Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:33:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Manoel Joao Ramos.pdf: 888607 bytes, checksum: 93bba9f4d2e59d834e2848d72881c978 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-21 / This study presents an analysis of how institutional, organizational, technological and competitive environments, as well as strategies and performance of companies may influence the agribusiness system of lamb meat on western Paraná. To do that, the Prospective Structural Analysis was applied; it is a method under the matrix form of analysis of relations between the variables that constitute the studied system and those that belong to its explanatory context. This method aims to emerge the main essential variables to the evolution of the system. The theoretical concepts of New Institutional Economics were applied in combination with the Model of Systemic Relations, important analysis tools from the point of view of the importance of institutions and their influence in the transaction costs and alternative ways of organizing production. The practical application of the study occurs in three successive stages comprising the survey of variables that possibly affect the system, the identification of relationships between these variables and finally the selection of the relevant variables. The results derived from the analysis suggest that lamb meat industry rests under an environment of instability, having the illegal slaughter as variable of greatest influence and at the same time highly dependent which presents itself as an unstable variable and any action on it may cause significant impacts on the entire system. Although rated in the group of moderate influence, variables legislation and taxation / evasion were positioned in the quadrant of the input variables, indicating that they are, at the same time, very influential and little dependent, and should be targeted for priority actions. In this sense, the institutional environment should begin the process of improving the system of lamb meat because of the lack of specific legislations, the incidence of high taxes followed by tax evasion, has great influence on the lamb agro industrial system, undermining the competitiveness of the sector. Finally, it is observed that there are great challenges and opportunities for articulation of lamb meat agro industrial system in the Western Parana in order to promote better coordination between the agents involved in the system and the final consumer. / Este estudo apresenta uma análise de como os ambientes institucional, organizacional, tecnológico e competitivo, assim como as estratégias e o desempenho das empresas podem influenciar no sistema agroindustrial da carne ovina na região Oeste do Paraná. Para isso, aplicou-se a Análise Estrutural Prospectiva, um método sob a forma matricial de análise das relações entre as variáveis constitutivas do sistema estudado e aquelas que pertencem ao seu contexto explicativo, que tem por objetivo fazer emergir as principais variáveis essenciais à evolução do sistema estudado. Também foram aplicados os conceitos da Nova Economia Institucional aliado ao Modelo de Relações Sistêmicas, importantes instrumentos de análise sob o ponto de vista da importância das instituições e sua influência nos custos das transações e nos modos alternativos de organização da produção. A aplicação prática do estudo ocorre em três fases sucessivas compostas pelo levantamento das variáveis que possivelmente interferem no sistema, a identificação das relações existentes entre elas e, por fim, a seleção das variáveis relevantes. Os resultados derivados dessa análise sugerem que a ovinocultura de corte repousa sob um ambiente de grande instabilidade, tendo como variável de maior influência e, ao mesmo tempo, altamente dependente, o abate clandestino, uma variável instável em que qualquer ação sobre ela pode causar impactos significativos em todo o sistema. Embora classificadas no grupo de influência moderada, as variáveis legislação e tributação/sonegação posicionam-se no quadrante das variáveis de entrada, indicando ser, ao mesmo tempo, muito influentes e pouco dependentes, devendo ser alvo de ações prioritárias. Neste sentido, é no ambiente institucional que se deve iniciar o processo de melhorias, pois a falta de legislações específicas, a incidência de carga tributária elevada acompanhada pela sonegação de impostos, exerce grande influência no sistema agroindustrial da carne ovina, prejudicando a competitividade do setor. Por fim, observa-se a existência de grandes desafios e de oportunidades para a articulação do Sistema Agroindustrial da carne ovina na região Oeste do Paraná, no intuito de promover a coordenação entre todos os agentes e o consumidor final.

