German Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic - An Analysis of Regional Determinants and Investment Motives using the IAB-ReLOC data

Especially less developed and transition countries try to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) as drivers for growth and economic development. There is, however, evidence that the positive externalities of FDI are spatially limited to the host regions of FDI. Thus, the location of FDI may contribute to the emergence and the reinforcement of regional disparities. For both the home and the host country of FDI, the internationalisation of companies is therefore an important regional policy issue. To contribute to the literature on firm internationalisation and FDI location, this thesis focuses on the special case of Germany and the Czech Republic. With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 it was possible for the first time for German companies to invest in the formerly closed economy of the Czech Republic. The significantly lower labour costs combined with spatial proximity made the Czech Republic an attractive target country for German investors: The Czech Republic is, closely followed by Poland, the most important host country for German FDI among the Central and Eastern European Countries; and Germany is – together with the Netherlands and Austria – the most important investor in the Czech Republic. Thus, FDI from Germany to the Czech Republic is of great relevance for both countries. This dissertation gives deeper insights into these FDI relations by shedding light on the regional distribution of FDI and on the types of FDI. The empirical analyses are based on a unique dataset that comprises the total population of German parent and Czech affiliated companies that were active in 2010: the IAB-ReLOC dataset. Using this dataset, the regional distribution of the German parent companies and the Czech affiliates is, in a first step, investigated from a cross-border perspective. A gravity model approach is used to analyse the role of market size and agglomeration economies, distance and border issues, as well as labour market characteristics for the location of parent and affiliated companies. A notable finding concerns the role of the common border region. Although the German-Czech border area shows a rather rural character, the FDI activity in that area is at an above-average level. An asymmetric interconnectedness can be observed: While investors from the German border area invest at an above-average level in the close-by Czech border regions, they invest less frequently in Czech regions that are located farther away from the border. The Czech border regions, in contrast, attract investors from both German border and non-border regions. In a next step, the dissertation focuses on the location choice of German FDI within in the Czech Republic. Based on a very detailed regional level, the influence of agglomeration economies, distance features and labour market characteristics on FDI location choice is analysed by estimating nested-logit models. In doing so, different subgroups of investments are considered to identify differences in the location decisions with respect to investment characteristics. The most important finding of the paper is that agglomeration economies influence the location choice of German investors in the Czech Republic. Especially regions with a spatial concentration of firms operating in the same industry as the investment activity and regions that show a pre-investment agglomeration of German firms attract German investors. Finally, the thesis looks at the motives for FDI and investigates the role of classifying types of FDI for analysing the determinants of cross-border investment relationships. Two types of FDI are distinguished: vertical FDI that aims at cost reduction, and horizontal FDI that seeks new markets. Based on the IAB-ReLOC data different ways of classifying these types of FDI are compared: a direct self-assessment of the companies with respect to the motive for FDI, a classification based on intra-firm trade and two classifications based on the industry affiliation of parent and affiliated company. The descriptive analysis shows that the importance of the two types of FDI in the German-Czech case varies with the underlying classification concept. In a next step, the role of productivity for the process of becoming multinational and for the size of FDI in the host country is investigated by applying a two-step Heckman procedure. The results for the direct classifications of FDI types confirm theoretical expectations and previous empirical literature and stand in marked contrast to the outcome for indirect classification concepts

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force recommendations for a veterinary epilepsy-specific MRI protocol

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological diseases in veterinary practice. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is regarded as an important diagnostic test to reach the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy. However, given that the diagnosis requires the exclusion of other differentials for seizures, the parameters for MRI examination should allow the detection of subtle lesions which may not be obvious with existing techniques. In addition, there are several differentials for idiopathic epilepsy in humans, for example some focal cortical dysplasias, which may only apparent with special sequences, imaging planes and/or particular techniques used in performing the MRI scan. As a result, there is a need to standardize MRI examination in veterinary patients with techniques that reliably diagnose subtle lesions, identify post-seizure changes, and which will allow for future identification of underlying causes of seizures not yet apparent in the veterinary literature. There is a need for a standardized veterinary epilepsy-specific MRI protocol which will facilitate more detailed examination of areas susceptible to generating and perpetuating seizures, is cost efficient, simple to perform and can be adapted for both low and high field scanners. Standardisation of imaging will improve clinical communication and uniformity of case definition between research studies. A 6–7 sequence epilepsy-specific MRI protocol for veterinary patients is proposed and further advanced MR and functional imaging is reviewed

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation