COMPETITION AND RELATIONAL CONTRACTS: THE ROLE OF UNEMPLOYMENT AS A DISCIPLINARY DEVICE

Abstract When workers are faced with the threat of unemployment, their relationship with a particular firm becomes valuable. As a result, a worker may comply with the terms of a relational contract that demands high effort even when performance is not enforceable by a third party. But can relational contracts motivate high effort when workers can easily find alternative jobs? We examine how competition for labor affects the emergence of relational contracts and their effectiveness in overcoming moral hazard in the labor market. We show that effective relational contracts do emerge in a market with excess demand for labor. Long‐term relationships turn out to be less frequent when there is excess demand for labor than they are in a market characterized by exogenous unemployment. However, stronger competition for labor does not impair labor market efficiency: higher wages induced by competition lead to higher effort out of concerns for reciprocity.     

The Intrinsic Value of Decision Rights

Philosophers, psychologists, and economists have long argued that certain decision rights carry not only instrumental value but may also be valuable for their own sake. The ideas of autonomy, freedom, and liberty derive their intuitive appeal—at least partly—from an assumed positive intrinsic value of decision rights. Providing clean evidence for the existence of this intrinsic value and measuring its size, however, is intricate. Here, we develop a method capable of achieving these goals. The data reveal that the large majority of our subjects intrinsically value decision rights beyond their instrumental benefit. The intrinsic valuation of decision rights has potentially important consequences for corporate governance, human resource management, and optimal job design: it may explain why managers value power, why employees appreciate jobs with task discretion, why individuals sort into self‐employment, and why the reallocation of decision rights is often very difficult and cumbersome. Our method and results may also prove useful in developing an empirical revealed preference foundation for concepts such as “freedom of choice” and “individual autonomy.”     

文学与文化——以欧洲文学与欧洲文学史研究为例

本文探讨了文学与文化的关系问题,强调文化的整体性和有机性以及文化传统的历史影响,主张文学与文学史的研究必须在相应的文化传统的框架里进行。作者以欧洲文学和文学史研究为例,指出缺乏欧洲文化传统整体意识的文学研究往往容易使研究成果沦为地理与时间的碎片。     

论道德的概念与论证

启蒙以来的现代境况使得道德及其论证的问题既重要又困难。一方面,传统论道德连同其更高真理包含着无法论证的前提,因而所有道德的核心必须还原到规范之自然的或合理的基本存在之上;另一方面,契约论以及其他现代道德替代品涉及的仅仅是一种外部的社会裁定,而道德则是一种在羞愧、义愤等道德感受中感受到的内部的社会裁定。因此,道德的可能性只在于:本质上将自身理解为一个共同体一般以及与此相关的受到普遍尊重之观念的环节。     

Modification of shiftwork effects by chemical workplace exposure

Abstract

Possible chronotoxic effects were the reason to study chemical workplace exposure under the special condition of shiftwork. Eight shiftworkers occupationally exposed to acetone vapours and eight controls were investigated during fast-rotated shiftwork. The mean concentration of acetone during the shifts was close to 1000 ppm (2400 mg/m³). Data on well-being and acute symptoms, but not on performance, indicate that the exposure contributed mainly in an additive way to the negative effects of shiftwork. As a consequence, the exposed shiftworkers revealed enhanced impairments during the night-shift.     

解释学纲要

施莱尔马赫的解释学思想主要体现在他身后出版的《解释学与校勘学》中,此书的总序和导论以纲要的方式表达了他在这个领域中的基本观点。他明确地界定了解释学与校勘学,区分了普遍解释学和特殊解释学、语法解释和心理解释、解释学的严格的实践和不严格的实践,突出了语言在解释学中的核心地位,对解释学循环作了明确的表述,并提出了浪漫主义解释学的著名口号——我们能像作者理解的一样并能做到比作者理解他自己理解得更好——等重要的思想。     

Patent portfolios for strategic R&D planning

Empirical research has found a discrepancy between the perceived importance and the actual level of information on competitor's R&D strategies. It has been argued in the literature that patent information might be used to overcome this information deficit. However, empirical research further reveals that patent information is rarely used in strategic R&D planning. The present paper explores this issue and introduces two types of patent portfolios for strategic R&D planning. In patent portfolios on the company level, patenting strategies are identified and the quality of overall technological positions is benchmarked against relevant competitors. In addition, we present a patent portfolio on the technological level, which, as it is known from various technology portfolios, helps companies to manage the allocation of R&D resources effectively. Based on patent data from 21 German, European and Japanese mechanical engineering companies we show the application of both patent portfolios for strategic R&D planning purposes. The patent portfolios prove to be a very valuable tool for R&D decision makers in companies. Based on the experiences made in the case study, recommendation for the effective use of patent portfolios are formulated.