Magister Artium - MA / The study concludes that the existence of HTAs in the USA is explained by the socially enforced institution of the hijos del pueblo (sons of the town) having a duty to help their hometowns, as well as the private benefits of preserving Garífuna traditions and the possibility of helping repatriate dead immigrants. Fulfilling this duty (and the consequent prestige attained) provides the incentives to send CRs home. In the cases studied, CRs were used to partly finance potable water projects, electricity projects, road paving, a community centre and the construction of a Catholic temple. In most of the cases HTAs worked with a local development organisation, known as Patronato, which formed specific committees for executing projects, for example the water and the electricity committees. For the construction of the temple, a religious organisation known as Pastoral was the local partner. The term Collective Remittances (CRs) refers to the money sent by migrant associations, known as Hometown Associations (HTAs), to Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) in their hometowns for financing public works projects. Few cases of CR are known in Honduras. The only ones reported are among the Garífunaethnic group living on the Caribbean Coast, and with a large migrant community in New York City (NYC). This mini-master’s thesis is the first study written on CRs in Honduras. It studies CR experiences in four Garífuna hometowns and their corresponding HTAs in NYC. It answers three questions: How do CRs work in each case? What are the determinants for HTAs to provide CRs to the hometowns? And what are the determinants for local CBOs in the hometowns to use the CRs effectively to provide public goods in the hometowns? CR is conceptualised as a that chooses which local group and project to finance, and the local CBO, which is the agent

La compensation écologique, envisagée dans le respect de la séquence éviter-réduire-compenser les impacts, cherche à apporter des réponses à la crise actuelle d’érosion de la biodiversité. L’objectif de la thèse est de comprendre quels sont les enjeux organisationnels et institutionnels de la mise en œuvre du principe de compensation écologique pour les impacts sur les écosystèmes aquatiques marins et continentaux en Europe et aux Etats-Unis. La thèse mobilise le cadre théorique de l’économie néo-institutionnelle. Les organisations de type hiérarchique (compensation au cas par cas) ont pour principales limites d’avoir une efficacité écologique discutable et de ne pas permettre le suivi et le contrôle des mesures compensatoires ce qui conduit souvent à ce que la compensation ne soit pas ou peu mise en œuvre. Aux Etats-Unis, les banques de compensation consistent en une réponse anticipée et mutualisée aux dommages à l’environnement. Il s’agit d’une forme organisationnelle alternative hybride fortement régulée à mi-chemin entre la hiérarchie et le marché. Cependant, les acteurs ont des stratégies collectives et individuelles qui engendrent des négociations ayant des conséquences sur les enjeux de développement économique et de maintien des objectifs de conservation de la biodiversité. Le système des banques de compensation crée un double phénomène de redistribution des coûts de transaction et de diminution de ceux-ci mais il semble que l’évolution de l’ensemble du cadre d’application de la compensation écologique américain permet aujourd’hui une complémentarité institutionnelle entre ces deux formes organisationnelles plutôt qu’une disparition des formes hiérarchiques. / Biodiversity offset, as the last step of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid/reduce/offset), aims to address the current biodiversity loss crisis. The main goal of this PhD, which relies on the new institutional economics approach as a theoretical framework, is to understand the organizational and institutional issues of implementing biodiversity offsets policies for impacts on continental and offshore wetlands in Europe and the United-States. Hierarchical organizations (i.e. permittee responsible mitigation) often lead to little to no implementation of biodiversity offsets because the ecological effectiveness of case-by-case compensatory measures is unproven and the monitoring and control of numerous measures are difficult. In the United-States, the mitigation banking system aims to compensate for multiple small impacts on wetlands by carrying out restoration projects on fewer but larger wetland areas in order to reach the goal of no net loss of biodiversity. This hybrid organizational form is highly regulated and therefore stands halfway between hierarchical and market organizations. However, actors have individual and collective strategies that generate negotiations with consequences on economic development and biodiversity conservation stakes. The mitigation banking system leads to a decrease of transaction costs and a change of the actors bearing them. It seems that the evolution of the whole framework of biodiversity offsets policy implementation in the United-States leans toward an institutional complementarity between these two organizational forms rather than a disappearance of hierarchical organizations.

Betrügerisches Verhalten bei geschlossenen Fonds ist in Deutschland Statistiken zufolge für jährliche Kapitalverluste im mittleren dreistelligen Millionenbereich verantwortlich. Der Gesetzgeber hat sich in der Vergangenheit wiederholt dem Problem angenommen und eine Vielzahl von zivil-, straf- und öffentlich-rechtlichen Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung des Anlegerschutzes auf den Weg gebracht, die mit dem Inkrafttreten des Kapitalanlagegesetzbuchs (KAGB) im Jahr 2013 ihren bisherigen Höhepunkt erreicht haben. Die Zweckdienlichkeit dieser Maßnahmen wird von Kritikern indes bezweifelt, darüber hinaus scheint sich in jüngerer Zeit ein neuartiges Phänomen des „sanktionslosen Betrugs“ auf dem Kapitalmarkt zu etablieren, bei dem es den Tätern gelingt entweder ohne, oder ohne nennenswerte Sanktionen – insbesondere in strafrechtlicher Hinsicht – davonzukommen. Als Beispiele seien hier die Debi Select Fonds aus Landshut sowie die POC-Fonds aus Berlin genannt, bei denen die im Hintergrund agierenden „Strippenzieher“ trotz millionenschwerer Anlegerschädigung weder in zivil- noch in strafrechtlicher Hinsicht zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden konnten. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich der systematischen Erkundung dieses Phänomens, indem sie die Themenkomplexe „(sanktionslose) betrügerische geschlossene Fonds“ und „Anlegerschutz“ aus ökonomischer und rechtlicher Perspektive theoretisch analysiert und hieraus Verbesserungsvorschläge ableitet, die anschließend durch eine explorativ-empirische Expertenbefragung abgesichert und ergänzt werden. Konkret beantwortet die Arbeit folgende zentrale Forschungsfrage: „Was ist betrügerisches Verhalten bei geschlossenen Fonds und warum ist dies zum Teil sanktionslos?“ sowie vier ergänzende Forschungsfragen: (1) „Wie sieht die Anatomie betrügerischer geschlossener Fonds aus?“ (2) „Was sind die Ursachen und Anreizstrukturen, die betrügerisches Verhalten bei geschlossenen Fonds begünstigen?“ (3) „Welche Maßnahmen eignen sich zur Abwehr bzw. zur Eindämmung des betrügerischen Verhaltens bei geschlossenen Fonds?“ (4) „Bieten die zivil-, straf- und öffentlich-rechtlichen Maßnahmen des Gesetzgebers, insbesondere das KAGB einen ausreichenden Schutz vor betrügerischen geschlossenen Fonds?