How can South Africa diversify its industrial sector so that it is less dependent on mineral exports, increases labour absorption and reduces unemployment? This book sheds more light on the structure of South Africa’s economy, its industrial sector and inter-sectoral linkages by simulating an economic geography model of the vertical linkages type, by testing linkage strength econometrically a…
In this work, we address the problem of simultaneously determining a pricing and inventory replenishment strategy under reference price effects. This reference price effect models the fact that consumers not only react sensitively to the current price, but also to deviations from a reference price formed on the basis of past purchases. Immediate effects of price reductions on profits have to be…
The study deals with the cutting-edge subject of electronic contracts which have the potential to automatically process and control the access rights for (electronic) goods. It shows the design and the implementation of a rights expression exchange framework. The framework allows DRM systems to exchange electronic contracts, formulated in a standardized rights expression language, and thus prov…
In context with the Eastern enlargement of the European Union, this research deals with the effects of pre- and post-enlargement integration policies on industry concentration and regional development in Hungary. Economic processes are analysed empirically and by means of regression analyses with a spatial perspective and in the framework of the new economic geography over a time span of almost…
After roughly 15 years of merger control application in the Federal Republic of Germany a reassessment of the significance of this instrument of antitrust policy seems necessary. This is particularly so in view of the reorientation of merger control policy in the United States which has been - in its original version - the model for the German merger control system. Concerning merger contr…
This book focuses on «Convertibilidad», the latest Argentine experience of exchange rate based stabilisation, and aims at isolating the main causes for its tragic collapse in 2001-2002. The characteristics of Argentina’s high and hyperinflation during the 1980s are analysed, and the theory of currency boards is expounded. The stabilisation tool, an institutionally highly credible currency b…
The purpose of this work is to provide a critical presentation and some extensions of two perspectives of informational efficiency: On the one hand the neoclassical perspective or «arithmomorphic approach» explains efficiency in terms of a concept mainly based on an explicit economic theory. On the other hand, in the Austrian perspective or «causal genetic approach» attention is drawn to th…
Since the Second World War the world has seen an economic growth spurt unprecedented in history. Economic growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for improving human development, or in other words, economic growth is an important pre-requisite for the ultimate goal of human well-being. The four empirical essays of this book add to the general debate concerning dynamics of growth, pov…
In 2001, goodwill amortization in the US was eliminated in favor of an impairment-only approach, which, according to critics, gives managers vast discretion and opportunities for earnings management. Prior research suggests that discretionary asset write-offs are associated with economic factors and managers’ financial reporting objectives. Based on a systematic literature review, this study …
The German pension system was the first formal pension system in the world, designed by Bismarck nearly 120 years ago. It has been very successful in providing high and reliable pension levels at reasonable contribution rates. While the generosity of the German pension system is considered a great social achievement, negative incentive effects of past reforms in the 1970s and 1980s and populati…