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Fiscal Federalism in Transition: Evidence from Ukraine

Effects of fiscal federalism on redistribution and economic growth are analyzed for Ukraine, a country with large regional differences. Since there is virtually no such empirical literature, except a study of the German case, and since there are several potential flaws, the results must be interpreted in a very tentative way. We find that this relatively poor, disorganized country with little democracy ...

Economic Integration, Wage Policies, and Social Policies

This paper sets up a two country monopolistic competition model with intra-industry trade to study the effects of an exogenous differential in wage and social policies on the location of industry. Two model scenarios are considered. In the traditional one with physical capital, such a differential induces a relocation effect which increases with the level of trade integration. The 'new economic geography' ...

Diskussionsbeiträge zu "Mehr Wirtschaftsstatistik in der Statistikausbildung für Volks- und Betriebswirte"

A State Space Model for Berlin House Prices: Estimation and Economic Interpretation

Hedonic regression has become the standard approach for modeling the behavior of house prices. Usually, the common price component is modeled via dummy variables. Based on an approximation for the present value, we deliver an economic interpretation of the common price component. This allows to include explanatory factors like inflation rates, mortgage rates and building permissions. The notional rents ...

Pitfalls in Restructuring the Electricity Industry

This paper models some reductions in output that may follow the opening of electricity markets to competition. Specifically, we show that vertical separation of electricity generation, transmission and distribution could reduce welfare compared to the previous system of vertically integrated monopoly, if grid owners can act as monopolistic retailers or, alternatively, set access prices that maximize ...

The Impact of Ageing on Hospital Care and Long-Term Care: The Example of Germany

Background: In the next few decades the population in all EU-countries will age rapidly. This could have a major impact on the health care sector. This study analyses the effect of population ageing on utilisation in two key sectors of the health care system, namely hospital care and long-term care in Germany, up to 2020 with an outlook to 2050. Methods: Two population scenarios, one with constant, ...

The Incentives for Takeover in Oligopoly

We present a model of takeover where the target optimally sets its reserve price. Under relatively standard symmetry restrictions, we obtain a unique equilibrium. The probability of takeover is only a function of the number of firms and of the insiders' share of total industry gains due to the increase in concentration. Our main application is to the linear Cournot and Bertrand models. A takeover is ...

Acceptability of Transport Pricing Measures amongst Public and Professionals in Europe

Transport pricing has been an actively debated topic in the European Union for a number of years. This debate has been stimulated both by the European Commission policy and by a multitude of national policy initiatives. A central theme in this debate is the issue of the public and (linked to this) political acceptability of pricing measures. Indeed, concerns about acceptability now constitute the most ...

Does Male Age Have an Influence on the Risk of Spontaneous Abortion? An Approach Using Semiparametric Regression

Couples in industrialized countries tend to delay attempting to have children, which may lower their chances of livebirth. The authors assessed the association between male age and the risk of spontaneous abortion between weeks 5 and 20 of pregnancy, controlling for female age. They interviewed by telephone a random cross-sectional population of 1,151 French women who had been pregnant between 1985 ...

A Note on Regional Convergence within the EU

A recently published article suggested that factor prices within the EU converged between 1980 and 1992 but diverged between 1992 and 1994. However, these findings largely reflect inflation differentials and exchange rate adjustments. Markov chain analysis on the basis of an alternative income aggregate, GDP per capita measured in Purchasing Power Standards, leads to different results: Convergence ...