Export versus FDI in german manufacturing: firm performance and participation in International markets.

Manufacturing; Firm performance; Performance; Participation; International; International markets; Markets; Market;

Export Behavior and Firm Productivity in German Manufacturing: A firm-level analysis

This paper analyses the relationship between firm productivity and export behavior in German manufacturing firms. We examine whether productivity increases the probability of exporting, and assert that there is a causal relationship from high productivity to entering foreign markets, as postulated by the recent literature on international trade with heterogeneous firms. In estimating productivity, we control for a possible simultaneity bias by using semiparametric estimation techniques. Moreover, we apply a matching technique in order to analyze whether the presence in international markets enabled firms to achieve further productivity improvements, without finding significant evidence for this. We conclude that high-productivity firms self-select themselves into export markets, while exporting itself does not play a significant role for productivity improvements.Total Factor Productivity; Exports; Export-led growth; Heterogeneous firms.

Exports versus FDI in German manufacturing: firm performance and participation in international markets

This paper tests some of the predictions of recent advances in trade theory that have focused on different trade patterns of firms within the same sector. Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2005) develop a model in which innate productivity differences between firms determine the degree of international engagement of firms: The least productive firms produce for the domestic market, better performers engage in export activities, and the top firms establish foreign subsidiaries. Using German firm-level data from 1996 to 2002, we test this prediction using non-parametric methods, by examining the distribution functions of the three subsets of firms for stochastic dominance. Rather than just comparing first moments, this technique allows us to compare productivity over the entire distribution. Our results show robust support for the prediction from theory. --Export,FDI,Heterogeneous firms,Total Factor Productivity

Exports versus FDI in German Manufacturing: Firm Performance and Participation in International Markets

This paper tests some of the predictions of recent advances in trade theory that have focused on different trade patterns of firms within the same sector. Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2005) develop a model in which innate productivity differences between firms determine the degree of international engagement of firms: The least productive firms produce for the domestic market, better performers engage in export activities, and the top firms establish foreign subsidiaries. Using German firm-level data from 1996 to 2002, we test this prediction using non-parametric methods, by examining the distribution functions of the three subsets of firms for stochastic dominance. Rather than just comparing first moments, this technique allows us to compare productivity over the entire distribution. Our results show robust support for the prediction from theory. --Exports,FDI,Heterogeneous firms,Total Factor Productivity

Export Behavior and Firm Productivity in German Manufacturing: A Firm-level Analysis

This paper analyses the relationship between firm productivity and export behavior in German manufacturing firms. We examine whether productivity increases the probability of exporting, and assert that there is a causal relationship from high productivity to entering foreign markets, as postulated by the recent literature on international trade with heterogeneous firms. In estimating productivity, we control for a possible simultaneity bias by using semiparametric estimation techniques. Moreover, we apply a matching technique in order to analyze whether the presence in international markets enabled firms to achieve further productivity improvements, without finding significant evidence for this. We conclude that high-productivity firms self-select themselves into export markets, while exporting itself does not play a significant role for productivity improvements. --Total Factor Productivity,Exports,Export-led growth,Heterogeneous firms

Pharmacological interventions to improve performance as a social challenge. Summary

For some years now, the use of pharmacological substances as a strategy for mental performance enhancement in work and everyday environments has been discussed under the term "enhancement". The TAB report "Pharmacological interventions for performance enhancement as a societal challenge" presents in detail the state of the possibilities to influence human performance pharmacologically and undertakes a classification of the corresponding substances in terms of drug, food and health law. It is shown that the existing medical ethical standards and approval procedures for medicinal products currently represent a considerable barrier to the development of non-therapeutic enhancement agents. Despite the lack of evidence of efficacy and the considerable potential for side effects, it can nevertheless be assumed that there is relevant substance use in the population, the causes and conditions of which appear to be the real social challenge. The analysis of the bioethical and socio-scientific debate on the topic and, in particular, the evaluation of findings from research into doping practices in competitive and popular sport provide indications of the possible dynamics of enhancement in the context of a "performance-enhancing society"

Exports versus FDI in German Manufacturing : Firm Performance and Participation in International Markets

This paper tests some of the predictions of recent advances in trade theory that have focused on different trade patterns of firms within the same sector. Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2005) develop a model in which innate productivity differences between firms determine the degree of international engagement of firms: The least productive firms produce for the domestic market, better performers engage in export activities, and the top firms establish foreign subsidiaries. Using German firm-level data from 1996 to 2002, we test this prediction using non-parametric methods, by examining the distribution functions of the three subsets of firms for stochastic dominance. Rather than just comparing first moments, this technique allows us to compare productivity over the entire distribution. Our results show robust support for the prediction from theory

Der pharmakologisch verbesserte Mensch : Leistungssteigernde Mittel als gesellschaftliche Herausforderung

Seit einiger Zeit wird diskutiert, ob die gezielte »Verbesserung« menschlicher Fähigkeiten durch pharmakologische Substanzen – meist unter dem Begriff »Enhancement« gefasst – eine wünschenswerte Aufgabe der modernen Biowissenschaften ist. Zugleich sind Veränderungen der Arzneimittelnachfrage und -nutzung (Lifestyle-Medikamente) sowie der lauter werdende Ruf nach einer »wunscherfüllenden Medizin« zu registrieren. Dieses Buch bietet die bislang umfassendste Darstellung zum Stand der Möglichkeiten, mentale Leistungen pharmakologisch zu beeinflussen, sowie zur arznei-, lebensmittel- und gesundheitsrechtlichen Regulierung entsprechender Substanzen. Orientiert an einer systematischen Auswertung sozialwissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse zur Dopingproblematik im Leistungs- und Breitensport beschreiben die Autoren mögliche zukünftige Dynamiken der Medikamentennutzung in Beruf und Alltag. Sie betrachten den »pharmakologisch verbesserten Menschen« nicht als unaufhaltsame Zukunftsvision, sondern diskutieren mögliche Konsequenzen einer weiteren Medikalisierung der Gesellschaft für das Gesundheitssystem sowie Auswirkungen auf die individuellen Kompetenzen zur Problembewältigung in Alltags- und Arbeitssituationen

Lgr5-Positive Supporting Cells Generate New Hair Cells in the Postnatal Cochlea

Summary The prevalence of hearing loss after damage to the mammalian cochlea has been thought to be due to a lack of spontaneous regeneration of hair cells, the primary receptor cells for sound. Here, we show that supporting cells, which surround hair cells in the normal cochlear epithelium, differentiate into new hair cells in the neonatal mouse following ototoxic damage. Using lineage tracing, we show that new hair cells, predominantly outer hair cells, arise from Lgr5-expressing inner pillar and third Deiters cells and that new hair cell generation is increased by pharmacological inhibition of Notch. These data suggest that the neonatal mammalian cochlea has some capacity for hair cell regeneration following damage alone and that Lgr5-positive cells act as hair cell progenitors in the cochlea