Suchergebnisse

Dottorato di ricerca in Biotecnologia degli alimenti ; This PhD research project focused on the optimization of the biotechnological process for vanillin production from ferulic acid using recombinant Escherichia coli cells. Nowadays flavours market covers about one fourth of the global food additives market with a 25 million dollar turnover and a 5.5% growth rate. Flavouring compounds are generally produced by chemical synthesis or extractive methods from natural sources. Flavours produced by chemical synthesis, are classified as "artificial flavours"; also these processes are damaging for environment and cause some problems with unwanted compounds, with reduction of the process efficiency and rise of the product recovery costs. On the other hand, extraction processes from plants are often more expensive because of the low concentrations of the molecules target in the raw material. Moreover cost of aromatic compounds extracted from plants depends on uncontrollable factors such as plant diseases and weather conditions. The drawbacks of both methods and the increasing interest of consumers in natural product (Sinha et al., 2008), reported in recent market surveys, have led a great interest in the exploration of more "eco-friendly" procedures for production of natural flavours. Vanillin is the major compound responsible for vanilla aroma. It is one of the most commonly used aromatic compounds in drugs and food industry. Since vanillin extracted from cured vanilla beans is very expensive and its availability depends on plantations production, curing process duration and labour costs. Synthetically produced vanillin is the most commonly used in vanilla flavoured products, and covering 99% of the global market. According to the regulation No 1334/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, vanillin produced by biotechnology from natural feedstocks can be classified as 'natural flavoring', provided that the source is always specified. All these factors make vanillin an important commercial target for biotechnological industry, and bases and applied research. Since vanillin is an intermediate product of the ferulic acid catabolism (a compound present in significant quantities in the lignocellulosic material) it is possible to confer the ability to convert ferulic acid to vanillin, through metabolic engineering, to strains unable to degrade ferulic acid. Unfortunately these bioconversion processes are not economically competitive yet; the high chemical activity and toxicity of both the product (vanillin) and the substrate (ferulic acid) cause low yield in the bioconversion process. With this research project, aiming at develop a competitive bioconversion process for vanillin production, many factors influencing the system productivity and selectivity, have been optimized. Bioconversion experiments carried out using resting cells of E. coli demonstrated that composition and pH of bioconversion buffer affected the formation of vanillin and unwanted products such as vanillyl alcohol. Using moderately alkaline bioconversion buffer (pH 9.0) it has been possible to double the amount of final product, with respect to the systems until now described. Using the statistical approach of the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) it has been possible to evaluate the synergic effect of ferulic acid concentration and stirring speed on the productivity and selectivity of the bioconversion process. Our results demonstrated that the highest vanillin title obtained incubating cells at 135-165 rpm range and initial ferulic acid concentration of 12-18 mM. Under optimized working conditions, vanillin yield increased from 8.51 ± 0.02 to 11.63 ± 0.1 mM, while, ferulic acid concentration higher than 20 mM cause a drastic decrease in vanillin production. Finally, to maintain low initial concentration of ferulic acid in the bioconversion buffer a two-phase (solid-liquid) system for the controlled release of the substrate has been developed. Using agarose gel cylinders containing ferulic acid, in conjunction with optimized buffer and nutrient amendments (LB medium), we demonstrated that, compared to previous results (Barghini et al., 2007), it is possible to increase vanillin final title (up 20%); to reduce the bioconversion time from 4 to 1 day; to increase the final vanillin concentration in the liquid phase of 5-fold. The maximum amount of accumulated vanillin in the liquid phase under optimized conditions was 20.57 ± 0.05 mM, the highest found in the literature for recombinant E. coli strains. In conclusion, results obtained demonstrated that vanillin production by resting cells of E. coli can be increased significantly by acting on several parameters, including the bioconversion buffer formulation and the way to modulate the substrate concentration. ; Questo progetto di tesi ha riguardato lo studio e l'ottimizzazione della produzione biotecnologica di vanillina a partire da acido ferulico utilizzando ceppi ricombinanti di Escherichia coli. Attualmente, il mercato degli aromi copre circa un quarto del mercato mondiale degli additivi alimentari, e il suo giro d'affari è stimato in 25 milioni di dollari, con un tasso di crescita annuo del 5.5%. I composti aromatici vengono generalmente prodotti per sintesi chimica o per via estrattiva da matrici naturali. Le sostanze aromatizzanti ottenute per sintesi chimica, anche se a partire da materie prime naturali, sono classificate come "aromi artificiali"; inoltre questo tipo di processi possono essere dannosi per l'ambiente e comportare alcuni problemi come la formazione di composti non desiderati, con conseguente riduzione nell'efficienza del processo e aumento dei costi di recupero del prodotto. D'altra parte i processi di estrazione da matrici naturali sono spesso costosi a causa della bassa concentrazione delle molecole di interesse. In questo caso i maggiori svantaggi sono legati al fattori ambientali e climatici che comportano un prezzo di mercato molto alto. Gli svantaggi dei metodi estrattivi e di sintesi, e l'interesse crescente dei consumatori per prodotti naturali (Sinha et al. 2008), ha portato alla ricerca di strategie ecosostenibili per la produzione di aromi naturali, come la vanillina. La vanillina è il composto caratterizzante dell'aroma di vaniglia, e rappresenta una delle principali sostanze aromatizzanti impiegate nell'industria alimentare e farmaceutica. La vanillina estratta dai baccelli curati dell'orchidea Vanilla planifolia è molto costosa, poiché la sua produzione è limitata dall'areale di diffusione della pianta, da fattori climatici e ambientali che condizionano lo sviluppo della pianta, dall'impollinazione che deve essere effettuata manualmente e dalla durata del processo di cura dei baccelli di vaniglia. Nei prodotti aromatizzati alla vaniglia si utilizza quasi esclusivamente vanillina ottenuta per sintetica chimica, che di fatto ricopre circa il 99% del mercato mondiale. In accordo con il Regolamento Europeo 1334/2008 del Parlamento e del Consiglio, la vanillina prodotta per via biotecnologica a partire da materie prime naturali è classificabile come aroma naturale a condizione che la matrice di partenza venga sempre specificata. Questi fattori rendono la vanillina un target commerciale importante per le industrie biotecnologiche, e per la ricerca di base e applicata. Poiché la vanillina è un intermedio del catabolismo dell'acido ferulico (composto presente in abbondanza negli scarti lignocellulosici), ed i geni che codificano per gli enzimi responsabili della degradazione dell'acido ferulico sono stati caratterizzati, è possibile conferire la capacità di convertire l'acido ferulico in vanillina, tramite tecniche di ingegneria metabolica, anche a ceppi che non sono in grado di degradare questo composto. Purtroppo i processi per la produzione biotecnologica di vanillina non sono ancora competitivi dal punto di vista economico; l'elevata reattività della vanillina e la tossicità sia del prodotto che del substrato (acido ferulico) comportano basse rese e alti costi nel recupero del prodotto, nonché un alto impatto ambientale a una selettività poco elevata, il che può portare alla formazione di prodotti indesiderati la cui presenza può essere incompatibile con l'uso alimentare. In questo lavoro di tesi è stata valutata la possibilità di utilizzare cellule resting di E. coli per produrre vanillina a partire da acido ferulico, andando a valutare parametri importanti che influenzano la produttività e la selettività del sistema catalitico. I risultati ottenuti hanno evidenziato che l'efficacia del processo di bioconversione è strettamente collegata alla formulazione e al pH del mezzo di bioconversione. Utilizzando tamponi di bioconversione moderatamente alcalini (pH 9.0) è possibile ottenere un incremento di due volte nella quantità di prodotto finale rispetto ai sistemi fino ad oggi descritti. Inoltre, utilizzando l'approccio statistico della Superficie di Risposta (Response Surfece Methodology, RSM) è stato possibile valutare l'effetto sinergico della concentrazione iniziale di acido ferulico e della velocità di agitazione sulla resa molare e la selettività del sistema catalitico. Tali prove hanno dimostrato che entrambe le variabili influenzano il processo e che i risultati migliori sono ottenuti fissando la velocità di agitazione tra 135-165 rpm e la concentrazione di acido ferulico tra 12-18 mM. Nelle condizioni ottimali individuate nel presente lavoro la vanillina prodotta con cellule resting di E. coli FR13 è aumentata da 8.51 ± 0.02 a 11.63 ± 0.1 mM. Concentrazioni iniziali di acido ferulico superiori a 20 mM causano un drastico decremento nella quantità massima di vanillina. Infine, per controllare la concentrazione di acido ferulico nel mezzo di bioconversione è stato sviluppato un sistema a due fasi (solido-liquido) per il rilascio controllato del substrato nel mezzo di bioconversione. Utilizzando acido ferulico intrappolato all'interno di cilindri di agarosio è stato possibile, rispetto a quanto ottenuto in studi precedenti (Barghini et al., 2007), incrementare la quantità massima di vanillina prodotta del 20%; ridurre la durata del processo da 4 ad un giorno; aumentare la concentrazione di vanillina nel mezzo liquido di cinque volte, fino a 20.57 mM , la quantità più alta attualmente ottenuta in letteratura sfruttando cellule resting di E. coli. In conclusione i dati mostrati indicano che la produzione di vanillina mediante cellule resting di E. coli può essere incrementata in modo significativo agendo su più parametri di processo, inclusi la formulazione del mezzo di bioconversione e la modalità di somministrazione del substrato.

2011/2012 ; Molte attività antropiche sono localizzate lungo le coste e poggiano sui molteplici servizi offerti da questi particolari ecosistemi. Con l'aumentare della vulnerabilità e del sempre più accentuato stato di degrado di queste aree, diverse politiche ambientali sono state sviluppate con lo scopo di promuovere una gestione sostenibile delle risorse naturali, tra cui la Direttiva Quadro sulla Strategia per l'Ambiente Marino (2008/56/EC) in Europa. Le realtà economiche e sociali sono strettamente connesse tra loro e con i sistemi ecologici su cui poggiano. Per comprendere come l'uomo interagisce con l'ambiente, il modello concettuale DPSIR viene ampiamente adottato. Inoltre, sul piano strettamente ecologico, una solida conoscenza del funzionamento dell'ecosistema costiero costituisce un prerequisito fondamentale. Questa tematica complessa deriva dall'integrazione di parametri sia strutturali (caratterizzazione chimica e delle comunità biologiche) che funzionali (quali i principali processi di produzione primaria, respirazione e degradazione della sostanza organica), che nell'insieme descrivono come le varie forme di carbonio sono stoccate e come si realizza il fluire di carbonio ed energia attraverso il sistema. Lo studio del funzionamento dell'ecosistema bentonico costituisce uno strumento particolarmente utile nello sviluppare forme sostenibili di gestione ambientale dal momento che il dominio bentonico funge da deposito di ciò che avviene nella colonna d'acqua. I casi di studio presentati descrivono la parte PSI del modello concettuale DPSIR: come le Pressioni inducono cambiamenti nello Stato dell'ecosistema determinando di conseguenza alterazioni ambientali ed eventuali influenze negative sulle attività umane (Impatti). Lo scopo della tesi consiste nel contribuire a promuovere una gestione basata sull'ecosistema e sul suo funzionamento in aree costiere mediante una miglior conoscenza della sua funzionalità in presenza di specifici stress. I casi di studio vengono presentati secondo un ordine dettato dell'aumentare della complessità dell'approccio seguito: dal più semplice, caratterizzato solo da parametri strutturali, al più complesso, in cui sono stati indagati anche diversi parametri funzionali. La risposta della comunità microalgale bentonica (microfitobenthos - MPB) alle biodeposizioni derivanti dalle mitilicolture è stata studiata non solo paragonando una mitilicoltura con un controllo ma anche considerando le caratteristiche della comunità sotto ad un impianto più recente e in un'area dove l'attività è stata rimossa (Capitolo 2). Questo approccio innovativo permette di indagare l'evoluzione temporale dell'impatto e se è possibile un ripristino. Comparando le quattro aree, la comunità è caratterizzata da una maggiore proliferazione dei taxa tolleranti a condizioni di arricchimento organico sotto alle mitilicolture attive rispetto agli altri due siti. L'area dismessa, inoltre, presenta un popolamento microalgale simile a quello del controllo suggerendo la resilienza del sistema e, di conseguenza, una certa sostenibilità dell'attività di mitilicoltura. Tre comunità bentoniche sono state studiate sinotticamente in un'area costiera soggetta a stress multipli, come l'influenza del Po, la presenza di piattaforme per l'estrazione del gas e il prelievo/scarico di sedimenti (Capitolo3). Insieme alla caratterizzazione chimica, lo studio del MPB, della meiofauna e della macrofauna forniscono una descrizione dello stato dell'ecosistema bentonico in un esempio di monitoraggio che costituisce una base di dati a cui fare riferimento prima di qualsiasi intervento nell'area d'interesse. Lo studio di mesocosmo (Capitolo 4) è focalizzato sulla risposta della comunità microbica bentonica ad un abbassamento di pH dovuto alla fuoriuscita di CO2 da un suo sito di stoccaggio CCS (Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage). Costituisce un esempio di esperimento condotto in laboratorio con lo scopo di simulare eventuali scenari futuri derivanti da un intervento antropico in ambiente naturale prima della sua realizzazione. Relativamente a questo focus, sia i parametri strutturali (abbondanze picobentoniche, densità e composizione del MPB) che i funzionali relativi alla comunità microbica bentonica (attività enzimatiche, Produzione Procariotica di C e respirazione) sono stati studiati per la prima volta. I risultati suggeriscono che la comunità microbica è scarsamente sensibile anche ad un considerevole abbassamento di pH, probabilmente a causa di un effetto buffer esercitato dalla matrice sedimentaria. L'azione sinergica di idrocarburi e metalli pesanti sul funzionamento dell'ecosistema bentonico è stata studiata in un sistema fluviale-lagunare severamente contaminato (Capitolo 5). Numerosi parametri sono stati considerati e dalla loro integrazione deriva un'accurata descrizione del fluire di carbonio attraverso il sistema. I risultati relativi ai parametri microbici come le attività degradative, le produzioni primaria e secondaria e l'analisi del MPB, delineano una situazione inaspettata nel sito considerato più impattato. Il sedimento di tale stazione ospita infatti una comunità microbica bentonica estremamente attiva sia in termini di produttori primari che di procarioti volti al recupero della sostanza organica e conseguente conversione in nuova biomassa. Gli studi presentati in questa tesi non hanno la pretesa di costituire una descrizione esaustiva e completa del funzionamento dell'ecosistema bentonico, ma sottolineano l'importanza di questo approccio innovativo nel contribuire a sviluppare forme sostenibili di gestione delle risorse costiere. ; Several human activities are settled along the coasts and rely on the ecosystem services provided by nature. The growing concern about the vulnerability of these areas promotes the development of environmental policies aimed at the sustainable management of the marine resources, such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/CE) in Europe. Economic, societal and ecological systems are closely interlinked. For understanding how man interacts with the environment, the DPSIR conceptual model is largely adopted. Moreover, a robust knowledge on the coastal ecosystem functioning is needed as a prerequisite. This complex task derives by the integration of both structural (chemical and biological communities) and functional (processes as primary production, respiration and mineralisation) parameters which together describe the forms of carbon storage (organic and inorganic) and the flows of carbon and energy through the system. The study of the benthic ecosystem functioning is a tool particularly useful in developing sustainable management of coastal environments because the benthic domain acts as a repository of what happens in the overlying water. The four case-studies of my thesis focus on the PSI part of the DIPSIR conceptual model, i.e. on how Pressures translate into State changes which may, in turn, negatively affect the environment and the human activities (Impacts). The goal is to contribute in achieving an operational ecosystem-based management of coastal and shallow environments by improving the scientific knowledge on the functioning of shallow benthic ecosystems under specific pressures. The order of the papers is from the simplest to the most complex approach by adding the structural parameters first and then the functional ones. The response of the benthic microalgal community (microphytobenthos - MPB) to the mussel farm biodeposition has been investigated not only comparing the sediment beneath a mussel farm with a control site but also considering a relatively recent mussel farm and a disused one (Chapter 2). This innovative approach in the experimental design allows to study the temporal evolution of the mussel farming impact and the potential recovery of microphytobenthos. The community changes among the four areas with a more pronounced proliferation of those taxa that are tolerant to organic enrichment under the active mussel farms than in the other two sites. The disused farm is characterised by an assemblage similar to that of the control suggesting a resilience of the system and consequently the sustainability of this productive activity. Three benthic communities have been synoptically investigated in a shallow area subjected to multiple-stressor impacts such as the Po River influence, the presence of gas platforms, sediment dumping and sand extraction (Chapter 3). Together with some chemical parameters (Total Organic Carbon, Total Nitrogen, etc.), the synoptic study of different communities (MPB, meiofauna and macrofauna) gives a description of the state of the benthic ecosystem as an example of monitoring survey which represents the reference point for decision-makers prior to any kind of intervention. The mesocosm study (Chapter 4) focuses on the response of shallow benthic microbial communities to a decrease of pH due to the leakage of CO2 from a Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) site. This is an example of a laboratory experiment aimed to simulate and predict the possible scenarios derived by an anthropogenic intervention in the natural environment before its actual execution. Benthic microbial structural (prokaryote abundance, MPB densities and composition) and functional parameters (exoenzymatic activities, Prokaryotic C Production and benthic respiration) have been investigated for the first time within this focus. Overall, the findings suggest a microbial community slightly sensitive to consistent pH decrease probably due to a buffer effect exerted by the sedimentary matrix. The synergistic impact of hydrocarbons and heavy metals on the benthic ecosystem functioning has been investigated in a severely contaminated Adriatic lagoon (Chapter 5). Several parameters have been considered in order to describe the overall flow of C through the system. The exoenzymatic activities, the Prokaryotic C Production, MPB composition and the Primary Production suggest an unexpected situation in the site that is considered the most impacted. The sediments at this station are inhabited by a microalgal community that is extremely active in fixing inorganic C through the Primary Production process. In addition, the occurrence of an efficient prokaryotic community in transforming the sedimentary organic C in new biomass, suggests a solid benthic microbial loop. These studies have not the pretence to describe exhaustively the benthic ecosystem functioning. Nevertheless they highlight the importance of this innovative approach in contributing to the development of a sustainable management of coastal resources. ; XXV Ciclo ; 1984

