Purpose – Hospital managers are confronted with decisions that have to account for multiple objectives, which may be in conflict with regard to efficiency and quality of care. In empirical studies occupancy and staffing ratios as well as in‐hospital mortality are frequently used measures for...

Zusammenfassung Fragestellung des Papieres ist, ob junge Unternehmen durch die Inanspruchnahme einer Beteiligungsfinanzierung (Untersuchungsgruppe) eine bessere unternehmerische Performance erzielen können im Vergleich zu einer „repräsentativen" Menge von nicht mit Beteiligungskapital...

Summary Statements emphasizing the major contribution of the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for net job creation are quite frequent. Concerning the current definition of SMEs provided by the European Commission (EC), this paper makes a first attempt to approximate SMEs’ contribution...

Summary This paper deals with the medium-term effects of job mobility on the average wage growth of job-movers in eastern Germany. The analysis is based on all employees subject to social insurance contributions working in eastern Germany in 2004. Using a statistical matching procedure combined...

Summary The accuracy of macroeconomic forecast depends on various factors, most importantly the mix of analytical methods used by the individual forecasters, the way that their personal experience is shaping their identification strategies, but also their efficiency in translating new...

Summary Using data on the valuation of Christmas gifts received by students enrolled in different fields at a German university, we investigate whether the endowment effect, the difference between asking and bidding prices, differs between males and females, students of economics and other...

Summary An eternal motive of human existence is the search for guidance.While values and beliefs retain their high relevance, today’s enlightened societies also tend to rest their aspirations and decisions on the actual facts and on a sober assessment of possible courses of events emerging...

Summary Identifying free-ridership is significant to several issues relevant to program evaluation, including the calculation of net program benefits and assessments of political acceptability. Despite the potential of free-ridership to seriously undermine the economic efficiency of a program...

Summary As part of its efforts to reach the targets of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission published in December 2008 a resolution on a new directive to reduce the per-kilometer CO2 emissions of newly registered automobiles. This paper critically assesses this resolution with respect to...