bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Zur Ökonomik des Konsumentenschutzes im Hochschulsektor
Authors: Mause Karsten 
Published: April 2016

Summary
Based on the economics of consumer protection and some contributions from the economics of education, the present paper presents an analytical framework to deal with the problem of consumer protection in the higher education sector. It is shown that there are not only governmental mechanisms (information provision, quality regulation) but also market-based mechanisms (seller signaling, private certification, private information intermediaries, student screening) to mitigate the informational asymmetry between buyers and sellers of educational services. This informational asymmetry, called students’ ex-ante quality uncertainty, provides the central economic rationale for thinking about student protection, quality assurance, and consumer information in the higher education marketplace. The basic argument of this paper is that governmental quality assurance is unnecessary in higher education if the market participants themselves, with the help of private third parties (i. e., certifiers and information intermediaries), are able to cope with market failure due to asymmetric information.
Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten der Stadtstaaten bei gegebener Steuersatzautonomie für die Körperschaftsteuer
Authors: Broer Michael 
Published: April 2016

Summary
German corporate companies are taxed with a federal corporation tax and with a local business tax. The latter has a similar, but broader tax base (including e. g. 25 % of interest payments) and its tax rate is set independently by every municipality including the so called city-states (Stadtstaaten). The federal corporation tax revenue is equally split between the federal government and the federal states (Länder). Till now the federal tax rate has been fixed by the German government. Federal states have not had the right to rule the tax rate of their share of corporation tax. At present a federal commission is discussing whether this should be possible in the future. Once granted this privilege, the city-states will be able to substitute their part of corporation tax by a higher local business tax. Furthermore, because of its broader tax base, there will be a reduction of the statutory tax rate for corporations without a decrease in tax revenue. This paper analyses the revenue effects of this substitution for the city-states taking into account the German fiscal equalization system and the incentive of profit shifting to the city-states. The analysis shows some positive revenue effects to the city-states, if they will substitute their part of corporation tax by a higher local business tax. The revenue effects are subject to different scenarios and add up to 17.5 million for Hamburg, 10.4 million for Berlin and 3.6 million for Bremen.
Grundeinkommen vs. Kombilohn: Beschäftigungs- und Finanzierungswirkungen und Unterschiede im Empfängerkreis
Authors: Fuest Clemens , Peichl Andreas 
Published: April 2016

Summary
The economic literature often argues that basic income schemes and low wage subsidies to employees are just special cases of a negative income tax. In this debate, it is ignored that these concepts target different population subgroups. This paper investigates the different target groups and the particular implications on government budget and labour supply. A basic income scheme doubles the number of net benefit receiving persons whereas a more targeted wage subsidy increases this number by only 10 %. These differences explain why wage subsidy programs can be financed and evoke positive labour supply effects, while basic income schemes either lead to high costs or to negative employment effects.
Policy Implications of Global Asymmetric Current Account Positions
Authors: Schnabl Gunther , Freitag Stephan 
Published: April 2016

Zusammenfassung
Die vorliegende Studie befasst sich mit den globalen Ungleichgewichten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Asymmetrien im Weltwährungssystem. Die Vereinigten Staaten und der Euroraum (Deutschland) werden als Zentren mit steigenden Leistungsbilanzdefiziten (Vereinigte Staaten) und steigenden Leistungsbilanzüberschüssen (Deutschland) identifiziert. Die Ungleichgewichte in den Zentren werden flankiert von Leistungsbilanzüberschüssen in Ländern mit Wechselkursbindung an den Dollar (Dollar-Peripherie) und Leistungsbilanzdefiziten in Ländern mit Wechselkursbindung an den Euro (Euro-Peripherie). Es wird gezeigt, dass Veränderungen der globalen Leistungsbilanzpositionen von makroökonomischen Entscheidungen in den Zentren bestimmt sind. Insbesondere beeinflussen die expansive Geld- und Fiskalpolitik der Vereinigten Staaten die Überschüsse in den Ländern der Dollar-Peripherie. Begründet ist dieser Zusammenhang auch in der Sterilisierungspolitik der Dollar-Peripherie- Länder, die zu steigenden Leistungsbilanzüberschüssen beiträgt. Um die globalen Leistungsbilanzungleichgewichte auszugleichen, ist vor allem eine restriktive Makropolitik in den Vereinigten Staaten geboten.
Implizite und explizite Lohnsteuerbelastung in Deutschland
Authors: Gasche Martin 
Published: April 2016

