The Principal Conflict in Contemporary Russian Economic Thought: Traditional Approaches Against Economics

The work deals with the ideological clashes in Russian economic thought after 1991. Based on Schumpeter's distinction between economic analysis and economic thought, the paper focuses on a principal conflict that divides a new generation of Westernminded scholars and traditional Russian political economists. This conflict, on the one hand, is described as an attempt of traditional political economists to keep their positions at the economic departments of the universities. The most vivid manifestation of the resistance to economics is the so-called Tsagolov School at Moscow State University. On the other hand, the conflict might be regarded as the reaction of Russian nationalism to the penetration of ?alien? influences that are rather incompatible with the antiindividualist traditions of Russian social thought. The movement towards the creation of a ?national political economy? based on holism and etatism is seen not only as an expression and a by-product of resistance to methodological individualism in economics, but also as implicitly state-induced ideological efforts in a period of transition to an autocratic regime in Russia

Migrant Youths‘ Educational Achievement: The Role of Institutions

We use 2009 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) data to link institutional arrangements in OECD countries to the disparity in reading, math, and science test scores for migrant and native-born students. We find that achievement gaps are larger for those migrant youths who arrive later and for those who do not speak the test language at home. Institutional arrangements often serve to mitigate the achievement gaps of some migrant students while leaving unaffected or exacerbating those of others. For example, earlier school starting ages help migrant youths in some cases, but by no means in all. Limited tracking on ability appears beneficial for migrants' relative achievement, while complete tracking and a large private school sector appear detrimental. Migrant students' achievement relative to their native-born peers suffers as educational spending and teachers' salaries increase, but is improved when examination is a component of the process for evaluating teachers.Wir verwenden PISA-Daten aus dem Jahr 2009, um einen Zusammenhang zwischen institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen in OECD-Ländern und Unterschieden in den Testergebnissen in den Bereichen Lesen, Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften zwischen einheimischen und ausländischen Schülern herzustellen. Wir beobachten geringere Lernerfolge bei ausländischen Schülern, die relativ spät eingewandert sind und/oder die Sprache des Leistungstests nicht zu Hause sprechen. Institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen mildern die Leistungsunterschiede für einige ausländische Schüler, haben aber auf andere Schüler keine oder sogar negative Auswirkungen. Ein frühes Einschulungsalter hilft beispielsweise ausländischen Schülern in einigen Fällen, aber keineswegs in allen. Eine geringe Einteilung in Leistungsklassen erscheint förderlich für den relativen Erfolg ausländischer Schüler, während eine starke Einteilung in Leistungsklassen und ein hoher Anteil privater Schulen schädlich zu sein scheinen. Der relative Lernerfolg ausländischer Studenten leidet, wenn Bildungsausgaben und Lehrergehälter steigen, aber verbessert sich wenn Prüfungen eine Komponente des Evaluationsprozesses von Lehrern darstellen

Educational effects of early or later secondary school tracking in Germany

This paper examines educational outcomes of pupils selected to secondary school types by different tracking regimes in a German state: Pupils are alternatively streamed after fourth grade or after sixth grade. Regression results indicate that, estimated on the mean, there are no negative effects of later tracking on educational outcomes in the middle of secondary school. Positive effects are observed for pupils with a less favorable family background. Quantile regressions reveal that the estimated effects of later tracking are positive for the lower quantiles but decrease monotonically over the conditional distribution of test scores

The Importance of Equity Finance for R&D Activity – Are There Differences Between Young and Old Companies?

This paper analyzes the importance of equity finance for the R&D activity of small and medium-sized enterprises. We use information on almost 6000 German SMEs from a company survey. Using the intensity of banking competition at the district level as instrument to control for endogeneity, we find that a higher equity ratio is conducive to more R&D for young but not for old companies. Equity may be a constraining factor for young companies which have to rely on the original equity investment of their owners since they have not yet accumulated retained earnings and can relay less on outside financing. The positive influence is found for R&D intensity but not for the decision whether to perform R&D. Equity financing is therefore especially important for the most innovative, young companies

Ocean acidification has different effects on the production of dimethylsulfide and dimethylsulfoniopropionate measured in cultures of Emiliania huxleyi and a mesocosm study:a comparison of laboratory monocultures and community interactions

The human-induced rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution has led to increasing oceanic carbon uptake and changes in seawater carbonate chemistry, resulting in lowering of surface water pH. In this study we investigated the effect of increasing CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) on concentrations of volatile biogenic dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), through monoculture studies and community pCO2 perturbation. DMS is a climatically important gas produced by many marine algae: it transfers sulfur into the atmosphere and is a major influence on biogeochemical climate regulation through breakdown to sulfate and formation of subsequent cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Overall, production of DMS and DMSP by the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi strain RCC1229 was unaffected by growth at 900 μatm pCO2, but DMSP production normalised to cell volume was 12 % lower at the higher pCO2 treatment. These cultures were compared with community DMS and DMSP production during an elevated pCO2 mesocosm experiment with the aim of studying E. huxleyi in the natural environment. Results contrasted with the culture experiments and showed reductions in community DMS and DMSP concentrations of up to 60 and 32 % respectively at pCO2 up to 3000 μatm, with changes attributed to poorer growth of DMSP-producing nanophytoplankton species, including E. huxleyi, and potentially increased microbial consumption of DMS and dissolved DMSP at higher pCO2. DMS and DMSP production differences between culture and community likely arise from pH affecting the inter-species responses between microbial producers and consumers

The Protestant Fiscal Ethic: Religious Confession and Euro Skepticism in Germany

During the European sovereign debt crisis, most countries that ran into fiscal trouble had Catholic majorities, whereas countries with Protestant majorities were able to avoid fiscal problems. Survey data show that, within Germany, views on theeuro differ between Protestants and Non-Protestants, too. Among Protestants, concerns about the euro have, compared to Non-Protestants, increased during the crisis, and significantly reduce their subjective wellbeing only. We use the timing of survey interviews and news events in 2011 to account for the endogeneity of euro concerns. Emphasis on moral hazard concerns in Protestant theology may, thus, still shape economic preferences