“ / Fraudulent behavior in closed-end funds is, according to statistics, responsible for annual capital losses in the mid-triple-digit millions. Legislators have repeatedly addressed the problem in the past and initiated a large number of civil, criminal and public-law measures to improve investor protection, which reached their peak in 2013 with the entry into force of the so-called “Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch” (KAGB). The usefulness of these measures are doubted by critics, moreover it appears that a new phenomenon of 'unsanctioned fraud' on the capital market appears to be established recently, where the perpetrators succeed either without or without significant sanctions, especially in criminal matters. Examples include the Debi Select funds from Landshut and the POC funds from Berlin, in which the 'stripping pullers' operating in the background could be held accountable neither in civil nor in criminal law despite millions in damage to investors. The present work is devoted to the systematic investigation of this phenomenon by theoretically analyzing the topics '(non-sanctioned) fraudulent closed-end funds' and 'investor protection' from an economic and legal perspective and deriving recommendations for improvement, which are then confirmed and supplemented by an explorative-empirical expert survey become. Specifically, the paper answers the following central research question: 'What is fraudulent behavior in closed-end funds and why is this partially sanctionless?' And four complementary research questions: (1) 'What is the anatomy of fraudulent closed-end funds?' (2) 'What are the causes and incentive structures that favor fraudulent behavior in closed-end funds? (3)'What measures are appropriate for the prevention or the containment of fraudulent behavior in closed-end funds?' (4) 'Do civil, criminal and public legislative measures, in particular the KAGB, provide sufficient protection against fraudulent closed-end funds?'

One of the main environmental policy challenges is convincing individuals and organisations to engage in socially desirable courses of action; that is, to have them internalise the consequences of their decisions. As contributions from institutional and behavioural economics have indicated, policies aimed at fostering pro-social action can be ineffective and even counterproductive if the interests and concerns of the relevant actors are not properly considered throughout the policy process. In fact, international conventions and national legislation around the world generally recommend stakeholder involvement in order to properly address pressing environmental challenges. The evidence that underpins and informs this recommendation, however, is still insufficient and scattered across different strands of literature. On the one hand, research on participatory governance has indeed systematically documented the potential for policymakers and resource managers to obtain high-quality, context-specific and legitimate input for environmental policymaking from participatory processes. On the other, the available research has also cast doubt on the potential of participatory processes to produce concrete change in (pro-social) action on the ground. In general, the success of these processes ultimately depends on their design, implementation and context. However, most of these conclusions stem from rich qualitative accounts of participatory processes, structured comparisons of cases and systematic reviews of case studies and the available literature. With this type of evidence, it is difficult to neatly identify the impact of participatory interventions on pro-social and cooperative behaviour and systematically assess the underlying mechanisms. This thesis addresses these knowledge gaps. The thesis investigates the extent to which and the mechanisms by which participatory interventions could foster (or hinder) pro-social and collective action for natural resource management and environmental protection. It comprises four chapters, each constituting a stand-alone, self-contained academic paper. Throughout the different chapters, the thesis reviews and integrates insights from the literature on participatory governance and from the institutional and behavioural analyses of pro-social and collective action. Furthermore, using two laboratory economic experiments (Chapters 3 and 4) and one framed lab-in-the-field experiment (Chapter 5), the thesis systematically assesses specific hypotheses concerning the potential impacts of participatory interventions on cooperative and pro-social behaviour and the underlying mechanisms of these impacts. The introductory chapter of the dissertation gathers, presents and discusses the insights gathered from each chapter. It expands on the motivations for the thesis, presents the general and specific research gaps and questions the thesis tackles and clarifies the conceptual, theoretical and methodological foundations upon which the thesis is grounded. Chapter 2 (entitled Participatory interventions for collective action in environmental and natural resource management) reviews the literature on participatory governance together with the literature on collective action in natural resource and environmental management. The main goal of this review is to contribute to integrating the main insights from both strands of literature regarding (a) the potential of participatory interventions to foster collective action and (b) the channels through which they might foment (or hinder) collective action. It therefore seeks to help integrate the insights from these different strands of literature, which, although related, have generally been disconnected until now. The chapter draws on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to organise these insights within a coherent conceptual framework. As the results of this literature review indicate, participatory interventions have the potential to foster collective action through two channels. Firstly, by helping resource users to change (and enhance) the rules, norms and strategies that constrain and guide their behaviour (the indirect channel) and, secondly, by directly influencing the specific behavioural factors (e.g. knowledge, trust, preferences, perceptions and beliefs) that collective action hinges upon (the direct channel). However, to sustain collective action, the relevant literature has consistently emphasised that trust needs to be continually cultivated and ensured. Therefore, in line with insights from earlier studies on participatory governance, the results of this literature review also indicate that practitioners and policymakers must not only design participatory interventions carefully to effectively build the trust needed to heighten and sustain collective action, but participatory interventions must also be adequately embedded within the broader (social-ecological and governance) context, providing for follow-up, enforcement, monitoring and conflict-resolution mechanisms. From Chapter 3 through Chapter 5, the thesis focuses on the direct channel, studying the potential of participatory interventions to directly influence behaviour within relevant economic action situations such as social dilemma and distributive action situations. Within a given environment and institutional context, the studies recreate processes commonly facilitated within participatory interventions. Chapter 3 assesses the effects of externally structured and facilitated processes of information exchange, and Chapters 4 and 5 examine the impact of inducing perspective-taking via role-switching techniques (Chapter 4) and instructions (Chapter 5). Thanks to this experimental approach, it is possible to systematically assess the behavioural impacts of these types of processes as well as the underlying mechanisms. Chapter 3 (entitled Structuring communication effectively for environmental cooperation) starts by reviewing previous experimental studies on the effects of two-way communication in social dilemmas to identify the elements that are commonly involved in effective