Capitalist transformation without political participation: German capitalism in the first half of the 19th century

The paper analyzes the political economy of capitalist transformation in Germany during the first half of the 19th century. Current approaches in institutional economics stress the dependency of economic and political institutions in 'open access orders', which makes economic freedom without political freedom unsustainable. However, the emergence of capitalism in the German states after 1806 gives an example that economic freedom can precede political freedom, which implies that the political power of the 'dominant coalition' remains intact for a longer period of time. The paper argues that the German transformation towards modern capitalism was in stigated by competition among the European states; it was conducive to the monopolization of the coercive power of the state. This competition drove a wedge between the interests of the monarch and his supporting dominant coalition (landed gentry). Accordingly, the monarch had to find a bargain which established capitalist institutions in order to promote economic growth without compromising the interests of the landed gentry. Namely the public administration in Prussia which was deeply influenced by Adam Smith's ideas organized that bargain; it established economic freedom in various sectors but took the economic interests of the landed gentry into account. At the same time, public administration and the legal system gained more independence from the monarch. In various aspects the sweeping institutional change was Pareto-superior for groups, which made capitalism also acceptable for the elite group. Later institutional improvements have relaxed still existing constraints so that high industrialization which brought the German economy to the top of international markets could take place

Liberale Ordnungspolitik im demokratischen Diskurs

"Dieser Beitrag untersucht Legitimationsfragen ordnungspolitischer Empfehlungen in der Demokratie. Während die klassische Ordnungspolitik in der Tradition Walter Euckens die Legitimation ordnungspolitischer Regeln mit dem gesellschaftlichen Wohlfahrtsgewinn begründet, muss in der Demokratie die allgemeine Zustimmungsfähigkeit von Regeln als Legitimationsquelle vorausgesetzt werden. Es wird gezeigt, wie die Überzeugungen der Bürger über die Funktionsweise einer Marktwirtschaft ebenso wie die politischen Präferenzen zu einer Modifikation klassischer Ordnungspolitik führen. Eine anti-marktwirtschaftliche Politik ist in einer Demokratie gleichwohl nicht zu erwarten." (Autorenreferat)"The article interrogates the legitimacy of rule-oriented, pro market policy recommendations ('ordungspolitik') in democracy. Whereas classical policy recommendations in the tradition of Walter Eucken presume that welfare gains following from rule oriented policies guarantee for its legitimacy, democratic economy policy must rest on societal consent. It is shown that beliefs of citizens concerning the working conditions of a market order as well as political preferences will mode rules which economists identify for its best possible impact on welfare. However, as long as democracy remains stable, anti-market economic policies are unlikely to sustain in democracy." (author's abstract

Die Zukunft der Kirche liegt in der Mitte der Gesellschaft: Ergebnisse der Mitgliederbefragung der Ev.-luth. Landeskirche Hannovers

"Anlässlich der Wahlen zu den Kirchenvorständen in der Ev.-luth. Landeskirche Hannover am 26. März 2006 sind alle 2,6 Mio. Wahlberechtigten schriftlich über ihre Meinung zum Leben in ihrer Kirchengemeinde befragt worden. Kurz vorher ist eine repräsentative Telefonbefragung mit 1751 Befragten zu den gleichen und noch einigen weiteren Fragen vorgenommen worden. Zwar blieb der Rücklauf der Fragebögen mit etwa 7 % deutlich unter den Erwartungen. Gleichwohl liegen damit die Antworten von 188.873 Befragten vor - eine Fallzahl, die in schriftlichen Befragungen Seltenheitswert hat. Vor allem aus dem Vergleich zwischen der schriftlichen und der repräsentativen Telefonbefragung lassen sich interessante Rückschlüsse auf das Potential der evangelischen Kirche in dieser größten deutschen Landeskirche ziehen. Diese Ergebnisse sind bemerkenswert, weil sie zeigen, dass es ein beachtenswertes Potential für die evangelische Kirche sozusagen 'in der Mitte der Gesellschaft' gibt, das besser als bisher ausgeschöpft werden sollte. Ja, man kann nach den Ergebnissen dieser Untersuchung mit Fug und Recht behaupten: Wenn es der Kirche gelingt, erhebliche Ressourcen für die Arbeit mit Kindern, Jugendlichen und Familien zu konzentrieren und gewisse Engführungen zu erweitern, braucht sie sich keinerlei Sorge um ihre Zukunft zu machen. Diese Grundthese soll im Folgenden anhand einiger Ergebnisse der Befragung erläutert werden." (Autorenreferat

Investigation of oxygen permeation through composites of PMMA and surface-modified ZnO nanoparticles

Oxygen permeabilities of nanocomposite films consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and different amounts of spherical zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were determined to investigate the barrier effect of this material with respect to particle content. A method was applied which is based on quenching of an excited phosphorescent dye by oxygen. Possible effects of the nanoparticles on the response of the dye molecules were investigated and were ruled out

Regularized orbit models unveiling the stellar structure and dark matter halo of the Coma elliptical NGC 4807

This is the second in a series of papers dedicated to unveil the mass structure and orbital content of a sample of flattened early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster. The ability of our orbit libraries to reconstruct internal stellar motions and the mass composition of a typical elliptical in the sample is investigated by means of Monte-Carlo simulations of isotropic rotator models. The simulations allow a determination of the optimal amount of regularization needed in the orbit superpositions. It is shown that under realistic observational conditions and with the appropriate regularization internal velocity moments can be reconstructed to an accuracy of about 15 per cent; the same accuracy can be achieved for the circular velocity and dark matter fraction. In contrast, the flattening of the halo remains unconstrained. Regularized orbit superpositions are applied to a first galaxy in our sample, NGC 4807, for which stellar kinematical observations extend to 3 Reff. The galaxy seems dark matter dominated outside 2 Reff. Logarithmic dark matter potentials are consistent with the data, as well as NFW-profiles, mimicking logarithmic potentials over the observationally sampled radial range. In both cases, the derived stellar mass-to-light ratio agrees well with independently obtained mass-to-light ratios from stellar population analysis. Kinematically, NGC 4807 is characterized by mild radial anisotropy outside r>0.5 Reff, becoming isotropic towards the center. Our orbit models hint at either a distinct stellar component or weak triaxiality in the outer parts of the galaxy.Comment: 20 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA