Collective wage agreements and the adjustment of workers and hours in German service firms

There is a growing concern about collective wage agreement and employment dynamics in Germany. In this paper, evidence is provided on the way collective wage agreements affect the adjustment of working hours, employment and other production factors when firms from the service sector are faced with demand shocks. The estimation results indicate that collective wage agreements significantly influence firms' employment policies. Enrolments and the employment of free-lance collaborators are negatively affected while the probability of using short-term employment contracts as a reaction to demand shocks is positively influenced. No significant effect on the probability of dismissing workers has been found. --collective wage agreements,demand fluctuations and adjustment costs,random effects ordered probit model,business-related services

Collective Wage Agreements and Adjustments in German Services Firms

There is a growing concern about collective wage agreement and employment dynamics in Germany. In this paper, evidence is provided on the way collective wage agreements affect the adjustment of working hours, employment and other production factors when firms from the service sector are faced with demand shocks. The estimation results indicate that collective wage agreements significantly influence firms' employment policies. Enrolments and the employment of free-lance collaborators are negatively affected while the probability of using short-term employment contracts as a reaction to demand shocks is positively influenced. No significant effect on the probability of dismissing workers has been found

Tarifverträge und Beschäftigungspolitik in Dienstleistungsunternehmen

Der Beitrag untersucht die Verbreitung von Tarifverträgen in Dienstleistungsunternehmen sowie deren Wirkungen auf die Beschäftigungspolitik im Falle von Nachfrageschwankungen. Der empirische Teil basiert auf der ZEW/Creditreform Konjunkturumfrage bei unternehmensnahen Dienstleistungsunternehmen aus den Jahren 1996 bis 1999. 38 Prozent der Unternehmen in der Stichprobe wenden einen Tarifvertrag an. In den nicht-tarifgebundenen Unternehmen werden in 87 Prozent die Arbeitsbedingungen einzelvertraglich ausgehandelt. Die ökonometrischen Ergebnisse auf der Grundlage von geordneten Panelprobitmodellen unter Berücksichtigung unbeobachteter unternehmensspezifischer Heterogenität deuten darauf hin, daß Tarifverträge die unternehmerische Beschäftigungspolitik beeinflussen. Im Falle von Nachfrageschwankungen wenden tarifgebundene Unternehmen die Instrumente Neueinstellungen und Überstunden/Kurzarbeit signifikant seltener als nichttarifgebundene Unternehmen an

Migratory and wintering behaviour of the Red Kite Milvus milvus in Thuringia (Germany) as revealed by satellite telemetry