communication processes. This review notes four cooperation-enhancing components of communication: (i) problem awareness, (ii) exploration of strategies to tackle the problem at hand, (iii) agreement on desirable joint strategies and (iv) ratification of agreed-upon strategies. A total of 560 students at Osnabrück University participated in a laboratory implementation of a voluntary contribution mechanism; a public goods game. The experiment implemented a series of interventions that represented these components of communication and contrasted the resulting levels of cooperation with the average outcomes of control groups interacting under either free (unstructured) communication or no communication whatsoever. The intervention that facilitated agreement on a common strategy (i.e. the combination of (ii) and (iii)) was particularly effective at boosting cooperation. Furthermore, combined with interventions promoting problem awareness and ratification, this intervention produced levels of cooperation similar to the average levels of cooperation observed in groups with free-form communication. The results of this experiment expand the understanding in the literature of the role of communication in social dilemmas and provide insights into the potential of structured and facilitated processes of information exchange and social interaction to foster collective action for environmental management. Chapter 4 (The effects of inducing perspective-taking through role reversal in a give-and-take a dictator game on pro-social behaviour) and Chapter 5 (Perspective-taking for pro-social behaviour in watershed management) deal with the effects of inducing perspective-taking on unilateral pro-social behaviour. The results outlined in Chapter 4 indicate that perspective-taking, induced through role reversal, can be associated with significant average changes in the participants’ self-reported state of emotions (in terms of both empathic and positive as well as in distressing and negative emotions). The emotional reactions that the role reversal seems to influence, however, do not appear to result in significantly more (or less) pro-social behaviour. The chapter explores and discusses two plausible explanations for these results, namely the transient effects of emotional reactions and the opposing effects of diverging emotional reactions on pro-social behaviour. These results come from the analysis of data from 144 students at Osnabrück University who participated as dictators in a laboratory implementation of a give-and-take dictator game. The design of the experiment allows the identification of the effect of inducing decision-makers to experience the other person’s position through unilateral role reversal on pro-social behaviour. During the simulation round, dictators in treatment groups experienced how it would feel to be in the role of the recipient. Dictators in the control groups only learned about the distributional consequences of their allocation decisions on recipients. Hence, through a treatment comparison, it was possible to single out the effects resulting from temporarily taking on the position of the other participant. To understand the underlying drivers of a potential behavioural change, the study elicited participants’ emotional states both before and after the simulation round. The results in Chapter 5 indicate that inducing perspective-taking can be associated with relatively greater pro-social behaviour based on an experimental study of downstream farmers’ behaviour in a watershed management context. Moreover, the provision of information on the social-ecological context during the perspective-taking exercise cannot account for the different behavioural patterns in the treatment and control groups. These results come from a lab-in-the-field experiment carried out with 177 downstream farmers in a Peruvian watershed. In the experiment, farmers in the treatment groups were motivated to imagine the upstream farmers’ perspective (i.e. to think about their thoughts and feelings) before deciding on whether or not to contribute to an initiative in the upper watershed. The initiative intends to help upstream farmers improve their well-being without compromising the water supply downstream. The behaviour of farmers in the treatment groups was compared against the behaviour of farmers in the control groups wherein perspective-taking was not induced. Taken together, the results of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 illustrate the potential of inducing perspective-taking—commonly promoted in participatory processes—to trigger pro-social behaviour in economic situations. It can indeed alter relevant behavioural variables and trigger pro-social behaviour in distributive and social-dilemma situations. Nevertheless, as the literature on perspective-taking has previously indicated, the final effects depend on the specific procedures by which and the situations and contexts wherein perspective-taking is induced. Based on these findings, it is possible to sustain that participatory interventions do have the potential to effect changes in pro-social and cooperative behaviour at both the collective and individual level. Whether this impact is realised or hindered hinges on the procedures and contexts of participatory interventions. It would also depend on the mechanisms provided to follow up on the initiated processes and sustain and build upon the early outcomes. The contributions of this thesis are threefold. Firstly, it integrates insights from the literature on the institutional and behavioural analysis of pro-social and collective action and the literature on participatory governance for natural resource management. Secondly, it generates new evidence, based on experimental methods, in terms of the potential for participatory interventions to foster pro-social and collective action, and in terms of the mechanisms by which participatory methods and processes could effectively impact (or hinder) pro-social and cooperative behaviour. In this way, the thesis helps to bridge the gap of knowledge in terms of how participatory interventions can effectively change behaviour and, subsequently, encourage socially desirable social-ecological outcomes. In doing so, it also adds to the understanding of pro-social and cooperative human behaviour and the way that the processes of information-exchange and perspective-taking, which are often facilitated by participatory processes, may (or may not) advance it. Research on participation is, however, still ongoing and, in terms of the way forward, the thesis makes a third, methodological contribution. It demonstrates how experimental research in both the laboratory and in the field, conducted under a coherent conceptual and methodological framework, can complement one another and shed light on the extent to which and the means by which participatory interventions can produce changes in behaviour. The experimental method, in terms of both laboratory and field experiments, can therefore complement the set of methods traditionally employed to analyse participatory processes. The results of the studies comprising the thesis underscore the importance of carefully analysing the policy process. As contributions from the behavioural literature have repeatedly indicated, human behaviour is driven by a combination of self-regarding, social and procedural preferences. Hence, addressing pressing environmental challenges involving externalities and social dilemmas not only entails getting the policy design right to synergistically coordinate and orchestrate these different types of preferences. It also requires careful design, analysis and implementation of the activities and methods that structure and facilitate stakeholder interactions throughout the policy process.