Julian Go's objective in Patterns of Empire is intentionally transparent from the very beginning: to definitely refute the idea of American "exceptionalism." Exceptionalism refers to the set of arguments that take the national character of the United States as unique and as the source of its "special" role in the world. It comes both in the form of "empire deniers" (especially those arguing that the U.S. never was, and never will be an empire due to its "liberal" nature) or defenders of America's "benevolent" empire (for example, the controversial academic/public-figure/neoconservative Niall Ferguson). But can also be located in revisionist historians that, while accepting the nature of the United States as an empire, argue that it was an imperial formation of a "particular" kind: an "informal empire." Go's central claim is that exceptionlism is a relational property; American empire can only be exceptional in relation to other empires. However, no detailed accounts of the United States as an empire in comparative perspective exist up to date. Thus by recurring to comparative sociological methods and an impressive handle of historical knowledge the author will show how British and American imperial formations have homologous patterns. This should convince the reader, Go argues, that exceptionalism lives only in the minds of politicians, scholars and laymen with particular political agendas. Empires are usually studied as quasi-homogenous units of analysis. This is analytically problematic. By taking the concept of "imperial formation" (see the work by Cooper and Burbank) he defines empire as "a sociopolitical formation wherein a central political authority (a king, a metropole, or imperial state) exercises unequal influence and power over the political (and in effect the sociopolitical) processes of a subordinate society, people, or space." Such a definition allows us to locate empires in cases where there is colonialism (i.e. formal, territorial empire), but also to think more systematically about informal empires, as well as to study variation in the application of power by the metropolis within the same imperial formation. Moreover, and following recent trends in the social sciences that pay particular attention to sequencing in historical analysis (most prominently "historical institutionalism"), the author suggests that empires should be compared at similar stages of economic development. Therefore, he will compare empires at homologous "hegemonic stages": ascendency, maturity, and decline. The broader point, disaggregated in several chapters, is that both the US and GB were more aggressive and colonial (i.e. formal imperial formations) during their periods of ascendency and decline (1763-1815 and 1873-1939 for Great Britain, 1873-1945 and 1974-present for the US), and less aggressive and prone to informal empire (e.g. using puppet regimes in Latin America) during their stages of maturity (1816-1872 for GB, 1946-1973 for the US). One of Go's richest moves is to account for intra-empire variation in a specific stage. To take one example, the US had a "tutelage" imperial formation in the Philippines, while at the same time having a "hands-off" type of empire in Guam. This difference, the author argues, responds not to America's national character but to "what happened at the point of application of power." In attempting to legitimize their imperial rule, both GB and the US created different governing institutions for their subjects. These institutions needed to "fit" local conditions in order to be legitimized. Provincializing imperial formations is an interesting way to overcome some of the problems of metropole-centered thinking. Chapter 4, "Imperial Forms and Global Fields," shows Go's theorizing at its most creative. Qualifying his claims on patterns of imperial types during homologous hegemonic stages, Go notes that American and British empires recurred to different types of imperialism during "mature hegemony" (see above for periodization). While GB mixed formal and informal empire, the US was engaged mainly in informal empire (with some brutal exceptions, like Vietnam). Classical explanations of this theoretical anomaly would recur to the tropes of a "special character" that defines the leader of the "free world." Nonsense, Go would say. Explanations at the level of ideas, people and culture in the metropolis (e.g. "special, liberal character of the US") should be substituted by analyses at the level of "global fields." These "global fields," borrowing from Bourdieu's dictionary, are defined as the broader international context in which empires are situated. They have both a material political ecology and a cultural structure. For example, the US became the hegemon in a historical moment in which most of the world was either colonized or formally recognized (in the sense that sovereignty had been extended to places in the periphery that, for example, did not enjoy it when GB set out its imperial enterprise around the 18th century). Therefore, and for several reasons, informal empire (e.g. recurring to Latin American puppet regimes) was far less complicated than recolonizing the periphery. On the other hand, at the end of WWII, the US could rely on already institutionalized European empires to keep trade and resources flowing (what Go terms "outsourcing" of empire). However, a puzzle remains. By 1960 European empires were being rapidly relocated to the dustbin of History. Then, why didn't the US engage in a new wave of colonization (or formal empire)? The explanation, according to Go, needs to be done at the level of political culture; and not the culture of the metropole, but that of the colonized. American informal empire responded to a shift in the discursive structure of the global field. Universal self-determination and anti-colonization were too entrenched for the US -caring about legitimating its dominance- to apply direct territorial control. Even more, in a deontologizing move, discourses of self-determination and anti-colonialism became useful imperial tools to gather political support and accumulate symbolic power (a la Bourdieu) (a good historical example being the Suez Crisis in 1956). "To win hearts and minds and thereby win the Cold War," the author argues, "the United States had to support national independence around the world rather than squash it by recolonization.direct colonial rule was no longer an option" (p. 153). Once again, the site of application of power mattered just as much, or even more, than the metropole itself. Lastly, are there patterns of imperial formation for declining hegemons? The answer is yes: declining hegemons, his comparative study suggests, are more aggressive than mature empires. "During the late nineteenth century -concomitant with its relative decline- the British state tended to replace informal with formal modes" (p. 171). Since the constraining nature of discourses in the global fields are still present nowadays, Go argues that increased aggressiveness and boldness in American interventions in the world should be seen as substitutes for GB's renewed colonialism in its stage of declining hegemony. Go presents extensive statistical data, besides his narrative process-tracing, that supports these patterns in the British and American empire. The argument that the US has been an empire is, I think, indisputable (even without bringing up the expansion to the West). So is the importance of factors particular to the colonized to explain the types of imperial institutions that are installed (an insight that is shared by some of the work in "comparative colonialism" in historical and rational institutionalism, although the author does not dialogue with this literature). However, with just one fifth of the book to go, the reader might legitimately wonder if the author will give an explanation of imperial forms, instead of just showing correlations between hegemonic stages and imperial forms to substantiate his claim of homology in British and American patterns of empire. The answer comes on page 184. And, unfortunately, it's not a convincing one. Hegemonic ascent and decline fosters colonialism or increased intervention and violence because these are times of economic crisis, geopolitical threats, and peripheral instability (although economic threats appear to be doing most of the work). It is during these periods that the hegemon has less confidence in itself and its safety (confidence that leads the hegemon to strive for the status quo in the stage of hegemonic maturity). "They [the imperialisms of declining powers] do not represent the work of powerful empires flexing their muscles, but rather ailing hegemons tactically trying to ward off impeding doom. Rather than feats of strength, they are acts of desperation amidst the threat of final demise." At its core, this theoretical argument is none other than the hegemonic stability theory of Robert Gilpin and others. It has very little of the sophistication one encounters in his idea of "global fields" and does not suggest new and exciting ways to think about empires. Acknowledging this weak spot does little to obscure the many strengths of Patterns of Empire. Among them, the author does convincingly show the parochialism of American "exceptionalism." He does the literature a service by clearly differentiating hegemony from empire. Moreover, by developing the concept of global field, Go not only brings culture back to the (way too materialist and determinist) study of power in international relations, but demystifies the metropole and gives agency and voice to the subaltern. Patterns of Empire should be seen as a first step in new modes of theorizing empire and power in international politics that hopefully will be followed by others. Sobre el autorUniversity of Pennsylvania Department of Political Science

Generalmente cuando se hace referencia al término "corrupción", inmediatamente se piensa en la relación que existe entre una persona que corrompe y la otra que es corrompida, y el pago por un soborno, comúnmente llamado "coima". Sin embargo, la corrupción es un fenómeno mucho más complejo que va más allá de esta simple relación bilateral e involucra aspectos políticos, económicos, sociales y culturales. Actualmente existe consenso entre académicos, políticos, sociedad civil y agencias multilaterales que la corrupción es un aspecto de la gobernanza que afecta negativamente el desarrollo de los países. Desde el punto de vista político, la corrupción reduce la credibilidad del sistema y de las instituciones en general, desincentivando el compromiso cívico con proyectos colectivos y debilitando la influencia que los electores pueden tener en un sistema democrático. Desde el punto de vista económico, la corrupción tiene efectos negativos sobre el crecimiento económico a través del canal de la inversión, ya que los inversores ven la corrupción como un impuesto que reduce los incentivos a invertir. Asimismo, la corrupción genera distorsiones en la economía que estimulan la búsqueda de rentas y desestimulan actividades productivas. La eficiencia de las políticas públicas también se ve afectada por la corrupción, ya que en presencia de reglas poco claras y actividades que buscan renta económica, la inversión pública puede orientarse a proyectos donde es más fácil obtener un soborno, como pueden ser nuevos proyectos de infraestructura, en perjuicio de otro tipo de proyectos sociales tales como la educación y la salud. En relación a este punto, la corrupción también distorsiona y genera ineficiencias en la asistencia financiera internacional. Finalmente, la corrupción altera los niveles de confianza entre las personas y promueve las conductas deshonestas entre los ciudadanos. Antes de avanzar con las posibles causas o factores que estimulan o desestimulan la corrupción, resulta importante definir primero el concepto. A tales efectos, me referiré al término corrupción como "el abuso del poder público para obtener un beneficio privado". Si bien existen varias definiciones de este término, algunas que incorporan el aspecto legal agregando que dicho abuso se presenta en incumplimiento de las normas, las medidas que permiten cuantificar la corrupción hacen referencia a la percepción de la corrupción por parte dela opinión pública, que muchas veces pueden ignorar el aspecto legal. ¿Por qué el poder público es utilizado en algunos países más que en otros para obtener un beneficio privado? La respuesta depende del balance entre costos y beneficios asociados al acto de corrupción. En países donde los costos por involucrarse en un acto de corrupción son más elevados, uno esperaría percibir menores niveles de corrupción. El costo es más elevado en países donde el sistema legal es más efectivo en términos de penalizar desvíos de las normas o incumplimientos. En países donde el nivel de burocratización es más elevado, o en presencia de excesivas reglas y regulaciones, el pago de un soborno es visto como un beneficio que permite reducir los tiempos y costos de transacción.En países con larga tradición democrática, es más probable que los costos asociados a la corrupción sean más elevados, ya que ante la mayor exposición política y el mayor involucramiento cívico, el monitoreo y control es mayor.En último lugar, la mayor apertura comercial de un país puede reducir los niveles de corrupción, ya que tiene el potencial de reducir la discrecionalidad asociada a las políticas comerciales más proteccionistas. Para poder comparar distintos países en términos de los niveles de corrupción se requiere primero contar con una medida que permita cuantificar la corrupción. Como mencioné anteriormente, algunos de los indicadores disponibles que miden la corrupción son indicadores de percepción basados en encuestas. Estos indicadores son muy generales y permiten comparar a un país en términos de otro, pero carecen de especificidad ya que no permiten identificar qué institución o qué aspecto de un país merece especial atención. Para eso hay estudios académicos que han tratado de agrupar a los países de acuerdo a distintas tipologías o "síndromes" de corrupción. Asimismo, el Banco Mundial ha desarrollado indicadores de gobernanza y de facilidad para realizar negocios en los distintos países, que permiten profundizar diversos aspectos vinculados a las causas y consecuencias de la corrupción, mencionadas en este artículo. Por ejemplo, una de las dimensiones de los indicadores de gobernanza que publica el Banco Mundial desde 1996 es la de control de la corrupción. Por otro lado, la Corporación Financiera Internacional (IFC, por sus siglas en inglés), institución miembro del Grupo del Banco Mundial, también analiza datos que se relacionan con distintos aspectos mencionados en este artículo que se vincularían con el término corrupción. Tal es el caso del proyecto "Doing Business" que proporciona mediciones sobre las distintas regulaciones y la facilidad para realizar negocios a través de indicadores que miden el tiempo y los pasos requeridos para empezar un nuevo negocio, la capacidad de cumplimiento de contratos, entre otros. Para contar con un diagnóstico general que permita posicionar a los países en términos de corrupción, voy a referirme al indicador más comúnmente usado para medir la percepción de la corrupción a nivel mundial, pese a sus limitaciones. Se trata del Índice de Percepción de Corrupción (CPI, por sus siglas en inglés) elaborado por una organización no gubernamental llamada Transparencia Internacional. Este indicador clasifica a los países en términos del grado de corrupción percibida en oficiales públicos y autoridades políticas. Las fuentes de información usadas para la construcción de este indicador se basan en encuestas realizadas a empresarios y analistas por parte de organizaciones multilaterales y agencias independientes. El CPI viene siendo publicado anualmente desde 1995, clasificando a los países en una escala del 0 (altamente corrupto) al 10 (muy limpio). En 2012 se realizaron cambios en la metodología y el índice ahora clasifica a los países en una escala del 0 (altamente corrupto) al 100 (muy limpio). ¿Cómo se ubican algunos países en términos de corrupción percibida? Del análisis del CPI de 2012, último dato disponible, surge que los países de alto ingreso como Dinamarca, Finlandia y Nueva Zelanda lideran el ranking de países con corrupción percibida más baja ("los más limpios"), con una calificación de 90. Le siguen Suecia, Singapur, Suiza, Australia, Noruega, Canadá, Países Bajos e Islandia, con calificaciones que se ubican en el rango del 80 al 89. Por el contrario, entre los países percibidos como más corruptos se encuentran Somalia, Corea del Norte y Afganistán, con una calificación de 8. Cabe preguntar entonces, ¿cómo se ubican algunos países de América Latina? Chile y Uruguay lideran el ranking, siendo los países percibidos como menos corruptos de la región, ambos con calificaciones de 72, posicionándose en el puesto 20 de los 176 países estudiados. Venezuela, sin embargo, es percibido como uno de los países más corruptos de la región, con una calificación de 19. Según el informe de Transparencia Internacional de 2012, dos tercios de los 176 países analizados presentan una calificación menor a 50, incluidos la mayoría de los países de América Latina, indicando que en esos países es necesario seguir trabajando para fortalecer las instituciones, mejorar la transparencia y, por ende, la gobernanza. No existe un nivel de corrupción nula, esto significa que la corrupción no puede eliminarse por completo, pero sí puede reducirse. Claro está que no podemos guiarnos sólo por estos datos de 2012, sino que se requiere conocer la evolución de los países a lo largo del tiempo para observar sus avances o retrocesos en términos de corrupción percibida. De hecho, muchos países han exhibido mejoras significativas en sus niveles de corrupción percibida a lo largo de los años. En el próximo artículo profundizaré más sobre estos avances o retrocesos en algunos países de la región como lo son Argentina, Chile y Uruguay, tratando de identificar qué aspectos de este complejo tema han jugado un rol preponderante. Sobre el autorMaster of International Public AffairsUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison;Licenciada en EconomíaUniversidad ORT-Uruguay Gobernanza: término proveniente del inglés "governance", que no sólo abarca aspectos del gobierno y la gestión pública. De acuerdo a la definición de la Real Academia Española, gobernanza es el "Arte o manera de gobernar que se propone como objetivo el logro de un desarrollo económico, social e institucional duradero, promoviendo un sano equilibrio entre el Estado, la sociedad civil y el mercado de la economía." BibliografíaDaniel Treisman. 2000. "The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study," Journal of Public Economics, vol. 76, no. 3, 399–458.Doing Business: http://www.doingbusiness.org/Koldo Echebarría. 2007. Corrupción: Un análisis a través de indicadores de gobernabilidad. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=1970958Michael Johnston. 2005. Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Paolo Mauro. 1997. "The Effects of Corruption on Growth, Investment, and Government Expenditure: A Cross-Country Analysis," in Kimberly Ann Elliott, ed., Corruption and the Global Economy. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 83–107.Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index: http://www.transparency.org/World Bank Governance Indicators: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.asp

