When the Philipp Holzmann corporation declared insolvency many professional observers suggested that the German constructor had fallen victim to the operation of `Germany Inc.'. This metaphor meant to blame the close ties between Deutsche Bank and Holzmann as the ultimate reason for the insolvency of Holzmann. This paper challenges the notion that the relationship between Deutsche Bank and Holzmann ...
This paper discusses the past and future economic situation of Berlin in the German city system. Comparing the shares of employment in various service sectors of total employment in Germany from 1939 to 1997 shows the significant changes in the role as a metropolis. Berlin has lost its dominant position as a consequence of isolation from international development for 40 years. Despite successful expansion ...
We analyze how a firm might protect quasirents in an environment of imperfect capital markets, where switching lenders is costly to the borrower, and contracts are incomplete. As switching costs make the firm vulnerable to ex post exploitation, it may want to diversify lending. Multiple-source lending, however, suffers from coordination failure. An uncoordinated withdrawal of funds will force a financially ...
This paper proposes a simultaneous-equation approach to theestimation of the contribution of infrastructure accumulationto private production. A political economy model for theallocation of public infrastructure investment grants isformulated. Our empirical findings, using a panel of largeGerman cities for the years 1980,1986, and 1988, suggest thatcities ruled by a council sharing the State (`Bundesland')government's ...
In this paper we provide evidence on the effectiveness of the German apprenticeship system in enhancing workers' productivity. More specifically, we estimate earnings differentials between those who subsequently leave the occupation they were apprenticed in and those who remain in their training occupation. Some authors have beenconcerned with the potential productivity- and earnings-decreasing effects ...
In the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of GATT (1 January 1995) it was agreed to harmonise intellectual property rights (IPR) on an international level and to include the option for patent protection for all life forms such as plants and animals (Article 27 (3) b). Patenting, however, leads to considerable conflicts between international trade and protection of biological ...