Summary
Social insurance contributions include an implicit tax portion if the contributions are higher than the benefits. For the first time, this implicit tax burden is calculated for the entire German social security system regarding income groups, age groups and sex. There is evidence that the implicit tax burden is throughout relatively high. The age-specific tax structure is characterized by an inversely U-shaped curve: The implicit tax burden is weaker for young and older employees subject to social insurance than for employees of the in-between generation. The income-specific tax profiles indicate a negative wage tax for insured with low income and then a strong progressive trend. On a higher level of income, the burden has a regressive course. The combination of implicit wage tax caused by social security system and explicit wage tax caused by income tax system makes the regressive course of tax burden on high income level disappear, so that a progressive wage tax scale with a negative component for lower incomes can be observed.
The New Keynesian Microfoundation of Macroeconomics
Authors: Spahn Peter 
Published: April 2016

Zusammenfassung
Die Neukeynesianische Makroökonomie (NKM) beruht auf dem Dogma, dass jegliche Makroökonomie vollständig aus den Optimierungsbedingungen der Mikroökonomie hervorgehen müsse. Das Grundmodell geht von den intertemporalen Entscheidungen der Haushalte über Arbeitsangebot und Konsumnachfrage aus. Bei unterstellter Vollbeschäftigung erlauben hier perfekte Finanzmärkte eine reibungslose Verteilung des Konsums über die Zeit. Koordinationsprobleme zwischen Sparen und Investieren, die bei Keynes im Zentrum der Makrotheorie stehen, spielen keine Rolle. Eine gewisse Übereinstimmung mit der Empirie, insbesondere mit Blick auf die Persistenz von Output und Inflation, wird durch eine nachträgliche Abwandlung der Nutzenfunktionen und Verhaltensannahmen erreicht. Der Vorwurf gegenüber traditionellen makroökonomischen Ansätzen, sie operierten “ad hoc” und ohne mikrotheoretisches Fundament, fällt auf die NKM selbst zurück, da sie ihre Bausteine in opportunistischer Weise nach den Erklärungszielen wählt. Das reduzierte und erweiterte Makromodell der NKM, das neben Erwartungs-Leads auch Lags aufweist, ist ein nützlicher Ausgangspunkt der Forschung, wenn ein Pluralismus der mikroökonomischen Fundamente zugelassen wird. Die Bezugnahme auf einen “repräsentativen Akteur” ermöglicht zwar einen direkten Übergang von der mikro- zur makroökonomischen Ebene in der NKM, verstellt jedoch einen Zugang zu den Problemen unvollkommener Information und heterogener Erwartungen.
Ökonomische Konzepte in Robert Nozicks Rechtfertigung eines Minimalstaats
Authors: Knoll Bodo 
Published: April 2016

Summary
In his „Anarchy, State, and Utopia“, Robert Nozick tried to justify a minimal state. While his theory is based on economic concepts, economists have as yet paid little attention to it. The use of economics is demonstrated by a reconstruction of Nozick’s arguments in the first part of “Anarchy, State, and Utopia”: Ruinous competition leads to a natural monopoly of the “dominant protection agency”. Externalities are used to legitimize the minimal state’s prohibition of other protection agencies. Its duty to protect all citizens can be seen as a redistributive in-kind transfer. Nozick explicitly refers to the neoclassical theory of law in his justification of the minimal state’s right to impose a deterrent criminal law. The economic concepts imply arguments in favour of the minimal state that are partly inconsistent.
Neuere Entwicklungen in der Preisstatistik und Indextheorie
Authors: Lippe Peter Michael von der 
Published: April 2016

Summary
German economists as for example Laspeyres and Paasche made remarkable contributions to index theory in the 19th and early 20th century. Typical for the German school was the idea of “pure price comparison” and the emphasis on a verbal interpretation of index formulas. However, it lost ground compared to a quite different Anglo- American tradition due to de-emphasizing purely formal reasoning. In particular the move to chain indices, violating the principle of a “pure” comparison and to a utility based index theory was a radical departure from traditional concepts like Laspeyres indices. Nonetheless German official statistics proved to be an active partner in international co-operations as regards harmonized indices in Europe, conceptualizing new price indices, methodological studies, and training of European statisticians.
Steuerliche Spendenanreize: Ein Reformvorschlag
Authors: Auer Ludwig von , Kalusche Andreas 
Published: April 2016

SummaryIn Germany, donations to charitable institutions can be deducted from the taxable income. The government subsidizes each donated Euro by the household′s marginal tax rate. Unfortunately, this system has some serious shortcomings. Therefore, the existing tax deduction of donations should be replaced by a uniform tax abatement rate. Such a reformed system would be more transparent than the existing system and it would lead to a price of donating that is equal for all households. Furthermore, the empirical analysis of this study has shown that for an abatement rate of roughly 50 % a positive (though small) fiscal effect occurs.
The carry-over effect and its value in forecasting annual growth rates
Authors: Tödter Karl-Heinz 
Published: April 2016

