EconStor (ZBW Kiel)
Not a member yet
310344 research outputs found
Sort by
Synergies and Antagonisms Between EU Circular Economy and Climate Mitigation Policies: Focusing on Construction Sector
No full textAbstract
Climate change is a growing threat that requires collective action to alter the technologies, consumption, and production methods. Circular economy aims to enhance resource efficiency and reduce waste, but its synergies and antagonists with climate mitigation and innovative policy approaches remain unknown. This study illustrates the antagonisms and synergy paths between climate mitigation and circular practices via a systematic review of European policy levels. It uses European directives as proxies for Circular Economy and Climate Mitigation policies and analyzes 197 relevant directives quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative analysis was used for the official European EuroVoc classification and text mining of keywords relevant to Climate Mitigation, Circular Economy, and construction materials. The qualitative analysis involved an expert analysis of a subsample of 48 key directives and interviews with EU-wide policy and industry representatives. The policy framework suggests that synergies are more common than antagonisms in promoting energy efficiency in recycling processes, which are energy-intensive and may increase transportation requirements. However, extended product life cycle measures can also be used to link these measures. Finally, the study provides practical implications and recommendations for policymakers associated with Circular Economy and Climate Mitigation policies as well as their interrelationship in terms of construction materials, offering a roadmap for effective policy design and implementation
Doing, redoing, or undoing gender of women tech founders in Germany
No full textAbstract
The study focuses on German tech startups, scrutinizing what visibility women founders consider important . In this respect, to what extent they perceive “visibility” in a gendered way is particularly striking. Consequently, we ask what women founders actively do to create a particular gender-(in)dependent visibility : how do they locate themselves in the three-way interplay of reproducing the dualism of masculinity–femininity (doing gender), restructuring it (redoing gender), or eliminating it (undoing gender)? Via our dataset of 20 qualitative interviews with all-women or mixed-gender founding teams, we divide the results of our inductive analysis into gender-independent and gender-dependent dimensions. While the women founders primarily do not understand “visibility as a startup” as gendered at the organizational level, gendered self-images at the individual level exist. Organizational visibility is shaped by phases, target groups, and instruments. For individual, gender-dependent visibility, we find the three ideal types of the (internal or external) feminist, the pragmatic strategist, and the gender neutrality advocate. We link our empirical findings to the opportunities and challenges of doing, redoing, and undoing gender, showing that women tech founders are actively undoing gender in many areas. Our research provides linkages to current debates in women’s entrepreneurship literature, such as entrepreneurial identity or discourses of hypervisibility. Moreover, we deliver practical implications on how to gear women-specific networks, accelerators, and the like toward the actual needs of women founders
Challenges in Research on the Oldest Old: The Example of Inequalities in Functional Health
No full textAbstract
The general relevance of health in old age is in stark contrast to the low number of population-based surveys that include the oldest old. The exclusion of older people with health impairments from population-based surveys has consequences for evidence on health inequalities among the oldest old. This article aims (1) to analyse socioeconomic inequalities in functional health in the oldest old, and (2) to discuss methodological challenges related to surveys in this age group. We used data from the population-based study “Old Age in Germany” (D80+), explicitly including persons living in private households and nursing homes and those experiencing health impairments. In total, 10,578 persons aged 80 years and older participated in the study. We initially focused on the association between educational level and functional health (instrumental activities of daily living). Subsequently, we explored in a set of sensitive