Recent financial changes in Western Germany

Economic conditions - West Germany ; Finance

The German monetary unification (Gmu): converting marks to d-marks

Monetary policy - Germany ; Germany

Assistance to industry in West Germany

This paper has four aims: First, it surveys the assistance given to individual sectors and industries in West Germany and makes an attempt to estimate its magnitude in terms of nominal and effective rates of protection; in contrast to the previous calculations the estimates presented here deal with protection in a wider context by including all measures of non-tariff assistance and by relating industrial protection to protection given to other parts of the economy. The second section of the paper discusses the objectives of assistance policy from a national and an international welfare point of view. The third section proceeds with a comparative analysis of the impact assistance measures have had on factor incomes and resource allocation among industries. Fourth and finally, some conclusions are drawn with respect to restructuring assistance policy.

Autonomous Organization of the (International) Scientific Community Would Simplify Data Protection in the Social Sciences and Encourage Reanalysis

In den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften besteht ohne die Moeglichkeit einer Re-Analyse von statistischen Ergebnissen (gleichermaßen amtlichen wie nicht-amtlichen) die Gefahr von nicht entdeckten Irrtuemern. Mit anderen Worten: Re- Analysen sind in der Wissenschaft die "Berufungsinstanz", ohne die es keine funktionierende Scientific Community geben kann. Der Schutz vor fehlerhaften wissenschaftlichen Ergebnissen mit Hilfe von Re-Analysen ist ein "oeffentliches Interesse", das in der Datenschutzdiskussion und insbesondere bei der Auslegung von Datenschutzregelungen bislang zu wenig beachtet wurde. Das Wissenschaftssystem und der Gesetzgeber sind gleichermaßen aufgefordert, Re-Analysen zu ermoeglichen ohne den Datenschutz zu verletzen. Als Instrumente werden Selbstbindungen im Wissenschaftssystem und die Schaffung eines gesetzlichen "Forschungsdaten-Geheimnisses" diskutiert. The re-analysis of statistical data is an effective means of protecting the public from undiscovered errors in social science research. Re-analysis is critical, as there is no difference between official data and non-official data. However, discussions concerning data protection legislation do not usually take this into consideration. Proper data protection rules must make it possible to conduct independent re-analysis of protected data. The paper discusses the possibilities of self-binding in the (international) scientific community and creating a new kind of law which would provide scientific data with a special legal status (Forschungsdaten- Geheimnis).

Some econometric evidence on the impact of the multifiber agreement on the German clothing industry

Since 1974, the year of the first Multi-fiber Agreement (MFA), a considerable number of studies has analyzed the economic impact of quotas such as those of the MFA on industrialized countries. Examples are the studies by Hamilton (1980), Morkre and Tarr (1980), Wolf et al. (1984), and GATT (1984), to name a few. Most of the work so far has relied either on models of the comparative static type, with reasonable parameters substituted, or on more ad hoc comparisons of pre- and post-MFA market shares or other similar indicators. However, there seems to be a dearth of econometric evidence, in particular for Germany. The present paper is intended to start filling this gap. Its purpose is to investigate the effect of the MFA quotas and MFA-induced voluntary export restraints (VERs) on the German clothing industry.