Unconditional Basic Income : Who gets it? Who pays for it? A social Accounting Approach to Distribution

This paper was prepared for the 35th IARIW General Conference [Copenhagen ‐ Denmark, 20‐25/8/2018]Unconditional basic income is not a new topic in political economy, and it gains new momentum as more and more research is being devoted to it. The discussion focusses on the adequacy and effects such a policy measure may entail for a person and his socio‐economic situation, usually. Object of investigation is the individual, and the corresponding theory is of microeconomic descent. In this paper, in contrast, we develop a method of how to assess feasibility and consequences of an unconditional basic income for a modern, open economy, on the macroeconomic level, using concepts and statistics of a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) as our main tool. A SAM‐based approach can measure, and perhaps model, the impact on the economic activity of a country, and on its economic institutions of new policy measures such as introducing an unconditional basic income. The economic activity of a country is expressed in monetary flows as registered in the National Accounts. So their underlying principles and definitions are adopted. However, the habitual way of putting an economy into a sequence of institutional accounts connecting each institution’s income to the cost, ‐ similar to business accounting ‐ reveals only one, namely the inner‐institutional half of the economic circuit. The other, outer half, namely, how the costs of one institution generate income for another one is better captured by the format of a Social Accounting Matrix. In the paper, the impact of an unconditional basic income is quantified, for macroeconomic aggregates of institutional sectors and socio‐economic groups of households, taking the German and the Portuguese economies as examples. Purpose of the paper is not to argue for, or against, an unconditional basic income, but to offer a scientific tool with which to calculate and assess possibilities and consequences of the proposal, for a national economy as a whole.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Die staatliche Defizitquote als Demonstrationsobjekt des Zusammenspiels von Statistik und Politik (3 oder 3,0?)

The article deals with the problem of reliability of the public deficit ratio in national accounts. Background is the problem of adequacy between theory and measurement. Some controversial accounting rules concerning the timing and sectoring of government transactions are analysed. Finally the use and misuse of the accounting system is discussed.public debt ratio, national accounting

"Nachreife des fremden Wortes" : Hölderlins Hälfte des Lebens und die Poetik des Übersetzens

Hölderlins Gedicht »Hälfte des Lebens« von 1803 fordert mit seiner bestürzenden Aktualität die Leser und Übersetzer immer neu heraus. Im vielfachen Echo seiner französischen und englischen Übertragungen, die hier erstmals dokumentiert und analysiert werden, erscheinen neue Facetten des Originals. Peter Utz zeigt in dem vorliegenden Band, wie Hölderlins Bildsprache die Übersetzer herausfordert, vom »heilignüchternen Wasser« bis zu den »klirrenden Fahnen«. Doch das Gedicht enthält auch schon in sich eine Poetik des Übersetzens. In seinen vielfachen fremden Lesarten erscheint das Verhältnis von Original und Übersetzung – im Licht von Walter Benjamins Übersetzeraufsatz – als dynamisch und komplementär: Die Übersetzungen realisieren die implizite »Übersetzbarkeit« des Originals und zeigen sich so als seine »Nachreife«, seine andere, verborgene »Hälfte«

Kultivierung der Katastrophe. Untergangsszenarien und Selbstbehauptung in den Literaturen der Schweiz

La "catástrofe" es un concepto de aquella cultura a la que amenaza; el concepto moderno de catástrofe marca dialécticamente la frontera entre naturaleza y cultura en la que se origina. Esto se muestra de manera ejemplar en la codificación cultural de la topografía suiza: desde el siglo dieciocho se han ido incorporando en el repertorio idílico de imágenes de Suiza escenarios de amenaza que han ido evolucionando hacia una verdadera "cultura de la catástrofe". Los Alpes pueden observarse desde todos los ángulos ya que no sólo son el símbolo de identidad, sino que además representan una amenaza colectiva y, así, un desafío para la autoafirmación solidaria. De este modo, las catástrofes tienen un efecto en la formación de una identidad nacional y moderna. La literatura de Suiza contribuye con variados escenarios del ocaso a este cultivo específico de la catástrofe. No obstante, desarrolla también contraescenarios reales que ponen en duda de manera reflexiva el efecto integrativo de la catástrofe: Oye los tonos disonantes en un coro uniforme y le devuelve a Suiza su presunto papel de espectador en las catástrofes mundiales. Finalmente, abre lo local, cuando se ideologiza como "patria", a lo universal, liberando esa energía transgresiva con la que la catástrofe derrumba toda frontera política, topográfica, medial y estética.“Catastrophe” is a term of that culture which is threatened by it; the modern understanding of catastrophe dialectically marks the boundary between nature and culture where the term originates. This can be exemplarily shown in the cultural coding of Swiss topography: threatening scenarios have been incorporated into Switzerland’s idyllic image repertoire since the 18th century, and they further developed into a “catastrophe culture” of its own. One looks up at the Alps from all directions not only because they are the symbol of identity, but also because they represent a collective threat and thus a challenge for solidary self-assertion. Thus, catastrophes support the construction of modern, national identity. Swiss literature contributes to the specific cultivation of catastrophe with various disaster scenarios. However, it also develops counter scenarios, which reflexively question the integrative effect of the catastrophe: It hears the discord in the unity choir and it reflects Switzerland’s alleged bystander role during global catastrophes. Moreover, it opens localness, when it ideologizes itself as “homeland,” to universality by releasing the transgressive energy with which the catastrophe attempts to destroy all political, topographical, medial, and aesthetic boundaries

