The Fixed Wage Puzzle : Why Profit Sharing Is So Hard to Implement

It is well known that profit sharing arrangements Pareto-dominate fixed wage contracts. Share agreements are (far) less than ubiquitous, however. This paper offers a solution of this „fixed wage puzzle“ by adopting a perspective of bounded rationality. We show that share arrangements that fulfill „plausible“ constraints are not generally acceptable to both firms and unions.

The Fixed Wage Puzzle: Why Profit Sharing Is So Hard to Implement

It is well known that profit sharing arrangements Pareto-dominate fixed wage contracts. Share agreements are (far) less than ubiquitous, however. This paper offers a solution of this "fixed wage puzzle“ by adopting a perspective of bounded rationality. We show that share arrangements that fulfill ”plausible“ constraints are not generally acceptable to both firms and unions.Profit Sharing, Share Economy, Remuneration Systems

Testing for Parameter Stability in DSGE Models. The Cases of France, Germany and Spain

We estimate a New Keynesian DSGE model on French, German and Spanish data. The main aim of this paper is to check for the respective sets of parameters that are stable over time, making use of the ESS procedure ( ”Estimate of Set of Stable parameters“) developed by Inoue and Rossi (2011). This new econometric technique allows to address the stability properties of each single parameter in a DSGE model separately. In the case of France and Germany our results point to structural breaks after the beginning of the second stage of EMU in the mid-nineties, while the estimates for Spain show a significant break just before the start of the third stage in 1998. Specifically, there are significant changes in monetary policy behavior for France and Spain, while monetary policy in Germany seems to be stable over time.DSGE; EMU; Monetary Policy; Structural Breaks

Testing for Parameter Stability in DSGE Models. The Cases of France, Germany and Spain

We estimate a New Keynesian DSGE model on French, German and Spanish data. The main aim of this paper is to check for the respective sets of parameters that are stable over time, making use of the ESS procedure (”Estimate of Set of Stable parameters“) developed by Inoue and Rossi (2011). This new econometric technique allows to address the stability properties of each single parameter in a DSGE model separately. In the case of France and Germany our results point to structural breaks after the beginning of the second stage of EMU in the mid-nineties, while the estimates for Spain show a significant break just before the start of the third stage in 1998. Specifically, there are significant changes in monetary policy behavior for France and Spain, while monetary policy in Germany seems to be stable over time.DSGE, monetary policy, EMU, structural breaks

Sand im (Arbeits-) Marktgetriebe: Die Analyse von Suchfriktionen

Suchfriktionen; Arbeitsmärkte; Matching-Technologie

3D microwave cavity with magnetic flux control and enhanced quality factor

Three-dimensional (3D) superconducting microwave cavities with large mode volumes typically have high quality factors ($>10^6$). This is due to a reduced sensitivity to surface dielectric losses, which is the limiting source of dissipation in two-dimensional transmission line resonators. In recent years, 3D microwave cavities have been extensively used for coupling and interacting with superconducting quantum bits (qubits), providing a versatile platform for quantum information processing and hybrid quantum systems. A current issue that has arisen is that 3D superconducting cavities do not permit magnetic field control of qubits embedded in these cavities. In contrast, microwave cavities made of normal metals can be transparent to magnetic fields, but experience a much lower quality factor ($\sim 10^4$), which negates many of the advantages of the 3D architecture. In an attempt to create a device that bridges a gap between these two types of cavities, having magnetic field control and high quality factor, we have created a hybrid 3D cavity. This new cavity is primarily composed of aluminium but also contains a small copper insert. We measured the internal quality factor of the hybrid cavity to be $102000$, which is an order of magnitude improvement over all previously tested copper cavities. An added benefit to that our hybrid cavity possesses is that it also provides an improved thermal link to the sample that superconducting cavities alone cannot provide. In order to demonstrate precise magnetic control within the cavity, we performed spectroscopy of three superconducting qubits placed in the cavity, where individual control of each qubit's frequency was exerted with small wire coils attached to the cavity. A large improvement in quality factor and magnetic field control makes this 3D hybrid cavity an attractive new platform for circuit quantum electrodynamics experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Abgaben und Umlagen im dualen Ausbildungssystem

Seit Jahren wird in der Politik bei einem Lehrstellenmangel die Einführung einer Ausbildungsplatzabgabe diskutiert. Welche ökonomischen Argumente sprechen für und welche gegen eine Ausbildungsplatzumlage? Wie ist der jüngste Parteitagsbeschluss der SPD zur Einführung einer Ausbildungsplatzabgabe zu beurteilen

In situ characterization of qubit control lines: a qubit as a vector network analyzer

We present a technique to measure the transfer function of a control line using a qubit as a vector network analyzer. Our method requires coupling the line under test to the the longitudinal component of the Hamiltonian of the qubit and the ability to induce Rabi oscillations through simultaneous driving of the transversal component. We used this technique to characterize the 'flux' control of a superconducting Transmon qubit in the range of 8 to 400\,MHz. Our method can be used for the qubit 'flux' line calibration to increase the fidelity of entangling gates for the quantum processor. The qubit can be also used as a microscopic probe of the electro-magnetic fields on a chip.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Zur Akzeptanz politischer und marktwirtschaftlicher Reformen in Osteuropa: Empirische Befunde und Erklärungsansätze

Die Staaten Osteuropas haben seit dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs ausgehend von einer institutionell recht homogenen Situation eine sehr heterogene Entwicklung genommen. Diese Heterogenität bezieht sich nicht nur auf einige zentrale makroökonomische Größen, sondern insb. auch auf die Ebene politischer und (markt-) wirtschaftlicher Reformen und die Qualität der daraus resultierenden Institutionen. Es ist insb. auch bemerkenswert, dass sich politische und wirtschaftliche Liberalität durchaus nicht so parallel entwickelt haben, wie das die Eucken'schen Überlegungen zur Interdependenz der Ordnungen hätten vermuten lassen. In dem Beitrag werden einige konzeptionelle Überlegungen zur Rolle von Akzeptanz für das wirtschaftliche und politische System angestellt und danach mit Hilfe von makro- und mikroökonomischen Datensätzen die Situation in den osteuropäischen Transformationsländern beschrieben.In the transformation economies of Eastern Europe a rather high level of institutional heterogeneity developed after having started at low, albeit quite similar levels after the fall of the Iron Curtain. This heterogeneity is relevant both at the level of the major macroeconomic indicators and the level of indicators of institutional reforms and the resulting institutional quality. It is remarkable that political and economic liberty did not develop in lockstep as could have been expected from Walter Eucken's reflections on the interdependency of orders. In this contribution, some conceptual remarks are made on the role of the acceptance of economic and political systems. After that, we look at macro- and microeconomic datasets in order to describe the situation in the transformation economies

Stabilisierungsfonds und makroökonomische Governance

Stabilisierungsfonds haben in den vergangenen Jahren, insb. während der letzten Energie- und Rohstoffpreishausse bis zum Sommer 2008, an Bedeutung gewonnen. In diesem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche strategische Rolle diese Fonds für die makroökonomische Governance von Ländern spielen. Es kann in zwei sehr unterschiedlichen Modellrahmen gezeigt werden, dass Stabilisierungsfonds die Lösung von Glaubwürdigkeitsproblemen der Politik entweder weniger dringlich machen oder herbeiführen. Beiden Modellrahmen ist gemein, dass die Verfügbarkeit von fiskalischen windfalls bzw. deren Anlage in Stabilisierungsfonds institutionelle Fortschritte behindern können. In diesem Sinn kann der in der Literatur seit langem bekannte ,,Ressourcenfluch“ um eine institutionelle Komponente ergänzt werden.