Waste management companies in Europe 2007

The paper reviews the international companies operating in the waste sector in Europe and recent trends in patterns of ownership, including private equity

Economy as a religious problem: A political approach

This article tackles the problem of understanding money and economy with non-economic analytical categories. The first part is devoted to point out the differences between the exclusively economic approaches to money and the recent research, from anthropology to philosophy, that has laid stress on the political and religious aspects of the monetary phenomenon. The second part is focused on Georg Simmel´s fundamental contributions to a philosophical comprehension of money. Finally, a fragment by Walter Benjamin is the point of departure to consider the religious and political aspects of modern capitalism and their relationships with the works of Karl Marx, Ernst Troeltsch and Max Weber.Fil: Ludueña, Fabian Javier. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

On the politicization of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Germany after unification

A recent decision of the German Constitutional Court requires political decision makers to revise the system of intergovernmental transfers in order to limit free bargaining among state and federal government officials. The present paper provides empirical support for the thesis that political discretion has become increasingly important in the transfer negotiations after Unification. We attempt to show why political influences gained weight relative to economic considerations in the determination of net gains. This politicization of the fiscal transfer system appears to be a consequence of the inability of policy makers to agree on a fundamental reform in the early 1990's.

Mixed Signals Among Panel Cointegration Tests

Time series cointegration tests, even in the presence of large sample sizes, often yield conflicting conclusions (?mixed signals?) as measured by, inter alia, a low correlation of empirical p-values [see Gregory et al., 2004, Journal of Applied Econometrics]. Using their methodology, we present evidence suggesting that the problem of mixed signals persists for popular panel cointegration tests. As expected, there is weaker correlation between residual and system-based tests than between tests of the same group. --Panel cointegration tests,Monte Carlo comparison

Labour mobility - an adjustment mechanism in Euroland? Empirical evidence for Western Germany, France and Italy

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether labour mobility is likely to act as a sufficient adjustment mechanism in the face of asymmetric shocks in Euroland. To this end, we estimate the elasticity of migration with respect to changes in unemployment and income on the basis of regional panel data provided by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Regression results are provided for Western Germany, France, and Italy. It is shown that labour mobility is highest in Germany, followed by France, and Italy. However, even in Germany, the accommodation of a shock to unemployment by migration takes several years. We conclude that labour mobility is extremely unlikely to act as a sufficient adjustment mechanism to asymmetric shocks in Euroland. --European Monetary Union (EMU),euro,labour mobility

Comparison of the toxicokinetics of daidzein and bisphenol A in pregnant and non-pregnant DA/Han rats

Potentially adverse human and environmental effects due to hormone mimicry of environmental estrogens are a matter of current concern. Environmental estrogens belong to the socalled endocrine active compounds (EAC) and may alter signalling processes of the endocrine system leading to a broad range of effects during fetal and postnatal development, puberty, adulthood, and aging. A number of synthetic chemicals as well as several plant-derived compounds, socalled phytoestrogens, are known to have weak estrogenic activity. The present study is part of the risk assessment of the weak environmental estrogens daidzein and bisphenol A. The isoflavone daidzein is an important phytoestrogen with respect to dietary exposure (soy beans and soy products) whereas bisphenol A is an industrial chemical that occurs at much lower concentrations as a contaminant in food. The toxicokinetics of these compounds in female pregnant and non-pregnant DA/Han rats after single intravenous application were compared by the use of the Mann-Whitney- U-statistic. --Bisphenol A,daidzein,xenoestrogens,phytoestrogens,endocrine active compounds,Mann-Whitney-U-test

Formation of phase lags at the cyclotron energies in the pulse profiles of magnetized, accreting neutron stars

Context: Accretion-powered X-ray pulsars show highly energy-dependent and complex pulse-profile morphologies. Significant deviations from the average pulse profile can appear, in particular close to the cyclotron line energies. These deviations can be described as energy-dependent phase lags, that is, as energy-dependent shifts of main features in the pulse profile. Aims: Using a numerical study we explore the effect of cyclotron resonant scattering on observable, energy-resolved pulse profiles. Methods: We generated the observable emission as a function of spin phase, using Monte Carlo simulations for cyclotron resonant scattering and a numerical ray-tracing routine accounting for general relativistic light-bending effects on the intrinsic emission from the accretion columns. Results: We find strong changes in the pulse profile coincident with the cyclotron line energies. Features in the pulse profile vary strongly with respect to the average pulse profile with the observing geometry and shift and smear out in energy additionally when assuming a non-static plasma. Conclusions: We demonstrate how phase lags at the cyclotron energies arise as a consequence of the effects of angular redistribution of X-rays by cyclotron resonance scattering in a strong magnetic field combined with relativistic effects. We also show that phase lags are strongly dependent on the accretion geometry. These intrinsic effects will in principle allow us to constrain a system's accretion geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; updated reference lis

Regional policy in the Central and East European countries prior to the eastward enlargement of the EU, with special focus on regional policy developments in East Germany

The contribution investigates the status and the problems of establishing regional policies in selected CEE countries %28Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary%29 in the preliminary stages of accession to EU. According to the rules of the European structural funds the European financial means can only be used, if the CEE applicants have their own regional policy which must be compatible to the regulations of the EU structural funds. The European Commission still criticises in its progress reports a number of deficits with respect to the formation of the regional policies in the applicant countries. From the Commission’s viewpoint the deficits are seen particularly within the administrative area. The contribution deals itself not only with the administrative aspects, but above all with the conceptional arrangements of the regional policies in the applicant countries. It is investigated, how the CEE countries handle the area designation, whether there exists a regional policy strategy and what kind of strategy (growth vs. equalisation) will be preferred and whether there have been designed policy instruments being suitable to implement the regional policy strategy and what types of instruments are designated to be used. The outlined questions have played an important role since the beginning of the 90''''s also in Germany, when the new German Länder were integrated into the German and European regional policy. Therefore the East German experiences of developing a regional policy which corresponds to the existing regional problems are also included into the contribution. The contribution is based on the analysis of literature and documents about the regional policy in CEE countries and in the new German Länder as well as of documents of the EU, in which the regional policy of CEE applicant countries is analysed and evaluated.