Efficient compensation for employees' inventions

We analyze a legal reform concerning employees' inventions in Germany. Using a simple principal-agent model, we derive a unique efficient payment scheme: a bonus which is contingent on the project value. We demonstrate that the old German law creates inefficient incentives even if litigation cost is zero. However, the new law (concerning university employees) and the pending reform proposal (concerning other employees) also fail to implement first-best incentives. With suboptimal incentives to spend effort on inventions, the government's goal, an increase in the number of patents, is likely to be missed. A part of this research was done while I enjoyed the hospitality of the University of California in Santa Barbara (Economics Department) and Berkeley (Law School). Financial aid by the Thyssen Stiftung is gratefully acknowledged. classification K 12 . J 33 . C 72     

Le développement des décideurs publics: propositions pour les années qui viennent

Sommaire: Plus que jamais, les décideurs publics doivent alimenter la décision politi-que. Ils ne sauraient y parvenir sans une mise à jour continuelle de leurs connaissances. Les dornaines traditionnels ne sauraient cependant satisfaire à leurs besoins. C'est pourquoi l'auteur propose quatre domaines de formation pour les décideurs de la fin du millénaire. La maîtrise de l'infonnation s'appliquant tant au domaine des nouvelles qui ren-dent compte des événernents sociaux ou politiques qu'au domaine de l'information de gestion qui doit rester sous le contrôle des décideurs; La sensihilitéaux valeurs montantes dans le secteur du travail, de la santé et des Affaires sociales, de la politique et de l'économie. Selon l'auteur, les décideurs publics devront passer d'une gestion organique et pragmatique des services à une gestion sur laquelle des problèmes nouveaux et des valeurs nouvelles créeront des pressions de plus en plus considérables; La connaissance des institutions d du rôle de l'État - Une certaine perte de crédibilité des institutions publiques doit être contrée. Par ailleurs, la diminution du rôle des bureaucraties ne doit pas être confondue avec la diminution du rôle de l'État; L'hahilitédans le décodage de la prospective - L'administration publique exige de ses décideurs qu'ils regardent haut et loin mêrne si le quotidien les sollicite de façon très pressante. Les décisions autonomes deviennent de plus en plus rares et les liens entre les idées et les actions exigent plus que jarnais une ouverture sur le monde. Abstract: More than ever, public decision-makers must feed the policy-making process. To do that, they must continually upgrade their knowledge. However, the conventional fields of knowledge are no longer sufficient. The author hence proposes four areas of training for the decision-makers of the twenty-first century: - the mastery of informution, involving news reports on social and political events, and management information that must be at the decision-makers' fingertips; - sensitivity to emerging values in the fields of labour, health and social affairs, politics and economics. The author believes that public decision-makers must switch from an organic, pragmatic management of services to a management mode that will be subjected to ever-growing pressure by new problems and new values; - knowledge of the institutions and of the role of the state. A certain loss of credibility of public institutions must be countered. However, reducing the various bureaucracies must not be confused with reducing the role of the state; - ability to interpret forecasts. Public administration requires decision-makers to look beyond the horizon in spite of the pressing daily tasks. Autonomous decisions are becoming increasingly rare, and the links between ideas and actions require, more than ever, an opening to the world.     

La gestion des ressources humaines all Sein de I'administration publique: un art bien complexe!

Sommaire: Dans cet article, l'auteur fait d'abord le portrait, un peu sombre peut-être, des constats et préjugés qui font partie intégrante de la gestion des ressources humaines dans la fonction publique québécoise. Il y définit ensuite le contexte particulier de cette gestion par rapport aux autres types d'exercices administratifs: revue des programmes, plan d'équipement…, Puis il propose des outils pour la faciliter, principalement: les renseignements de base dont il faut disposer, un calendrier de travail intégrant les actions recurrentes et les temps forts et une gestion appropriée de son tenips par le gestionnaire pour qu'il s'occupe adéquatenient de son personnel. On voit ensuite comment la gestion des ressources humaines s'accorde à une certaine culture organisationnelle, comment chaque gestionnaire y est engagé et comment elle fait appel à des méthodes complémentaires les unes des autres (les relations interpersonnelles et la gestion en système). Puis l'auteur propose sept remarques, qui présentent autant de pistes qui devraient être explorées plus longuement: l'application du concept coûts-bénéfices à la gestion des resources humaines, les conséquences des contraintes budgétaires et la gestion des ressources improductives, les cours théoriques et le perfectionnement des gestionnaires. la surqualification et le vieillissement de la fonction publique, la modernisation de l'administration publique par un nouveau partage des pouvoirs et des responsabilités entre le gouvernement et ses gestionnaires ainsi que par l'expérimentation de techniques de gestion moderne avec des équipements adéquats, la redéfinition des rôdes des organismes eentraux et des ministères pour line plus grande imputabilité des gestionnaires et pour de nouveaux mandats pour les directions de personnel et la grande competence des hauts fonctionnaires dans un contexte malgré tout de dépendance continue. Enfin, en guise de postconclusion, on peut voir comment l'effort de rationalisation de la gestion des ressources humaines que la crise économique exige peut être bénéfique tant pour l'administration publique que privée. Abstract: This first section of this paper paints a somewhat dark picture of the views and biases which are an integral part of the management of' human resources in the Quebec civil service. Following that, the particular context of that management is defined in relation to other types of administrative endeavours such as program reviews, facility planning etc. Tools to make the management of human resources work more easily are then proposed; they include: basic required information; work schedules integrating routine actions with peak periods; proper management of the manager's own time in order for him to adequately look after his staff.     

Politics and administration during a ‘nuclear-political’ crisis

How do public agencies and goverments cope with large-scale hazards if they cannot rely on specific laws, previous experience or governmental directions. National and local authorities in West Germany were completely surprised by nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl reactor blaze in 1986. This article describes and analyzes local, regional and national administrative reactions. Attempts by local and state administrators to preserve their freedom of action were confronted with national-level attempts to centralize and coordinate crisis decision making. Many local and regional bodies had to cope with citizen protests and attempts at self-regulation organized by autonomous radiological experts and amplified by the mass media. There was a marked lack of uniformity in government responses to the crisis. This was only in part due to the pervasive uncertainty and the lack of preparedness. Problems of inter-administrative coordination always occur when decentralized political responsibilities meet with geographically extensive threats.The paper is commented on by Klaus König, professor of Government and former advisor to the West German chancellor.     

Evaluating political party positioning over time: a proposed methodology

In this article, we propose a methodology in order to measure political positioning and constituent perception. Political leaders should be able to effectively define the distinctive characteristics of their political brand and to subsequently utilize the most appropriate mechanisms of communication to promote an accurate perception of political image in the market. The specific aim of this research is to explore interrelations between a political party's positioning in two different periods in order to discover possible discrepancies and changes over time. The official blog of a political party, containing both official communication and the people's feedback, represents a perfect place in which to observe the concepts and the values on which both the political brand identity and image are founded. Leximancer, a content analysis tool, was utilized to analyze communications between a political party leader and his or her constituents. Illustrating the methodology, the blog of Beppe Grillo, founder of the Movimento 5 Stelle is analyzed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interaction and basic rights in an international perspective: an introduction

The effective enjoyment of basic rights largely depends on communicative processes and other forms of social interaction. Traditional conceptions of basic rights do not explicitly address this relevance of social interaction, though. Legal conceptions of basic rights rather focus on the right to a particular discretionary, but isolated and individual behaviour. This article points out the different established dimensions of basic rights protection and points out the relevance of social interaction for the enjoyment of basic rights as well as the legal consequences in different jurisdictions.