La tesi analizza i principi generali del diritto privato europeo, così come elaborati nei principali progetti di uniformazione quali la Proposta di Regolamento su un diritto comune europeo della vendita, il Draft Common Frame of Reference, il Code Européen des Contrats. Finalità dell'analisi è quella di verificare se essi, quali valori comuni posti a fondamento degli ordinamenti giuridici europei, trovino o meno effettiva rispondenza nelle scelte di ordine politico-strutturale adottate dalle Istituzioni comunitarie. L'analisi viene svolta in un'ottica di raffronto tra: a) la Proposta di Regolamento su un diritto comune europeo della vendita, presentata dalla Commissione europea al Parlamento ed al Consiglio con la Comunicazione 11 ottobre 2011 n.635; b) il Draft Common Frame of Reference (Bozza di Quadro Comune di Riferimento) presentato tra il 2008 ed il 2009 da una rete di esperti incaricata dalla Commissione europea di redigere un quadro regolatorio di principi, definizioni e regole modello del diritto contrattuale; c) il Code Européen des Contrats, realizzato dall' Accademia dei Giusprivatisti Europei, da applicarsi ai contratti tra imprenditori, a quelli tra consumatori ed a quelli tra imprenditore e consumatore. Caratteristica del progetto dell'Accademia è che l'opera armonizzatrice si fonda sull'utilizzo di una tecnica di stampo legislativo e conseguente elaborazione non di principi indeterminati ma di regole vere e proprie. Vengono esaminati in particolare i principi generali del diritto contrattuale quali l'autonomia contrattuale, la buona fede e la correttezza, ed il principio di collaborazione. La prima, strettamente connessa alla natura opzionale della proposta presentata dalla Commissione europea, starebbe a fondamento della scelta delle parti dello strumento regolativo da applicare alla negoziazione. Il medesimo principio viene sancito anche dal Code Europeèn des Contrats art. 2 e dal DCFR art. II.-1:102: le parti godono dunque della libertà di determinare il contenuto del contratto o di consentire ad un terzo di determinarlo e altresì stabilire che gli effetti del contratto si dispieghino verso un soggetto non coinvolto nell'attività di negoziazione. Tra i principi generali rileva quello della buona fede, e del suo corollario della trasparenza del contenuto contrattuale, regola fondamentale dell'acquis communautaire. Nel Code il dovere di correttezza è disciplinato dall'art. 6, dove si ha specifico riguardo alla condotta delle parti durante le trattative precontrattuali. Il dovere di informazione, puntualmente disciplinato dal Code all'art. 7, trova applicazione nel corso delle trattative ma anche dopo l'eventuale conclusione del contratto, Il principio viene affermato in via generale anche dal DCFR all'art. I.-1:103, Book I, dove con buona fede e correttezza si intende uno standard di condotta connotata da onestà, chiarezza e considerazione degli interessi della controparte della trattativa o del rapporto in questione. Il dovere di osservare un comportamento conforme a buona fede è in particolare sancito dal DCFR, nel capitolo 3, Book II, «Marketing and pre-contractual duties», rispetto alle trattative individuali, e nella Section 4 del capitolo 9, Book II, con riferimento alle clausole vessatorie. La proposta di Regolamento per un diritto comune sulla vendita, dopo aver introdotto in forma generale il principio di buona fede e correttezza (art. 2), ne disciplina il momento applicativo nella fase delle trattative precontrattuali. Il Capo II, della Parte II, avente ad oggetto la disciplina della conclusione di un contratto vincolante, è infatti intitolato «Informazioni precontrattuali». Rilievo particolare assume anche il dovere di collaborazione tra le parti, sancito in via generale dall'art. 3 della Proposta di regolamento e dall'art. III.-1.104 del DCFR. La verifica dell'effettiva operatività dei principi generali è oggetto di valutazione anche allo scopo di consentire la corretta interpretazione teleologica del corpus normativo di cui essi si pongono a fondamento. Viene, dunque, accertato se oltre alla finalità di miglioramento delle condizioni per l'instaurazione e per il funzionamento del mercato interno, siano riscontrabili – in base ad esigenze solidaristiche, ispirate ad un criterio di giustizia sociale - anche esigenze di tutela dei soggetti cd. Deboli del mercato (consumatori e PMI). In tal senso, il concetto di principio generale viene associato, nel diritto europeo dei contratti, al concetto di diritto fondamentale: così ad esempio il Draft Common Frame of Reference, che dedica un intero capitolo del Libro II al diritto/principio di non discriminazione. Viene infine esaminata la problematica centrale del legislatore attuale, quella cioè di realizzare un diretto collegamento tra i principi ordinanti del diritto dei contratti ed i diritti fondamentali, contenuti dalla Carta europea dei diritti fondamentali. Tre sono le possibilità messe in luce dalla dottrina: a) realizzazione di un diretto richiamo, senza l'esplicita riproduzione di essi; b) interpretazione/applicazione dei testi di diritto privato europeo alla luce di tali principi così come previsti dalla Carta europea dei diritti fondamentali; c) considerazione dei principi fondamentali quali norme imperative. In quest'ultima ipotesi tali norme sarebbero oggetto di futura applicazione. L'analisi sarà approfondita dalla riflessione sul recente progetto di codice civile e commerciale argentino, presentato nel marzo 2012. L'idea offerta dal progetto menzionato è di particolare interesse in vista del processo di unificazione attualmente in corso in Sud America, solo per alcuni aspetti simile a quello europeo. ; The thesis analyzes the general principles of European private law elaborated in the uniformization projects of European contract law such as the Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law, the Draft Common Frame of Reference, the Code Européen des Contrats. The purpose of the analysis is to check if these principles, as common values of European legal systems, are in compliance with the policies and structural choices adopted by UE Institutions. The analysis is carried out comparing: - the Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law - (hereinafter CESL), presented by the European Commission to the European Parliament and the Council with the Communication of 11th October 2011 n. 635; - the Draft Common Frame of Reference, presented between 2008 and 2009 by a networks of experts appointed by the European Commission to draw up a toolbox and a frame of reference containing principles, definitions and model rules of European contract law; - the Code Européen des Contrats, presented by the Academy of European Private Lawyers. The project should to be applied to B2B contracts, to C2C contracts and to B2C contracts. The Code's peculiarity is that the harmonization is not based on vague and undetermined principles, but rather on the use of a legislative type technique which allows for proposing clear, determined rules. Specific principles, such as freedom of contract, good faith and fairness, cooperation are analyzed. The freedom of contract, strictly connected with the optional nature of Proposal of the CESL, is the basic principle of the parties choice to determine the regulatory instrument of their contract. The same principle is also laid down in the Code Européen des Contrats art. 2 and in art. II.-1: 102 DCFR. The parties can determine the content of the contract, or exercise their freedom to allow a third party to determine the content or they can choose to direct the effects of the contract to a person not involved in it. Between general principles of European contract law detects the good faith, and its corollary the transparency of the contractual content, fundamental rule of the acquis communautaire. In the Code Europèen des Contrats, the general principles of fairness is established by the art. 6, on the precontractual duties. The duty to disclose, governed by art. 7, is applied during the negotiations but even after the conclusion of the contract. The same principles is established by art. I.-1:103, Book I, DCFR, where good faith and fairness are conduct standard characterized by honesty, clarity and consideration of the interests of the other party in the contractual relationship. The duty of good faith is established by the DCFR, in Chapter 3, Book II, "Marketing and pre-contractual duties" with regard to individual negotiations, and in Section 4 of Chapter 9, Book II, with regard to the unfair terms. The CESL introduces the general principle of good faith with its art. 2, setting specific application in precontractual duties in Part II, Chapter 2, about «Precontractual information». Particular attention should have the cooperation, established by art. 3 of the CESL and by art. III.-1104 of the DCFR. The check of effectiveness of general principles is aimed to allow a teleological interpretation of the set of rules, in which they are incorporated. It's necessary clarify if, in addition to the purpose of improving the conditions for the establishment of the internal market, is possible to comply - on the basis of a solidarity inspired by a social justice criteria - also the needs of protect for the weak subjects of internal market. In this sense, the concept of the general principle is associated, in European contract law, to the concept of fundamental right, as well as in the Draft Common Frame of Reference, where is possible to find a specific chapter of Book II on right / principle of non-discrimination. Finally, the thesis examines the central question of the current legislature, that is how to create a direct link between the principles of contract law and fundamental rights, as referred to by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The academics highlight three possibilities: a) a direct reference, without the explicit reproduction of them; b) interpretation / application of the texts of European private law in the light of these principles as laid down in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; c) qualification of fundamental principles as mandatory rules, necessarily to be applied.The analysis will be deepened by reflection on the recent project of argentine civil and commercial code, presented in March 2012. The idea offered by the mentioned project is of particular interest in view of the unification process currently in South America, only in some respects similar to the European one.

Diese Dissertation bietet einen Überblick über mehrere ökonometrische Modellklassen, die sich zur Analyse von Dynamiken und Wechselwirkungen von Preiszeitreihen eignen. Sie behandelt Modelle zur Analyse von Preisbeziehungen im vertikalen Handel, d.h. entlang der Verarbeitungskette, als auch im horizontalen Handel, d.h. zwischen räumlich getrennten Märkten eines Gutes. Diese Arbeit stellt die Charakteristika von vier ausgewählten Modellklassen ausführlich vor. Drei angewandte Untersuchungen, die in den Anhängen der Arbeit zu finden sind, ergänzen die Arbeit. Die Dissertation enthält drei Beiträge zur bestehenden Literatur. Sie bietet einen Überblick zu den aktuellen methodischen Entwicklungen in der Analyse von Preisbeziehungen. Weiterhin arbeitet sie Beziehungen der Methoden zueinander heraus, vergleicht sie und stellt sie gegenüber. Ein vertieftes Verständnis der Mechanismen, die den behandelten Modellen zu Grunde liegen, kann die Auswahl einer geeigneten Modellklasse unter Berücksichtigung des empirischen Zusammenhangs und der ökonomischen Theorie unterstützen. Deshalb konzentriert sich diese Dissertation auf die den Modellen zugrundeliegende Intuition, um die Verbindung zwischen ökonometrischer Theorie und der Analyse empirischer Fragen in der angewandten agrarökonomischen Forschung zu stärken. Als dritten Aspekt beinhaltet die Arbeit drei empirische Untersuchungen zum Einfluss von sich verändernden Politikrahmen auf die Übertragungen von Preissignalen ausgewählter Agrargüter in der Europäischen Union als auch in der Ostafrikanischen Gemeinschaft.Das erste Kapitel stellt die Grundlagen der ökonometrischen Modelle vor und geht dabei v.a. auf Eigenschaften ein, die ökonomische Zeitreihen kennzeichnen, da sie den Datentyp darstellen, der im Mittelpunkt dieser Arbeit steht. Es entwickelt das Grundmodell des Fehlerkorrekturmodells, d.h. eines autoregressiven Zeitreihenmodells, das sich zur Analyse kointegrierter Variablen eignet. Unter anderem bietet eine Reihe von Grafiken eine leichtverständliche schematische Zusammenfassung von zentralen Eigenschaften der Modellklasse. Anschließend werden Schlüsselbegriffe hinsichtlich der Interpretation des Modells im Kontext der räumlichen Preisanalyse definiert. Formen von Nichtlinearitäten in der Preistransmission werden diskutiert, um das Interesse dieser Arbeit, das in Nichtlinearitäten in der kurzfristigen Preistransmission liegt, klar abzugrenzen. Weiterhin werden Modellierungsansätze für nichtkonstante Parameter in der Form von regime-abhängigen Modellen oder nichtparametrischen Funktionen aufgezeigt.Das zweite Kapitel stellt die vier Modellklassen eingehend vor. Die Klassen des Schwellenvektorfehlerkorrekturmodells (threshold), des Markow-Sprung-Vektorfehlerkorrekturmodells (Markov-Switching) und des semiparametrischen Vektorfehlerkorrekturmodells werden als Mitglieder der Familie der Kointegrationsmodelle vorgestellt. Das Paritätsschrankenmodell (parity bounds) repräsentiert eine Klasse aus der Familie der Mischverteilungsmodelle. Das Kapitel stellt die grundlegende Idee, die formale Struktur, die Schätzung, Interpretation und Anwendung jeder Klasse ausführlich dar.Eine kritische Zusammenfassung der behandelten Modelle findet sich in Kapitel 3. Es thematisiert zuerst eine Reihe von Problemen der genannten Klassen der Kointegrationsmodelle. Danach wird auf notwendige Eigenschaften geeigneter Regime-Generationsmechanismen eingegangen, woran sich eine Kritik des Paritätsschrankenmodells anschließt. Schließlich werden die Vor- und Nachteile der Modellklassen beider Familien im Rahmen eines kritischen Vergleiches herausgearbeitet, der auch die Diskussion von Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschieden zwischen dem Schwellenvektorfehlerkorrekturmodell und dem Paritätsschrankenmodell beinhaltet. Als letzter Aspekt werden die Verteilungen, die durch ausgewählte Versionen der Kointegrationsmodelle impliziert werden, den Verteilungsannahmen der Paritätsschrankenmodelle gegenübergestellt. Kapitel 4 schießt die Dissertation.Die empirischen Studien in den Anhängen der Dissertation untersuchen den Einfluss struktureller Veränderungen auf die Transmission europäischer Kälberpreise und das regime-abhängige Verhalten räumlicher Maispreisbeziehungen in Ostafrika. Außerdem werden die Struktur und die Determinanten der Transmission von Maispreisen im inländischen als auch im grenzüberschreitenden Handel analysiert.Die räumliche Preistransmission zwischen europäischen Kälbermärkten nach den Fischlerreformen von 2003 steht im Mittelpunkt von Anhang A. Er analysiert die Auswirkungen variierender nationaler Umsetzungsstrategien hinsichtlich der Entkopplung landwirtschaftlicher Subventionszahlungen von Produktionsentscheidungen und die Effekte von Transportbeschränkungen, die in Folge des Ausbruchs der Blauzungenkrankheit in Mitteleuropa erlassen wurden. Es wird festgestellt, dass die Kälbermärkte Deutschlands, Frankreichs, der Niederlande und Spaniens zu einem sehr gut funktionierenden gemeinsamen Markt gehören. Die Hypothesen, dass die Entkopplung zu sinkenden Preisniveaus führt als auch dass der Ausbruch der Blauzungenkrankheit einen Strukturbruch in einem Teil der europäischen Kälbermärkte zur Folge hatte, können statistisch untermauert werden.Der Anhang B bietet einen Überblick über Markow-Sprung-Zeitreihenmodelle. Die Beschreibung der Modelleigenschaften wird durch das Fallbeispiel der räumlichen Analyse von Maispreisen zwischen Kenia und Tansania veranschaulicht. Ein Markow-Sprung-Vektorautoregressives Modell wird verwendet, um Regime der Maispreismargen zwischen einem von vier tansanischen Märkten und Nairobi zwischen 2000 und 2008 zu identifizieren. Es werden fünf Perioden deutlich erhöhter Margen gefunden, die zwischen vier und siebzehn Monaten andauerten und teilweise mit den in der Literatur angeführten Zeiträumen tansanischer Ausfuhrverbote entsprechen.Der