In den Jahren 2002 bis 2005 wurden in Thüringen zwei Jungvögel und sieben Altvögel mit Solar-Satelliten- Telemetriesendern markiert, die bis Ende 2008 2686 Ortungen auf der Basis des Dopplereffektes ermöglichten. Die Genauigkeit der meisten Ortungen war nicht sehr groß, jedoch für Untersuchungen zum Zugverhalten ausreichend. Insgesamt konnten im Herbst acht Wegzüge nach Spanien und im Frühjahr vier Heimzüge ins Brutgebiet telemetriert werden. Außer bei einem Jungvogel, der bereits im August abzog und 47 Tage bis nach Spanien benötigte, lag der Zugbeginn in der ersten Oktoberhälfte. Die Ankunft im Frühjahr erfolgte vom 5. bis 12. März. Die Rotmilane überwanden auf dem Zug ins Winterquartier Entfernungen zwischen 1450 und 2320 km, wofür die Altvögel 12 bis 28 Tage benötigten. Der Frühjahrszug verlief etwas zügiger in 8 bis 22 Tagen. Ein Weibchen, das über fünf Zugperioden telemetriert werden konnte, verbrachte die ersten beiden Winter im selben Gebiet in Südwestspanien und flog in der dritten Zugperiode nur noch bis Nordspanien. Dort fand Ende Dezember ein Wechsel des Winterquartiers über 130 km statt. Im vierten Untersuchungsjahr überwinterte es im Brutgebiet. Im folgenden Jahr zog das Weibchen bereits eine Woche früher als in den ersten drei Jahren nach Westspanien ab, wo es im Dezember tot gefunden wurde. Drei Mitglieder einer Familie (Männchen und zwei Junge) zogen getrennt, und die Jungvögel suchten unterschiedliche Winterquartiere auf. Neben den Ergebnissen der Telemetrie wurden durch die individuelle Erkennbarkeit der Rotmilane anhand der PTTs weitere Erkenntnisse gewonnen. So konnte die Verdrängung eines Paares aus dem Brutgebiet durch andere Rotmilane nachgewiesen werden und ein über fünf Brutperioden kontrolliertes Weibchen hatte in dieser Zeit mindestens vier verschiedene Partner. Von den neun besenderten Vögeln kamen vermutlich sieben Tiere um, zwei Männchen und ein Weibchen im Brutgebiet, ein Männchen auf dem Zug und zwei Jungvögel und ein Weibchen im Überwinterungsgebiet. Ein Weibchen trägt derzeit (Sommer 2009) noch den Sender und hat seit der Besenderung im Alter von drei Jahren jährlich (bisher siebenmal) erfolgreich Jungvögel aufgezogen. Bei einem Altvogel wurde der Sender entfernt, als er wiedergefangen wurde.In 2002 to 2005, nine Red Kites (two juveniles and seven adults) were fitted with solar-powered satellite transmitters (PTTs) in Thuringia (Germany) which, up to the end of 2008, enabled 2686 fixes to be made by Argos using the Doppler Phenomenon. Most locations were not very precise, but are adequate for studies of migratory behaviour. In total seven autumn migrations to Spain and four return journeys to the breeding area were tracked. Apart from one juvenile, which departed as early as August and required 47 days to reach Spain, migration began in the first half of October. Arrival in spring took place between 5 and 12 March. During migration to winter quarters the birds covered distances of between 1,450 and 2,320 km, for which the adult birds required between 12 to 28 days. Spring migration, taking between 8 to 22 days, was somewhat quicker. An adult female, which was tracked over five migration periods, spent both of the first two winters in the same area in south-west Spain and, in the third migration period, only flew as far as northern Spain. At the end of December a change in winter quarters of over 130 km took place. In the fourth year of the study it spent the winter in its breeding area. In the following year (2008) the female migrated a week earlier than in the first three years to western Spain, where it was found dead in December. Three members of a family (the male and two juveniles) migrated separately and the juveniles sought out different wintering areas. In addition to the telemetry results the transmitters provided further information on the individual identification of the Red Kites. By this means the ousting of a pair from the breeding area by other Red Kites was recorded and a female, monitored over a five year period, had at least four different partners in this time. Of the nine birds fitted with transmitters, there were mortalities of seven kites, of two males and one female in the breeding area, a further male during migration and both juveniles and an adult female in winter quarters. One female is still carrying the transmitter (summer 2009) and, since the transmitter was deployed at the age of three years, has successfully raised young annually for the past seven years. The PTT of the ninth bird has been removed when it was retrapped

Tarifverträge und Beschäftigungspolitik in Dienstleistungsunternehmen

Der Beitrag untersucht die Verbreitung von Tarifverträgen in Dienstleistungsunternehmen sowie deren Wirkungen auf die Beschäftigungspolitik im Falle von Nachfrageschwankungen. Der empirische Teil basiert auf der ZEW/Creditreform Konjunkturumfrage bei unternehmensnahen Dienstleistungsunternehmen aus den Jahren 1996 bis 1999. 38 Prozent der Unternehmen in der Stichprobe wenden einen Tarifvertrag an. In den nicht-tarifgebundenen Unternehmen werden in 87 Prozent die Arbeitsbedingungen einzelvertraglich ausgehandelt. Die ökonometrischen Ergebnisse auf der Grundlage von geordneten Panelprobitmodellen unter Berücksichtigung unbeobachteter unternehmensspezifischer Heterogenität deuten darauf hin, daß Tarifverträge die unternehmerische Beschäftigungspolitik beeinflussen. Im Falle von Nachfrageschwankungen wenden tarifgebundene Unternehmen die Instrumente Neueinstellungen und Überstunden/Kurzarbeit signifikant seltener als nichttarifgebundene Unternehmen an. --Tarifverträge,Dienstleistungsunternehmen,Beschäftigungspolitik,geordnetes Probitmodell mit unbeobachteter Heterogenität

