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Das Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Lüneburg legt hiermit seinen zweiten eigenständigen Forschungsbericht vor. Seit 1999 erschien unser Bericht als Teil des Forschungsberichts des Fachbereichs Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften; dieser Bericht wurde nach dem Berichtsjahr 2005 eingestellt, da der Fachbereich seit 2006 Teil der neuen Fakultät II ist. Für die Fakultät II ist bisher kein solcher ausführlich informierender Forschungsbericht vorgesehen. Wir möchten mit unserem Bericht alle Interessenten an unserer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit in kompakter Form über die von uns bearbeiteten Forschungsthemen und die dabei erarbeiteten Publikationen sowie unsere weiteren Leistungen unterrichten. Viele Ergebnisse finden sich – zumeist in vorläufiger Form und als Pre-Print-Fassung vor der eigentlichen Publikation – in unserer seit 2005 erscheinenden Reihe University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics (download unter www.leuphana.de/vwl/papers); Informationen hierzu finden Sie am Ende dieses Berichts.

Nach zweijährigem Bestehen wurde am 16. Dezember 1991 das Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe im Fachbereich Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften der Universität Lüneburg als europaweit erstes universitäres Institut seiner Art feierlich im Rathaus zu Lüneburg eingeweiht. Zum Wintersemester 1991 wurde zudem die neue Professur ´Statistik und Freie Berufe´ durch Prof. Dr. Joachim Merz besetzt.Wir freuen uns, Ihnen anläßlich dieser offiziellen und feierlichen Einweihung unseres For-schungsinstituts Freie Berufe und der Besetzung der neuen Professur, die dort gehaltenen Reden vor-legen zu können. Sie geben Aufschluß über die Gründungsphase, die Förderung und Einbindung in das universitäre und öffentliche Leben und beschreiben die bisherigen Arbeiten sowie zukünftigen Forschungsschwerpunkte.

Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality data at the plant level, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between productivity and size of the export market for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for manufactured goods. It documents that firms that export to countries inside the euro-zone are more productive than firms that sell their products in Germany only, but less productive than firms that export to countries outside the euro-zone, too. This is in line with the hypothesis that export markets outside the euro-zone have higher entry costs that can only by paid by more productive firms.

Die vorliegende Publikation dokumentiert neben der Preiskonzeption die auf dem Festakt gehaltenen Ansprachen.

Der Band bietet eine exemplarische Übersicht über die Klassiker der Kulturwissenschaften und stellt die wichtigsten kulturwissenschaftlichen Konzepte der letzten Jahre vor. Er wartet aber auch mit programmatischen Überlegungen und Themenfeldern auf, die für die Zukunft der Kulturwissenschaften einen durchaus bahnbrechenden Charakter haben könnten.

Die Arbeiten dieser Anthologie wurden im Rahmen von Wetterstationen, einem Projekt mit fünf internationalen Partnern, das vom Kulturprogramm der Europäischen Union gefördert wird, in Auftrag gegeben. Schriftsteller und Schüler an den fünf Standorten nahmen an dem Projekt teil und der vorliegende Band enthält eine Auswahl ihrer Arbeiten.

We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more productive than non-exporters when observed and unobserved heterogeneity are controlled for, and these exporter productivity premia tend to increase with the share of exports in total sales; there is strong evidence in favour of self-selection of more productive firms into export markets, but nearly no evidence in favour of the learning-by-exporting hypothesis. We document that the exporter premia differ considerably across countries in identically specified empirical models. In a meta-analysis of our results we find that countries that are more open and have more effective government report higher productivity premia. However, the level of development per se does not appear to be an explanation for the observed cross-country differences.

In addition to a short introduction, this thesis contains five chapters that discuss various topics in the context of labor economics in general and the manufacturing sector in Egypt in particular. Chapter one presents the institutional framework of the Egyptian labor market and the different datasets that could be used by researchers and summarizes some previous empirical studies. Then, different microeconometric methods are applied in the subsequent four chapters, using the World Bank firm-level data for the manufacturing sector in Egypt to get an empirical evidence for the following issues: determinants of using fixed-term contracts in the Egyptian labor market in the manufacturing sector in chapter two, determinants of female employment in Egyptian manufacturing firms in chapter three, ownership structure and productivity in the Egyptian manufacturing firms in chapter four and, finally, exporting behavior of the Egyptian manufacturing firms is analyzed with a special focus on the impact of workforce skills-intensity in chapter five.

