In Germany exist a large number of co-operatives that are engaged in a broad variety of business activities. Their organisational structure is determined by co-operative law and to a lesser degree by statutes or by-laws. As has been shown for German rural co-operatives by applying property...

This paper contributes to the relatively new literature on the role of intermediaries in international trade. Using Italian firm-level data, we document significant differences between exporters of different types and highlight the role of country-specific fixed cost in the choice of direct...

This paper provides an extensive overview of the economic importance and development of the Flemish maritime ports, over the period 1995 - 2002. Focusing on the three major variables of value added, employment and investment, it also provides some information about the financial situation of a...

This paper is an annual publication issued by the Microeconomic Analysis service of the National Bank of Belgium. The Flemish maritime ports - Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend, Zeebrugge - and the Autonomous Port of Liège play a major role in their respective regional economies and in the Belgian...

This paper provides a survey of the main developments in the iron and steel industry over the last few decades. The first chapter covers the changing conditions on international markets and identifies the main challenges facing the companies in this sector. These include the boom in China, the...

The tasks as well as the types of co-operatives within an economy have continuouslybeen discussed for nearly two hundred years. Since the days ofOwen, the principles as well as the appearance of co-operatives have beenheavily disputed. This became evident by the controversy between...

While other parts of the new institutional economics (e. g. principal agent theory,transaction cost theory) have already been applied to co-operative researchwith some success, property rights theory has as yet been only rarelyused in this regard. At the same time, the traditional structure of...

The tasks as well as the types of co-operatives within an economy have continuously been discussed for nearly two hundred years. Since the days of Owen, the principles as well as the appearance of co-operatives have been heavily disputed. This became evident by the controversy between Huber,...

This paper examines the factors that give rise to intermediaries in exporting and explores the implications for trade volumes. Export intermediaries such as wholesalers serve different markets and export different products than manufacturing exporters. In particular, high market-specific fixed...