On the competitive position of Eastern German manufacturing: Why is catching-up so slow?

Seven years after the transition from plan to market, it is hard to summon up much enthusiasm for the results of active restructuring of the eastern German economy. Although companies have made considerable efforts to reach the efficiency level of their western German counterparts, the gap is still large. In our paper, we provide a selective and interpretative account of the restructuring process in eastern German manufacturing. We start with modelling some economic relations which can be considered crucial in the restructuring process: ownership status and overall performance, sectoral and regional specialization, gross output and value added, investment and productivity, and wages and employment. In search of adjustment failures, we examine these relations by comparing the performance of eastern German with that of western German enterprises. Finally, we discuss the key policy question of how to overcome the difficulties. Without an about-face in wage policy, it will be difficult to shift the balance from wage convergence to efficiency convergence.

Restructuring and competitiveness in the transition process: Evidence from an Eastern German firm panel

In a transforming economy there is a common legacy of most companies: their low competitiveness as the result of an obsolete capital stock and overmanning, insufficient product quality that does not satisfy demand, distorted specialization patterns, high and partly ill-designed integration, suboptimal size and inadequate management capacities. Restructuring companies is therefore a challenging task. The paper examines the painful adjustment process in eastern German manufacturing against the background of the unpleasant trade-off between the pace of wage increase and the level of transfer payments to spur investment and to finance consumption. The core question is how the performance of companies has developed with regard to ownership structure, firm size and industry. The paper - first, analyses the dilemma from a theoretical point of view, - second, highlights the economic repercussions of the companies' adjustment behaviour to be mirrored in the data, and - third, draws the conclusions and provides some suggestions for further analysis. Data used in the paper mainly come from a sample of firms under investigation of the Deutsches Institut fur Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin, since 1991.

Emerging East-West corporate networks in Central European border regions: Some theoretical arguments and stylized facts

Economic re-integration after a long period of separation among countries with different levels of development is expected to start in border regions. Enterprises along the borderline can gain a rent due to low transport and transaction costs. They benefit from the fortunate opportunity of tapping the international division of labour on the shortest distance. Therefore, border regions should be predestined to become an economic powerhouse. Despite their great potential, border regions in Central Eastern Europe are far from being an economic entity. The enormous development differences are obviously a source of constraint rather than an impetus to integration. This paper examines the potential for cross-border activities on the German- Polish border. It - first, sketches the theoretical background, - second, presents some facts and figures, and - third, discusses the key policy question of how to overcome the obstacles to closer co-operation. The paper comes to the conclusion that close cross-border co-operation, which can be labelled as a network, is still the exception rather than the rule in the region under consideration. Most of the activities can be ranged in the category of simple subcontracting arrangements in which the German partners exploit the low wage, energy and pollution control costs beyond the border.

Large-scale Attitude Changes toward Immigrants and Refugees: The Roles of Cohort Affiliation and Threat Perceptions

Diese Dissertation untersucht die Determinanten für Veränderungen in der öffentlichen Meinung zu Zugewanderten und Geflüchteten. Im Mittelpunkt steht die ungeplante Zuwanderung Geflüchteter in den Jahren 2015/16. Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf Deutschland, erforscht aber auch den breiteren europäischen Kontext. Erkenntnisse aus Mehrebenenanalysen, Längsschnittdaten und exklusiv erhobenen Geodaten tragen zur bisherigen Forschung bei und helfen, Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen, wie Zuwanderung in Aufnahmegesellschaften besser gesteuert werden kann. Das erste empirische Kapitel zeigt, dass der Prozess der Generationenablösung in Deutschland nicht zu einem stetig toleranteren und offeneren Meinungsklima gegenüber Zugewanderten führt. Vielmehr ist ein Generationenverlauf zu beobachten, der nicht linear verläuft, sondern schwankend. Außerdem führen die gegenwärtigen Veränderungen der makroökonomischen Bedingungen zu keinen wesentlichen Veränderungen in den Einstellungen einer Generation. Ein Anstieg an Schutzsuchenden in Deutschland führt jedoch zu einer etwas restriktiveren Haltung zu Zugewanderten. Das zweite empirische Kapitel zeigt, dass die Zunahme der Zuwanderung aus verschiedenen Herkunftsländern unterschiedliche Reaktionen in den westlichen EU-Gesellschaften hervorruft. Während der Anstieg der Einwanderungsraten von EU-Bürgern keine signifikante Rolle bei der Veränderung der Einstellung der Einheimischen spielt, erweist sich die zunehmende Einwanderung aus Ländern des globalen Südens und von Geflüchteten als stabiler Prädiktor für eine ablehnendere Haltung der Kohorten. Das dritte empirische Kapitel liefert kaum Belege dafür, dass eine Geflüchtetenunterkunft in unmittelbarer Nähe mit den Einstellungen oder Verhaltensweisen der Einheimischen verbunden ist. Weder aktuelle Bedrohungswahrnehmungen noch erhöhte Kontaktmöglichkeiten durch die Anwesenheit einer Unterkunft in der Nähe haben einen nachhaltigen Effekt auf die Einstellungen der lokalen Bevölkerung.This dissertation offers comprehensive study on the determinants for changes in public opinion toward immigrants and refugees. Centered around the unplanned immigration of large numbers of refugees in 2015/16, it focuses on Germany but additionally examines the broader context of Europe. Insights from multilevel analysis, longitudinal data and exclusively collected geo-data contribute to previous research and help to find conclusions on how to moderate and manage immigration in host societies. The first empirical chapter concludes that the process of generational replacement in Germany will not lead to a steadily more tolerant and open climate of opinion toward immigrants. Youngest cohorts in east Germany feel equally, and in west Germany increasingly threatened by immigration in comparison to their immediate predecessors. Moreover, current changes in macro-economic conditions do not lead to substantial changes in a generation’s attitudes. An increase in the number of people seeking protection in Germany, however, leads to somewhat more restrictive attitudes toward immigrants. The second empirical chapter shows that increases in immigration from different origin-backgrounds evoke dissimilar reactions within western EU host societies. While increases in immigration rates of EU citizens do not play a significant role in changing natives’ sentiments, rising immigration from countries in the Global South and refugees proves to be a stable predictor of cohorts’ attitudes to become more disapproving. The third empirical chapter finally provides little evidence that the presence of a refugee accommodation in close proximity is associated with locals’ attitudes or behavioral patterns toward refugees in Germany. Neither current threat-perceptions nor increased contact opportunities due to the presence of a refugee accommodation nearby have a lasting effect on locals’ attitudes. Sociotropic concerns at the societal level seem to outweigh actual affectedness at the local level