Anhang C untersucht Einflussfaktoren auf das Ausmaß der Preistransmission, wie z.B. Entfernung und die Existenz einer Grenze, im inländischen als auch im grenzüberschreitenden Handel zwischen Kenia, Tansania und Uganda zwischen 2000 und 2008. Es wird festgestellt, dass das Ausmaß der Preistransmission von der Entfernung und der Gegenwart einer Grenze abhängt. Der Einfluss der Entfernung erscheint nichtlinear, so dass ein semiparametrisches lineares Regressionsmodell zur Modellierung herangezogen wird. Tansania stellt sich als isolierte und intern fragmentierte Insel innerhalb des ostafrikanischen Maismarktes dar. Die Preistransmission zwischen Nairobi und den anderen Märkten ist überdurchschnittlich stark, was die zentrale Rolle der Stadt im ostafrikanischen Handelssystem bestätigt.Anhang D vergleicht die beiden regime-anhängigen ökonometrischen Ansätze des Schwellen- und des Markow-Sprung-Vektorfehlerkorrekturmodells. Zuerst wird jedes Modell ausführlich charakterisiert, woran sich ein umfangreicher Vergleich anschließt. Die Annahmen hinsichtlich des Mechanismus der Regimewechsel unterscheiden sich grundlegend. Ein Monte-Carlo-Experiment untersucht Schätzmethoden beider Modelle für simulierte Daten. Jeder Ansatz stellt sich als angemessene Modellierung einer speziellen Form nichtlinearer Preistransmission dar. Ihre Eigenschaften entsprechen der zugrundeliegenden ökonomischen Theorie und ermöglichen eine plausible Interpretation. Jedoch weisen die verwendeten Schätzmethoden Schwächen auf, da sie u.a. nicht robust gegen Störparameter sind. Eine Literaturübersicht zu empirischen Untersuchungen mittels des Schwellenvektorfehlerkorrekturmodells schließt den Anhang ab. ; This dissertation aims at providing an overview of various econometric model classes which are suitable for the analysis of dynamics and interrelationships of price time series. It discusses a number of models which are suitable for the analysis of price relationships both in the vertical, i.e., of markets along the processing chain, and the horizontal domain, i.e., of markets of one commodity in space. The dissertation provides an in-depth discussion of four model classes and, in the appendices, three empirical applications of selected models. It is a contribution to the literature in three respects. First, it provides an overview of recent developments of the methodology used to analyze price relationships. Second, it serves to relate, to compare and to contrast these classes. A well developed intuition of the fundamental mechanisms governing such models can help the selection of an adequate model class based on the empirical context and economic theory. Therefore, the thesis focuses on the intuition of the model classes in order to improve the link between econometric theory and the study of empirical questions in applied research in agricultural economics. Third, the dissertation provides three analyses of the impacts of changing policy environments on the transmission of prices of selected agricultural commodities within the European Union as well as within the East African Community.Chapter 1 presents the background, that is, properties which characterize the type of data this thesis is focused on, i.e., time series of economic variables. It introduces the basic model class of autoregressive time series models which is useful for cointegrated variables (vector error-correction model). It presents a number of graphs which provide a schematic summary of key model characteristics. Afterwards, it defines core concepts with regard to the interpretation in the context of spatial price analysis. Forms of nonlinearities in price transmission are discussed. This serves to confine the focus of the thesis which lies in nonlinearities in short-run price transmission. Such nonlinearities are caused by nonconstant parameters, and can be modeled by regime-dependent constants or nonparametric functions.Chapter 2 presents the four model classes in detail. The classes of the threshold vector error-correction model, the Markov-switching vector error-correction model and the semiparametric vector error-correction model belong to the cointegration family of models. The parity bounds model represents a class of the family of mixture distribution models. The chapter addresses the underlying idea, the formal structure, estimation, interpretation, and applications of each class.Chapter 3 provides a critical summary of the presented models. It first discusses a number of problems of the three presented classes of the family of cointegration models. Afterwards, it elaborates on properties of suitable regime-generating processes. This is followed by a critical discussion of the parity bounds model. The chapter closes with a critical comparison of the model classes highlighting the advantages and drawbacks of each. Furthermore, similarities and differences between the thresholds and the parity bounds models are addressed. The distributions of the underlying data which are implied by selected versions of cointegration models are contrasted to the distributional assumptions of the parity bounds model. Chapter 4 concludes the dissertation.The empirical studies in the appendices of the dissertation analyze the impact of structural changes on the transmission of European calf prices, and regime-dependent behavior of spatial maize price relationships in Eastern Africa. Furthermore, the structure and determinants of the transmission of maize prices in domestic as well as cross-border trade are assessed.Appendix A studies spatial price transmission between European calf markets after the Fischler reforms of 2003. It focuses on the effects of different national strategies in decoupling agricultural support from production and of movement restrictions, which resulted from the outbreak of the Blue Tongue disease in central Europe. The calf markets in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain are found to belong to a well-functioning common market. We find strong statistical support for the hypothesis that decoupling reduced calf price levels. Additionally, the results indicate that the outbreak of the Blue Tongue disease induced a structural break in parts of the EU calf market.Appendix B gives an overview of the class of Markov-switching time series models. We first provide an overview of the model framework. It then presents an illustrative application to the analysis of spatial maize prices between Tanzania and Kenya. A Markov-switching vector autoregressive model is employed to assess regimes in maize price margins between each of four regions in Tanzania and Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, between 2000 and 2008. Five periods of increased price margins are identified which last from four to seventeen months and partly correspond to the timings of Tanzanian export restrictions reported in the literature.Appendix C analyzes factors which influence the magnitude of price transmission, e.g., distance and the existence of a border, in domestic and cross-border trade between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda between 2000 and 2008. The magnitude of price transmission is found to vary systematically with distance and the presence or lack of a national border. The impact of distance is shown to be nonlinear, and is thus modeled using a semi-parametric partially linear regression model. Tanzania appears to be an isolated and internally fragmented island within the East African maize market. Price transmission between Nairobi and other markets is strong, which confirms the central role which Nairobi plays in East African trade.Appendix D compares two regime-dependent econometric models for price transmission analysis, namely the threshold vector error-correction model and Markov-switching vector error-correction model. It first provides a detailed characterization of each, which is followed by a comprehensive comparison. The assumptions regarding the nature of the regime-switching mechanisms differ fundamentally. A Monte Carlo experiment studies the performance of the estimation techniques of both models for simulated data. Each approach is found to be adequate for modeling a certain type of nonlinear price transmission. Their characteristics match the underlying economic theory and allow for an easy interpretation. Nevertheless, the results of the corresponding estimation techniques do not reproduce the true parameters and are not robust against nuisance parameters. A review of empirical studies of the class of threshold vector error-correction models completes the appendix.

Pikeville College Diary of a Flood A Publication of Pikeville College Pikeville, Kentucky 40501 April, 1977 Since 1889, the influence of Pikeville College has reached into the lives of families and individuals now digging out from under the muddy floodwaters of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, whose banks overflowed Monday night, Apri l 4, spilling over 51 feet of devastation into Pike County. The warm sun, 'tempered by a brisk wind, is now settling in on hundreds of students and employees . of Pikeville College as they begin putting back together their homes, classrooms and lives. Official estimates of the amount of money that Pikeville College will have to raise in order to get back to where it was on Monday morning, April 4, before the flood changed everything, are now over $1.5 million. At the same time, the people who are a part of Pikeville College-faculty, staff, students and administrators '--are trying to recover t heir spunk and spirit and carry on with their responsibilities. The process wi ll be slow. The coll ege's Science Building has served as a Red Cross Disaster Relief Center. For nearly two weeks, the dining room fed some 2,000 meals a day to people affected by t he flood who aren't connected with the college. Workers from HUD have set up offices in t he Science Bui lding that could be in use for up to six months. Larry Darlage, chairman of the Chemistry Department, helped Roger Keller organize the college facilities into a disaster. center before the Red Cross was mobilized. Now they and others who have assisted them are returning to their classes to finish the spring semester. They will have to manage that a long with continuing their service to the homeless, many of whom are college employees. "We estimate that to repair just the living facilities owned by the coll ege that were destroyed or bad ly damaged will cost upward of $300,000," President Jackson 0. Hall sad ly commented. Hall and Vice President for Development Bill Higginbotham are t rave ling to Detro it, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Charlottesvi lle, Richmond, Lexington and Louisville to seek immediate assistance. The personal possessions of college employees and students who have been displaced from their homes - many of whom have devoted countless hours staffing the emergency re lief centers as well as salvaging their belongings - a re conser vative ly estimated at $200,000. Although many of these people are from Pike County or areas where similar flooding occurs, others are from regions of the country where floods are unknown. Dr. Marie Tarpey, Vice President of Academic Affairs, came to Pikeville College from Delaware. A Boston native, Tarpey had no idea what kind of damage water will do. While the menace was rising toward her second floor apartment in a brand new complex just bui lt by the college, she was in her office call ing applicants to interview for a position currently open at the college. She had no idea that a f lood was in the making - a flood that would destroy her new furniture and most of her academic papers and books. (PHOTO) Associate Professor of Music Jim Andy Caudill and wife Jenny remove their belongings from college owned apartments. Photo by Bill Higginbotham Likewise, Dr. Jerry Harris, chairman of the college's Humanities Division, was dutifully teaching his Monday night class. About 7 p.m. Bill Higginbotham, Vice President for Development and Public Relations, walked into Harris' classroom and lifted him out of h1s chair. "We've got to get your cars out of the parking lot. The water is already up on the tires. It's taken us this long to figure out they were your cars." By the time they made the two minute trip from the classroom building down · the hi II to the parking lot, the cars had water up over the engines. They couldn't be saved. Harris and his wife Judith, recovering from major surgery in Columbus, Ohio, hospital, moved into the new apartment on February 25. On April 4, they lost nearly everything they had, including two libraries containing 1,800 pounds of books. SGA President Dole . . . exemplifies service above self A student government association president leads an exciting life at Pikeville College. Monday, April 4 , was a week long for Doug Dole, SGA president from Hamilton, Ohio. About 4 :45 p.m. that day Dole went with Ken Thornbury down the hill at the college to Park Street. The water was coming up and Thornbury wanted to move Bill McCloud's washer and dryer. Dole had been helping with the Red Cross Bloddmobile that had been in the college's Science Building that day. After moving McCloud's washer and dryer up the hi II and going back down to the river, Dole and his companions dis- covered the water coming up a lot quicker than they had noticed before. They began moving cars out of the parking lot behind the college gym. By the time the last car was on dry ground, the water was lapping around Dole's knees. Moving down Park Street next to the gym, Dole worked with Freddy Rutherford and Bi ll McCloud to move their be longings either up or out. He knocked on doors a ll a long the. street, asking people he didn't even know if they needed his help in trying to warn those who hadn't been outside that the water was coming up. Jonathan Harris joined Dole and Thornbury. They realized three people couldn't do much with the water rising so rapidly. So they went back to the dorm and got a lot more help. "They thought I was kidding (about the water). but they came anyway," Dole said . There were then at least fifteen students that went back to the Park Street area; others went to the other end of town. Dole didn't leave Park Street until the water was waist high. By that time his legs had begun to swell and were totally numb. He hurried to the new college apartments on the other side of the gym from Park Street. The water was up about six inches in the back of the building closest to the river When he arrived. He carried Lois Marks, wife of the college's alumni affairs director, out to her car. "Jonathan· must have carried the kid that was with Lois," Dole tried to recall. Lois was taking care of Jason Falls, four-year old son of public relations director Sara Falls, who was working furiously to move her first floor apartment be longings to safety. Some minutes later Dole waded back through the waist high water in the parking lot with Sara Falls. She climbed over furniture piled head high on the second floor breezeway and over the wrought iron railing to get an extra set of her car keys that she had left with neighbors for safe-keeping. Dole made sure she got up and back without falling. (Continued on page 3) While college employees and students were evacuating houses and apartments, water was also creeping into the college gymnasium: The interior destruction was total, not only to the gym, but to the classrooms housed in the build ing. To repair it and the tennis courts adjacent to it will cost more t han $300,000. Compounding an already bleak financial situation is the fact that Pikeville College relies heavily on gift support from the region. Annual giving had been projected at a level of $500,000 this year. The flood may reduce this by as much as $200,000, and the lingering effect will no doubt severely hamper local fund raising efforts next year. The business people and ind iv iduals who normally support Pikeville College in many cases are the same people who are digging themselves out of this disaster. Ramifications reach even further. There could be a decline in enrollment. Current students and other young men and women who otherwise would have come to Pikeville College will need to seek employment to offset the cost of replacing their homes and belongings. It's difficult to assess what that might mean in loss of tuition and room and board, but it could conceivably run as high as another $250,000 next year. Jack Marks, Director of Alumni Affairs, looked down shaking his head. "If anyone anywhere not affected by this tragedy ever thought of helping Pikeville College, I hope it will be now." Marks lost his personal belongings; he and his wife had moved into the new college apartments the first of March. He's back at work, trying to do what he can to get the college back in operating order. "The college needed me to come back to work," he said. "Everyone else is in the same shape I'm in; we're all doing the best we can. I just hope that depression and frustration doesn't set in." The future of Pikeville College depends on the spirit of people who work there like Jack Marks. And it depends on immediate financial relief from individuals, foundations and corporations outside the floodstricken area who come to the aid of this small, but vital, Appalachian college. Coming Events May 7 Alumni Banquet May 8 Commencement Summer Terms May 9-27 MiniMester June 6-July 28 Session I July 11-August 12 Session II June 6-August 5 Evening Session Morehead Graduate Classes May 16 Intersession June 6 Summer I July 5 Summer II

Most people spend much of their lives working. By working, I mean "wage labor": activity undertaken in exchange for money in a society where money is necessary for survival. This has not always been the case, and it is not the case universally, in all places, or for everyone. But it is now a fact of life so foundational in most parts of the world as to seem a feature of nature rather than history. I begin with truism because I think that the fact of work, in all its bluntness, has never been accorded proper importance in literary criticism or cultural criticism in general. There is, of course, a convenient explanation for the absence: historically, art has been either the province of the leisured classes or something made and experienced outside of the bounds of the workday. Art is, therefore, an exception to the rule of work. And even Marxist critics – those whom one would expect to believe, as Marx did, that production and labor were foundational in capitalism –tend to approach the painting or the poem from the side of the market, consumption, and everyday life, for the understandable reasons outlined above. If they tell a story about capitalism's determinative effect on art, it is usually a story about the penetration of market logics into the realm of art, a story about commodification. Few ask what the work of art might share with work in general or how the constant technological and social refashioning of the workplace might affect the horizon of possibility for artworks.My dissertation, "The Work of Art in the Age of Deindustrialization," attempts to provide one answer to these questions, a historical answer, by a reading of important literary and artistic works from the 1960s and 1970s. These are decades in which twin political and economic crises – the political militancy we associate with 1968, on the one hand, and the crisis of profitability and the dollar we associate with 1973 on the other – force a profound restructuring of capitalism and class relations. In particular, the multiple transformations of the labor process – deindustrialization, the rise of the service sector, the introduction of information technologies into the burgeoning managerial and white-collar sectors – provide a useful vantage from which to investigate the rapid changes in art and writing. Whereas the much-documented aesthetics of objects, things and facticity associated with modernism took its bearings from the factory-system (or, in a variant, anti-industrial form, from the artisanal and craft forms industrialization was in the process of destroying) such a cultural mode becomes increasingly anachronistic in the postwar era. As I argue, the productivist aesthetic of modernism gives way to an aesthetic of administration and distribution that takes signs and social relations rather than physical matter as its primary "material." Instead of the factory or workshop, such a mode draws from the routinized cognitions of office work and the forced conviviality of the service sector.The relationship between the economic and the cultural is not, as it might seem, a case of simple synchronicity or one-to-one correspondence. Experimental poetry, for example, is avant-garde in the sole sense that it is speculative, a laboratorial mode which runs ahead of the work-a-day world rather than simply reflecting it. Such experimental modes elaborated critical responses and forms of technical imagination which aimed to respond to the rigid hierarchies of 1960s society and yet, via a kind of "cunning of reason," laid some of the foundations for the new work relations which became dominant in the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, part of my argument is that some of the most recognizable of avant-garde devices – erasing, replacing, counting, sorting, arranging by chance or rule – have been thoroughly integrated into the very office machinery (now generalized into the home) which writers use to produce their works.Such recuperation builds upon an uneasy affinity between left- and right-wing critiques of postwar capitalism. If leftists, countercultural figures and artists took aim at the rigid, bureaucratic and hierarchical nature of the corporate form and worklife in postwar society, targeting the managerial layer in particular, they found strange bedfellows in a class of business management theorists and economists who saw in that same layer a hindrance to profitability. In response to the artistic and countercultural critique, businesses concoct a new, flexible, "flattened" and adaptive corporate form that trims the middle-managerial layer by imposing upon workers a set of pseudo-democratic work relations under the sign of such corporate shibboleths as teamwork, flexibility, participation, creativity and self-management. Rather than the industrialization of culture that Adorno and Horkheimer famously bemoan, my dissertation describes the same operation in reverse – the "culturization" (or aestheticization) of industry, where the workday absorbs the resources, faculties and affects associated with the aesthetic. This operation is designed to produce more highly-productive, motivated workers but also to ward off and absorb the countercultural and artistic critiques that might lead to disaffection. The aesthetic, in this regard, becomes a mechanism for the establishment of a pseudo-democracy and a pseudo-autarky. If "self-management" – the ideal of labor militants, communists and anarchists since the 19th century – once meant freedom from the imperatives of the boss it now means, increasingly, in light of this reorganization, an internalization of such imperatives.My first chapter traces the thematics of "management" and "self-management" as they appear in the early poetry of John Ashbery, and in his controversial book The Tennis-Court Oath (1962) in particular. Numerous poems in this collection – developed from an earlier poem, "The Instructional Manual" – take up the position of the midlevel employee, who is both the object of commands and the producer of commands. The contradictions in this standpoint – examined in C. Wright Mills' White Collar and many subsequent studies of "the new middle class"provide insight into this transitional moment in capitalism, in which the extensive growth of deskilled white-collar work created, for large firms and the post-war bureaucracy, a crisis of management. One of the ways in which this appears in Ashbery's poetry is through a subtle and inventive play with free indirect discourse and point of view, in which individual moments and voices manifest as antagonistic fragments in an intersubjective field, requiring the "managerial" intervention of the arranging, organizing poetic voice or mind, a mind that is itself fragmented by its multiple allegiances and responsibilities. The experimental collages of The Tennis Court Oath illuminate the curious ambiguity of that special commodity, labor-power, which is at once object and subject: a thinking object, a commodity that speaks.As I discuss in my second chapter, one site where all of these meanings are contested – a site that again attracts the interest of both artists and business management theorists – is the emergent discourse of cybernetics, Through the central notion of "feedback," cybernetics presents an image of social self-regulation based upon reciprocal, horizontal relations rather than explicit hierarchies. Writers and conceptual artists borrow from this discourse to model utopian social forms, ones where form is embedded less in explicit command than in something like a changeable grammar or syntax – cybernetics calls this "information" – which can be revealed and manipulated by art. To give just two examples, both Hannah Weiner in her Code Poems and Dan Graham in his Works for Magazine Pages follow the founder of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener, by treating information – and by extension, the formative powers of cultural labor – as a kind of anti-entropic, organizing force. Following Benjamin Buchloh, I describe this development as an "administrative aesthetic," since the cultural artifact comes to see its vocation as one of regulating social relations. Though I treat only a handful of figures in this chapter, the list of writers and artists influenced by this conception of information (and its close cousin, entropy) provides a remarkable cross-section of the period. A partial list of figures who help forge these new aesthetic values would include, in fiction, William Burroughs, William Gass, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick and Thomas Pynchon; in poetry, Charles Olson, John Ashbery, A.R. Ammons, Hannah Weiner and Bernadette Mayer; and in art, Hans Haacke, Robert Smithson, Dan Graham and Martha Rosler.One of the reasons why it has been difficult to approach the cultural transformations of the 1960s and 1970s from the side of labor rather than, say, consumption– from the side of the workday rather than leisure time – is that increasingly these two spheres commingle, and the values associated with leisure time are invoked to make the workday more tolerable, at the same time as the protocols and routines associated with work colonize the space of leisure time. This crossing of spheres bears in particular upon the relations between unpaid "reproductive" or domestic labor (the housework associated with women) and waged labor. The subject of my third chapter, Bernadette Mayer's project Memory (1972) – performance, installation and epic poem – investigates the crossing and blurring of these spheres, as everyday life is increasingly subsumed by the protocols of office work, and as office work is increasingly colored in the shades and hues of the street or the home. Memory models this process of merger and blurring through its incorporation of multiple media (type, photography, audio recording), artistic genres and techniques. In this sense, Mayer's elaboration of a "total" artwork which merges different technologies into one single apparatus prefigures the coming reorganization of office work around the personal computer.

Eesti majanduspoliitika on kujundatud selliseks, mis loob kõik võimalikud tingimused kapitaliühingute loomiseks ja edukaks toimimiseks. Ühistud on jäetud aga tagaplaanile, nende olemasolust ei teata ja nende tegevusvõimalusi piiratakse. Ühistute toimimiseks on jäänud valida vaid üks tee, mis on muuta oma põhimõtteid mitte ühistegevuse põhimõtetele toetudes vaid kapitaliühingutele iseloomulikuks, et praeguses turusituatsioonis toime tulla. Aidanud ei ole ka see, et Eesti Tarbijateühistute Keskühistul on juba 95 aastane kogemus oma alal tegutsemiseks. Määravaks on saanud üldise turukorralduse suund. Sealjuures ei aita ka teiste riikide kogemused ühistegevuse korraldamisel, sest kui Eesti valitsus toetab oma tegevuses vaid kapitaliühinguid, siis ühistud peavad püsima jäämise nimel oma tegevuses hakkama neile sarnanema. Sellepärast oli käesoleva uurimuse eesmärgiks välja selgitada kas ETK Gruppi kuuluvad ühistud vastavad ühistulistele põhimõtetele ja kaardistada peamised arengut takistavad tegurid, mis ei lase neil funktsioneerida ühistuliselt. Uurimuse eesmärgi täitmiseks võeti aluseks ETK Gruppi kuuluvate ühistute põhikirjad, internetis läbiviidud küsitlus tarbijateühistute liikmete seas ning Saaremaa, Tõrva ja Vändra Tarbijate Ühistute esimeeste intervjuud. Võrdluseks Eesti Tarbijateühistute Keskühistu korraldusele toodi välja ka Soome Tarbijateühistute Keskühistu tegevuspõhimõtted ja mõningad asjakohased andmed SOK turupositsiooni kohta. Uurimuses selgus, et ETK Grupp on tõepoolest võõrdunud ühistulistest põhimõtetest ning sarnaneb üha enam kapitaliühingutele. Järgnevalt tuuakse välja olulisemad töös selgunud probleemid, mis takistavad ETK Grupi toimimist ühistulistel alustel: 1. Eestis puuduvad teadmised ühistegevusest, mille üle peaksid muret tundma eelkõige ühistud, kes on ühistegevuse põhimõttest lähtudes kohustatud jagama teavet ühistegevuse olemusest ja kasulikkusest. ETK Grupi tegevusalast on jäänud välja Eesti rahvale ühistegevuse tutvustamine. Olukord on kujunenud selliseks, et isegi 61% tarbijateühistute klient-omanikest arvavad, et neile jagatakse sellekohast informatsiooni liiga vähe. 2. Raha võim, mis loob hea keskkonna erakapitalil põhinevatele ettevõtetele, kuid pärsib oluliselt ühistute toimimist. Säästukaart Plussi haldav Cofi AS on otseselt sekkunud tarbijateühistute liikmete arvelt kasumi teenimisse. Olenemata sellest, et ETK-le kuulub üle poole aktsiate kontrollpakist, ei ole ta oma tegevuses enam sõltumatu. Säästukaart Plussi teenuseid saavad kasutada vaid kindla sissetulekuga inimesed, kelle kuusissetulek on 150 eurot ja eeliseid saavad need, kes rohkem ostavad. 3. Vastuolulised seadused, mis ei toeta ühistute tegevust vaid kitsendavad nende tegevust oluliselt. ETK Grupp peab lähtuma nii äriseadustikust, tulundusühistuseadusest, kus on ühistutest räägitud väga vähe. Puudub ühtne ühistuseadus nagu Soomes, mis reguleeriks ainult ühistuid ja lähtuks ühistegevuspõhimõtetest. Eestis väljaantud ühistegevust reguleerivad seadused panevad ühistutele peale vaid piiranguid, mitte ei soodusta nende tegevust nagu demokraatlikus riigis kohane. 4. Koostöö teiste ühistutega ETK Grupil puudub, sest Eestis ei ole teisi nii suuri ühistulisi ettevõtteid, kelle kogemustest õppida saaks ning ETK peaks olema eeskujuks just teistele ühistulistele ettevõtmistele. Väljaspool Eestit toimivad aga väga suured jaekaubandusega tegelevad tarbijateühistud, kellega koostööd tehes saaks kindlasti ka enda süsteemi rohkem panustada ning asjakohasemaid otsuseid vastu võtta. Eesti Tarbijate Keskühistul oleks vaja õppida SOK tegevusest, aga oma eestimaise kangusega tahetakse omal jõul edasi minna. Kahjuks on sellisel isekusel suured ohumärgid, mis töötavad ühistulise süsteemi vastu. Eelkõige oleks oluline õppida oma liikmete hindamist nii, nagu see toimib Soome tasandil. Sest vaid nii tegutsedes suudetakse säilitada turupositsioon Eestis. 5. Ühistu sisesed probleemid ja vastuolud tekitavad pingeid tarbijateühistute, nende liikmete ja keskühistu vahel. Nagu selgus, on ETK-l liiga suured õigused tarbijateühistute osas nii põhikirjast lähtuvalt kui Säästukaardi tingimuste muutmise osas. Samuti tekitab liikmete suhtes ebaõiglust üldkoosoleku kokkukutsumisteadete vähene levitatavus, mis toimub peamiselt ETK kaupluste infostendidel ja kohalikes lehtedes. ETK Grupi liikmed jagunevad kahte leeri st need, kes tahaksid lähtuda rohkem ühistute põhimõtetest ja pingutavad selle nimel, ja teised, kes tegutsevad selgelt nende vastu. 6. Meedia, kes ei kajasta ühistegevuse uudiseid, vaid räägib kapitaliühingute ülimuslikkusest. ETK Grupi tegevusest ja käekäigust räägitakse enamasti koos Selveri, Rimi jt poekettidega, mis on tinginud asjaolu, et on hakatud sarnanema üha enam kapitaliühingutega. Kliendileht, tarbijateühistute kodulehed, reklaamid ja boonused on suunatud klientidele, liikmetest räägitakse sealjuures minimaalselt. Liikmete vastustest selgub, et 37% ei tee kaubanduskettidel mingit vahet ning 46% eristab neid lähtudes erinevast kliendikaardi kujundusest. Ühistegevus pannakse ühte patta suurkapitalistide omanduses olevate ettevõtlusvormidega ning ETK ei näe selles probleemi. Teoorias väljatoodud probleemid sarnanevad väga ETK Grupi omadele, kuid probleemid on veelgi raskekoelisemad kui varem. ETK Grupi näol on tekkinud uus ettevõtlusvorm, mis on midagi ühistute ja kapitaliühingute vahepealset. Seda tunnistavad nii tarbijateühistute liikmed, kui juhid ise, kes arvavad, et ETK Grupp tegutseb teistel põhimõtetel, kui seda tehti kunagi. ETK Grupil ei ole pääsu kapitaliühingute võimu alla jäämisest, mis muudab ühistud nende sarnaseks. Kuna ajalugu kordub, siis varsti võib oodata ühistegevuse hiilgeperioodi, kuid seni peavad ühistud suutma meeles pidada, et nad siiski tahavad jätkata tulevikus ühistutena. Töös selgus, et ETK Grupp ei lähtu oma tegevuses Rahvusvahelise Ühistegevuse Organisatsiooni väljaantud põhimõtetest. Uuringu tulemusi oleks võimalik kasutada doktoritöös või järgnevates uuringutes ning võrrelda põhjalikumalt Soome Tarbijateühistute Keskühistu ja Eesti Tarbijateühistute Keskühistu tegevust, et välja selgitada, miks ETK ei ole suutnud end ühistegevuse vallas kuuldavaks teha. Teiseks võimaluseks oleks võrrelda põhjalikumalt Eesti toidu- ja jaekaubandusega tegelevate kauplustekettide ja ETK Grupi tegevuse aluspõhimõtteid. Käesolev uurimus käsitleb küll neid kahte valdkonda pealiskaudselt, kuid edasise uurimuse käigus oleks oluline teada saada täpsed punktid, kuidas ETK Grupp suudaks säilitada oma turupositsiooni jätkates siiski ühistegevuse põhimõtete alusel. ; The new laws, regulations and statutes that accompany the restructuring of the economy give way to market economy, which hinders the development of cooperatives in Estonia. This has a negative effect on the cooperatives that have estranged from the principles developed by the International Co-operative Alliance. Stemming from this problem, the purpose of the herein thesis is to determine whether cooperatives that belong to the ETK Grupp comply with the principles of cooperatives and are functioning in a cooperative way. In order to fulfil the purpose, first a theoretical overview of different authors' viewpoints on the problems hindering cooperatives has been given. In the empirical part the statutes of the cooperatives that belong to the ETK Grupp have been studied, a survey has been carried out among the members of the cooperatives, and interviews have been conducted with chairmen of cooperatives in order to find out what kind of problems restrain cooperatives from working on the basis of cooperative principles. As a comparison to the Estonian Consumers' Cooperative, an overview of the Finnish Consumers' Cooperative has also been given. 157 members of the consumer cooperatives participated in the Internet-based survey and chairmen of the cooperatives in Vändra, Tõrva and Saaremaa commented on the situation. It appears that there are several problems. Seven out of eight respondents who considered themselves members of the consumer cooperative had a higher education. However, there are problems both in the educational system, where the topic of cooperatives is not covered, and in the cooperatives, who do not distribute relevant information neither to the public nor to their own members. Notifications about the general meeting of members are to be found only on the information stands in the shops of the consumer cooperative, and county and city newspapers. A tendency has 91 developed that the web pages, visions, missions and the newsletter of the ETK and consumer cooperatives concentrate on satisifying the needs of customers, not those of member cooperatives – a situation similar to capital associations. Members are very dissatisified – they are not pleased with the bonus system, they do not understand what membership is about, and constant changes in discount and loyalty programmes cause a lot of confusion. Comparing the consumers' cooperatives in Finland and Estonia, it appears that the ETK Grupp should be able to grow its market share and concentrate its main purposes, which at the moment give the ETK too much power over cooperatives. The bonus card should be focused on the members and the system of collecting bonus should be clearer. At the moment a large part of the profits of Säästukaart and Säästukaart Pluss go to Cofi Ltd., who is administrating the cards. 89% of the survey respondents do not or would not use Säästukaart Pluss to withdraw cash and 73% do not /would not use it as a mehtod of payment. This raises doubts about the expedience of creating a new system and questions why the system was not aimed at satisfying the members' needs as it is in Finland. The ETK Grupp could be a major leader of cooperation in Estonia, considering its present market share, number of member cooperatives and customers, and the dissipation of its shops. Unfortunately one can notice an estrangement from the principles of cooperation and a progressing adoption of the characteristics of capital associations. Members have been pushed to the background and the focus is on competing with other retail chains. The Master`s thesis has been written in Estonian. Composing the Master`s thesis 79 references were used and it consists of 91 pages. The research included three interviews and one poll, which was addressed to members of consumer cooperatives. The Master`s thesis contains two tables and ten illustrations which give a better review and understanding of the studied theme. The data has been also received from statutes of consumer cooperatives.

A profound reminder of mortality: catabasis, relationality and retrovision in Ingrid Winterbach's Die benederyk (2010) The aim of this article is to indicate that Die benederyk (The underworld) may be read within the theoretical framework of catabasis, relationality and retrovision. My point of departure is that relationality manifests itself in two ways in Die benederyk, namely as an ontological relationship on a personal level between people (whether it be family relations or the bonds of friendship), and also as an ontological relationship between specific artists through the ages. With reference to Kaja Silverman's book Flesh of my flesh (2009), but also referring to Etty Mulder's Freud and Orpheus (1987), a brief summary of the theoretical concepts of relationality, catabasis and retrovision will first be provided. It will be shown, furthermore, that at the same time Die benederyk is a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art and the artistic process. However, since every artist also works within a specific public sphere and tradition this aspect, too, is relationally based. The title itself, Die benederyk, already establishes a connection with death and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that is confirmed throughout the story. Silverman uses this well-known myth, as recorded by Ovid in Book X of The metamorphoses, as her starting point from which she develops her theory of relationality. What is not so well known in Western literature is the fact that after the second disappearance of Eurydice into Hades, Ovid adds a redemptive coda to Book XI, which largely invalidates the woman-death link and lays the foundation of relationality. Orpheus is murdered by the vicious Maenaden. This results in his second descent into the underworld. When he arrives in Hades he sees what he had seen before, but he sees it anew and differently. He embraces Eurydice lovingly and in doing so he acknowledges her ontological equality (Silverman 2009:181). In this way, they re-enact what had happened before, cancelling the violence of the events and transforming it into a reversible and ontological equalising analogy (Silverman 2009:181). Orpheus's descent into the underworld is related to the Greek concept of katabasis–a concept defined as a movement or journey downwards. According to Falconer (2005:2) the Greeks used the term katabasis (Latin descensus ad infernas) metaphorically to refer specifically to the story of a living person who had visited the underworld and returned reasonably unscathed to the land of the living. Silverman's (2009) thesis regarding the theory of relationality is bound up with the fact that mortality is the most comprehensive and basic feature that man shares with every other living being on earth. Finiteness marks the time and place where we end and others begin, both spatially and temporally. It is the acknowledgement of this limitation that gives us a sense of our place within the larger whole (Silverman 2009:4). Silverman (2009:8) then engages with the ideas of psychoanalyst and writer Lou Andreas-Salomé. She refers to Salomé's memoir, Looking back, in which she voices insights that correspond with Ovid's coda in the recording of the Orpheus myth. Salomé attributes a redemptive power to this type of looking, i.e. the capacity to revive the past so that it happens again, but in a new way. She refers to this process as the healing power of Nachträglichkeit–a term originally created by Freud, but used in a different sense by Salomé. She also attributes a number of other powers to Nachträglichkeit, namely the possibility that it can cleanse sin, raise the dead and resolve differences between people. Die benederyk tells the story of two brothers, Aaron Adendorff and his brother Stefaans. The novel addresses, among other issues, the quest for the meaning of life by both characters after each one descends into his own personal hell and in the slow process of re-emerging back towards the light. Both are struggling with their own sins, the death of their loved ones, broken relationships between people and the intense emotions of dealing with loss. The most striking reference to someone visiting the underworld and returning is found when Stefaans is said to have gone down to the darkness and had been lost for a long time. During the course of the narrative Stefaans is likened to the biblical New Testament Lazarus, who was resurrected to life, but also to Joseph of the Old Testament, who was saved from certain death in the pit. Among other things, the novel tells the story of Stefaans's descent into darkness due to drug addiction, the turning point in his life, as well as his gradual return to the land of the living. After this catabatic experience, Stefaans gains insight into his relationship with other flesh being of his flesh and understands his existence as an aware being with a body that has limitations, so that relationality is established. He then reflects on those that he has left behind, whether dead or alive, and so he starts his journey to renewal and regeneration. He accepts his fate, reconnects with his lost brother and heals broken relationships with departed family and friends through retrovision, exorcises his fears, and finally experiences release. Aaron Adendorff, the painter, is the central character in the novel. His story, too, is one of destruction and salvation. After the death of his wife, Naomi, Aaron descends to the dark depths of depression and is also confronted with his own mortality when a cancerous growth is removed from one of his kidneys. There is another striking link with the Orpheus myth in this novel regarding art and the creative process. A conclusive connection exists between being an artist and relationality. It is specifically the descent into the underworld that is presented as the creative process. In this way, the story of Aaron as an artist highlights a different aspect of relationality. Aaron's art is initially figurative in nature and as such he associates himself with the recognisable image. However, after the 1980s his work becomes more abstract as he loses touch with the physical image. This change in the subject-object relation distresses Aaron, because he is constantly aware that the loss of the image –of a discernible object –could be the death of all structure: a formal deadend. The tone in which the novel is written gets its power from the inevitable influence of the invisible image as is evidenced by the description of the intense experience of loss every time the recognisable image disappears. For Aaron, the benefit of his insights into relationality is the rediscovery of his lost loved one, here being the recovery of the recognisable image. He, too, accepts loss and overcomes his anxiety. His renewed creative drive and the prospect of the exhibition in Berlin is proof of his renewal and regeneration. The ontological relationship between people isn't important only for the personal connections and dialogue with predecessors, but also for the insight it gives into what it entails being an artist. It also highlights the connection between artists throughout the ages. Thus, Aaron's retrovision is also a comprehensive overview of Western art history, including many references to predecessor artists with whom he feels a kinship. Feeling himself marginalised (both as a person and as an artist), Aaron takes a critical look at his own figurative paintings as well as those of a few chosen, fictional artists. These include Jimmy Harris (a videographer who has an obsession with deconstructive creativity) and Moeketsi Mosekede (a politically correct artist). Many deceased artists, of whom Joseph Beuys and Francisco Goya are the most notable, are resurrected through retrovision. This historical layering has the effect of a palimpsest, viewing the present as being intertwined with the past. In this way relationality between the past and the present is suggested. Die benederyk is, therefore, indeed a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art in the early 21st century, the history of Western art and the artistic process. Thierry De Duve's comment, as quoted by Lyotard (1992:16), is especially relevant to this novel as it refers to the issues addressed by it: "The question of modern aesthetics is not 'What is beautiful, but rather what is art to be and what is literature to be?'" This article also briefly explores what the terms art and artwork currently mean. Adorno's statement in Aesthetic theory (1997:1) is relevant here: "It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to society, not even its right to exist." In fact, it could be argued that this pronouncement is the artistic theoretical framework on which Winterbach constitutes her reflection of art and what it means to be an artist in Die benederyk. This novel reflects on the meaning of art, the origin and nature of creative expression (the formation of art) and the possible value thereof. In conclusion it is clear that Winterbach is making explicit pronouncements on art theory through her characters. This means there is evidence of inter-textual poetic reflection. Although these poetic views cannot necessarily be attributed to Winterbach as a visual artist, the narrative philosophical reflection about the creative process confirms once more the particular relationship between her prose and her visual disposition ; http://litnet.co.za/assets/pdf/5GWNel.pdf

A profound reminder of mortality: catabasis, relationality and retrovision in Ingrid Winterbach's Die benederyk (2010) The aim of this article is to indicate that Die benederyk (The underworld) may be read within the theoretical framework of catabasis, relationality and retrovision. My point of departure is that relationality manifests itself in two ways in Die benederyk, namely as an ontological relationship on a personal level between people (whether it be family relations or the bonds of friendship), and also as an ontological relationship between specific artists through the ages. With reference to Kaja Silverman's book Flesh of my flesh (2009), but also referring to Etty Mulder's Freud and Orpheus (1987), a brief summary of the theoretical concepts of relationality, catabasis and retrovision will first be provided. It will be shown, furthermore, that at the same time Die benederyk is a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art and the artistic process. However, since every artist also works within a specific public sphere and tradition this aspect, too, is relationally based. The title itself, Die benederyk, already establishes a connection with death and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that is confirmed throughout the story. Silverman uses this well-known myth, as recorded by Ovid in Book X of The metamorphoses, as her starting point from which she develops her theory of relationality. What is not so well known in Western literature is the fact that after the second disappearance of Eurydice into Hades, Ovid adds a redemptive coda to Book XI, which largely invalidates the woman-death link and lays the foundation of relationality. Orpheus is murdered by the vicious Maenaden. This results in his second descent into the underworld. When he arrives in Hades he sees what he had seen before, but he sees it anew and differently. He embraces Eurydice lovingly and in doing so he acknowledges her ontological equality (Silverman 2009:181). In this way, they re-enact what had happened before, cancelling the violence of the events and transforming it into a reversible and ontological equalising analogy (Silverman 2009:181). Orpheus's descent into the underworld is related to the Greek concept of katabasis–a concept defined as a movement or journey downwards. According to Falconer (2005:2) the Greeks used the term katabasis (Latin descensus ad infernas) metaphorically to refer specifically to the story of a living person who had visited the underworld and returned reasonably unscathed to the land of the living. Silverman's (2009) thesis regarding the theory of relationality is bound up with the fact that mortality is the most comprehensive and basic feature that man shares with every other living being on earth. Finiteness marks the time and place where we end and others begin, both spatially and temporally. It is the acknowledgement of this limitation that gives us a sense of our place within the larger whole (Silverman 2009:4). Silverman (2009:8) then engages with the ideas of psychoanalyst and writer Lou Andreas-Salomé. She refers to Salomé's memoir, Looking back, in which she voices insights that correspond with Ovid's coda in the recording of the Orpheus myth. Salomé attributes a redemptive power to this type of looking, i.e. the capacity to revive the past so that it happens again, but in a new way. She refers to this process as the healing power of Nachträglichkeit–a term originally created by Freud, but used in a different sense by Salomé. She also attributes a number of other powers to Nachträglichkeit, namely the possibility that it can cleanse sin, raise the dead and resolve differences between people. Die benederyk tells the story of two brothers, Aaron Adendorff and his brother Stefaans. The novel addresses, among other issues, the quest for the meaning of life by both characters after each one descends into his own personal hell and in the slow process of re-emerging back towards the light. Both are struggling with their own sins, the death of their loved ones, broken relationships between people and the intense emotions of dealing with loss. The most striking reference to someone visiting the underworld and returning is found when Stefaans is said to have gone down to the darkness and had been lost for a long time. During the course of the narrative Stefaans is likened to the biblical New Testament Lazarus, who was resurrected to life, but also to Joseph of the Old Testament, who was saved from certain death in the pit. Among other things, the novel tells the story of Stefaans's descent into darkness due to drug addiction, the turning point in his life, as well as his gradual return to the land of the living. After this catabatic experience, Stefaans gains insight into his relationship with other flesh being of his flesh and understands his existence as an aware being with a body that has limitations, so that relationality is established. He then reflects on those that he has left behind, whether dead or alive, and so he starts his journey to renewal and regeneration. He accepts his fate, reconnects with his lost brother and heals broken relationships with departed family and friends through retrovision, exorcises his fears, and finally experiences release. Aaron Adendorff, the painter, is the central character in the novel. His story, too, is one of destruction and salvation. After the death of his wife, Naomi, Aaron descends to the dark depths of depression and is also confronted with his own mortality when a cancerous growth is removed from one of his kidneys. There is another striking link with the Orpheus myth in this novel regarding art and the creative process. A conclusive connection exists between being an artist and relationality. It is specifically the descent into the underworld that is presented as the creative process. In this way, the story of Aaron as an artist highlights a different aspect of relationality. Aaron's art is initially figurative in nature and as such he associates himself with the recognisable image. However, after the 1980s his work becomes more abstract as he loses touch with the physical image. This change in the subject-object relation distresses Aaron, because he is constantly aware that the loss of the image –of a discernible object –could be the death of all structure: a formal deadend. The tone in which the novel is written gets its power from the inevitable influence of the invisible image as is evidenced by the description of the intense experience of loss every time the recognisable image disappears. For Aaron, the benefit of his insights into relationality is the rediscovery of his lost loved one, here being the recovery of the recognisable image. He, too, accepts loss and overcomes his anxiety. His renewed creative drive and the prospect of the exhibition in Berlin is proof of his renewal and regeneration. The ontological relationship between people isn't important only for the personal connections and dialogue with predecessors, but also for the insight it gives into what it entails being an artist. It also highlights the connection between artists throughout the ages. Thus, Aaron's retrovision is also a comprehensive overview of Western art history, including many references to predecessor artists with whom he feels a kinship. Feeling himself marginalised (both as a person and as an artist), Aaron takes a critical look at his own figurative paintings as well as those of a few chosen, fictional artists. These include Jimmy Harris (a videographer who has an obsession with deconstructive creativity) and Moeketsi Mosekede (a politically correct artist). Many deceased artists, of whom Joseph Beuys and Francisco Goya are the most notable, are resurrected through retrovision. This historical layering has the effect of a palimpsest, viewing the present as being intertwined with the past. In this way relationality between the past and the present is suggested. Die benederyk is, therefore, indeed a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art in the early 21st century, the history of Western art and the artistic process. Thierry De Duve's comment, as quoted by Lyotard (1992:16), is especially relevant to this novel as it refers to the issues addressed by it: "The question of modern aesthetics is not 'What is beautiful, but rather what is art to be and what is literature to be?'" This article also briefly explores what the terms art and artwork currently mean. Adorno's statement in Aesthetic theory (1997:1) is relevant here: "It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to society, not even its right to exist." In fact, it could be argued that this pronouncement is the artistic theoretical framework on which Winterbach constitutes her reflection of art and what it means to be an artist in Die benederyk. This novel reflects on the meaning of art, the origin and nature of creative expression (the formation of art) and the possible value thereof. In conclusion it is clear that Winterbach is making explicit pronouncements on art theory through her characters. This means there is evidence of inter-textual poetic reflection. Although these poetic views cannot necessarily be attributed to Winterbach as a visual artist, the narrative philosophical reflection about the creative process confirms once more the particular relationship between her prose and her visual disposition

Tese de doutoramento em Economia, apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra ; Along this dissertation we present five distinct studies, following different approaches but all with a common element: they take into account the impact of foreign trade on growth, the relevance of the balance-of-payments as a constraint to growth and the linkages between human capital and external trade. The study begins with the analysis of the role of human capital and foreign trade on the growth of several sets of countries (World, high-, middle- and low-income countries, Europe, OECD and the EMU countries), between 1980 and 2000. The human capital proxies used take into account quantitative and qualitative aspects to measure their impact on growth. The degree of openness and the net foreign balance are used as proxies for external trade to reveal their importance on growth as well. The interaction between human capital and foreign trade measures allows us to investigate the existence of technology and knowledge transfers, through trade. We also consider the EU set of countries checking for the existence of conditional convergence over the period 1980 to 2004. In this part we try to reconcile the neoclassical and Post-Keynesian theories of growth at least at the empirical level. To do so, we introduce into the neoclassical growth model the ratio of the incomeelasticity of the demand for exports over that of imports, to test the importance of the balance-of-payments constraint hypothesis on growth. It is shown that this demand factor fits well into the supply-orientated growth model even for countries with a single currency and a common monetary policy implying fixed exchange rates. The study extends the growth analysis to the regional level and focuses on Portugal over the period 1996 to 2005. The intention is to analyse the growth process among the NUTS3 regions and the relevance of human capital and regional foreign trade for regional growth. The share of employment in the main activity sectors is also considered to verify whether labour sectoral allocation is important for regional growth. Additionally, we check for the existence of joint effects between human capital and foreign trade on regional growth and examine the differences between the Littoral and the Interior zones. Furthermore, we use the balance-of-payments constraint approach to explain the growth performance of the Portuguese economy over the last four decades. We employ "Thirlwall's Law" to predict actual growth in Portugal over the whole period and various overlapping periods and the McCombie test is implemented to test the accuracy of the Law. Differences in the growth performance between the pre- and post-accession periods are considered and it is shown that Portugal grew slower when joined the EU. This finding is combined with a higher income-elasticity of demand for imports and a slower growth of exports in the latter period. In the final part of the study we analyse a simultaneous equation model of growth with circular and cumulative causation characteristics. The model uses a demand-orientated approach to determine the relationships among the investmentoutput ratio and the growth of domestic income, exports, prices and productivity. The idea is to identify the driving forces of growth, with causal linkages that turn the process self-sustained. We are especially interested in the performance of Portugal, for the 1965-2006 period. The results show that there are three main breaks that obstruct the complete functioning of the circular and cumulative process, namely: (i) the investmentoutput ratio does not positively and significantly affect productivity growth; (ii) productivity growth is apparently not relevant for the growth of domestic price and (iii) price growth does not affect export growth. Therefore, there are essential links in the cumulative process that fail to generate faster growth in Portugal. The general conclusion of the study is that foreign trade is essential for growth both at the individual country level and at the regional level. Foreign trade can be properly combined with human capital measures, and both affect the growth process significantly being in line with the knowledge and technology diffusion hypothesis. Balance-of-payments problems can also restrain growth and cannot be ignored when the aim is to explain growth. If a country wishes to growth faster it has to improve its competitiveness by turning its products more attractive, both in the domestic and external markets by improving the supply characteristics associated with the non-price features. Also, the competitiveness of an economy is highly associated with human capital qualifications. ; Ao longo desta dissertação apresentamos cinco estudos distintos, seguindo diferentes abordagens mas com um ponto em comum: analisam o impacto do comércio externo sobre o crescimento, o papel da balança de pagamentos enquanto restrição ao crescimento e as ligações entre capital humano e comércio internacional. Iniciamos o nosso estudo com a análise do papel do capital humano e do comércio externo no crescimento, para diversos grupos de países (Mundo, países de rendimento elevado, médio e baixo, Europa, OCDE e UEM), entre 1980 e 2000. As proxies de capital humano utilizadas relacionam-se quer com aspectos quantitativos, quer qualitativos, e como indicadores de comércio externo consideramos o grau de abertura e a balança comercial. A combinação de medidas qualitativas do capital humano com indicadores de comércio externo permite-nos investigar a existência de transferências de tecnologia e de conhecimento, que ocorrem através das relações comerciais. Seguidamente, centramos a nossa análise no grupo de países da UE e averiguamos a existência de sinais de convergência condicional entre 1980 e 2004. Nesta parte, tentamos reconciliar em termos empíricos as teorias neoclássica e Pós- Keynesiana de crescimento. Com esse propósito, incluímos o rácio das elasticidadesrendimento do comércio externo na equação de crescimento, para testar a importância da hipótese da balança de pagamentos enquanto possível restrição ao crescimento. Numa fase posterior, estendemos a análise do crescimento ao nível regional e focamo-nos em Portugal, no período 1996-2005. A intenção é analisar o processo de crescimento entre as regiões NUTS3 e a importância do capital humano e do comércio externo no crescimento regional. A percentagem de trabalhadores empregados nos principais sectores de actividade é também considerada para verificar se a afectação sectorial do emprego é importante para o crescimento regional. Adicionalmente, analisamos a existência de efeitos conjuntos do capital humano e comércio externo no crescimento regional e examinamos as diferenças entre o Litoral e o Interior. Mais adiante no estudo, utilizamos a abordagem da balança de pagamentos enquanto restrição ao crescimento, para explicar a evolução da economia portuguesa em termos de crescimento, ao longo das últimas quatro décadas. Utilizamos a "Lei de Thirlwall" enquanto indicador para antever o crescimento no período global e em vários períodos sobrepostos e aplicamos o teste de McCombie para verificar a eficácia da Lei. Observam-se diferenças ao nível do crescimento económico quando se comparam os períodos pré e pós-adesão à UE e mostra-se que Portugal cresceu a um ritmo menor após a adesão. Este facto conjuga-se com uma elasticidade-rendimento das importações mais elevada e um menor crescimento das exportações neste segundo período. Na última parte do estudo analisamos um modelo de crescimento com equações simultâneas e com características de causalidade circular e cumulativa. O modelo utiliza uma abordagem centrada na procura, para determinar as relações existentes entre o rácio investimento-output e o crescimento do rendimento interno, das exportações, dos preços e da produtividade. A ideia é identificar as forças orientadoras do crescimento, com as ligações causais que tornam o processo auto-sustentado. Estamos especialmente interessados no desempenho da economia portuguesa durante o período 1965-2006. Os resultados demonstram que há três falhas essenciais que impedem o funcionamento completo do processo circular e cumulativo, a saber: (i) o rácio investimento-output não afecta de forma positiva e significativa o crescimento da produtividade; (ii) o crescimento da produtividade não é aparentemente relevante para explicar o crescimento dos preços domésticos e (iii) o crescimento dos preços não afecta o crescimento das exportações. Deste modo, há ligações no processo cumulativo que, ao falhar, não permitem atingir um maior crescimento em Portugal. Em termos gerais, concluímos que o comércio externo é essencial para o crescimento quer ao nível nacional quer regional. O comércio externo pode ser adequadamente combinado com medidas de capital humano, com ambos a afectarem o processo de crescimento significativamente, em linha com a hipótese de difusão tecnológica e de conhecimento. A balança de pagamentos também pode funcionar como um constrangimento e não pode ser ignorada quando o objectivo é explicar o crescimento. Se um país pretende crescer mais rapidamente, tem que apostar em melhorar a competitividade, tornando os seus produtos mais atractivos quer no mercado doméstico, quer no mercado externo. Para atingir esse objectivo, terá que aperfeiçoar as as características relacionadas com a oferta, associadas a aspectos não-preço. Por outro lado, a competitividade de uma economia está igualmente intimamente associada às qualificações do capital humano.

Seit ihrer Einführung wurde die Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik (GAP) der Europäischen Union (EU) mehrmals reformiert und ihre Politikinstrumente angepasst um der Multifunktionalität des Agrarsektors im Hinblick auf ökonomische Ziele, sowie Produktions- und umweltrelevante Zielsetzungen gerecht zu werden. Im deutschen Bundesland Baden-Württemberg ist die Agrarproduktion regional sehr heterogen. Daher ist es notwendig die Auswirkungen die sich aus Änderungen in der GAP ergeben auf regionaler Ebene detailliert zu untersuchen. In dieser Studie wurde das Agrarpolitikmodel ACRE (Agro-eConomic pRoduction model at rEgional level) angewendet um verschiedene Politikszenarien zu simulieren und die entsprechenden regionalen ökonomischen, Produktions- und Umweltauswirkungen zu analysieren. Die Studie adressiert insbesondere folgende Fragestellungen: Welche regionalen Auswirkungen haben unterschiedliche Politikmaßnahmen im deutschen Bundesland Baden-Württemberg in Bezug auf ökonomische, Produktions- und umweltrelevante Zielsetzungen? Wie geeignet sind die simulierten Politikmaßnahmen um die angestrebten Politikziele Reduzierung der Prämienzahlungen, Förderung von Bioenergiepflanzenproduktion, Reduzierung von Stickstoffeintrag und Ausweitung von Agrarumweltmaßnahmen zu erreichen? Wie geeignet ist das regionale Produktionsmodel ACRE als Instrument zur Politikanalyse und Politikberatung? Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen wurde ACRE aktualisiert, angepasst und erweitert um die Agrarproduktion in Baden-Württemberg auf NUTS3 Ebene zu simulieren. Die in dieser Studie simulierten Politikszenarien wurden so gestaltet, dass sie die Aspekte der aktuellen Diskussion über die zukünftige Entwicklung der europäischen Agrarpolitik repräsentieren. Die Szenarienergebnisse werden jeweils auf NUTS3 Ebene, für Farmtypen und für die gesamte Modelregion analysiert. Die Simulation des Basisjahres (REF) impliziert die Agrarpolitikreform Agenda 2000 im Simulationsjahr 2000. Somit repräsentiert REF die beobachtete Situation der regionalen Agrarproduktion auf deren statistischen Basisdaten ACRE kalibriert wurde. Das Szenario CAP2003 simuliert Politikmaßnahmen der Agrarpolitikreform GAP 2003 im Simulationsjahr 2015. Sowohl die Annahmen von steigenden Erträgen und Preisen als auch harmonisierte Direktzahlungen für Ackerland und Grünland bewirken einen Anstieg von Einkommen und Prämienvolumen. In der gesamten Modelregion Baden-Württemberg steigt die Getreideproduktion während die Produktion von Bullen und Schweinen sinkt. Der Intensitätsanstieg in der Pflanzenproduktion hat einen Anstieg der Umweltbelastung zur Folge. Das Szenario CAP2003 wird als Referenzszenario benutzt mit welchem die Ergebnisse der anderen simulierten Politikszenarien verglichen werden. Nachfolgend werden die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der weiteren Politikszenarien für die gesamte Modelregion Baden-Württemberg kurz beschrieben. In zwei Prämienreduzierungsszenarien adressieren die simulierten Politikinstrumente das Ziel einer Reduzierung des Prämienvolumens in unterschiedlicher Weise. In einem Szenario werden die Zahlungen der Ersten Säule um 60% reduziert und im anderen Szenario werden 70% der Budgetzahlungen von der Ersten Säule zur Zweiten Säule verschoben. Die Ergebnisse beider Szenarien zeigen sowohl die positiven Auswirkungen auf das Prämienvolumen als auch die negativen Auswirkungen in Form von sinkendem landwirtschaftlichem Einkommen und aus der Produktion fallende Agrarflächen. Zwei Energiepflanzenproduktionsszenarien simulieren die Produktion von Energiemais, unter der Annahme dass unterschiedliche Gegebenheiten in der Energiepolitik und des Energiemarktes zu einer unterschiedlichen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zwischen der Produktion von Energiemais und Nahrungsmitteln führt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Auswirkungen auf das landwirtschaftliche Einkommen und Prämienvolumen gering sind, hingegen wird im Falle einer starken Ausweitung der Energiemaisproduktion eine steigende Umweltbelastung erwartet. In zwei Stickstoffreduzierungsszenarien werden die Politikmaßnahmen der Wasserrahmenrichtlinie (WRL) und der OSPAR Konvention simuliert. Im WRL Szenario zeigt die Limitierung des Eintrags von organischem Stickstoff auf maximal 170kg Stickstoff pro Hektar keine Auswirkungen. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigt das OSPAR Szenario (Reduzierung des Stockstoffeintrags um 10%) eine abnehmende Umweltbelastung, während das landwirtschaftliche Einkommen und die Agrarproduktion zurückgehen und Agrarflächen aus der Produktion fallen. Im Szenario der verbindlichen Agrarumweltmaßnahmen (AUM) wird eine Ausdehnung der Flächen die nach entsprechenden AUM bewirtschaftet werden angenommen. Die Ausdehnung der AUM bewirkt einen Rückgang der Getreideproduktion und eine Verminderung der Umweltbelastung begleitet von nur gering sinkendem Einkommen. Zwei kombinierte Szenarien simulieren Kombinationen aus verschiedenen Politik- und Marktsituationen, welche entweder eine intensive oder extensive Agrarproduktion zur Folge haben. Die Ergebnisse dieser Szenarien veranschaulichen die gegenseitigen Wechselwirkungen einzelner Politikmaßnahmen. Die Maßnahmen der Prämienreduzierung haben in beiden Szenarien ähnliche Auswirkungen auf das Einkommen und Prämienvolumen. Im intensiven Produktionsszenario bewirken die hohe Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Energiepflanzenproduktion und eine weniger bindende Stickstoffrestriktion eine Ausdehnung der Energiemaisproduktion und kompensieren damit die Effekte die sich durch das Brachfallen landwirtschaftlicher Nutzfläche ergeben. Im extensiven Produktionsszenario bewirken die geringere Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Energiepflanzenproduktion und die stark bindende Stickstoffrestriktion eine sinkende Umweltbelastung, einen Rückgang der Agrarproduktion sowie eine Zunahme der Brachflächen. Um die Auswirkungen der simulierten Politikmaßnahmen auf die angestrebten Politikziele zu evaluieren wurden die Ergebnisse aller Szenarien verglichen und entsprechend ihrer Wirkung auf die Politikziele klassifiziert. Die Analyse der Modelergebnisse zeigt vorwiegend absehbare Auswirkungen der Politikmaßnahmen. Allerdings veranschaulichen die Analysen auf NUTS3 Ebene und der Farmtypen, dass die Auswirkungen der Politikmaßnahmen regional sehr unterschiedlich sein können. Die regionalen Modellergebnisse verdeutlichen somit, dass (und wo) agrarpolitische Maßnahmen eine regional spezifische Evaluierung und Beobachtung erfordern. Die Studie wird abschließend anhand einer Stärken-Schwächen-Analyse im Hinblick auf die angewandten Methoden und Ergebnissen diskutiert. Die Analyse zeigt insbesondere die Stärken der Studie auf, wie z.B. die Modellvalidierung, die regionalspezifischen Ergebnisse und die Möglichkeit einer weiterführenden Kooperation mit regionalen Stakeholdern. Die Validierung und die Ergebnisse der Studie belegen dass ACRE ein geeignetes und nützliches Modell zur regionalen Politikanalyse der GAP in Baden-Württemberg ist. ; Since its introduction the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) has undergone several reforms in order to adapt policy instruments and enable the agricultural sector to fulfil multiple functions with respect to economic, supply and environmental objectives. In the German federal state Baden-Wuerttemberg agricultural production is characterized by regional heterogeneity. Therefore it is important to estimate the impacts resulting from changes in the CAP at a detailed regional level. In this study the agricultural policy model ACRE (Agro-eConomic pRoduction model at rEgional level) has been used to simulate different policy scenarios and to analyze regional economic, production and environmental impacts. In particular the study aims to address the following research questions: What are the regional impacts of different policy measures in the German federal state Baden-Wuerttemberg with respect to economic, production and environmental objectives? How suitable are the simulated policy measures for achieving the policy objectives of the CAP 2003 reform, as well as the objectives of subsidy reduction, promotion of energy crop production, reduction of environmental pollution and promotion of agro-environmental measures? How suitable is the regional supply model ACRE as a tool for policy analysis and policy decision support? In order to address the research questions, ACRE has been updated, adapted and extended to simulate agricultural production in the federal state Baden-Wuerttemberg at NUTS3 level. The policy scenarios simulated in this study are defined to cover recent discussions on the future development of the CAP and their results are analysed according to a regional framework for NUTS3 counties, farm types and the complete model region. The simulation of the reference year (REF) implies the policy reform Agenda 2000 in the simulation year 2000. Thus, REF represents the observed situation of regional agricultural production on whose statistical data ACRE is calibrated. The scenario CAP2003 simulates the policy measures of the CAP 2003 reform in the simulation year 2015. Assumptions of increased yields and prices as well as harmonized direct payments for arable land and grassland result in an increase in income as well as in an increase of subsidy volume. In the entire model region Baden-Wuerttemberg cereal production increases while the production of fattening bulls and pigs decreases. Increases in crop production intensity result in an increase in environmental pollution. The scenario CAP2003 is used as the baseline scenario to compare the results of simulated policy scenarios which are delineated in the following paragraphs only with the most important results for the complete model region Baden-Wuerttemberg. In two subsidy reduction scenarios the simulated policy instruments aim to reduce subsidy volume by reducing Pillar 1 payments by 60% and by shifting 70% of the money from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2 respectively. Both scenarios result in the positive impact of a decrease in subsidy volume, but show a negative impact, especially an increase of abandoned land. In two energy crop scenarios the production of energy maize is simulated under the assumption that different situations in energy policy and energy markets result in different competitiveness between production of energy maize and food. In both scenarios energy crop production partially replaces cereal production, although the extent varies according to the high or small level of competitiveness between production of energy maize and food. Impacts on agricultural income and subsidies are small while increased environmental pressure is expected in the event of a significant expansion in energy crop production. Two nitrogen reduction scenarios simulate policy measures according to the water framework directive (WFD) and the OSPAR convention. The scenario according to the WFD (limitation of organic nitrogen input to a maximum of 170kg nitrogen per hectare) does not result in any impacts. In contrast, the scenario according to the OSPAR convention (reduction of nitrogen input quantities by 10%) results in a decrease in environmental pollution and is accompanied by a reduction of income and reduction of agricultural production under land abandonment. In the scenario of mandatory agri-environmental measures (AEM) it is assumed that the area with applied AEM is extended. The increase of AEM area results in a decrease in cereal production and a reduction of environmental pollution, while income decreases only slightly. Two combined scenarios simulate a mix of different policy and market situations which provoke an intensive and an extensive agricultural production. The results of these scenarios illustrate the interaction of the single policy measures. The measures of subsidy reduction have similar reducing impacts on income and subsidy volume in both scenarios. In the intensive production scenario high competitive energy crop production and a less restrictive nitrogen restriction result in a compensation effect of land abandonment by extension of energy crop area. In the extensive production scenarios, less competitive energy crop production and a high restrictive nitrogen constraint result in reduced agricultural production, increased land abandonment and reduced environmental pressure. In order to evaluate the impact of the simulated policy measures on the achievement of policy objectives the results of all scenarios are compared and ranked according to their impact on the policy objectives. The analyses of the model results show impacts of policy measures which are likely to be expected. However, the analyses at NUTS3 as well as farm types' level reveal that the impacts of the policy measures can be regionally quite different. Thus the detailed regional model results clearly show that (and where) the implementation of agricultural policy measures requires a regional specific evaluation and monitoring. In order to discuss the study with regard to the methods applied and the outcome, a final strengths and weaknesses analysis was conducted. The analysis highlights the strengths of the study (e.g. the model validation, the regional analysis of different policy scenarios, the possibility of cooperation with regional stakeholders). The validation and the results of the study also show that ACRE is a suitable tool for regional agricultural policy analysis and policy decision