CHILDREN OF A (POLICY) REVOLUTION: THE INTRODUCTION OF UNIVERSAL CHILD CARE AND ITS EFFECT ON FERTILITY

What role does affordable and widely available public child care play for fertility? We exploit a major German reform generating large temporal and spatial variation in child care coverage for children under the age of three. Our precise and robust estimates on birth register data reveal that increases in public child care have significant positive effects on fertility. The fertility effects are more pronounced at the intensive than at the extensive margin, and are not driven by changes in the timing of births or selective migration. Our findings inform policy makers concerned about low fertility by suggesting that universal early child care holds the promise of being an effective means of increasing birth rates.     

Non-monotonicity in the longevity�Cincome relationship

In this essay, I empirically analyze the relationship between income and life expectancy for pensioners in the public pension system in Germany and find that the relationship is non-monotonic for major sub-groups in the data. Due to the application of non-parametric methods, this cannot be explained as an artifact of the estimation technique or by anomalies of the data, and the finding is robust against the inclusion of control variables. Furthermore, I theoretically derive a non-monotonic relationship between income and longevity, based on heterogeneous elasticities of labor supply and otherwise standard assumptions.     

The use and effectiveness of top executive dismissal

We provide a systematic assessment of the empirical evidence on the use and effectiveness of top executive dismissal as a governance and performance improvement mechanism. Our results suggest that poor individual and firm performance significantly increase the likelihood of executive dismissal. A strong power base might help under-performing top executives to extend their tenure in office, but effective ownership and governance structures can provide a counterweight to such entrenchment behaviors. However, our review casts doubt on the effectiveness of top executive dismissal as a means to enhance future firm performance: employing meta-analytical techniques we show that, although the dismissal announcement leads to positive abnormal returns, it has no significant effect on long-term measures of firm performance. On the basis of our findings, we develop a conceptual model of the possible antecedents and consequences of top executive dismissal. We derive implications for boards involved in situations of executive dismissal and for the successors of dismissed executives, and we provide directions for future leadership research on executive dismissal.     

Pricing of flexible products

The pricing of flexible products is a new price discrimination practice that can enable firms to increase revenues under capacity considerations. A flexible product is defined as a good or service with at least one product attribute not fully specified at the time of the purchase, leaving the seller with at least two alternatives for the final product design and the ability to assign consumers to one of these alternatives at a later date. Flexible products enable sellers to better utilized capacity, as well as, to segment consumers and price discriminate according to different levels of flexibility. We empirically analyze consumer purchase behavior for flexible products based on a large field study of a low-cost airline. At this low-cost airline, consumers can select the level of flexibility of the flexible product. We identify the drivers of purchase behavior by analyzing the impact of consumers?? flexibility and search behavior and the price discount of the flexible ticket. Further, we estimate the revenue and profit effects of flexible products.     

Dezentrale Koordination von Stoffströmen in Recyclingnetzwerken

New legal regulations assign an extended product responsibility to the manufacturers, e.g. in the field of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Therefore, recycling of discarded products becomes increasingly important. For Waste Electrical and Electronic equipment, recycling is usually carried out by service providers, which are organised in recycling networks. In such networks of independent companies, centralized planning is not possible and therefore, a decentralized coordination mechanism is necessary. Within the article, a 2-level coordination approach is developed. This approach seems to be a good starting point for an efficient assignment of recycling tasks within the network, if a central planner is not present. The functionality of the approach is demonstrated based on an example.     

Kontaktgenerierung auf StudiVZ: Wie über Social Networking Platforms alte Freundschaften gepflegt und neue geschlossen werden

Virtual communication continuously gains importance in modern society, as the growing success of “social networking platforms”(SNPs) like Facebook, XING or StudiVZ indicates. In this article we compare such platforms in regard to their instrumental vs. expressive orientation. It is supposed, that amore expressive orientation of a platform like Facebook or StudiVZ is not only functional to manage contacts to friends already known outside the internet (“social searching”), like studies on user's reports on their own motivations have recently shown for Facebook, but also helps generating new contacts to people not already known before (“social browsing”). This more implicit function might be promoted by the trust-promising visuability of a person's network contacts, especially in the face of strangers. An online survey on StudiVZ with n = 1316 randomized participants confirms both hypotheses.     

Principles for Developing Benchmark Criteria for Staff Training in Responsible Gambling

One approach to minimizing the negative consequences of excessive gambling is staff training to reduce the rate of the development of new cases of harm or disorder within their customers. The primary goal of the present study was to assess suitable benchmark criteria for the training of gambling employees at casinos and lottery retailers. The study utilised the Delphi Method, a survey with one qualitative and two quantitative phases. A total of 21 invited international experts in the responsible gambling field participated in all three phases. A total of 75 performance indicators were outlined and assigned to six categories: (1) criteria of content, (2) modelling, (3) qualification of trainer, (4) framework conditions, (5) sustainability and (6) statistical indicators. Nine of the 75 indicators were rated as very important by 90 % or more of the experts. Unanimous support for importance was given to indicators such as (1) comprehensibility and (2) concrete action-guidance for handling with problem gamblers, Additionally, the study examined the implementation of benchmarking, when it should be conducted, and who should be responsible. Results indicated that benchmarking should be conducted every 1–2 years regularly and that one institution should be clearly defined and primarily responsible for benchmarking. The results of the present study provide the basis for developing a benchmarking for staff training in responsible gambling.