analyses (different regression models) how methodological and design decisions impact these results. The results showed inequalities in functional health among the oldest old. Functional limitations were higher in persons with lower education. Sensitivity analyses revealed that when persons who participated via proxy due to health impairments were excluded, no health inequalities were observed anymore. However, they could be observed when persons living in nursing homes were excluded or when different indicators of functional health or socioeconomic resources were used. A high item nonresponse rate constituted a major challenge of the analyses. Our results stress the importance of implementing a methodological approach that explicitly includes the oldest old with health impairments in surveys when analysing health inequalities in this age group. @Die große Bedeutung der Gesundheit im hohen Alter steht in starkem Kontrast zum geringen Anteil bevölkerungsbasierter Surveys, die auch Hochaltrige einbeziehen. Der Ausschluss älterer Menschen mit gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen aus bevölkerungsbasierten Erhebungen hat Folgen für die Erkenntnisse über gesundheitliche Ungleichheiten bei älteren Menschen. Diese Studie zielt darauf ab, (1) sozioökonomische Ungleichheiten in der funktionalen Gesundheit von Hochaltrigen zu analysieren und (2) methodische Herausforderungen von Surveys mit dieser Altersgruppe zu diskutieren. Die Analysen basieren auf Daten der Studie "Hohes Alter in Deutschland" (D80+), die explizit Personen, die in Privathaushalten und Pflegeheimen leben, sowie Personen mit gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen einschließt. Insgesamt haben 10.578 Personen im Alter von 80 Jahren und älter an der Studie teilgenommen. Wir analysierten zunächst den Zusammenhang zwischen Bildungsniveau und funktionaler Gesundheit (instrumentelle Aktivitäten des täglichen Lebens). Anschließend untersuchten wir in einer Reihe von Sensitivitätsanalysen (verschiedene Regressionsmodelle), wie sich methodische und Designentscheidungen auf die Ergebnisse auswirken. Die Ergebnisse zeigten Ungleichheiten in der funktionalen Gesundheit bei Erwachsenen im Alter von 80 Jahren und älter. Funktionale Einschränkungen waren bei Personen mit niedrigerer Bildung häufiger. Sensitivitätsanalysen ergaben, dass beim Ausschluss von Personen, die aufgrund gesundheitlicher Beeinträchtigungen über Stellvertreter oder Stellvertreterinnen teilnahmen, keine gesundheitlichen Ungleichheiten mehr beobachtet wurden. Sie konnten jedoch weiter beobachtet werden, wenn in Pflegeheimen lebende Personen ausgeschlossen wurden oder wenn unterschiedliche Indikatoren für funktionale Gesundheit oder sozioökonomische Ressourcen verwendet wurden. Eine große Herausforderung bei den Analysen war die hohe Item-Non-Response-Rate. Unsere Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Bedeutung eines methodischen Ansatzes, der bei der Analyse gesundheitlicher Ungleichheiten in dieser Altersgruppe explizit auch Hochaltrige mit gesundheitlichen Beeinträchtigungen in die Erhebungen miteinbezieht
An attention-based perspective on how climate impact affects opportunity entrepreneurship
No full textAbstract
Climate impact, which refers to the losses resulting from climate change-related events, is one of the most pressing challenges for societies worldwide. Contributing to the climate impact–entrepreneurship nexus, we assess how climate impact affects individual engagement in opportunity entrepreneurship. Drawing on the attention-based view (ABV) and on socio-cognitive theory (SCT), we hypothesize that climate impact increases opportunity entrepreneurship, and that this effect is moderated by individuals’ socio-cognitive characteristics. Combining data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Climate Risk Index (CRI), we conduct a multilevel analysis that involves 964,440 individuals from 94 countries from 2010 to 2018. In support of our hypotheses, our results suggest that climate impact is positively related to engagement in opportunity entrepreneurship. We also find that this association is negatively moderated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial alertness, and positively by entrepreneurial fear of failure. We conclude by discussing the implications of our attention-based understanding of climate impact as a catalyst for opportunity entrepreneurship.L26;Q01;Q5
Fragmented EU Car Labels: How To Achieve Consumer-Friendly Standardization and Transparency?