Ce mémoire espère expérimenter l’application de la Nouvelle Économie Institutionnelle (NEI) en questionnant les éléments ayant favorisé le développement de l’économie viticole à l’époque romaine dans la région du Rhône. Pour y parvenir, cette recherche s’attarde sur trois axes ayant joué un rôle important dans le développement du commerce du vin dans le Rhône, mais aussi dans d’autres régions du bassin méditerranéen. Premièrement, il sera question de montrer comment l’environnement et le climat du Rhône ont influencé le développement de différents types de cultures de la vigne pour ensuite évaluer la valeur économique de chacune d’elles. Les hypothèses et conclusions de cette première partie émanent principalement d’une lecture des agronomes anciens (Caton l’Ancien, Pline le Jeune, Varron, Columelle et Palladius) faite en parallèle des plus récents développements en histoire climatique. Deuxièmement, cette recherche s’attarde sur la question des opérations relatives à la fabrication et à la distribution du vin. Après avoir pris en considération les enjeux du déplacement et de mise en marché, nous nous risquons à proposer un cadre d’analyse issu de la recherche en entreprise faite dans les années 1960 : la matrice d’Ansoff. Troisièmement, la dernière section de ce mémoire s’oriente sur le rôle du développement de la science juridique à Rome en interrogeant les impacts des institutions légales sur le commerce du vin. Une étude de cas consacrée à la place de l’armée romaine reliant ces trois axes fait office de courte synthèse. Dans son ensemble, ce travail espère pouvoir montrer les bases d’une analyse de marché dans l’Antiquité, et ce, malgré les nombreux enjeux méthodologiques propres à l’économie ancienne. / This thesis hopes to experiment with the use of New Institutional Economy (NIE) by exploring the factors that contributed to the development of the wine economy in the Rhône region in Roman times. To achieve this goal, this research will focus on three axes that played an important role in the development of the wine trade in the Rhône, but also in other regions of the Mediterranean region. Firstly, it will show how the Rhône's environment and climate have influenced the development of different types of viticulture, and then examine the economic value of each. The hypotheses and conclusions of this first section are mainly based on a reading of ancient agronomists (Cato the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Varron, Columella and Palladius) alongside the most recent developments in climatic history. Secondly, this research focuses on the operations involved in making and selling wine. After considering the issues of displacement and commercialisation, we risk proposing an analytical framework derived from business research carried out in the 1960s: the Ansoff matrix. Thirdly, the final pages of this dissertation focus on the role of the development of legal science in Rome, questioning the impact of legal institutions on the wine industry. A case study devoted to the role of the Roman army connects these three axes and serves as a synthesis. Overall, this work hopes to demonstrate the foundations of market analysis in antiquity, despite the multiple methodological challenges specific to ancient economics.

