Hertie School Research Repository
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Greasing the Reels: Advertising as a Means of Campaigning on Chinese Television
No full textThis article examines a major change in campaigning through the means of mass media during the reform era. As the media commercialized and partially privatized, the state has tried increasingly to involve societal actors in the production of public service advertisements (PSAs) on television. Today, PSA campaigns are initiated by state and Party units, but their funding, production and broadcasting is made possible by a collaborative effort between broadcasters, advertising companies and commercial enterprises who voluntarily support their further development. I conducted 27 in-depth interviews with officials, broadcasters and producers in Beijing to tap into the policy rationale behind the use of public service advertisements in campaigning and the incentive structure facilitating collaboration between companies and state units. Interviews with judges of PSA competitions and content analysis of price-winning advertisements reveal the standards of the central government to employ public service advertising as a means of campaigning
Blair Disease? Business Careers of the Former Democratic Heads of State and Government
No full textExamining the careers of democratic heads of state and government from 1960–2010, we find that one in every seven turns to the private sector after office. Distinguishing between the factors that attract leaders to business and those that render leaders attractive, we find that the global CEO compensation rates, cultural norms, having served in office in Anglo-Saxon countries as well as their personal background, matter. We also find that certain economic outcomes and policies in office such as economic growth and reduction in state spending are often associated with post-tenure business careers. We do not find evidence, however, that leaders are able to implement policies with future careers in mind, which would in turn raise concerns over accountability
Refugees in Germany with Children Still Living Abroad Have Lowest Life Satisfaction
No full textFamily strongly influences personal well-being—especially in
the case of refugees, whose family members often remain in
their homeland. This report is the first to closely examine the well-being and family structures of refugees who came to Germany between January 2013 and January 2016. It uses data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany.
Among individuals aged between 18 and 49, nine percent have minor children living outside Germany, whereas twelve percent have a husband or wife living abroad. If the nuclear family is living in Germany—which is more often the case for women than men—refugees are measurably more satisfied with their lives. These findings are also confirmed when accounting for other potential factors for well-being. These findings should be given greater consideration—not least
in the debate on family reunification—to enable successful migration, integration, and family policies
Dismantling the Master’s House Using the Master’s Tools: On the Sociology of Organizational Knowledge
No full textUnemployment Accounts and Employment Incentives
No full textWe explore the far-reaching implications of replacing current unemployment benefit (UB) systems by an unemployment accounts (UAs) system. Under the UAs system, employed people are required to make ongoing contributions to their UAs and the balances in these accounts are available to them during periods of unemployment. The government is able to undertake balanced-budget interpersonal redistributions among the UAs. At the end of their working lives, people could transfer the remaining balances on their UAs into their pensions.
We present an analytical framework to analyse the incentive effects of UAs and calibrate our model for the high high-unemployment countries of Europe. Our results suggest that this policy reform would significantly change people's employment incentives and could achieve reductions in unemployment without reducing the level of support to the unemployed
Buying Allies: Payment Practices in Multilateral Military Coalition-Building
No full textMany countries serving in multilateral military coalitions are "paid" to do so, either in cash or in concessions relating to other international issues. This article examines whether these payment practices follow a systematic pattern. It suggests that 'pivotal states' provide the means to cover such payments. These states reason that rewarding third parties to serve in multilateral coalitions holds important political benefits. Moreover, two distinct types of payment schemes exist: deployment subsidies and political side-deals. Three types of states are most likely to receive such payments: (1) states that are inadequately resourced to deploy; (2) states that are perceived by the pivotal states as critical contributors to the coalition endeavor; and (3) opportunistic states that perceive a coalition deployment as an opportunity to negotiate a quid pro quo. Using hundreds of declassified archival sources as well as elite interviews, the article illustrates these practices with historical examples from the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the U.S. intervention in Iraq, the NATO intervention in Afghanistan, the UN-AU mission in Darfur, and the AU mission in Somalia. The theory and evidence presented in this article generate new insights into how security cooperation comes about, and how burden-sharing works in practice. Moreover, it raises important questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of such payment schemes in multilateral military deployments
Time series of heat demand and heat pump efficiency for energy system modeling
No full textWith electric heat pumps substituting for fossil-fueled alternatives, the temporal variability of their power consumption becomes increasingly important to the electricity system. To easily include this variability in energy system analyses, this paper introduces the “When2Heat” dataset comprising synthetic national time series of both the heat demand and the coefficient of performance (COP) of heat pumps. It covers 16 European countries, includes the years 2008 to 2018, and features an hourly resolution. Demand profiles for space and water heating are computed by combining gas standard load profiles with spatial temperature and wind speed reanalysis data as well as population geodata. COP time series for different heat sources – air, ground, and groundwater – and different heat sinks – floor heating, radiators, and water heating – are calculated based on COP and heating curves using reanalysis temperature data. The dataset, as well as the scripts and input parameters, are publicly available under an open source license on the Open Power System Data platform
How to avoid history repeating itself: the case for an EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) price floor revisited
No full textSeveral years of very low allowance prices in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) have motivated calls to introduce a price floor to correct potential underlying distortions and design flaws, including (i) the political nature of allowance supply and related credibility issues, (ii) potential myopia of market participants and firms, and (iii) waterbed and rebound effects resulting from policy interactions. In the wake of the recent EU ETS reform, allowance prices have sharply increased. This raises the question of whether the case for introducing a price floor in the EU ETS remains valid. We argue that such a price floor, also adopted in several other greenhouse gas cap-and-trade systems worldwide, remains an important improvement in the design of the system, as long as the above-mentioned distortions and design flaws persist. An EU ETS price floor can safeguard against these issues and provides more explicit guidance on the minimum allowance price policymakers consider acceptable. Either as a complement or substitute to the current Market Stability Reserve (MSR), a price floor would thus make the EU ETS less prone to future revision in case of unexpectedly low prices. We identify and confront four prominent arguments against the introduction of an EU ETS price floor.
Key policy insights:
- An EU ETS price floor would be an important institutional innovation enhancing political and economic stability, and predictability of the EUA price
- The recent Market Stability Reserve (MSR) reform has not removed the need for a carbon price floor.
- Introducing an element of price responsiveness into the so far purely quantitative design of the EU ETS would help to preserve its integrity
- In contrast to conventional wisdom, legal analysis reveals that an EU ETS price floor can be legally feasible
- Political support for a carbon price floor is gaining traction across Europ