Functional interdependence between septin and actin cytoskeleton

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.Abstract Background Septin2 is a member of a highly conserved GTPase family found in fungi and animals. Septins have been implicated in a diversity of cellular processes including cytokinesis, formation of diffusion barriers and vesicle trafficking. Septin2 partially co-localises with actin bundles in mammalian interphase cells and Septin2-filamentmorphology depends upon an intact actin cytoskeleton. How this interaction is regulated is not known. Moreover, evidence that Septin2 is remodelled or redistributed in response to other changes in actin organisation is lacking. Results Septin2 filaments are associated with actin fibres, but Septin2 is not associated with actin at the leading edge of moving cells or in ruffles where actin is highly dynamic. Rather, Septin2 is spatially segregated from these active areas and forms O- and C-shaped structures, similar to those previously observed after latrunculin treatment. FRAP experiments showed that all assemblies formed by Septin2 are highly dynamic with a constant exchange of Septin2 in and out of these structures, and that this property is independent of actin. A combination of RNAi experiments and expression of truncated forms of Septin2 showed that Septin2 plays a significant role in stabilising or maintaining actin bundles. Conclusion We show that Septin2 can form dynamic structures with differing morphologies in living cells, and that these morphologies are dependent on the functional state of the actin cytoskeleton. Our data provide a link between the different morphological states of Septin2 and functions of Septin2 in actin-dynamics, and are consistent with the model proposed by Kinoshita and colleagues, that Septin2 filaments play a role in stabilisation of actin stress fibres thus preventing actin turnover.Published versio

Quantifying contributions to the recent temperature variability in the tropical tropopause layer

The recently observed variability in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), which features a warming of 0.9 K over the past decade (2001–2011), is investigated with a number of sensitivity experiments from simulations with NCAR's CESM-WACCM chemistry–climate model. The experiments have been designed to specifically quantify the contributions from natural as well as anthropogenic factors, such as solar variability (Solar), sea surface temperatures (SSTs), the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), stratospheric aerosols (Aerosol), greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the dependence on the vertical resolution in the model. The results show that, in the TTL from 2001 through 2011, a cooling in tropical SSTs leads to a weakening of tropical upwelling around the tropical tropopause and hence relative downwelling and adiabatic warming of 0.3 K decade-1; stronger QBO westerlies result in a 0.2 K decade-1 warming; increasing aerosols in the lower stratosphere lead to a 0.2 K decade-1 warming; a prolonged solar minimum contributes about 0.2 K decade-1 to a cooling; and increased GHGs have no significant influence. Considering all the factors mentioned above, we compute a net 0.5 K decade-1 warming, which is less than the observed 0.9 K decade-1 warming over the past decade in the TTL. Two simulations with different vertical resolution show that, with higher vertical resolution, an extra 0.8 K decade-1 warming can be simulated through the last decade compared with results from the "standard" low vertical resolution simulation. Model results indicate that the recent warming in the TTL is partly caused by stratospheric aerosols and mainly due to internal variability, i.e. the QBO and tropical SSTs. The vertical resolution can also strongly influence the TTL temperature response in addition to variability in the QBO and SSTs