Organisationsprobleme im Ökomarketing - eine transaktionskostentheoretische Analyse im Absatzkanal konventioneller Lebensmittelhandel Die im Vergleich zum großen Nachfragepotential zögerliche Entwicklung des Ökomarkts in Deutschland ist auf Organisationsprobleme zurückzuführen. Die Organisationsprobleme behindern insbesondere die großskalige Ökomarkterschließung über die konventionellen Supermarktketten, erschweren aber auch die Effizienzsteigerung im kleiner strukturierten alternativen Naturkosthandel. Die Erschließung des großen Marktpotenzials für ökologische Produkte wird auf Ebene der Marktakteure durch drei Aspekte des Organisationsproblems erschwert, nämlich (1) Marktstrukturprobleme, (2) Ressourcenbeschaffungsprobleme (beschränktes Angebot) sowie (3) Absicherungsprobleme. Die Frage der Absicherung spezieller (Pionier-) Investitionen vor Opportunismus ist Hauptgegenstand der vergleichenden Institutionenanalyse, der Transaktionskostentheorie nach WILLIAMSON (1990). Die Organisationsprobleme im Ökomarketing wurden in 23 Experteninterviews entlang der Vermarktungskette mit einem transaktionskostentheoretisch basierten Untersuchungsmodell qualitativ untersucht. Schwerpunkt dabei war der Absatzkanal konventionelle Lebensmittelketten. Dabei zeigte sich die Dominanz marktnaher Organisationsformen, obwohl bei undifferenzierter Analyse der Transaktionsdimensionen eine Wahl hierarchienäherer Organisationsformen zu erwarten gewesen wäre. Die differenzierte Verwendung der Analysekriterien der Transaktion weist auf ausgleichende Kräfte hin, die marktnahe Koordination im Ökomarketing ermöglichen, trotz teilweise hoher Faktorspezifität und hoher externer Unsicherheit (z.B. labiles Marktgleichgewicht aufgrund von Beschaffungsproblemen und durch große Nachfrageschübe infolge von Lebensmittelskandalen). Wichtige Ausgleichskräfte sind vor allem die symmetrische Verteilung der Faktorspezifität zwischen den Marktpartnern, ihre Reputation und die Einflüsse des menschlichen Faktors (z.B. Beziehungsfähigkeit, außerökonomische Präferenzen). Außerdem gibt es zahlreiche Alternativen zur Absicherung durch vertikale Unternehmensintegration, die im einfachen Markt-Hierarchie-Paradigma übersehen werden. Die genauere Beschreibung der Transaktionsdimensionen und Absicherungsformen in der vorliegenden Dissertation bildet die Grundlage für ein effizienteres Management der Organisation innerhalb der Vermarktungskette. Dies betrifft z.B. die Frage, ob die Gründung einer Erzeugergemeinschaft, also einer hierarchienahen Organisationsform, nützlich ist. Im deutschen Ökomarkt wird es zu wachsenden Absicherungsproblemen kommen, wenn sich das Marktwachstum stark beschleunigt, denn beim Übergang zu einem offensiven, großskaligem Ökomarketing begeben sich die Marktpioniere in zeitweise asymmetrisch verteilte Faktorspezifitäten. Aber auch dann ist es effizienter - wo es möglich ist - die symmetrische Entwicklung der Verbindlichkeiten in einer marktnah koordinierten Vermarktungskette zu betreiben oder partielle Integrationsschritte, wie gegenseitige Beteiligungen oder gemeinsame Tochtergesellschaften zu bevorzugen. Ein marktnah koordiniertes Sicherheitsmanagement erfordert die genaue Kenntnis und Analyse der Transaktionsdimensionen, ihrer Wirkungsbereiche und -verteilung und der ausgleichenden Faktoren an jeder Stelle der Vermarktungskette. Der Vorteil marktnaher Koordination gegenüber der Hierarchie liegt in ihrer höheren Flexibilität, den besseren Leistungsanreizen und geringeren internen Verwaltungskosten. Vertikale und horizontale Kooperation kann bürokratiearm umgesetzt werden, wenn auf die symmetrische Entwicklung der Interessen und Faktorspezifitäten bei den beteiligten Geschäftspartnern geachtet wird und gleichzeitig die Kooperationsfähigkeit als soziale Kompetenz der Beteiligten entwickelt wird. / Organizational Problems in Marketing of Organic Products - a qualitative Analysis based on Transaction Cost Economics in the Trade Channel of conventional Supermarket Chains (Thesis - Humboldt-University of Berlin 2000) The market share of organic products is developing slowly compared with the potential demand forecasted. Organizational problems can be regarded as the main reason; they hamper especially the large scale market extension into conventional supermarket chains, but also diminish efficiency in smaller scaled alternative natural food trade systems. Market extension for organic products is inhibited due to three aspects relating to organizational problems: (1) deficits in market structure, (2) problems on resourcing (limited supply) and (3) problems of safeguarding an agreement. Safeguarding of special (pioneer) investment against opportunism is a central issue of comparative institutional analysis, in this case the transaction cost economics after O. E. WILLIAMSON (1985) Organizational problems of "organic-marketing" were investigated qualitatively using interviews with 23 experts involved in the marketing process at different levels. The framework of investigations were based upon transaction cost economics. Focus was set on the trade channel of the conventional retail chains. As a result it could be shown that organizational forms close to market-driven coordination dominates over forms of vertical integration, even though an undifferentiated analysis would have favored the latter. A more differentiated use of transaction dimensions shows balancing powers, which allow market-based coordination in "organic-marketing" in spite of high asset specificity and high external uncertainty (e.g. fragile market equilibrium as a result of procurement problems and influence of rapid growth of demand due to food scandals). The essential balancing factors are an equilibrium of asset specificity between market partners, their reputation and influence of the human factor (e.g. soft skills like human relations, non-economic preferences). In addition there are many alternatives to safeguarding by vertical integration that are otherwise overlooked in a simple market-hierarchy-paradigm. The exacter description of transaction dimensions and different forms of safeguarding given in this thesis leads to a more efficient marketing chain management. This can, for example, raise the issue whether a horizontal cooperation of agricultural producers, i.e. a hierarchical organization, is beneficial. In the German market for organic products safeguarding problems will increase once the market growth accelerates, because transition to offensive large-scaled "organic-marketing" temporarily leads market-pioneers into an asymmetrically distributed asset specificity. But even in this case it will be more efficient - where possible - to search for a symmetric development of obligations or to prefer partial vertical integration such as mutual participation or common affiliated companies. A market oriented management of safeguarding requires exact knowledge and analyses of transaction dimensions, their sphere of influence and their distribution of action and of compensating factors on every point of the marketing-chain. The advantage of a market-driven coordination compared to hierarchy is based on a higher flexibility, higher incentives and lower internal administration costs. Vertical and horizontal cooperation can be implemented on efficient bureaucracy basis, if partners pay attention to symmetric development of their interests and asset specificities and develop their social skills at the same time.

Der Deutsche Corporate Governance Kodex (DCGK) entfaltet trotz seiner rechtlichen Unverbindlichkeit als sog. „Weiches Recht“ oder „Soft Law“ erhebliche tatsächliche Wirkungen. Für Vorstände und Aufsichtsräte bestehen starke Anreize zur Befolgung, vor allem, um damit einen positiven Signalling-Effekt zu erzielen. Umgekehrt kann die Nichtbefolgung insbesondere des Empfehlungsteils negative Konsequenzen haben, die restriktiv wirken. Die vom DCGK ausgehenden Anreize und Restriktionen fallen je stärker aus, desto mehr ein Unternehmen für die Kapitalbeschaffung auf die Kapitalmärkte angewiesen ist. Die Verpflichtung zur Abgabe einer Entsprechenserklärung nach § 161 AktG führt zu einer allgemeinen Bekanntheit des DCGK und verhilft zu dessen breiter Durchsetzung. Ferner kommt es durch sie zu einer Verstärkung der Regulierungswirkungen des Empfehlungsteils. Die Funktion von Corporate Governance Kodizes ist es, Standards zu setzen, an denen sich die Akteure des Kapitalmarkts orientieren können. Zur Regulierung durch Corporate Governance Kodizes sind drei Regelungsalternativen erkennbar: Regulierung durch Parlamentsgesetz, Listings Rules oder eine völlige Freigabe der entsprechenden Regelungsbereiche. Bei der schrittweisen Analyse von Soft Law, Corporate Governance Kodizes im Allgemeinen und dem DCGK als konkretem Anwendungsfall werden im Lichte der Regelungsalternativen einige Argumente herausgearbeitet, die für diese Regulierungstechnik sprechen. Dies sind mögliche Einsparungen von Transaktionskosten, Flexibilität und eine hohe Qualität des Normsetzungsprozesses. Regulierung durch Corporate Governance Kodizes erweist sich insofern den übrigen Regelungsvarianten als überlegen. Dies gilt insbesondere, wenn die Verpflichtung zur Abgabe einer Entsprechenserklärung nicht auf einen einzelnen Kodex beschränkt wird, so dass die Regelungsadressaten zwischen verschiedenen Kodizes wählen können („Wettbewerb der Institutionen“). Ein Verstoß gegen den verfassungsrechtlichen Gesetzes- oder Parlamentsvorbehalt durch § 161 AktG ist nicht feststellbar. Bei der Anwendung des Instrumentariums der Konstitutionenökonomik zeigt sich jedoch, dass eine Verpflichtung zur Abgabe einer Entsprechenserklärung nur dann legitimiert ist, wenn diese hinsichtlich des in Bezug genommenen Kodex offen und nicht auf einen einzelnen Kodex beschränkt ist. / Despite its unbinding legal character as “Soft Law”, the German Corporate Governance Code has significant actual effects. There are strong incentives for members of the board of management and members of the supervisory board to comply with the code, mainly based on the opportunity to utilize a positive signalling-effect. Incentives and restrictions based on the code become the more significant, the more a company relies on capital markets for raising capital. Empiric studies confirm this hypothesis. The obligation to “comply-or-explain” in § 161 AktG generates a broad publicity and facilitates the general acceptance of the code. The regulatory effects of the code are being aggravated. Codes of Corporate Governance contribute to improving corporate governance structures by setting standards that capital market players can use for guidance and orientation. There are three alternatives to regulation by codes of corporate governance: regulation by law, regulation by listing rules and non-regulation. A step-by-step analysis of soft law, codes of corporate governance in general and the German Corporate Governance Code in particular brings upon a number of arguments in favour of this regulatory technique. These arguments are: savings in transaction costs, increased flexibility and a high quality of the standard-setting process. In this respect, regulation by Codes of Corporate Governance is superior to its regulatory alternatives. This is even more valid for an institutional setup where the obligation to “comply-or-explain” is not limited to a single Code of Corporate Governance, but leaves the addressees the choice among various competing codes. In such an institutional setup of “regulatory competition”, companies are free to choose the regulatory regime that best fits their specific needs. Regarding German constitutional law, a breach of the rules of provision of legality (“Gesetzesvorbehalt”) and provision of parliament (“Parlamentsvorbehalt”) by § 161 AktG can not be proven. Applying constitutional economics, a legitimating consensus can be shown in respect to the actual compliance with a Code of Corporate Governance. However, the obligation to “comply-or-explain” can only be legitimated, if the obligation does not refer to a specific Code of Corporate Governance.

