Food for Thought about Environmental Values and Food Demand

It is a controversial discussion whether consumers are taking care of environmental issues when buying food. This question seems to be of significance to understand the demand for organic products, and thus many investigations have been made in this field. However, no strong relationship between attitudes and knowledge about environmental issues on the one hand and consumption behaviour on the other hand could be confirmed yet, and still there is a gap in thorough understanding of the demand for eco-friendly produced food. In this text it is discussed to what extent people are both willing and enabled to consider environmental footprints in their food choice by applying recent surveys of environmental preferences and food labels

The valuation of tax shields induced by asset step-ups in corporate acquisitions

We derive discount rates for depreciation and amortization tax shields resulting from asset step-ups in corporate mergers and acquisitions. By assigning all relevant sources of uncertainty for such kind of tax shields and by accounting for corporate debt it is shown that for APV valuations r*, a rate between the firm's cost of debt and the risk-free rate, is adequate to discount step-up induced depreciation benefits. When the benefits are valued on a standalone basis, the adequate discount rate is the after-tax weighted average of r*. Discount rates for these shields have been determined arbitrarily in empirical research on corporate acquisitions so far. However, they are found to be in line with the rates deduced in this paper.Tax Shield; Step-up Depreciation; Valuation;

Die Nachfrage nach Fair-Trade-Produkten in Deutschland - Eine empirische Untersuchung unter Berücksichtigung von Präferenzen für Bio-Produkte

Der folgende Beitrag befasst sich mit der Nachfrage nach Fair-Trade-Produkten in Deutschland unter besonderer Betrachtung der Mehrzahlungsbereitschaft für Produkte mit dem Fair-Trade-Logo. Empirisch untersucht wurde dies unter Anwendung eines Experiments im Rahmen einer Konsumentenbefragung, in dem das Wahlverhalten und die Zahlungsbereitschaft für Schokolade mit unterschiedlichen Herstellungsstandards erfasst wurden. Ziel war es, einen Eindruck davon zu bekommen, in wieweit Verbraucher sich in ihrer Nachfrage hinsichtlich von Bio- und Fair-Trade-Produkten unterscheiden, welchen Wert Produkte mit beiderlei Kennzeichen haben und welche Gründe hierfür jeweils eine Rolle spielen. Mit Hilfe inferenz- und kausalanalytischer Methoden wurden Einflussfaktoren der Zahlungsbereitschaft sowie des Wahlverhaltens untersucht. Die Studie ergab unter anderem, dass Personen, die bevorzugt Bio-Produkte kaufen, eine höhere Zahlungsbereitschaft für Fair- Trade-Produkte haben. Etwas mehr als ein Drittel der Befragten hatte eine noch höhere Zahlungsbereitschaft für Schokolade, die sowohl das Fair-Trade- als auch das Bio-Logo trug, jedoch im Regelfall nur solange bei der ersten Nennung der Zahlungsbereitschaft bestimmte Preisschwellen noch nicht überschritten wurden. In this paper the demand and the willingness to pay for fair traded products are analysed whereas the focus is also on peoples’ preferences for organic food. An empirical approach is used for the investigation which means more than two hundred people were interviewed and were asked to participate in an experimental, in which both product preferences and the willingness to pay for chocolate with different process standards. The aim was to get an idea of possible differences between the demand for fair-trade-products and organic, of which values consumers put on products which got both labels, the trade and the organic, and of the reasons for different references. By using inferential and causal instruments, impact factors of the willingness to pay and product choice were surveyed. The results indicate, that people who are more likely to buy organic also are willing to pay more for fair-trade-chocolate. Also a number of people are willing to pay more for both, fair trade and organic, as long as certain price limits were not reached already with the first given willingness to pay.Fair Trade, Bio, Schokolade, empirische Erhebung, Zahlungsbereitschaft, Fair trade, organic, chocolate, survey, willingness to pay, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Südkorea: Wirtschaftstrends zur Jahresmitte 1998

Die Wirtschaftskrise wird Südkorea stärker verändern als irgendein anderes Ereignis der letzten zehn Jahre. Der Zusammenbruch der Währung im November 1997 und die Beistandsvereinbarung mit dem IWF zwingen das Land zu einer Wirtschaftspolitik, die die internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Bonität in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Am Ende des Anpassungsprozesses werden offenere Märkte und eine leistungsfähigere, an Erträgen und nicht nur an Umsätzen orientierte Industrie stehen. Bis dahin ist es aber noch ein langer und bitterer Weg, den viele koreanische Unternehmen nicht überleben werden