Who Cares? Strukturelle Ungleichheiten in den Arbeits- und Berufsbedingungen der Pflege - empirische Ergebnisse zu den Deutungs- und Bewältigungsmustern von Pflegekräften

"Angesichts vielfältiger gesellschaftlicher und wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Transformationsprozesse werden die Fragen nach den Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten von Pflegearbeit immer wichtiger. Anhand der gegenwärtigen Arbeits- und Berufsbedingungen von Pflegekräften werden nicht nur strukturelle Ungleichheitsfaktoren sichtbar, sondern aktuelle Krisendynamiken geschlechtlicher Arbeitsteilung verdeutlicht. Die Arbeitsfelder Pflege und Gesundheit zeichnen sich durch unterschiedliche institutionelle, gesetzliche und berufshistorische Rahmenbedingungen aus. Jedoch unterliegen beide Bereiche der öffentlichen Daseinsfürsorge einer zunehmenden Steuerung als Dienstleistungsökonomie. Gleichzeitig sind die Mitwirkungsmöglichkeiten der Berufsgruppe(n) z.B. zur gesetzlichen Normgebung gering. Im Rahmen des Forschungsverbundes ForGenderCare wurden im Teilprojekt 'Arbeitsbedingungen und Interessenvertretung von Pflegekräften in Bayern' leitfadengestützte Interviews mit Altenpflege- sowie mit Gesundheits- und Krankenpflegefachkräften geführt. Zentral waren hierbei die Fragen nach alltäglicher Bewältigung sowie begünstigenden und hemmenden Faktoren einer widerständigen Praxis und Kollektivierung in Abhängigkeit der unterschiedlichen Berufsgruppen. Der Beitrag beleuchtet die strukturellen Ungleichheiten hinsichtlich AkteurInnen und Institutionen im Arbeitsfeld Pflege und Gesundheit. Diese lassen sich anhand der familialistisch geprägten, kommodifizierten Daseinsfürsorge und Stärkung definitionsmächtiger Kosten- und Leistungsträger aufzeigen. Darüber hinaus und auf Grundlage erster empirischer Daten werden die Deutungs- und Bewältigungsmuster der Pflegekräfte kritisch beleuchtet und in einen bewegungstheoretischen Kontext gesetzt." (Autorenreferat)"Considering the diverse social and welfare state transformation processes, questions about the conditions and possibilities of care work are becoming more and more important. The current conditions for the labor and profession of care workers point out structural factors of inequality. Furthermore, they clarify dynamics in the crises of the gender-specific division of labor. The two fields of work - elderly care and health care - are characterized by different framework conditions according to their institutions, related laws and the history of the professions. However, both fields of public welfare have become increasingly subject to the service economy. At the same time, the possibilities for involvement of the professional groups, for example in the legislative process, are marginal. Within the research group ForGenderCare, the subproject 'Working conditions and representation of interests of nurses in Bavaria' conducted guided interviews with nurses for the elderly, health workers and nurses. Essential were questions about coping with everyday problems and challenges as well as favoring and inhibiting factors of a contradictory practice and collectivization depending on the different professional groups. The paper examines the structural inequalities with regard to actors and institutions in the field of elderly care and health care. These can be identified by means of family-oriented, commoditized welfare and the strengthening of determining sponsors and funding agencies. In addition, and on the basis of the first empirical data, the patterns of expression and coping of nurses are critically examined and placed in a movement theory context." (author's abstract

Eine empirische Untersuchung der Präferenzstruktur und der Kaufraten mittels Conjoint-Analyse

In der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit wird schrittweise ein Prognosemodell entwickelt, welches die Ermittlung des Vertriebspotenzials von drei Produktinnovationen eines mittelständischen Automobilzulieferers bei Vermarktung dieser über eine Bundlingstrategie auf dem deutschen Markt ermöglicht. Im Rahmen einer Feldstudie werden Präferenzdaten über eine schriftlich-postalische Befragung sowie eine Online-Befragung auf einem zuvor abgesteckten Simulationsmarkt erhoben. Aufgrund eines vermuteten heterogenen Gesamtmarktes sowie dem Anspruch einer möglichst realistischen Prognose erfolgt eine A-Priori-Segmentierung nach der Fahrzeugklasse des Konsumenten. Über das dekompositionelle Design der Conjoint-Analyse werden die Präferenzen aller möglichen Ausstattungsvarianten pro Segment erhoben, um eine für jedes Segment optimale Bundlingstrategie herzuleiten. Ein Marktsimulationsprozess überführt die segmentspezifisch optimalen Ausstattungsvarianten in Kaufraten. Durch die Verknüpfung der empirischen Daten mit den zukünftigen Produktionszahlen der definierten Fahrzeugmodelle und den Verkaufspreisen der Sonderausstattungen entsteht das Vertriebspotenzial aus Sicht des Zulieferers