support. Supplementary work could help to overcome single shortcomings and caveats and to further develop the model. However, ACRE can already be used now as a useful tool for the regional agricultural policy analysis of the CAP in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Samuel D. Bond (" Improving the Generation of Decision Objectives ") is an assistant professor at the College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Bond's research focuses primarily on judgment and decision making in consumer settings. In prior work, he has examined confirmatory processing during the decision process and prescriptive methods for mitigating the effects of irrelevant context. More recently, he has been involved in various projects related to objectives-based decision making, focusing on impediments to the generation or elicitation of objectives. In other work, Professor Bond is exploring the interplay of intuitive and reason-based approaches to information processing and preference formation, and he is examining the ways in which descriptions of an experience can alter consumer forecasts, experience, and memory. Professor Bond teaches courses in marketing management and consumer behavior at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Address: College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, 800 West Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30308-0520; sam.bond@mgt.gatech.edu . Kurt A. Carlson (" Improving the Generation of Decision Objectives ") was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He has a B.S. and M.S. in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has worked for the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and most recently he was on the faculty at Duke University from 2001 to 2009. Dr. Carlson is an assistant professor at Georgetown University. Dr. Carlson's research focuses on the intersection of economics and psychology, with a specific emphasis on individual decision processes. Though much of his research explores consumer decision making, he also studies how voters, jurors, and managers make decisions. His research has been published in several top journals in marketing, psychology, and management. Dr. Carlson teaches courses on market intelligence, consumer behavior, and marketing management. Address: McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, 578 Hariri Building, Washington, DC 20057; kc377@georgetown.edu . Michel Denuit (" Bivariate Stochastic Dominance and Substitute Risk-(In)dependent Utilities ") is a professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), Institut de Statistique, Biostatistique et Sciences Actuarielles. He has done extensive research in the area of actuarial risk theory, especially in stochastic inequalities and dominance relations. Address: Institut de Statistique, Biostatistique et Sciences Actuarielles (ISBA), Université Catholique de Louvain, 20 Voie du Roman Pays, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; michel.denuit@uclouvain.be . Louis Eeckhoudt (" Bivariate Stochastic Dominance and Substitute Risk-(In)dependent Utilities ") received a Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University in 1970. Since then and until his retirement in 2004 he taught economics at the Catholic Faculties of Mons, Belgium. He now holds a research position at IÉSEG School of Management (Lille, France) and is also a research associate with CORE (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). His work deals mostly with the economics of risk and the analysis of risk attitudes. Address: IÉSEG, 3 Rue de la Digue, F-59000 Lille, France; louis.eeckhoudt@fucam.ac.be . Charles M. Harvey (" Cardinal Scales for Health Evaluation ") is a retired professor from the Department of Decision and Information Sciences at the University of Houston. He received his Ph.D. in pure mathematics at Stanford University. Soon afterward, he changed his research interests to applied mathematics, and a decade later— after writing the textbook Operations Research, published by North-Holland in 1979—he focused on decision analysis. His research has been primarily in the development of prescriptive models in which preferences are shown to satisfy certain conditions if and only if they are represented by functions having a certain structure. Sections 4–7 of the present paper present models of this type. He is a proponent of new theory that is applicable. He has taught at six universities and has held nonteaching positions at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Address: 5902 NW Pinewood Place, Corvallis, OR 97330; cmharvey1@earthlink.net . Ralph L. Keeney (" Improving the Generation of Decision Objectives ") is a research professor at Duke University, Fuqua School of Business, Durham, North Carolina. Professor Keeney's areas of expertise are decision analysis, risk analysis, and management decision-making. He is an authority on decision making with multiple objectives. His experience includes corporate management problems, risk analyses, public policy, large-scale siting studies (e.g., airports, power plants), and environmental studies. Dr. Keeney has been a consultant for several organizations including Fair Isaac, Seagate Technology, American Express, British Columbia Hydro, Pacific Gas and Electric, Kaiser Permanente, GTE, Hunton & Williams, the Electric Power Research Institute, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Energy. Address: Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, P.O. Box 90120, Durham, NC 27708-0120; keeney@duke.edu . L. Robin Keller (" From the Editor… ") is a professor of operations and decision technologies in the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. and M.B.A. in management science and her B.A. in mathematics from UCLA. She has served as a program director for the Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and is now on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the USC Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events. Her research is on decision analysis and risk analysis for business and policy decisions and has been funded by NSF and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Her research interests cover multiple attribute decision making, riskiness, fairness, probability judgments, ambiguity of probabilities or outcomes, risk analysis (for terrorism, environmental, health, and safety risks), time preferences, problem structuring, cross-cultural decisions, and medical decision making. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of Decision Analysis, published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). She is a Fellow of INFORMS and has held numerous roles in INFORMS, including board member and chair of the INFORMS Decision Analysis Society. She is a recipient of the George F. Kimball Medal from INFORMS. She has served as the decision analyst on three National Academy of Sciences committees. Address: Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3125; lrkeller@uci.edu . Alen Nosić (" How Riskily Do I Invest? The Role of Risk Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, and Overconfidence ") recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Mannheim in the area of behavioral finance. In his current research he focuses on determinants of risk-taking behavior in investment decisions and on the question of which factors drive changes in risk-taking behavior over time. Address: Chair of Business Administration, University of Mannheim, L 5, 2, 68131 Mannheim, Germany; alennosic@yahoo.de . Lars Peter Østerdal (" Cardinal Scales for Health Evaluation ") is a professor in the Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Copenhagen in 2004. His research interests include health economics, welfare economics, and game theory. His current research focuses on rationing methods and cost-sharing methods, pricing in networks, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) models, stochastic dominance theory, and studies of childhood poverty in Mozambique and Vietnam. He teaches courses in health economics, game theory, and general microeconomics. Address: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 26, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark; lars.p.osterdal@econ.ku.dk . Bjørn Sandvik (" Sensitivity Analysis of Risk Tolerance ") is an associate professor of economics at the University of Bergen and holds a Ph.D. from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He teaches finance and does research in finance and public economics. Address: Department of Economics, University of Bergen, Fosswinckelsgate 14, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; bjorn.sandvik@econ.uib.no . Lars Thorlund-Petersen (" Sensitivity Analysis of Risk Tolerance ") is the Sparebanken Nord-Norge Professor of Financial Economics at the Bodø Graduate School of Business, Norway. He teaches courses in decision analysis and game theory. His research interests include game theory and strategic behavior of agents in the presence of incentive systems determined, for example, by specific cost-sharing or rationing rules. He investigates decisions under uncertainty, with emphasis on risk preferences, utility functions, and stochastic dominance. He received his Ph.D. in mathematical economics from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Address: Bodø Graduate School of Business, Mørkvedtraakket, N-8049 Bodø, Norway; lars.thorlund-petersen@hibo.no . Martin Weber (" How Riskily Do I Invest? The Role of Risk Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, and Overconfidence ") holds a chair for Banking and Finance at the University of Mannheim. Born in 1952, he studied mathematics and business administration and received his Ph.D. as well as his Habilitation for Business Administration from the University of Aachen. He spent about three years as a visiting scholar at UCLA, the Wharton School, Stanford University, and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. His main interests lie in the area of banking, behavioral finance, and its psychological foundations. He is the author of numerous publications in these areas and coauthor of textbooks on decision analysis and banking. He served as director (1997–2002) and deputy director (2003–2008) for the Sonderforschungsbereich 504 of the German National Science Foundation (rationality, decision making, and economic modelling), and he serves on the editorial board of various national and international journals. Dr. Weber was dean of the Faculty for Business Administration, University of Mannheim from April 2004 to March 2006, is a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, and is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the University of Münster in June 2007. Address: Chair of Business Administration, University of Mannheim, L 5, 2, 68131 Mannheim, Germany; weber@bank.bwl.uni-mannheim.de .

Presentation of the study. Analysed issues. Relevance of the topic. The Legal regulation of gambling differs across Europe and the world. Some jurisdictions have liberal gambling regulation where operators are free to engage in the betting and gaming business, other jurisdictions enjoy a gambling monopoly. Those countries which have state gambling monopolies participate in gambling through state-owned enterprises or through private concession-based operators. The Scandinavian countries also have long standing gambling monopolies and all gambling revenues are returned back into society to finance state budgets or public projects. Having followed the consequent Nordic tradition during the interwar period, after the restoration of independence Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (with certain exceptions) chose a completely different gaming regulatory approach. These jurisdictions chose a fairly liberal and also unique gambling regulation. The Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian gambling regulators acknowledge that these countries can not be classified within any gambling legal regulatory system. Certain conceptual problems that are endemic in gaming legal regulation in Lithuania and Baltics were observed by the author while working as a legal practitioner. Since then, through becoming more and more involved in gambling legal regulation and through the observation of foreign law, the author began to think about what might constitute ideal gambling regulation guidelines, and began encouraging the students of Mykolas Romeris University to carry out investigations into ideal gambling legal regulation in their Master theses. In this way, the problem of the selection of the gambling regulatory regime most advantageous to the public came to be crystallised, later forming the axis of this thesis. Is there an ideal legal regulation for gambling at all and what form should this legal regulation take? These reasons led to a comparative legal study – in which the gambling regulatory features in Scandinavia and the Baltic states were compared. As the Scandinavian and Baltic states represent two major approaches to the regulation of the gaming market – a market monopoly (in Scandinavia) and a liberal, competition-based regulation (in Baltic states), the separate issue under investigation were the pros and cons of each of these regulatory approaches. It has to be noted that a gambling monopoly is not just a legal concept enabling the exclusive entity to organize and provide gambling services. The monopoly is also a socio-economic category, whose consequences to the market and the public can be measured. For this reason, the analysis in the thesis touched not only on the legal but also the socio-economic peculiarities of gambling regulation. State and society benefits were also under evaluation, as legally they have to offset an indisputably negative attribute of gambling – it's addictiveness. Thus, this dissertation assesses whether there is a legal basis to assert that the monopoly, based on Nordic gambling regulation traditions, is more proactive (or defective) than the free market based gambling regulations followed in the Baltic States, in terms of the legal, social and economic aspects of these two alternative gaming market regulation methods. The relevance of the study, in particular, is founded on the existing conceptual problems faced by the current Lithuanian legal regulation regarding games of chance. During the nine years of its gambling regulation practice, the Republic of Lithuania has been unable to develop an effective gambling regulatory model that could effectively combine public (society's and state's) and private (gambling operators') interests. The current situation is evidence of the fact that public interest in the gaming sector is not legally covered and protected. The current legislation neither foresees public protection against the harmful effects of gambling, nor regulates public self protection. There are no legal measures of protection in Lithuania that would allow for personal self exclusion from casinos and other gambling venues. The public interest of the government is not protected from the economic point of view. Gambling tax collection and distribution in Lithuania is not effective. Data from 2008 showed that Lithuania had the lowest aggregate gambling tax collection in the region. In contrast, the study showed that the gambling turnover in Lithuania was the largest among the Baltic countries. This shows that the gambling business does not face any real restrictions with regards to its operations. Lithuania lacks legal mechanisms to either regulate the working hours of gaming establishments, or their places of establishment. The dissertation tackles this problem by offering a concrete option - the establishment of a state gambling and lottery monopoly. Monopolistic state participation in the gambling business (the Scandinavian model) guarantees not only the state revenue collected in the form of taxes, it also makes it possible to claim for full gambling generated income (profit). The raising of state revenue is of perpetual relevance to every jurisdiction, especially in the presence of a global financial crisis. The financial difficulties currently met by the Baltic States add additional relevance to this dissertation. The relevance of the thesis is not only contingent on the solution offered to conceptual problems in the field of gambling and the increasing of public revenue. The thesis also evaluates the legitimacy of the monopoly. If sovereign jurisdictions are free to choose a gambling regulatory method, legal problems have occasion to arise when the particular method chosen does not correspond with international legal obligations. For example, article 43 of the Treaty on European Community regulates the freedom of establishment within the EC. Article 49 prohibits restrictions on the provision of services to another Member state of the Community. The infringement of the aforementioned articles is often addressed to states in which legal regulation of gambling is based on a state monopoly. The dissertation provides response to the question of whether gambling monopolies are legal. Due to the international nature of the topic of the dissertation, it is relevant not only in Lithuania, but also Latvia, Estonia and those other Scandinavian countries which are currently concerned with the dilemma of maintaining a monopoly or opening it. The last, but most important, elements which determine the permanent topicality of this paper are the legal aspects of gambling addiction prevention that are researched in the dissertation. In all Baltic States, the prevention of gambling addiction is not given adequate legal consideration. Scandinavian countries apply a number of different gambling addiction prevention measures. Public safety and public order are universal legal values towards which special attention must be paid during the process of forming gaming legal regulation. The paper reveals what legal stand is occupied by the Baltic States in comparison to those Scandinavian countries with monopoly based gambling regulation. The paper reveals how the legal basis of all three Baltic jurisdictions can be improved in the context of gambling addiction prevention. In this respect, the paper is also relevant. The objective and tasks of the study The dissertation is comprised of a comparative legal study, whose purpose is to compare monopolistic legal regulation and the liberal legal regulation of gambling in a specific context - Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, as well as Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian jurisdictions. This specific context – the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, has been chosen due to the fact that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia share a similar history, geopolitical situation, legal system and legal regulation of gambling, even if they are not identical. Latvia and Estonia have monopolized their lottery market, but the rest of the gaming market is liberal. The Scandinavian countries, which are all representatives of state owned gambling monopoly countries, have been chosen as they are close Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian neighbours, whilst their social protection system and social policy are perhaps the best in Europe. These are social welfare countries whose social welfare indices, according to the classification of the Nobel Prize winning economist Amarta Sen, are among the highest in the world. Therefore, the aim of the study was to reveal the effectiveness and appropriateness of gambling legal regulation in Lithuania and other Baltic states, by first comparing these countries to each other and then to Scandinavian countries which are famous for their social well-being. In order to meet the study objective the following tasks have been set: 1. To disclose the concept, nature, evolution and characteristics of the legal regulation of gambling. To disclose social costs management in the Nordic and Baltic countries. 2. To compare gaming regulatory features, including the practice of gaming regulatory institutions, liability against infringement of gambling legal regulation and gambling taxation in Nordic and Baltic countries. 3. To compare gaming safety measures applied in Nordic and Baltic countries The novelty of the study. The scientific value of the dissertation. This is the very first legal dissertation in Lithuania on gambling. The countries under investigation (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia) are also lacking any single comparative legal study on gaming regulatory issues. This is the first scientific work to analyze the pro et contra of market competition and monopoly-based gambling regulation. Only one study, which was performed by the Comparative Law Institute of Lausanne (Switzerland) under assignment of the European Commission: \"Study of Gambling Services in the Internal Market of the European Union. Final report.\" can be held as inter-related to the cur