Conversion as a Mechanism of Hybridization: The Institutional Transfer of Industrial Relations and Vocational Training from Western to Eastern Germany

Looking back over the two decades since German unification, the main questions I want to answer are to what extent and through what mechanisms the transfer of the system of industrial relations and vocational training - two cornerstones of the West German model - has occurred in eastern Germany. The literature argues that institutional transfer very often leads to a process of hybridization in institutions. However, the concept of hybridization has also been criticized as being mainly descriptive and vague about the actual mechanisms of hybridization. In this paper I argue that these mechanisms should be specified further and suggest that the hybridization approach can be fruitfully linked to recent theories of institutional change. As far as the transfer of industrial relations and vocational training from western to eastern Germany is concerned, I argue in particular that hybridization has mainly occurred through what institutional literature has recently defined as the mechanism of conversion

Blurring the Lines: Strategic Deception and Self-Deception in Markets

Building on the results of a participant observation in a Chinese IT-sector company located in the northern part of China, this paper aims to clarify the nature of deception in markets. Contrary to the position of information economics and game theoretical approaches to trust, the paper argues that deception is not reducible to a question of opportunism or sending signals in order to create trustworthiness. Deception, in fact, may coexist and even be strictly entangled with self-deception, which builds on the conception of an agent whose rationality can fail or whose cognition can be biased. This paper argues that rationality failures and cognitive biases are not driven by psychological mechanisms alone. They have to be related to the social structure in which economic actors operate. In particular, the paper focuses on anticipatory socialization as one source of self-deception and the deception of others. Both types of deception are associated with a gap between aspirations and the available resources necessary for attaining them.Ausgehend von einer teilnehmenden Beobachtung in einem chinesischen IT-Unternehmen in Nordchina zielt dieser Artikel darauf ab, das Wesen der Täuschung in Märkten zu ergründen. Im Gegensatz zu der Position der Informationsökonomie und dem spieltheoretischen Ansatz in der Vertrauensforschung wird in diesem Artikel davon ausgegangen, dass Täuschung nicht auf Fragen des Opportunismus und der Signalsendung, die dem Aufbau von Vertrauen dient, reduziert werden kann. Täuschung kann zusammen mit Selbsttäuschung auftreten und sogar stark mit ihr verbunden sein. Selbsttäuschung baut auf dem Konzept eines Akteurs auf, dessen Rationalität versagen oder dessen Wahrnehmung verzerrt sein kann. In diesem Papier wird argumentiert, dass Rationalitätsversagen und Wahrnehmungsverzerrung nicht nur von psychologischen Mechanismen hervorgerufen werden, sondern mit der Sozialstruktur verbunden sind, in der der wirtschaftliche Akteur operiert. Im Besonderen konzentriert sich der Artikel auf antizipatorische Sozialisation als eine Quelle für Selbsttäuschung und Täuschung von anderen. Beide Typen der Täuschung entstehen aus der Kluft zwischen Wunschvorstellungen und den verfügbaren Ressourcen, die für ihre Realisierung notwendig sind.Introduction The nature of deception Method The company and the entrepreneurs Strategic deception Self-deception and anticipatory socialization Conclusions Reference

Warum jammern die Ostdeutschen? Ostdeutsche Potenziale verdienen mehr Aufmerksamkeit

Der Blick auf hohe Arbeitslosigkeit und Abhängigkeit vom Westen lenkt zu sehr von dem ab, was Ostdeutschland seit der Wiedervereinigung erreicht hat. Ein "Mezzogiorno-Schicksal" ist dem Osten nämlich erspart geblieben

Der Mythos China

Der chinesische Kapitalismus hält die Türen für ausländische Investoren geöffnet und lockt mit Arbeitsplätzen zu Dumpinglöhnen. Doch einfach ist es nicht, Produktionen nach China auszulagern. Warum deutsche Investoren trotzdem dem Mythos folgen

NGC 2419 -- Another Remnant of Accretion by the Milky Way

We isolate a sample of 43 upper RGB stars in the extreme outer halo Galactic globular cluster NGC 2419 from two Keck/DEIMOS slitmasks. The probability that there is more than one contaminating halo field star in this sample is extremely low. Analysis of moderate resolution spectra of these cluster members, as well as of our Keck/HIRES high resolution spectra of a subsample of them, demonstrates that there is a small but real spread in Ca abundance of ~ 0.2 dex within this massive metal-poor globular cluster. This provides additional support to earlier suggestions that NGC 2419 is the remnant of a dwarf galaxy accreted long ago by the Milky Way.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Looking for local adaptation:Convergent microevolution in aleppo pine (pinus halepensis)

Finding outlier loci underlying local adaptation is challenging and is best approached by suitable sampling design and rigorous method selection. In this study, we aimed to detect outlier loci (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) at the local scale by using Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), a drought resistant conifer that has colonized many habitats in the Mediterranean Basin, as the model species. We used a nested sampling approach that considered replicated altitudinal gradients for three contrasting sites. We genotyped samples at 294 SNPs located in genomic regions selected to maximize outlier detection. We then applied three different statistical methodologies-Two Bayesian outlier methods and one latent factor principal component method-To identify outlier loci. No SNP was an outlier for all three methods, while eight SNPs were detected by at least two methods and 17 were detected only by one method. From the intersection of outlier SNPs, only one presented an allelic frequency pattern associated with the elevational gradient across the three sites. In a context of multiple populations under similar selective pressures, our results underline the need for careful examination of outliers detected in genomic scans before considering them as candidates for convergent adaptation

Exploring the Prognostic Performance of MECKI Score in Heart Failure Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation Treated with Edoxaban

Introduction: Risk stratification in heart failure (HF) is essential for clinical and therapeutic management. The Metabolic Exercise test data combined with Cardiac and Kidney Indexes (MECKI) score is a validated prognostic model for assessing cardiovascular risk in HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). From the validation of the score, the prevalence of HF patients treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), such as edoxaban, for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) has been increasing in recent years. This study aims to evaluate the reliability of the MECKI score in HFrEF patients treated with edoxaban for NVAF. Materials and Methods: This study included consecutive outpatients with HF and NVAF treated with edoxaban (n = 83) who underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). They were matched by propensity score with a retrospective group of HFrEF patients with NVAF treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) from the MECKI score registry (n = 844). The study endpoint was the risk of cardiovascular mortality, urgent heart transplantation, or Left Ventricle Assist Device (LVAD) implantation. Results: Edoxaban patients were treated with a more optimized HF therapy and had different clinical characteristics, with a similar MECKI score. After propensity score, 77 patients treated with edoxaban were successfully matched with the MECKI-VKA control cohort. In both groups, MECKI accurately predicted the composite endpoint with similar area under the curves (AUC = 0.757 vs. 0.829 in the MECKI-VKA vs. edoxaban-treated group, respectively, p = 0.452). The two populations’ survival appeared non-significantly different at the 2-year follow-up. Conclusions: this study confirms the prognostic accuracy of the MECKI score in HFrEF patients with NVAF treated with edoxaban, showing improved predictive power compared to VKA-treated patients