El-Salam Canal Project aims at increasing the Egyptian agricultural productivity through agricultural and stock development by irrigating about 263,500 ha gross of new lands. In order to stretch the limited water supply to cover these reclaimed areas, fresh River Nile water is augmented with agriculture drainage water from Hadus and Lower Serw drains to meet crop requirements, especially during summer months (peak demand). With a growing population and intensified industrial and agricultural activities, water pollution is spreading in Egypt, especially in main drains, which receive almost all kinds of wastes (municipal, rural, domestic and industrial wastes). The medical records indicate that significant numbers of waterborne-disease cases (bilharzias, typhoid, paratyphoid, diarrhoea, hepatitis A, B and C) have been reported in many areas in Egypt (MOHP, 2000). The National Water Quality Monitoring Program (NWQMP) in Egypt covers the Nile River, irrigation canals, drains and groundwater aquifers to assess the status of water quality for different water uses and users. The overall objective of this research is to introduce a rationalization technique for the drainage water quality-monitoring network for Hadus drain as a main feeder of El-Salam Canal Project. Later on, this technique can be applied for other parts in the NWQMP. The rationalization process started firstly with assessing and reformulating the current objectives of the network. Then, the monitoring locations were identified using integrated logical and statistical approaches. Finally, a sampling frequency regime was recommended to facilitate proper and integrated information management. The monitoring objectives were classified into three classes: design oriented, short-term and long-term deductible objectives. Mainly, the objectives “assess compliance with standards”, “define water quality problems”, “determine fate and transport of pollutants”, “make waste-load allocations” and “detect possible trends” were considered in the redesign process of the network. A combination of uni-, bi-, and multi-variate statistical techniques supported by spatial and temporal analysis for the important tributaries (key players) in Hadus drain system, were used for locating the monitoring sites. The key players analysis was carried out in the light of monitoring objectives. As a result, the monitoring network was divided into three priority levels (Layers I, II and III) as following: Layer I: It has the highest priority level and includes eight monitoring locations Layer II: It has the second priority level and includes three monitoring locations Layer III: It has the lowest priority level and includes five monitoring locations Using the method proposed by Lettenmaier (1976), the sampling frequencies were initially estimated and then evaluated for 36 water quality parameters, which were collected on monthly basis during the period from August 1997 to January 2005. The evaluation process was carried out by generating new data sets (subsets) from the original data. Then, the common required statistics from the monitoring network were extracted. The information obtained from different data sets was assessed using visual and statistical comparisons. Three integrated validation methods were employed to ensure that any decisions concerning the proposed program would not affect its ability to accomplish the monitoring objectives. These validation methods employed: descriptive statistics, regression analysis and linear multiple regression in an integrated approach. The validation results ensured that excluding the monitoring locations in layer III did not significantly affect the information produced by the monitoring network. Therefore, a monitoring network including only 11 sites (out of 16) representing the layers I and II was recommended. Based on the evaluation of sampling frequencies, it is recommended to have 6 (instead of 12) samples per year for 18 water quality parameters (COD, TSS, TVS, N-NO3, Pb, Ca, Na, Cl, Visib, BOD, Cu, Fe, Mn, pH, TDS, K, SO4_m and DO). The measured parameter SO4m will automatically replace the SO4 (calculated). SAR and Adj. SAR also can be calculated from the other parameters. For the other fifteen parameters (Mg, EC, Br, Ni, Sal, Cd, TN, TP, Temp, Fecal, Coli and N-NH4, Zn, P and Turb), it is recommended to continue with twelve samples per year. These recommendations may ensure significant reduction in the total cost of the monitoring network. This facilitates a fiscal resource, which is a key prerequisite in developing a successful program. The rescued budget can be redirected to achieve better performance in terms of improving the current resources. In addition, a frame of stakeholders-participation mechanism was proposed to not only facilitate a better coordination among the Egyptian Ministries involved in the water sector but also guarantee effective landowners/farmers involvement. However, applying such a mechanism requires more detailed studies of all the previous experiences gained by many projects trying to achieve better integration between objectives, plans and activities for the different environmental institutions in Egypt.