No full textAbstract
This study examines the EU car labelling regime for CO2emissions and fuel efficiency under Directive 1999/94/EC (Car Label Directive) from a legal and empirical perspective. The legal comparison of national car labels shows strongly diverging labelling methodologies across the EU: Coloured versus basic labels, relative versus absolute approaches, different units and thresholds, as well as emphasis on CO2emissions versus fuel economy. The very same car will have different ratings in different EU countries. This creates market frictions, undermines the EU’s effort to decarbonise the car sector, and has the potential of misleading consumers. Our empirical analysis of new vehicle registrations from the European Environment Agency offers insights into the fuel efficiency and CO2emissions of cars in the EU as well as national label distributions. All fuel types have ranges of diverging fuel efficiency and (all but electric vehicles) direct tailpipe CO2emissions, which argues in favour of introducing fuel-type dependent car labels for both elements. We further find two opposing trends: On the one hand, consumers opt for more fuel-efficient car models among available options. On the other hand, fuel consumption and CO2emissions slightly increased for fossil-fuel-powered cars in recent years. This finding suggests that consumers care about fuel efficiency, and perhaps reducing CO2emissions, while manufacturers seem less committed to offering more efficient models. We also document heterogeneous national purchasing behaviour as car label distributions in 2024 diverge if the national labelling methodologies were applied to the cars registered in the individual countries and in the entire EU. To solve these discrepancies, we assess options for standardizing car labels at the EU level. A car label review could be inspired by the EU energy efficiency labelling regime for electric appliances under Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 as a labelling role model. We conclude that the future car label would preferably include two distinct coloured scales with absolute labelling thresholds for both CO2emissions and fuel efficiency.R4;K300;K320;L920;L980;Q480;Q58
Auctioning Off Budgets in Procurement
No full textABSTRACT
This article investigates a multi‐unit pay‐as‐bid procurement auction where the auctioneer fixes total spending and maximizes the quantity procured with their predetermined, secret budget. Previous literature has analyzed fixed‐quantity auctions, where the traded quantity is fixed but unknown to the bidders. Compared to such auctions, budget auctions lower the auctioneer's costs by introducing an additional interaction between a bidder's bids; bidders not only weigh a higher profit margin on a unit against a lower probability of supplying that unit; a higher margin on some unit also reduces the probability that the budget suffices to procure more units from the bidder
Migration: The Controversies and the Evidence. Edited by Faini (Riccardo), de Melo (Jaime) and Zimmermann (Klaus F.). (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0 521 66233 8
No full textCapital is not a factor of production but organizes the allocation and distribution of resources in capitalism
No full textAbstract
Economists usually define capital as a factor of production—roughly speaking, as physical equipment. This paper demonstrates the limits of this common approach and develops a meaningful alternative. In actual business life, capital refers to the monetary value of business assets, regardless of what the assets consist of, and as such, it is an important aspect of economic calculations that helps to guide entrepreneurial activities. In this sense, capital is pervasive in capitalist societies. Virtually all goods and services are produced by profit-oriented enterprises. Natural resources, intermediate goods, and finished products all appear on the balance sheets of enterprises and are consequently part of business capital. Likewise, the majority of people are employees of enterprises. They receive their pay because the employing firms consider this to be a profitable investment of their capital. Despite its extreme practical importance, this business notion of capital is ignored by nearly the entire economics profession. The paper shows how economists could profit from adopting the business notion of capital, irrespective of their ideological backgrounds.L26;P12;P1
Qualität von Arbeit in der öffentlichen Verwaltung: erlebte Belastung und Ansatzpunkte für eine salutogene Arbeitsgestaltung
Full text linkReinforcement learning versus data-driven dynamic programming: a comparison for finite horizon dynamic pricing markets
No full textAbstract
Revenue management (RM) plays a vital role to optimize sales processes in real-life applications under incomplete information. The prediction of consumer demand and the anticipation of price reactions of competitors became key factors in RM to be able to apply classical dynamic programming (DP) methods for expected long-term reward maximization. Modern model-free deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) approaches are able to derive optimized policies without explicit estimations of underlying model dynamics. However, RL algorithms typically require either vast amounts of training data or a suitable synthetic model to be trained on. As existing studies focus on one group of algorithms only, the relation between established DP approaches and new RL techniques is opaque. To address this issue, in this paper, we use a dynamic pricing framework for an airline ticket market to compare state-of-the-art RL algorithms and data-driven versions of classic DP methods regarding (i) performance and (ii) required data to each other. For the DP techniques, we use estimations of market dynamics to be able to compare their performance and data consumption against RL methods. The numerical results of our experiments, which include monopoly as well as duopoly markets, allow to study how the different approaches’ performances relate to each other in exemplary settings. In both setups, we find that with few data (about 10 episodes) fitted DP methods were highly competitive; with medium amounts of data (about 100 episodes) DP methods got outperformed by RL, where PPO provided the best results. Given large amounts of training data (about 1000 episodes), the best RL algorithms, i.e., TD3, DDPG, PPO, and SAC, performed similarly achieving about 90% and more of the optimal solution