Univ., Habil.-Schr.--Darmstadt, 2003.

The present thesis examines the trade structure of South Africa as well as the impact of this structure on (un)employment. The starting point of this work is a descriptive analysis of the South African trade structure. Besides a general discussion, the thesis elaborates on structural differences with respect to the European Union, China and the Southern African Development Community. The insights of this analysis are used to develop a three-dimensional trade model. However, this model does not consider unemployment. Therefore, South African labour market rigidities are examined in the next step. The frictions on the labour market are introduced into the trade model as a binding minimum wage. Within this theoretical framework it is shown that the reintegration of South Africa into the world economy did increase unemployment. To conclude the theoretical hypotheses are tested empirically. The econometric results support the predictions of the three-dimensional trade model. (author's abstract)

In this paper we propose one approach to implement environmental standards into Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and in this way to measure its regulatory impact on eco-efficiency of firms. As one basic feature of DEA models lies in the exogeneity of inputs, desirable and undesirable outputs, it is not possible to introduce environmental constraints for these parameters directly into existing DEA models. Therefore, we implement the environmental standard in a bounded-variable way, which allows constraints on the efficiency frontier. The regulatory impact is assessed as difference in eco-efficiency scores before and after fictive introduction of an environmental standard. Furthermore, we distinguish between weak and strong disposability of undesirable outputs and develop according models. Assessing the regulatory impact of environmental standards in advance provides support for environmental policy makers in choosing appropriate instruments and in adjusting the intensity of regulation. Moreover, the procedure can be applied in a wide range of markets, as the proposed model framework offers several options. Policy makers can choose between different environmental standards and different disposability assumptions. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers / Research Institute for Regulatory Economics

Zugl. teils gekürzte und teils erg. Fassung von: Tübingen, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2007

Thesis (doctoral)--Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [377]-395) and index.

Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2008

The existing literature concerning the impact of cross-border merger activity on domestic wages can be split into two camps: 1) those focusing on positive 'spillover' effects; 2) those focusing on negative 'bargaining' effects. Motivated in part by the lack of scholarship spanning these two literatures, we provide a theoretical model that nests these two mechanisms in one conceptual framework. From our theoretical model we are able to predict that 'spillover' effects tend to be more dominant under low unionization rates, while 'bargaining' effects tend to be more dominant under high unionization rates; furthermore, 'spillover' effects tend to be more dominant with inward cross-border mergers, while 'bargaining' effects tend to be more dominant with outward cross-border mergers. We employ comprehensive panel data on wages, unionization and merger activity for US industry sectors over the 1986-2001 period in order to test the impact of cross-border merger activity on domestic wages. We find support for our propositions in that higher unionization rates make it more likely that cross-border mergers generate wage decreases, while outward cross-border mergers more likely involve wage decreases than do inward cross-border mergers. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Zugl.: Greifswald, Univ., Diss., 2004

Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2007

Zugl.: Passau, Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2005