Verpackungsmaterial und Schmierstoffe aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen : Tagungsband zur Veranstaltung des Zentrums für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung und der Industrie- und Handelskammer-Karlsruhe am 23. Februar 1994 im Rahmen der IHK-Veranstaltungsreihe "Betrieblicher Umweltschutz"

Mit der 5. Novelle des Abfallgesetzes hat die Bundesregierung im Frühjahr 1993 den Entwurf eines Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Abfallgesetzes verabschiedet. Die Wirtschaft soll dadurch verstärkt die Verantwortung für die hergestellten Produkte über den gesamten Lebensweg wahrnehmen. Vor diesem Hintergrund veranstalteten das Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung und das Referat Energiewirtschaft und Umweltschutz der Industrie und Handelskammer Karlsruhe am 23. Februar 1994 im Rahmen der IHK-Veranstaltungsreihe "Betrieblicher Umweltschutz" ein Seminar zum Thema "Verpackungsmaterial und Schmierstoffe aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen". Vertreter aus Forschung und Praxis referierten dabei über die Einsatzmöglichkeiten, die Umweltauswirkungen und die Wirtschaftlichkeit nachwachsender Rohstoffe im Verpackungs- und Schmierstoffmittelbereich

Strong coupling in fully tunable microcavities filled with biologically-produced fluorescent proteins

We thank C. Schneider for fruitful discussions and A. Clemens and K. Ostermann (TU Dresden, Germany) for technical support with protein preparation. We acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC StG ABLASE, 640012), the Scottish Funding Council (via SUPA), the European Union Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (PCIG12-GA-2012-334407) and the EPSRC Hybrid Polaritonics program grant (EP/M025330/1). M.S. acknowledges funding from the German Science Foundation (DFG) through a Research Fellowship (SCHU 3003/1-1) and from the European Commission for a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (659213). S.H. gratefully acknowledges support by the Royal Society and the Wolfson Foundation.Strong coupling between cavity photons and excited states of biologically produced recombinant fluorescent proteins in fully tunable optical microcavities is demonstrated. Natural thickness and concentration gradients in blends of two different proteins allow precise adjustment of the spectral position of polariton states and of the effective coupling strength, thus providing control of the photonic and excitonic components of the system.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Verpackungsmaterial und Schmierstoffe aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen: Tagungsband zur Veranstaltung des Zentrums für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung und der Industrie- und Handelskammer-Karlsruhe am 23. Februar 1994 im Rahmen der IHK-Veranstaltungsreihe

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Interkulturelle Begegnung als existentielles Risiko: Ästhetische, historische und gesellschaftliche Aspekte musikalischer Globalisierung

The panel discussion first focuses on the obvious gap between a relatively optimistic perspective on musical globalisation, mainly in view of non-Western popular musics, as a main trend in today’s ethnomusicology and the description of intercultural musical encounter as a difficult, lengthy and self-challenging process as suggested by Hans Zender and most examples from contemporary art music. Gerd Grupe emphasizes that non-Western popular musics include both forms that even out cultural differences by following Western commercial standards and, contrarily, forms that are highly dependent on local lingual or musical codes and thus cannot be transferred to an international realm. To illustrate the »existential« approach of art music composers, Zender quotes the case of Giacinto Scelsi whose music has received a profound influence from Tibetan music. Zender emphasizes that Scelsi has created – after a long period of crisis – a »Third Way« that can be understood from neither a purely European, nor a purely Tibetan perspective. The discussion then centres on the question of which influence Western concepts of history and the dynamics of »progress« have exerted on different traditional and contemporary forms of the world’s musics and to what extent the post-colonial polarisation of a »dynamic« Western culture and »static« non-Western cultures is still virulent in the discussion of these musics today. While Christian Utz emphasizes that many non-Western traditions that were deemed to have been preserved unchanged for many centuries for example the Japanese court music gagaku – have in fact changed considerably over the centuries and have been highly influenced by political and social changes, Peter Revers traces the idea of »making history« back to Friedrich Schlegel and describes it as very influential on the dynamics of Western music history. Andreas Dorschel raises the question, if early 20th century »national« schools and in particular the music of Béla Bartók and Leoš Janáek can be seen as forerunners of trends in non-Western contemporary music that accentuate cultural difference. Christian Utz remarks that despite the fact that the music of Bartók has been a very important model for Asian composers in the process of creating a music independent of Romanticist symphonic clichés, elements of (neo-)nationalism in Bartók’s concept of music make it hard to see it as a model for a new music free of nationalist bias. Responding to a question from the audience, Andreas Dorschel summarizes that turning to music or art of other cultures might indeed be a signal for »weak« moments within a culture, but in turn this »weakness« proves the inner strength to challenge one’s own culture’s fundamental principles whereas discrimination and xenophobia are based on a very different kind of inner weakness where one is merely unable or unwilling to confront the Other