Summary
The statistical overhang (carry-over effect) is the contribution of the previous year to growth in the current year. Practitioners use the statistical overhang routinely to pin down and rationalize short-term forecasts. This article analyses the statistical overhang ‘statistically’ and quantifies its effect on forecast uncertainty. For quarterly data, knowing the statistical overhang at the end of the previous year reduces forecast uncertainty for annual growth in the current year to 68 percent. With monthly data, relative forecast uncertainty reduces to 56 percent. Against the background of the recent financial and economic crisis the analytical results are confronted with empirical forecasts. For ex post mean value forecasts the reduction of forecast uncertainty is broadly in line with the theoretical profile. With regard to the ex ante Bundesbank and Consensus forecasts, the decline of forecast uncertainty is somewhat slower than expected on the basis of information about the carry-over effect.
US Financial Debt Crisis: A Stochastic Optimal Control Approach
Authors: Stein Jerome L. 
Published: April 2016

Summary
The financial crisis was precipitated by the mortgage crisis. A whole structure of financial derivatives was based upon the ultimate debtors, the mortgagors. Insofar as the mortgagors were unable to service their debts, the values of the derivatives fell. The financial intermediaries whose assets and liabilities were based upon the value of derivatives were very highly leveraged. Changes in the values of their net worth were large multiples of changes in asset values. A cascade was precipitated by the mortgage defaults. In this manner, the mortgage debt crisis turned into a financial crisis. The crucial variable is the optimal debt of the real estate sector, which depends upon the capital gain and the interest rate. I apply the Stochastic Optimal Control (SOC) analysis to derive the optimal debt. Two models of the stochastic process on the capital gain and interest rate are presented. Each implies a different value of the optimal debt/net worth. I derive an upper bound of the optimal debt ratio, based upon the alternative models. An empirical measure of the excess debt: actual less the upper bound of the optimal ratio, is shown to be an early warning signal (EWS) of the debt crisis.
Do men slow down faster than women?
Authors: Maennig Wolfgang , Stobernack Michael 
Published: April 2016

Summary
This paper tests on differences between age-related reductions in the performance of men and women. The assumption that men age faster is obvious, because men′s life expectancy is generally lower. In addition to other studies on age-related reduction in human performance, this paper examines the data taken from competitions on rowing machines, which have been standardized worldwide. Furthermore, this study looks for any potential ageing processes specific to physique. Finally, fractional polynomials have been added to the testing methodology. Contrary to intuition, we find evidence that women are affected by faster age-related reductions in performance.
Staatsschuldenkrise in Europa
Authors: Smeets Heinz-Dieter 
Published: April 2016

Summary
The euro countries currently experience a severe government debt crisis. Since Greece asked for financial assistance in May 2010 there has been a lively debate on how to resolve this situation. The solution that has been primarily suggested by politicians so far is to finance governments’ financial needs through emergency credits from EU sources (EFSF / ESM) and the International Monetary Fund. After explaining provisions like the stability pact and risk premiums on interest rates which aimed at guaranteeing fiscal stability in the pre-crisis EMU an overview is given showing financial and other political reactions to the crisis. In a second step, the sustainability of the Greek debt situation is extensively analyzed by employing the government budget constraint. The necessary primary surpluses enabling Greece to finance its government debt without international support as from 2020 onwards are, however, substantial. Therefore, it is very likely that Greece either needs further financial assistance or an additional hair cut in the future. Moreover, the effects of Greece leaving EMU are shown as well as the (financial) problems that would occur if further countries like Spain and Italy were infected. Finally, some suggestions are made how to avoid possible government debt crises in the future.
Armut, Reichtum und Humankapital Zu den Beziehungen zwischen Bildung, Lebenseinkommen, Besteuerung und staatlicher Umverteilung
Authors: Petersen Hans-Georg 
Published: April 2016

Summary
The paper is based on an individual life-cycle model, which describes the purely economic components of human capital. The present value of human capital is determined by all future income flows, which at the same time constitute the individual as well as the total tax base of a nation. Therefore, the income of the productive population determines the total tax revenue, which is spent for public goods (including education) and transfers (for poverty reduction). The efficient design of the education system (by private and public education investments) determines the quality of the human capital stock as well as the future gross income flows. The costs of public goods and the transfer expenditures have to be financed from the total tax revenue, which also affects the individual tax burden via the specific tax bases and tax rates. Especially the redistribution of income is connected with serious disincentives, influencing the preferences for work and leisure as well as for consumption and saving.
An efficient tax and transfer system being accompanied by an education system financed in public private partnership, which treats equally labor and capital income, sets positive incentives for the formation of human, financial, and real capital. An important prerequisite for a sustainable growth process is the efficient design of the social security system, being based on the family as well as a collective risk equalization scheme. If that system is diminishing absolute poverty in an appropriate time period by transfers and vocational education measures for the grown-up as well as high quality primary, secondary and tertiary education programs for the children, the transfer expenditure would decrease and the tax bases (income and consumption) increase, lowering the burden on the productive population. For the first time, this micro model presented in this paper pools all the relevant variables for development within a simple life-cycle model, which can also be used for a powerful analysis of the current failures in existing tax and transfer schemes and fruitful empirical investigations.
Deal or No Deal? Consensual Arrangements as an Instrument of European Competition Policy
Authors: Budzinski Oliver , Kuchinke Björn A. 
Published: April 2016