Die Doktorarbeit untersucht institutionelle Aspekte von staatlichen Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES, positive Anreizinstrumente i.F.v. Zahlungen für Ökosystemleistungen) in der EU und den USA. Die Untersuchung ist zweiteilig: Zunächst werden Design und Performance von bestehenden agrarumweltpolitischen Anreizinstrumenten analysiert, welche vermehrt als PES verstanden werden. Dann wird die Relevanz des Ecosystem Services (ES) Konzeptes für die Ausgestaltung der bestehenden Instrumente identifiziert. Die generellen Forschungsfragen werden hinsichtlich institutionellem Design, institutioneller Performance und institutionellem Interplay konkretisiert und im Rahmen von fünf individuellen Veröffentlichungen beantwortet. Hinsichtlich der Anreizinstrumente werden Regeln für eine effektive Gestaltung hervorgehoben. Ferner wird herausgearbeitet, wie Anreizinstrumente mit bestehenden institutionellen Strukturen interagieren. Hinsichtlich der Politikrelevanz des ES Konzeptes wird dargelegt, dass es bisher nicht in die Umweltgesetzgebung integriert wurde, eine Integration aber fortschreitet. Der größte zukünftige Einfluss des Konzeptes wird für die Klima- und Agrarpolitik vorausgesagt, insbesondere für bestehende Zahlungsinstrumente. Generell wird aufgezeigt, dass Zielgerichtetheit und Integration von staatlichen PES wichtig sind. Für einen funktionierenden Instrumentenmix von PES und Regularien muss die jeweilige Eigentumsrechtsituation transparent gemacht werden und verschiedene Akteure müssen auf einer gemeinsamen Basis zusammenarbeiten. Demgemäß wird diskutiert, welches Potential das ES Konzept dafür bietet, die Kommunikation zwischen den Akteuren zu verbessern und neue Impulse für eine Kooperation zu geben. Schließlich wird argumentiert, dass eine systematische ES Untersuchung und Quantifizierung bessere Möglichkeiten für Zieldefinition und Monitoring bieten könnte, der Nutzen einer ökonomische Bewertung von ES aber immer sehr sorgfältig geprüft werden sollte. / The doctoral thesis identifies and analyses institutional aspects of governmental Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) in the EU and US. The analysis is twofold: First, the design and performance of existing governmental agri-environmental payment schemes that are increasingly labelled as PES have been investigated. Second, the influence of the ecosystem services (ES) concept on such payments has been identified. The general research objectives are structured in terms of institutional design, performance, and interplay. Five individual research papers shed light on the raised issues. Regarding payment schemes, findings indicate certain design rule sets that can be crucial for environmentally effective governmental payments. Furthermore, scheme interactions with other institutional arrangements have been shown. In terms of ES concept driven policies, the identified design principles have hardly been included but their integration is proceeding. The greatest future ES impact on policy design is predicted regarding climate and agricultural policies, especially on existing payment schemes. In summary, effective targeting and integration of governmental PES have been outlined as important. To create and achieve a sound mix of PES with regulations and policies, the property rights situation, the reference point for application of the ‘provider-gets’ and ‘beneficiary-pays’ principles, and any deviations therefrom should be made transparent. Furthermore, different actors must collaborate on basis of common denominators. The potential of ES to enhance communication among actors and provide new impulses for cross-sectoral and cross-level cooperation in existing governmental payments schemes implementation has been discussed. Moreover, it has been argued that regarding governmental payments, systematic ES definition and quantification may offer the opportunity to enhance targeting, and economic valuation and monetarization of ES should be very carefully considered.

This thesis evaluates and constructs a general, product-neutral legal concept and model of financial instruments, as opposed to the product-dependent definitions currently employed in contemporary capital markets law. Through a combination of law and economics perspectives, legal history, and comparative analysis, the study examines the various types of financial instruments currently and previously in use. The legal characteristics and features of these instruments are evaluated and compared, leading to the identification of commonalities that can be used to define a product-neutral concept. The thesis argues that such a concept is more beneficial to the function of the capital markets by removing obstacles for financial innovation while also providing a consistent way to ensure that new financial products are governed by the same regulatory framework as comparable instruments.The thesis also examines the historical evolution of financial instruments and how it has been driven by the evolution of international trade and the demand and surplus of available capital. The proposed concept is applied to current financial instruments, including equity and debt, as well as pre-modern markets, and evaluated in terms of regulation, practical use, and legal characteristics such as transferability and negotiability.The research of this thesis encountered several challenges and limitations. Firstly, the historical and comparative analysis proved difficult to carry out, due to limitation in available source material and language related restrictions, respectively. These limitations were overcome by limiting the scope and by employing contacts with law firms in the respective jurisdictions. Secondly, several key issues proved to require further research to be able to provide definitive conclusions. Such research would have been out of scope and as such, simplified explanations and models were employed. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of the proposed concept, including its application to cryptocurrencies and similar assets, and identifies potential areas for future research.