Inventory and analysis of national public policies that stimulate biotechnology research, its exploitation and commercialisation by industry in Europe in the period 2002–2005: Final Report
Inventory and analysis of national public policies that stimulate research in biotechnology, its exploitation and commercialisation by industry in Europe in the period 2002–2005,
2007
Abstract
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Benchmarking national biotechnology policy across Europe: a systems approach using quantitative and qualitative indicators.
Thomas Reiss, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa
Research Evaluation. Special issue on new challenges in quantitative science and technology research Vol. 16 (4),
No. 4,
2007
Abstract
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Effectiveness of Competition Law: A Panel Data Analysis
Franz Kronthaler
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 7,
2007
Abstract
The paper explores what macroeconomic factors can tell us about the effectiveness of recently enacted national competition laws. Qualitative evidence suggests that numerous countries fall short in implementing competition law. Furthermore, there seems to be significant differences between countries. To examine what factors might contribute to the explanation of effectiveness of competition law panel regression analysis is used. The results indicate that the level of economic development matters, however the institutional learning curve is also relevant. Furthermore, larger countries should be more concerned with competition advocacy activities than smaller countries and it seems to be the case that the problem of capture of competition law is serious in countries with high levels of corruption.
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Do House Prices Drive Aggregate Consumption?
Marian Berneburg, Axel Lindner
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 10,
2006
Abstract
In jüngster Zeit sprechen Konjunkturforscher Preisentwicklungen auf Immobilienmärkten einen großen Einfluß auf die Konsumnachfrage der privaten Haushalte zu. Dagegen kann eingewandt werden, daß Preiserhöhungen die Konsummöglichkeiten einer Volkswirtschaft als Ganzes nicht erhöhen: Wer eine Immobilie teuer verkauft, profitiert vom hohen Preis genau in dem Maße, wie der Käufer verliert. Der trotzdem zu beobachtende Zusammenhang zwischen steigenden Immobilienpreisen und lebhafter Konsumnachfrage bedeutet freilich nicht, daß sich die Wirtschaftssubjekte irrational verhalten. Er erklärt sich vielmehr daraus, daß beide Größen wesentlich von den Erwartungen über die längerfristige gesamtwirtschaftliche Entwicklung einer Volkswirtschaft getrieben werden. Im vorliegenden Artikel steht eine einfache Erklärung der Hauspreisentwicklungen der letzten 15 Jahre in ausgewählten Industrieländern im Mittelpunkt. Ansatzpunkt zur Bestimmung des Wertes von Immobilien ist eine einfache Barwertformel zur Bestimmung des Wertes eines Vermögensguts, die von national unterschiedlichen Risikoaspekten oder einer möglichen Abhängigkeit von demographischen Entwicklungen abstrahiert. In diese Rechnung gehen für die einzelnen Länder jeweils spezifische Erwartungen ein, die sich aus den Erfahrungen der vergangenen Jahre speisen. Dabei spielen mit der Zinsentwicklung und dem längerfristigen Wachstum einer Volkswirtschaft zwei Größen eine zentrale Rolle, die auch wesentlichen Einfluß auf die gesamtwirtschaftliche Güternachfrage haben.
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Vertical Intra-industry Trade between EU and Accession Countries
Hubert Gabrisch
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 12,
2006
Abstract
The paper analyses vertical intra-industry trade between EU and Accession countries, and concentrates on two country-specific determinants: Differences in personal income distribution and in technology. Both determinants have a strong link to national policies and to cross-border investment flows. In contrast to most other studies, income distribution is not seen as time-invariant variable, but as changing over time. What is new is also that differences in technology are tested in comparison with cost advantages from capital/labour ratios. The study applies panel estimation techniques with GLS. Results show country-pair fixed effects to be of high relevance for explaining vertical intraindustry trade. In addition, bilateral differences in personal income distribution and their changes are positive related to vertical intra-industry trade in this special regional integration framework; hence, distributional effects of policies matter. Also, technology differences turn out to be positively correlated with vertical intra-industry trade. However, the cost variable (here: relative GDP per capita) shows no clear picture, particularly not in combination with the technology variable.
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Economies of Scope in European Railways: An Efficiency Analysis
Christian Growitsch, Heike Wetzel
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 5,
2006
Abstract
In the course of railway reforms in the end of the last century, national European governments, as well the EU Commission, decided to open markets and to separate railway networks from train operations. Vertically integrated railway companies – companies owning a network and providing transport services – argue that such a separation of infrastructure and operations would diminish the advantages of vertical integration and would therefore not be suitable to raise economic welfare. In this paper, we conduct a pan-European analysis to investigate the performance of European railways with a particular focus on economies of vertical integration. We test the hypothesis that integrated railways realise economies of joint production and, thus, produce railway services on a higher level of efficiency. To determine whether joint or separate production is more efficient we apply a Data Envelopment Analysis super-efficiency bootstrapping model which relates the efficiency for integrated production to a virtual reference set consisting of the separated production technology. Our findings are that in a majority of European Railway companies exist economies of scope.
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National Accounting revision certifies stronger growth of production for the New Laender
Udo Ludwig
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 4,
2006
Abstract
Nach der jüngsten Revision der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen wurde in den neuen Bundesländern in den Jahren 2001 bis 2004 mehr produziert als bislang bekannt war. Das Niveau der Wertschöpfung wurde stärker als im gesamtdeutschen Durchschnitt angehoben, obwohl es bei einigen Wirtschaftsbereichen, wie dem Kredit- und Versicherungsgewerbe und der Wohnungsvermietung, zu einer Absenkung kam. Auch das Wachstumsbild hat sich geändert. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist in den Jahren 2001 bis 2004 stärker gestiegen als zuvor berechnet worden war, darunter drei Jahre in Folge auch kräftiger als in den alten Bundesländern. Der Rückstand in der Pro-Kopf- Produktion wurde verringert Allerdings kam dieser Prozeß wegen der Produktionsschwäche im Jahr 2005 – zumindest vorübergehend – wieder zum Erliegen.
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The National German Innovation System - its Development in Different Governmental and Territorial Structures
Hariolf Grupp, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Monika Friedrich-Nishio
Economics, Evolution and the State: The Governance of Complexity,
2005
Abstract
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Business Cycles and FDI: Evidence from German Sectoral Data
Claudia M. Buch, A. Lipponer
Review of World Economics,
No. 4,
2005
Abstract
Globalization has affected business cycle developments in OECD countries and has increased activities of firms across national borders. This paper analyzes whether these two developments are linked. We use a new firm-level data set on the foreign activities of German firms to test whether foreign activities are affected by business cycle developments. We aggregate the data by the sector of the reporting firm, the sector of the foreign affiliate, and the host country. Data are annual and cover the period 1989–2002. We find that German outward FDI increases in response to positive cyclical developments abroad and in response to a real depreciation of the domestic currency.
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The integration of imperfect financial markets: Implications for business cycle volatility
Claudia M. Buch, C. Pierdzioch
Journal of Policy Modeling,
No. 7,
2005
Abstract
During the last two decades, the degree of openness of national financial systems has increased substantially. At the same time, asymmetries in information and other financial market frictions have remained prevalent. We study the implications of the opening up of national financial systems in the presence of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility. In our empirical analysis, we show that countries with more developed financial systems have lower business cycle volatility. Financial openness has no strong impact on business cycle volatility, in contrast. In our theoretical analysis, we study the implications of the opening up of national financial markets and of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility using a dynamic macroeconomic model of an open economy. We find that the implications of opening up national financial markets for business cycle volatility are largely unaffected by the presence of financial market frictions.
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