Summary
Roughly during the last decade, European Competition Policy has undergone a series of fundamental changes. All four areas - cartel policy, merger policy, abuse control, and state aid control - have been subject to a modernization process, which led to a focus on analysing the effects of individual cases and established a tendency towards deciding each case on its individual merits. These changes can be understood as a move away from rule-based competition policy towards a case-by-case approach. The case-by-case approach especially includes consensual arrangements, so-called ‘deals’ between the competition authority and business companies. Therefore, this paper will discuss the pros and cons of ‘deals’ as an instrument of (European) competition policy. The paper′s central focus lies on the economic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using consensual arrangements as a relevant instrument of European competition policy. With respect to European competition policy, we conclude that we need to issue a note of caution. From an economic perspective, an expansion of consensual elements necessarily walks hand in hand with a continual weakening of the protection of competition. Consumer welfare will not benefit from expanding the role and importance of consensual arrangements as a means of European competition policy.
Possible Role of TGF – B Pathways in Schizophrenia / Moguća Uloga TTGF - B Signalnih Puteva U Shizofreniji
Authors: Borovcanin Milica , Jovanovic Ivan , Dejanovic Slavica Djukic , Radosavljevic Gordana , Arsenijevic Nebojsa , Lukic Miodrag L. 
Published: April 2016

Abstract
The phenomenological uniqueness of each patient with schizophrenia is determined by complex symptomatology, particularly the overlapping of symptoms and their prominence in certain phases of this mental disorder. Establishing biological markers is an important step in the further objectivisation and quantification of schizophrenia. Identifying the cytokine profiles that precede a psychotic episode could direct the strategies for relapse prevention and be useful in predicting disease progression and treatment response. In the context of infl ammation, TGF-β exerts potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive functions by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesis, but it can also have pro-inflammatory functions through its stimulatory effects on inflammatory Th17 cells. It has been shown that the T helper cell type-1 and type-17 responses are reduced and type-2 response is increased in patients with schizophrenia. Both data from the literature and our results also indicate the presence of an anti-inflammatory response through production of the TGF-β regulatory cytokine. A meta-analysis of plasma cytokine alterations suggested that TGF-β is the state marker for acute exacerbation of schizophrenia, and we showed that TGF-β can also be a valuable marker for psychosis. Hyperactivity of TGF-β signalling pathways in schizophrenia may be both a neuroprotective mechanism and a possible therapeutic target.
Volar Locking Plating Treatment Results in Fragmented Intraarticular Distal Radius Fractures / Rezultati Tretmana Metodom “Zakljucavanja” Rucja Kod Višestruktih Distalnih Intraartikularnih Preloma Radijusa
Authors: Oc Yunus , Kilinc Bekir Eray , Armagan Raffi , Kara Adnan , Kanar Muharrem , Eren Osman Tugrul 
Published: April 2016

Abstract
Volar locking plating treatment results in fragmented intra-articular distal radius fractures in adults.
Twenty-five patients (14 men, 11 women; mean age, 44.32±12.12 years) who were treated with volar locking plates due to distal radius fractures were prospectively studied. Among the fractures, 44% were C2 and 56% were C3, according to the AO classification system. Clinical analyses were performed using the Gartland and Werley scale, the short version of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Questionnaire (QuickDASH), and the visual analogue scale (VAS); radiological evaluations were performed using the Stewart evaluation criteria.
The mean patient follow-up time was 20.36±7.62 months. According to the Gartland and Werley assessment scale, 68.0% of the patients (n = 17) had excellent results, 28.0% (n =7) had good results, and 4.0% (n =1) had poor results. The mean VAS score was 0.84±1.07, and the quick-average DASH subjective question score was 7.07±12.95. According to the Stewart score, the percentages of patients with perfect and good results were 92% and 8%, respectively. Among the patients, the mean grip strength was 77.3% when it was evaluated on the healthy side. One patient was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome, while another patient was diagnosed with flexor tenosynovitis and paraesthesia in the distribution of the median nerve; two patients were diagnosed with flexor tenosynovitis.
Volar locking plating is an effective surgical method for treating distal radius fractures. The plate should be properly placed during surgery, and post-operative movement should begin early.