Germany’s Power and the Weakening of States in a Globalized World: Deconstructing a Paradox

It is somewhat ironical to ponder Germany’s power at a time when radical changesdue to globalisation vastly limit the efficiency of state actions worldwide. Certainly,Germany’s resources increased with reunification – though the country has to bear the costsof reunification. An enumeration of the – possible – resources of German power provides ushowever with little understanding of the nature of German power, embedded as the country isin a European system from which it derives its strength. Hence only an analysis of this systemfully renders the picture, contrarily to what neo-realists and liberals might assume. WhileGermany did exercise a semi-hegemony over Western Europe in the monetary area up toEMU, the further integration of the EC has altered the European structure and diffusedGermany’s power. I will argue here that only a particular configuration allowed Germany todevise one-sidedly the rules of EMU, which is absent from other schemes, such as defense,enlargement etc. This does not mean that power is absent from Germany’s tool box : politicalcredit in particular is abundant. Yet in a larger Europe, where coalitions are more issueoriented,hence volatile than formerly, Germany’s power will turn out to be more limited thanits demands for recognition may lead us to believe.Germany; power analysis

Is comprehensive income required by IAS 1 relevant for users? A review of the literature

Professional accountants have accepted for decades net income a the key performance measure of a business. The IASB decision in 2007 to require the publication of comprehensive income as it has been the case since 1997 in the United States, has fed the long time debate regarding the concept of income. In this paper, we will go through some background about both approaches of income and their consequences in terms of financial reporting. We will then review the related literature, classified according to the relationship between the concepts of income on one hand and of relevance and consistency on the other hand. Finally, we will show that empirical research does not allow so far to demonstrate the relevance for users of the concept of comprehensive incomeperformance ; income ; comprehensive income ; relevance of financial information ; consistency.

Supershear Rayleigh waves at a soft interface

We report on the experimental observation of waves at a liquid foam surface propagating faster than the bulk shear waves. The existence of such waves has long been debated, but the recent observation of supershear events in a geophysical context has inspired us to search for their existence in a model viscoelastic system. An optimized fast profilometry technique allowed us to observe on a liquid foam surface the waves triggered by the impact of a projectile. At high impact velocity, we show that the expected subshear Rayleigh waves are accompanied by faster surface waves that can be identified as supershear Rayleigh waves.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 2 supplementary video

The use of figures in the evaluation or rural development policies: a quest for knowledge Counting, to tell and understand

Using figures seems to create rigour, objectivity, knowledge and it facilitates comparisons. Consequently, an evalution without figures is hardly conceivable. Nonetheless, objectivity and precision can be just an impression given the fact that figures are constructions built on a modeled description of reality. The simplification of reality operated through a figure can hide subtle elements regarding the way public policies work. If figures can legitimately be used in evaluation, every kinds of figures and evaluations are not equivalent. Therefore, our main research question is what place for figures in evalution? This contribution relates to research about policy evaluation, seen as a mean to produce knowledge useful for the understanding of policies and their implementation. Based on the analysis of the evaluations of rural development policies conducted by the French ministry of agriculture our goal is to increase practical and theoretical knowledge of those policies through well-designed evalutions.Data, evaluation, methods, rural development policies, Agricultural and Food Policy, R58, Q18, H50,

Overlapping risk adjusted sets of priors and the existence of efficient allocations and equilibria with short-selling

The theory of existence of equilibrium with short-selling is reconsidered under risk and ambiguity modelled by risk averse variational preferences. A sufficient condition for existence of efficient allocations is that the relative interiors of the risk adjusted sets of expectations overlap. This condition is necessary if agents are not risk neutral at extreme levels of wealths either positive or negative. It is equivalent to the condition that there does not exist mutually compatible trades, with non negative expected value with respect to any risk adjusted prior, strictly positive for some agent and some prior. It is shown that the more uncertainty averse and the more risk averse the agents, the more likely are efficient allocations and equilibria to exist.Uncertainty;risk;common prior;equilibria with shortselling;Variational preferences

Do Private Equity Firms Foster Innovation? Evidence from French LBOs

Agency theory has historically presented buyouts as a superior governance framework that generates economic efficiencies in the short term but these transactions might have a negative impact on long-term growth and innovation. In this study, we use a strategic entrepreneurship perspective to argue that private equity firm's extensive network and relationships, and expertise and competencies help managers to innovate. Using a propensity score methodology, we provide an empirical analysis of the innovative efforts of a sample of 89 French manufacturing firms that underwent a buyout between 2001 and 2005. The matching estimates (average treatment on the treated, ATT) of the effect of LBOs on firm level of innovation expenditures in 2006 show no significant differences between LBO targets and comparable companies that did not go through an LBO. In contrast, we find significant effects of LBOs on both service innovation and marketing innovations in design and packaging and product promotion. Results suggest that private equity firms provide marketing capabilities or encourage managers of LBO targets to build new innovation strategies.Buyouts, Innovation, Private Equity Firms, Strategic Entrepreneurship

Holes and cracks in rigid foam films

The classical problem of foam film rupture dynamics has been investigated when surfaces exhibit very high rigidity due to the presence of specific surfactants. Two new features are reported. First a strong deviation to the well-known Taylor-Culick law is observed. Then, crack-like patterns can be visualized in the film; these patterns are shown to appear at a well defined deformation. The key role of surface active material on these features is quantitatively investigated, pointing the importance of surface elasticity to describe these fast dynamical processes, and thus providing an alternative tool to characterize surface elasticity in conditions extremely far from equilibrium. The origin of the cracks and their consequences on film rupturing dynamics are also discussed

No-arbitrage, overlapping sets of priors and the existence of efficient allocations and equilibria in the presence of risk and ambiguity

The theory of existence of equilibrium with short-selling is reconsidered under risk and ambiguity modelled by risk averse variational preferences. A sufficient condition for existence of efficient allocations is that the relative interiors of the risk adjusted sets of expectations overlap. This condition is necessary if agents are not risk neutral at extreme levels of wealths either positive or negative. It is equivalent to the condition that there does not exist mutually compatible trades, with non negative expected value with respect to any risk adjusted prior, strictly positive for some agent and some prior. It is shown that the more uncertainty averse and the more risk averse, the more likely are efficient allocations and equilibria to exist.Uncertainty, risk, common prior, equilibria with short-selling, variational preferences.