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This article investigates the fundamental value of digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google. Despite the transformative nature of digital technologies, it is challenging to value digital services, given that the usage is free of charge. Applying the methodology of discrete choice experiments, we estimated the value of digital free goods. For the first time in the literature, we obtained data for the willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept, together with socio-economic variables. The customer´s valuation of free digital services is on average, for Google, 121 € per week and Facebook, 28 €.
The food system represents a key industry for Europe and Germany in particular. However, it is also the single most significant contributor to climate and environmental change. A food system transformation is necessary to overcome the system’s major and constantly increasing challenges in the upcoming decades. One possible facilitator for this transformation are radical and disruptive innovations that start-ups develop. There are many challenges for start-ups in general and food start-ups in particular. Various support opportunities and resources are crucial to ensure the success of food start-ups. One aim of this study is to identify how the success of start-ups in the food system can be supported and further strengthened by actors in the innovation ecosystem in Germany. There is still room for improvement and collaboration toward a thriving innovation ecosystem. A successful innovation ecosystem is characterised by a well-organised, collaborative, and supportive environment with a vivid exchange between the members in the ecosystem. The interviewees confirmed this, and although the different actors are already cooperating, there is still room for improvement. The most common recommendation for improving cooperation is learning from other countries and bringing the best to Germany.
This article studies the renewed interest surrounding sustainable public finance and the topic of tax evasion as well as the new theory of information inattention. Extending a model of tax evasion with the notion of inattention reveals novel findings about policy instruments that can be used to mitigate tax evasion. We show that the attention parameters regarding tax rates, financial penalty schemes and income levels are as important as the level of the detection probability and the financial penalty incurred. Thus, our theory recommends the enhancement of sustainability in public policy, particularly in tax policy. Consequently, the paper contributes both to the academic and public policy debate.
This article studies the effects of reverse factoring in a supply chain when the buyer company facilitates its lower short-term borrowing rates to the supplier corporation in return for extended payment terms. We explore the role of interest rate changes, rating changes, and the business cycle position on the cost and benefit trade-off from a supplier perspective. We utilize a combined empirical approach consisting of an event study in Step 1 and a simulation model in Step 2. The event study identifies the quantitative magnitude of central bank decisions and rating changes on the interest rate differential. The simulation computes with a rolling-window methodology the daily cost and benefits of reverse factoring from 2010 to 2018 under the assumption of the efficient market hypothesis. Our major finding is that changes of crucial financial variables such as interest rates, ratings, or news alerts will turn former win-win into win-lose situations for the supplier contingent to the business cycle. Overall, our results exhibit sophisticated trade-offs under reverse factoring and consequently require a careful evaluation in managerial decisions.
Up to now biorefinery concepts can hardly compete with the conventional production of fossil-based chemicals. On one hand, conventional chemical production has been optimised over many decades in terms of energy, yield and costs. Biorefineries, on the other hand, do not have the benefit of long-term experience and therefore have a huge potential for optimisation. This study deals with the economic evaluation of a newly developed biorefinery concept based on superheated steam (SHS) torrefaction of biomass residues with recovery of valuable platform chemicals. Two variants of the biorefinery were economically investigated. One variant supplies various platform chemicals and torrefied biomass. The second variant supplies thermal energy for external consumers in addition to platform chemicals. The results show that both variants can be operated profitably if the focus of the platform chemicals produced is on high quality and thus on the higher-priced segment. The economic analysis gives clear indications of the most important financial influencing parameters. The economic impact of integration into existing industrial structures is positive. With the analysis, a viable business model can be developed. Based on the results of the present study, an open-innovation platform is recommended for the further development and commercialisation of the novel biorefinery.
Within the last decade, research on torrefaction has gained increasing attention due to its ability to improve the physical properties and chemical composition of biomass residues for further energetic utilisation. While most of the research works focused on improving the energy density of the solid fraction to offer an ecological alternative to coal for energy applications, little attention was paid to the valorisation of the condensable gases as platform chemicals and its ecological relevance when compared to conventional production processes. Therefore, the present study focuses on the ecological evaluation of an innovative biorefinery concept that includes superheated steam drying and the torrefaction of biomass residues at ambient pressure, the recovery of volatiles and the valorisation/separation of several valuable platform chemicals. For a reference case and an alternative system design scenario, the ecological footprint was assessed, considering the use of different biomass residues. The results show that the newly developed process can compete with established bio-based and conventional production processes for furfural, 5-HMF and acetic acid in terms of the assessed environmental performance indicators. The requirements for further research on the synthesis of other promising platform chemicals and the necessary economic evaluation of the process were elaborated.
This paper studies option pricing based on a reverse engineering (RE) approach. We utilize artificial intelligence in order to numerically compute the prices of options. The data consist of more than 5000 call- and put-options from the German stock market. First, we find that option pricing under reverse engineering obtains a smaller root mean square error to market prices. Second, we show that the reverse engineering model is reliant on training data. In general, the novel idea of reverse engineering is a rewarding direction for future research. It circumvents the limitations of finance theory, among others strong assumptions and numerical approximations under the Black–Scholes model.
This paper analyzes different government debt relief programs in the European Monetary Union. I build a model and study different options ranging from debt relief to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The analysis reveals the following: First, patient countries repay debt, while impatient countries more likely consume and default. Second, without ESM loans, indebted countries default anyway. Third, if the probability to be an impatient government is high, then the supply of loans is constrained. In general, sustainable and unsustainable governments should be incentivized differently especially in a supranational monetary union. Finally, I develop policy recommendations for the ongoing debate in the Eurozone.
This article studies the hidden blemishes of two benchmark rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In 2015 and 2018, the ECJ approved two unconventional monetary instruments, among others ‘Outright Monetary Transactions’ and the ‘Public Sector Purchase Program’. Yet, there is a vigorous debate about both monetary operations in law and economics. In this interdisciplinary article, we address law and economic arguments in order to elucidate insights to the legal community. In particular, we elaborate on the legal implications of a variety of concerning issues such as public policy interference, effect on wealth redistribution, erosion of democratic legitimacy and lack of effectiveness of monetary policy. These topics remain disregarded in the ECJ rulings. Consequently, the verdicts do not identify the economic boundaries of the European Central Bank’s mandate appropriately.
This paper studies the power of online search intensity metrics, measured by Google, for examining and forecasting exchange rates. We use panel data consisting of quarterly time series from 2004 to 2018 and ten international countries with the highest currency trading volume. Newly, we include various Google search intensity metrics to our panel data. We find that online search improves the overall econometric models and fits. First, four out of ten search variables are robustly significant at one percent and enhance the macroeconomic exchange rate models. Second, country regressions corroborate the panel results, yet the predictive power of search intensity with regard to exchange rates vary by country. Third, we find higher prediction performance for our exchange rate models with search intensity, particularly in regard to the direction of the exchange rate. Overall, our approach reveals a value-added of search intensity in exchange rate models.