Eyes on the mind : investigating the influence of gaze dynamics on the perception of others in real-time social interaction

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was partially supported by a grant of the Köln Fortune Program of the Medical Faculty at the University of Cologne to Leonhard Schilbach and by a grant “Other Minds” of the German Ministry of Research and Education to Kai Vogeley. The authors would like to thank Stephanie Alexius and Leonhard Engels for their assistance in data collection.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Why we interact : on the functional role of the striatum in the subjective experience of social interaction

Acknowledgments We thank Neil Macrae and Axel Cleeremans for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Furthermore, we are grateful to Dorothé Krug and Barbara Elghahwagi for their assistance in data acquisition. This study was supported by a grant of the Köln Fortune Program of the Medical Faculty at the University of Cologne to L.S. and by a grant “Other Minds” of the German Ministry of Research and Education to K.V.Peer reviewedPreprin

Archaeological Monitoring of the Urban Reach Section of the San Antonio River Improvement Project:Archaeological Monitoring of the Urban Reach Section of the San Antonio River Improvement Project

Between May of 2007 and February of 2009, archaeologists monitored the removal of soil from the banks of the San Antonio River in preparation for the Riverwalk expansion between the Lexington Avenue Dam to Josephine Street Bridge. The project was part of the Museum “Urban” Reach portion of the San Antonio River Improvements Project. The Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio was contracted by Ford, Powell and Carson Architects & Planners, Inc. This work was complete under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 5377, issued by the Texas Historical Commission. Several features were uncovered during the excavations. Two new sites were recorded. Site 41BX1817 is the Alamo Mills Dam located just north of the VFW Post #76. Site 41BX1818 is the Lexington Avenue Dam. A series of features were located on the west bank of the San Antonio River in the vicinity of the Lone Star Brewery (present day San Antonio Museum of Art), with remnants of these features likely still located within the river bank. Other features identified during the monitoring were documented and removed. A small number of artifacts were collected and are curated at the CAR facility

A Non-Verbal Turing Test: Differentiating Mind from Machine in Gaze-Based Social Interaction

In social interaction, gaze behavior provides important signals that have a significant impact on our perception of others. Previous investigations, however, have relied on paradigms in which participants are passive observers of other persons’ gazes and do not adjust their gaze behavior as is the case in real-life social encounters. We used an interactive eye-tracking paradigm that allows participants to interact with an anthropomorphic virtual character whose gaze behavior is responsive to where the participant looks on the stimulus screen in real time. The character’s gaze reactions were systematically varied along a continuum from a maximal probability of gaze aversion to a maximal probability of gaze-following during brief interactions, thereby varying contingency and congruency of the reactions. We investigated how these variations influenced whether participants believed that the character was controlled by another person (i.e., a confederate) or a computer program. In a series of experiments, the human confederate was either introduced as naïve to the task, cooperative, or competitive. Results demonstrate that the ascription of humanness increases with higher congruency of gaze reactions when participants are interacting with a naïve partner. In contrast, humanness ascription is driven by the degree of contingency irrespective of congruency when the confederate was introduced as cooperative. Conversely, during interaction with a competitive confederate, judgments were neither based on congruency nor on contingency. These results offer important insights into what renders the experience of an interaction truly social: Humans appear to have a default expectation of reciprocation that can be influenced drastically by the presumed disposition of the interactor to either cooperate or compete