Eine Clusteranalyse der tarifvertraglichen Öffnungsklauseln
Identifying Types of Flexible Bargaining Agreements Using Cluster Analysis
Von Wolf Dieter Heinbach und Stefanie Schröpfer, Tübingen
JEL J51, C14
Opening clauses, collective bargaining agreements, cluster analysis, correspondence analysis.
Summary
The introduction of opening clauses in collective wage agreements allowing firms to deviate from their collective bargaining agreements has become widely accepted for the last fifteen years.
With respect to the flexibility agreed through collective bargaining, the distinctions between single collective bargaining areas of the same industry have increased. Hence, the economic idea of uniform industry-wide central collective bargaining agreements is no longer tenable. By means of correspondence and cluster analysis, types of different collective bargaining agreements are identified. Beside their relevance for employment and industries, typical paths of development are exhibited towards an improved flexibility agreed through
collective bargaining.
Regional Spillovers and Spatial Heterogeneity in Matching Workers and Employers
in Germany
By Reinhold Kosfeld, Kassel
JEL C21, C23, E24, J23
Matching function, regional mismatch, spatial spillovers, spatial heterogeneity.
Summary
When job search takes place across labour markets, the standard flow approach to labour market analysis fails to uncover the effectiveness at which workers are matched to available jobs. Studies on spatial externalities job matching usually assume homogenous matching elasticities across space. In this study spatial heterogeneity of job matching is clearly revealed by spatial switching regressions for the unified Germany. Though matching efficiency is affected by labour market characteristics, its cyclical pattern is closely related to business cycle fluctuations. Variation of regional mismatch over the business cycle can only explain a relatively small fraction of
matching inefficiencies.
Employment Effects of Innovation at the Firm Level
By Stefan Lachenmaier, Munich, and Horst Rottman, Weiden
JEL J23, O30, L60Employment, innovation, patent, firm size, panel data.
Summary
This paper analyzes empirically the effects of innovation on employment at the firm level using a uniquely long panel dataset of German manufacturing firms. The overall effect of innovations on employment often remains unclear in theoretical contributions due to reverse effects. We distinguish between product and process innovations and additionally introduce different innovation categories. We find clearly positive effects for product and process innovations on employment growth with the effects for process innovations being slightly higher. For product innovations that involved patent applications we can identify an additional positive effect on employment.
An Empirical Assessment of the EU Agricultural Policy Based on Firm Level Data
By Carmen Murillo, Santander, Carlos San Juan, Getafe, Stefan Sperlich, Goettingen
JEL Q11, Q18, C32, F02Common Agricultural Policy, subsidies, efficiency, non-parametric methods, natural resources, environmental economics.
Summary
The study focuses on testing the hypothesis that the subsidy system of the Common Agricultural Reform in 1992 (CAP'92) drove to changes in farm efficiency towards the thereby claimed objectives. With sequential applications of semiparametric methods we succeed to identify the impact of the direct payments on environmental adaptation, productivity and efficiency before and after CAP'92 without restrictive model specifications. We find that the claimed objectives of the EU subvention policy were met only partly, but that the CAP'92 was, however, a step forward. Our case study uses large Spanish data sets of animal orientated farms.
This paper applies non parametric methods for policy evaluation at firm level. The study focuses on testing the hypothesis that the subsidy system of the Common Agricultural Reform in 1992 (CAP'92) drove to changes in farm efficiency towards the thereby claimed objectives. We concentrate here on animal oriented farms, in particular cattle, pig, sheep and goat farms. The correct quantification of efficiency and productivity differentials due to CAP'92 is crucial for such a policy analysis as different models can easily lead to different conclusions. Using non parametric methods we do not need to specify the production function of the farms. With sequential applications of semiparametric methods we succeed to identify the impact of the direct payments on environmental adaptation, productivity and efficiency before and after CAP'92 without restrictive model specifications. We find that the claimed objectives of the EU subvention policy were met only partly, but that the CAP'92 was – at least partly – indeed a step forward in that sense. Our case study uses large Spanish data sets of animal orientated farms. This is justified, among other reasons, by the relevance of these farms for Mediterranean forest and grazing land preservation
in Spain.
Has the Export Pricing Behaviour of German Enterprises Changed?
Empirical Evidence from German Sectoral Export Prices
By Kerstin Stahn, Frankfurt am Main JEL C22, F41Export pricing, cost pass-through, pricing-to-market, Germany.
Summary
Estimations are conducted for 11 product categories to determine whether the importance of cost pass-through (CPT) and pricing-to-market (PTM) for long-run export pricing in Germany has shifted. The hypothesis that CPT is stronger, and PTM weaker, for heterogeneous products than for homogeneous products is found to hold more for CPT than for PTM. The hypothesis that CPT has weakened, and PTM strengthened, since the 1990s, is confirmed with respect to the overall outcome, although for several product categories the results conflict with the hypothesis. Examining exporters’ short-run price-setting behaviour for asymmetry shows that symmetric export pricing
is seldom rejected.