587 research outputs found
Do competition and ownership matter? Evidence from local public transport in Europe
No full textThis article investigates how the ownership and the selection procedure of
firms operating in the Local Public Transport (LPT) sector affect their
productivity. In order to compare different institutional regimes, we carry
out a comparative analysis of 77 companies operating in large European
cities over the period 1997 to 2006. This allows us to consider firms selected
either through competitive tendering or negotiated procedures. Retrieving
the residuals we obtain a measure of Total Factor Productivity (TFP), which
we regress on firm and city characteristics. We find that totally or partially
public firms display lower productivity than privately owned firms.
Moreover, firms selected through competitive tendering display higher TFP
Determinants of State Aid to Firms: The case of the European Car Industry
No full textUsing an original database for the 1992–2008 period, we investigate the determinants of state aid to the automotive industry in the European Union (EU). We find evidence that EU policies have been effective in reducing state aid and re-orientating it toward horizontal objectives. However, national politics still have considerable relevance. During election years, governments are more generous, and this is particularly true in EU countries with proportional representation. Finally, a strategic game between countries seems to take place, whereby a country’s decision to grant aid seems to be responsive to aid previously granted by other member states
Aiding car producers in the EU: money in search of a strategy
No full textWe investigate how the general principles of the Treaty have been applied to the car sector in the EU, given the specific soft law provisions which are typical of the sector. A detailed quantitative analysis from 1990 to 2008 highlights a reduction of aid over time. A shift from sectoral to “regional development” motives in granting aid to the sector is also observed in the last ten years. However, sector specific aid is now less explicit but it remains important. Large amounts of public money are spent without a consistent strategy, reducing capacity in some cases, expanding it in others. The scarcity of public funds calls for a more focussed European policy for this industry
Stranger in our Midst::The Becoming of the Queer God in the Theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the link in this record.Book description: Marcella Althaus-Reid was one of the most fascinating and controversial theologians of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Her strong personality and her iconoclastic work inspired a whole generation of theologians in the UK and worldwide. Marcella's creative life was cut short by her death from cancer in 2009. Yet she lives on, not least in those who have been inspired by her work and continue to engage with it. "Dancing Theology in Fetish Boots" draws together a number of world-class scholars and others who engage with the main themes of Marcella's work and show how the critical and controversial conversations which Marcella has begun can and do continue. It is therefore far more than a Festschrift, but a celebration of an intellectual life Marcella-style
Пары в романе «Отцы и дети» И.С. Тургенева. Герменевтическое предположение [Pary v romane "Otcy i deti" I. S. Turgeneva. Germenetičeskoe predpoloženie - Le coppie nel romanzo "Padri e figli di I. S. Turgenev. Un'ipotesi ermeneutica]
No full textIt is not by accident that the last chapter of Ivan Turgenev's novel Father and Sons two weddings take place. At the very end of the novel a couple of parents is stansing in front of their son's grave. These three couples organise the novel's social and intimate space, on the background of other couples, less important in the narration, and of other love stories, bound do end badly. The essay gives an overview of the couples presented in the novel and considers their role in the narrative plo
A 4th millennium temple/palace complex at Arslantepe-Malatya. North-South relations and the formation of early state societies in the northern regions of Greater Mesopotamia
No full textThis article reconsiders the nature of relations between the southern and northern communities of "Greater Mesopotamia " during the Late Uruk period and- the effects that the so-called, expansion of southern groups had on the formation of the first state societies in the northern regions of Syria and Eastern Anatolia. The author stresses the earlier historical roots of the unitv of Greater Mesopotamia as well as the importance of local components in the development of new centralised political structures. The changes in interregional and intersite relations during this time also seem to be inainly a result of structural changes which took place in the individual societies both in the north and, in the south. The analysis is based on the emblematic case of Arslantepe (Malatva), where the wealth of data from a large public area has made it possible to reconstruct an earlv "State" svstem stronglv interacting with the southern societies, but based on the growth of local organisational structures.Nouvelle étude de la nature des rapports entretenus entre les communautés du Nord, et du Sud de la, « Greater Mesopotamia » au cours de l'Uruk récent, plus particulièrement de l'influence que l'expansion de groupes venant du Sud a pu avoir, dans les régions septentrionales de la Syrie et de l'Anatolie orientale, sur la naissance et l'évolution des premières formes de l'État. Sont mises en évidence aussi bien les racines historiques de l'unité culturelle qui caractérise la « Greater Mesopotamia » que l'importance des composantes locales et, le rôle que les unes et les autres jouèrent dans le développement d'organisations politiques centralisées. Les changements observés tant au niveau inter- régional qu 'au niveau des sites à cette époque sont dus principalement aux changements structuraux qui prirent place, et dans les sociétés du nord et dans celles du sud. Cette analyse est fondée sur le cas exemplaire que nous offre le site d'Arslan Tepe (Malatya) où la richesse des données provenant d'une vaste zone d'édifices publics a permis de proposer une reconstruction d'une proto-organisation d'un État avant de fortes interactions avec les sociétés du Sud, mais qui, en même temps, reposait sur le développement de structures tout à fait locales.Frangipane Marcella. A 4th-millennium temple/palace complex at Arslantepe-Malatya. North-South relations and the formation of early state societies in the Northern regions of Greater Mesopotamia.. In: Paléorient, 1997, vol. 23, n°1. pp. 45-73
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