Die beschr?nkte K?rperschaftsteuerbefreiung gemeinnütziger Bauvereinigungen als im europarechtlichen Sinn staatliche Beihilfe?

Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, inwieweit die grunds?tzliche K?rperschaftsteuerbefreiung nach dem Wohnungsgemeinnützigkeitsgesetz anerkannter gemeinnütziger Bauvereinigungen für den Kernbereich ihrer wohnungswirtschaftlichen T?tigkeiten in einem Spannungsfeld zur europ?ischen Beihilfenproblematik steht.     

Juvenile Delinquency and Victimization in Cyprus

Criminological and criminal justice research is a relatively new academic discipline in Cyprus. The current paper first examines and critiques official data on juvenile delinquency in Cyprus. As expected, the findings on delinquency and victimization gathered from self-reported surveys suggest higher rates of delinquency than those based on official statistics. This paper is based for a large part on data obtained from the International Self-reported Delinquency Study (ISRD-2), a national survey of 2385 Cypriot 12–16 year old pupils concerning a number of delinquency risk and protective factors. Those results were compared to the data collected as part of the ISRD-2 in five European Union (EU) member states, which – like Cyprus - joined the EU in 2004. This comparison focuses on data in the capitals of the six countries concerned. Research and delinquency prevention implications are discussed.     

The politicians’ wage gap: insights from German members of parliament

Using a unique dataset of German members of parliament (MPs), this paper analyzes the politicians’ wage gap (PWG). After controlling for observable characteristics as well as accounting for election probabilities and campaigning costs, we find a positive income premium for MPs which is statistically and economically significant. Our results are consistent with the citizen candidate model, with a PWG of 35%–65% when comparing MPs to citizens occupying executive positions. However, it shrinks to zero when restricting the control group to top level executives.     

Issue and leader voting in U.S. presidential elections

The “Issues and Leaders” model shows that aggregate votes for President in U.S. elections from 1972 to 2012 can be accurately predicted from people's perceptions of the candidates' issue handling competence and leadership qualities. For the past five elections, the model's ex ante forecasts, calculated three to two months prior to Election Day, were competitive with those from the best of eight established political economy models. Model accuracy substantially improved closer to Election Day. The Election Eve forecasts missed the actual vote shares by, on average, little more than one percentage point and thus reduced the error of the Gallup pre-election poll by 30%. The model demonstrates that the direct influence of party identification on vote choice decreases over the course of the campaign, whereas issues gain importance. The model has decision-making implications in that it advises candidates to engage in agenda setting and to increase their perceived issue-handling and leadership competence.     

Gaining access or going public? Interest group strategies in five European countries

Interest groups differ in the strategies they use to influence public policy. Some mainly try to gain access (i.e., have direct contact with decision makers), whereas others tend to ‘go public’ by launching campaigns that aim to mobilise the broader public. In this article it is argued that group type – namely the distinction between business associations, professional associations and citizen groups – is a major determinant of the choice of strategy. The effect of group type, however, is conditional on the group's endowment with material resources and the issue context: the differences across group types are largest for resource‐rich associations and associations active in distributive policy fields. Original data from surveys of national associations in five European countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland, Latvia and Spain) enable the assessment of this argument. The theoretical expectations are supported, with the results having relevance for the normative evaluation of political systems and the positive study of interest group influence.     

Sociodemographic and diagnostic characteristics of homicidal and nonhomicidal sexual offenders

The aims of this study were to compare the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and "psychopathy" in homicidal and nonhomicidal sexual offenders and to investigate the specificity of previous studies on psychiatric morbidity of a sample of sexual murderers. Information from court reports of 166 homicidal and 56 nonhomicidal sex offenders was evaluated using standardized instruments (SCID-II, PCL-R) and classification systems (DSM-IV). Sexual murderers were diagnosed more often with a personality disorder (80.1% vs. 50%; p < 0.001), especially schizoid personality disorder (16.3% vs. 5.4%; p < 0.05), as well as with sexual sadism (36.7% vs. 8.9%; p < 0.001) and sexual dysfunctions (21.7% vs. 7.1%; p < 0.05). Additionally, they had more often used alcohol during the offense (63.2% vs. 41%; p < 0.05). The results indicate that sexual murderers have more and a greater variety of psychiatric disorders when compared to nonhomicidal sex offenders.     

Erhaltungspflicht des Vermieters im MRG-Vollanwendungsbereich; Mietzinsminderung verdrängt Zurückbehaltungsrecht

Dort, wo die Erhaltungspflicht des § 3 MRG zum Tragen kommt, ist kein Platz mehr für eine Anwendung der Erhaltungspflichten des § 1096 Abs 1 erster Satz ABGB. § 3 MRG erweitert zwar die Erhaltungspflicht des Vermieters auf allgemeine Teile, diese Erhaltungspflicht ist aber auch daran gebunden, dass ein Grund des § 3 Abs 2 MRG gegeben ist. Der "dynamische" Erhaltungsbegriff gilt nur zur gesetzlichen Erhaltungspflicht. Das dem Mieter durch § 1096 ABGB gew?hrte zwingende Zinsminderungsrecht verdr?ngt für seinen Anwendungsbereich das allgemeine Zurückbehaltungsrecht des § 1052 ABGB.     

Carbon monoxide poisoning from indoor barbecues--incidents reported to the German-speaking Poison Information Centers and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin

From 2008 to the end of 2009 the Joint Poison Information Center (PIC) in Erfurt observed 7 incidents involving 17 persons (1 fatality) with signs of carbon monoxide poisoning from indoor barbecues (COFIB). To find out whether COFIB is a regional or a general phenomenon in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all information about COFIBs recorded by the 11 German-speaking Poison Information Centers and the BfR Berlin were retrospectively analyzed for the period 2000 to 2009. In all, 60 COFIBs (accidental: 90.0 %, suicidal: 8.3%, reason unknown: 1.7%) involving 146 individuals were reported. The number of incidents increased from one case with 2 persons in 2000 to 18 cases involving 34 persons in 2009. The 146 victims (female 26.7%, male 27.4%, gender unknown 45.9%; adults 58.2%, children 24.7%, age unknown 17.1%) lived in 15 of the 16 federal states of Germany and in Switzerland. The highest number of victims was found in Bavaria (23), Brandenburg (18), and Baden-Wuerttemberg (18). The symptoms according to the Poisoning Severity Score were none to mild in 60.3%, moderate in 13.7%, severe in 11.6%, fatal in 6.9% and unratable in 7.5%. No clear correlation was found between the carboxyhemoglobin concentration and the severity of the symptoms. As a rising number of COFIBs often involving several individuals was observed from 2000 to 2009, the general public was informed about the risks of indoor barbecues.