Vienna University of Economics and Business
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A PRACTICAL THEORY OF FUNGIBILITY
Full text linkWe formalize 'degrees of fungibility' by differentiating goods according to both their underlying attributes and the perceived value and/or usefulness of those attributes to a value assessor. This allows us to distinguish between goods that appear to be 'exactly the same' from those goods that appear to be 'nearly the same'. Such a distinction is of particular importance in the design space of digital goods, which may exist both natively in the digital space and as surrogates, i.e. as digital representations of physical goods. We provide motivating examples where digital objects are too fungible for certain desired uses, and proceed to develop a formal framework under which degrees of fungibility can be defined and characterized. We close by bridging this framework to applications in machine learning and market design.Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc
The Dynamic Impact of Monetary Policy on Regional Housing Prices in the United States
Full text linkThis paper uses a factor-augmented vector autoregressive model to examine the impact of monetary policy shocks on housing prices. To simultaneously estimate the model parameters and unobserved factors we rely on Bayesian estimation and inference. Policy shocks are identified using high-frequency surprises around policy announcements as an external instrument. Impulse response functions reveal differences in regional housing price responses, which in some cases are substantial. The heterogeneity in policy responses is found to be significantly related to local regulatory environments and housing supply elasticities. Moreover, housing prices responses tend to be similar within states and adjacent regions in neighboring states
How Does Trust Affect Concessionary Behavior in Tax Bargaining?
Full text linkWe analyze the impact of trust on bargaining behavior between auditor and auditee in a tax setting. We study the effect of interpersonal trust and trust in government on both taxpayer and tax auditor. In an experiment with variation in pairwise trust settings, we find evidence that both kinds of trust affect the bargaining behavior, albeit in different ways. While trust in government increases taxpayers’ tax offers, trust in government may lead to more concessionary behavior of tax auditors moderated by interpersonal trust. Our findings help tax authorities to shape programs to enhance compliance in an atmosphere of trust.Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Serie
The impact of courier-, express- and parcel (CEP) service providers on urban road traffic: The case of Vienna
Full text linkCurrent urban city logistics literature often claims that rising e-commerce and the associated courier-, express- and parcel- (CEP) deliveries are inherently responsible for the increase in urban road traffic and the related congestion, disturbances and delays within cities. However, existing research is so far limited concerning studies to what extent CEPs impact and contribute to urban road traffic, particularly in comparison with other commercial sectors and passenger cars. In response, collecting data through an extensive empirical survey, counting urban road traffic in the city of Vienna in Austria, this paper identifies the share of CEPs and other selected categories of road vehicles. Results show that the share of CEPs in urban road traffic consists of merely 0.8 per cent, while the delivery vans’ share of craftsmen/technicians is almost eight times bigger with 6.0 per cent. Overall, delivery vehicles comprise 13.5 per cent of the total urban road traffic in Vienna, thus policies to reduce traffic should include not only other commercial sectors, but should also focus on passenger cars comprising the majority with 86.5 per cent of total urban road traffic. This is the first study that specifically investigates the share of CEPs and other vehicle categories in the context of city logistics
Much ado about nothing? Perceptions of the Air Berlin bankruptcy on airline competition in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Full text linkIn Europe’s airline industry, the market exit of one of its largest industry players, the Air Berlin Group, has led to significant changes in the level of competition within the DACH-region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Existing research, however, is limited to provide insights into the short- and long-term im-plications of such market changes on the level of competition, particularly on price and quality. In response, this paper investigates how the bankruptcy of Air Berlin influences the level of price and quality airlines are offering to its passengers. Using a qualitative approach, airline-related professional and experts have been interviewed about their perception of the levels of quality, price and competition. The findings show that the Air Berlin bankruptcy resulted in a shortage of capacity on the market leading to increasing prices and short-term competition is likely to increase as various airlines try to replace Air Berlin on the market. However, in the long term, prices for airline tickets are expected to bounce back to a similar level like before the Air Berlin bankruptcy, as more competitors will penetrate the market, which leads to a more challenging market environment. In terms of quality, it was found that other Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) offered similar products compared to Air Berlin, thus no or only minor changes in quality are expected
Assessing Short-Term Fertility Intentions and Their Realisation Using the Generations and Gender Survey: Pitfalls and Challenges
Full text linkThe use of fertility intention questions to study individual childbearing behaviour has developed rapidly in recent decades. In Europe, the Generations and Gender Surveys are the main sources of cross-national data on fertility intentions and their realisation. This study investigates how an inconsistent implementation of a question about wanting a child now affects the cross-country comparability of intentions to have a child within the next three years and their realisation. We conduct our analysis separately for women and men at prime and late reproductive ages in Austria, France, Italy and Poland. The results show that the overall share of respondents intending to have a child at some point in their life is similar in all four analysed countries. However, once the time horizon and the degree of certainty of fertility intentions are included, substantial cross-country differences appear, particularly in terms of proceptive behaviour and, consequently, the realisation of fertility intentions. We conclude that the inconsistent questionnaire adaptation makes it very difficult to assess the role of country context in the realisation of childbearing intentions
"Business Programming" – Critical Factors from Zero to Portable GUI Programming in Four Hours
Full text linkTeaching programming from scratch in a single semester such that in the end BA students become able to create GUI programs that run on Windows, MacOS, and Linux on their own appears to be impossible at first. However, over the course of twenty years such an endeavor has become successful at the WU Vienna, with 25,000 students one of the largest business administration Universities in Europe. The teaching load for the students is 200 hours (8 ECTS, European Credit Transfer System) of which 60 hours (4 hours per week, 15 weeks a semester) have to be attended in class. One critical success factor thereby is the programming language, another the goals that get defined for each installment of the syllabus, and finally, the pedagogical principles that have to be applied. This submission will give a bird eye’s view of these critical success factors such that they can be reasoned and discussed
ScriptTagLibs for Jakarta EE
No full textTaglib library for Java based Web servers adhering to the Jakarta EE specifications (EE stands for "enterprise edition").
Newer versions, if available, cf. <https://sourceforge.net/projects/bsf4oorexx/files/Sandbox/rgf/taglibs/ga/
The EU in multilateral environmental compliance mechanisms: an outside view
Full text linkWith reference to its unique characteristics, the European Union (EU) regularly requests a special position in treaty cooperation or external judicial control mechanisms. Recurrently, these requests are successful and lead to the EU being treated differently from other treaty parties. These situations have been captured by the concept of ‘European exceptionalism’. EU requests for special treatment can also be witnessed in the supportive and facilitative procedures of compliance mechanisms in international environmental law. In those mechanisms, however, EU requests for special treatment are subject to careful scrutiny, and are even met with strong opposition by treaty institutions and treaty partners. Taking a closer look at the EU’s participation in compliance mechanisms, the present article discusses how certain unique EU characteristics may prompt an EU request for special treatment under compliance mechanisms and explores how compliance institutions and treaty partners have treated existing requests so far. With this outside perspective of non-EU actors, it is possible to understand where such requests can be successful and where they fail to be. In this way, the insights gained permit reflection upon the EU’s participation in compliance mechanisms and whether it truly constitutes a further phenomenon of ‘European exceptionalism’
