedener Ansätze zur Ableitung einer Äquivalenzskala wurde eine Präferenz für ein institutionell orientiertes Gewichtungsschema, approximiert durch die alte OECD-Skala, begründet. – Zum anderen wurde der Einfluss der Frauenerwerbsbeteiligung auf die Einkommenssituation von Familien mit Kindern empirisch untersucht. Von prekären Einkommensverhältnissen und Einkommensarmut sind vor allem Familien mit geringfügig beschäftigter oder nichterwerbstätiger Partnerin sowie Alleinerziehende – Letztere wiederum bei fehlender Erwerbstätigkeit besonders stark – betroffen, wobei in den neuen Ländern die Situation wesentlich brisanter ist als in den alten Ländern. Bei politischen Maßnahmen sollten Erwerbswünsche der Frauen und Bedürfnisse der Familien berücksichtigt werden. Von daher sind Transfers im Rahmen des Familienleistungsausgleichs und die öffentliche Förderung von Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen nicht als konkurrierende, sondern eher als komplementäre Konzepte zu diskutieren.
The recent success of some alternative trading systems (ATSs) has had a strong impact on the traditional stock exchange industry and many observers expect even more dramatic changes in the future. This paper investigates the nature of competition between stock exchanges and ATSs and argues that the introduction of ATSs weakens the level of competition between market-makers in the traditional exchange...
"Verhaltenswissenschaftliche Theorien oder mikroökonomische Theorie?" - das ist nicht die Frage, wenn es um die Erklärung menschlichen Verhaltens in Organisationengeht. Sie schließen sich nämlich nicht gegenseitig aus, sondern ergänzen sich. Deshalb sollten sie gemeinsam, und zwar in einem integrativen und nicht in einem additiven Sinne zumbesseren Verständnis und zur wirksameren Beeinflussung menschlicher Handlungen in Organisationen genutzt werden. Der vorliegende Aufsatz will dazu und zur Vermeidung bzw. Überwindung verfehlter Frontbildungen einen Beitrag leisten. Die ökonomische Effizienz von Anreizsystemen, die in der Regel nicht direkt beurteilt werden kann, sondern indirekt über adäquate Ersatzkriterien oder -wie hier- über plausible Bedingungen, ist, wie sich schnell erkennenläßt, ein besonders treffliches Objektfürderartige Bemühungen unter marktwirtschaftichen Bedingungen.