Südkorea: Wirtschaftstrends zur Jahresmitte 1999

Südkorea hat die akuten Symptome der Wirtschaftskrise glänzend überwunden. Die Wirtschaft wächst schneller als selbst von Optimisten erwartet. Im 1. Quartal 1999 wurde ein Zuwachs des Bruttoinlandsproduktes (BIP) von 4,6 % verzeichnet. Die Devisenkassen sind wieder gefüllt, und die Gefahr einer neuerlichen Währungskrise scheint gebannt. Die Zinsen sind niedrig, der Konsum zieht an, und die Kapazitätsauslastung der Industrie hat nahezu wieder Vorkrisenniveau erreicht. Die Wachstumsprognosen für das Bruttoinlandsprodukt wurden in den letzten Monaten regelmäßig nach oben revidiert. In der Bekämpfung der strukturellen Ursachen des Kollapses der Wirtschaft war das Land bisher aber weniger erfolgreich

Ökonomische Analyse des Biosiegels

In our study we are planning to analyse panel data econometrically in order to elabo-rate determinants of the demand for organic products. The aim of this survey is to investigate demand elasticities for eco-labelled products. By means of these elastic-ities, we will derive the impact of the “Biosiegel” on prices, quantities, expenditures and welfare. Finally, we expect conclusions from our evaluation about the efficiency of merchandising organic foods by advertising the ecolabel

Coherent perfect absorption in oneport devices with wedged organic thin-film absorbers: Bloch states and control of lasing

We are using organic small molecules as absorbing material to investigate coherent perfect absorption in layered thin-film structures. Therefore we realize strongly asymmetric resonator structures with a high optical quality dielectric distributed Bragg reflector and thermally evaporated wedged organic materials on top. We investigate the optical properties of these structures systematically by selective optical pumping and probing of the structure. By shifting the samples along the wedge, we demonstrate how relations of phase and amplitude of all waves can be tuned to achieve coherent perfect absorption. Thus almost all incident radiation dissipates in the thin organic absorbing layer. Furthermore, we show how these wedged structures on a high-quality reflective dielectric mirror can be used to determine optical dispersion relations of absorbing materials in a broad spectral range. This novel approach does not require any specific a priori knowledge on the absorbing film

The Hambach Forest in the German Debate on Climate Protection: Is There a Symbolic Value beyond the Environmental Value?

In the late summer of 2018, the Hambach Forest (North Rhine Westphalia/ Germany) appeared prevalently in the media due to massive protests against its clearance for lignite mining with for the power generation. Because coal power as a form of energy supply is extremely climate intensive, the Hambach Forest rapidly became a symbol of the fight against climate change and the ongoing destruction of nature and its resources for economic reasons. Due to the extra-ordinarily prominent role of the Hambach Forest in the public opinion across Germany, this research addresses values of the forest to the population in monetary terms as well as the underlying factors that determine those values. For the analysis, a contingent valuation survey was conducted in December 2019 in Germany. The proposed amounts for the preservation of the Hambach Forest are mostly in accordance with previous evaluation studies of woods and forests, although this time almost only passive-use values are decisive. Further, a conversion of the WTP values to the area of the Hambach Forest results in an extra-ordinarily high per-hectare value of about 3.6 million. Thus, the symbolic value of the forest is remarkable and should be considered in future political decisions

Rein tension in harness trotters during on-track exercise

Horseracing is under public scrutiny with increasing demands to safeguard horse welfare. It is accepted that, as a result of bit pressure and/or equipment, mouth lesions accompany many types of horse use, including racing. However, there are currently no data available on the range of bit pressures in driven trotters. Our aim was to investigate whether rein tension (RT, proxy for bit pressures) differs among gaits, between tempo within gait, between horses and drivers, and between left/right reins. Standardbreds (n = 9), driven by experienced drivers (n = 11), performed exercise tests on a racetrack (cross-over design; total 31 tests, data available from 26 tests). Horses' motion symmetry was measured before tests (trotting in hand). Rein tension, speed and heart rate were measured during exercise. A moving-window filter was applied to RT raw data. Median, maximum and interquartile range for the estimated stride median RT were determined for each rein (left/right) and segment: walk; circling in slow trot followed by transition to faster trot; fast (racing) trot; and slowing down to walk. Mixed models were used for statistical analysis. Least square means for segment median RT ranged between 17-19 N in walk, 34-40 N during circling-accelerating, 51-62 N in fast trot, and 53-71 N for slowing down. Segment maximum RT was between 60-81 N in walk, 104-106 N during circling-accelerating, 72-86 N in fast trot, and 86-129 N during slowing down. Interquartile ranges were between 7-9 N in walk, 28-31 N during circling-accelerating, 8-10 N in fast trot, and 12-18 N for slowing down. Hind limb asymmetry exceeded the recommended threshold in three horses and was associated with higher median (48 N) and maximum (106 N) RT than symmetric horses (29 N and 73 N, respectively, p < 0.01). Consistent left-right asymmetry in RT was more common among horses than among drivers. Rein tension increased with increasing heart rate (p <= 0.0006). Rein tensions were higher than those reported during riding or in horses worked from the ground. The findings of high RT, taken together with the high reported prevalence of oral injuries in harness trotters, call for further research into RT, motion symmetry and use of equipment