Party Competition and Reforms of Unemployment Benefits in Germany: How a Small Change in Electoral Demand Can Make a Big Difference

This article shows how party competition has influenced reforms of unemployment benefits in Germany. The existing literature on German labour market policy emphasises institutional factors and predicts policy stability. Consequently, the recent fundamental reforms (‘Hartz reforms’) pose a challenge to previous research. By looking at the spatial configuration of the party system and at policy demand, this article argues that the incremental retrenchments of the 1980s and 1990s were conditioned by centripetal competition and a high degree of welfare consensus, whereas the more radical Hartz reforms were made possible by a limited shift in public opinion in favour of restructuring and the lack of a left-wing counterweight in the party system. Thus, the structure of the party system exacerbated the effect of a demand shift that was only moderate. The analysis is not meant to discard other explanatory factors, rather it intends to demonstrate the relevance of party competition to the study of labour market reforms in Germany and, more generally, to comparative welfare state research.     

Coercion and patient satisfaction on psychiatric acute wards

Legal-, perceived- and objective coercion were examined both separately and together as a measure of accumulated coercion, to determine how coercion affected patient satisfaction in patients admitted for acute psychiatric care. Accumulated coercive events significantly reduced both overall satisfaction, and satisfaction in four of five subscales evaluating different aspects of treatment. Neither legal status nor perceived coercion affected patient satisfaction, while objective coercion had a significant negative effect on overall satisfaction when these measures were analysed separately. Overall patient satisfaction reported at discharge was low, while satisfaction with different aspects of treatment showed considerable variation. The observation that perceived coercion in the admission process did not affect satisfaction significantly underlines the need to further explore the interaction between subjective and objective measures for coercion. It appears that multiple measures for coercion should be used in future studies.     

Ausnutzung der Rangordnung für die beabsichtigte Veräußerung für die Abschreibung eines Grundstücks unter Mitübertragung des bestehenden Eigentumsrechts

Nach § 3 Abs 3 LiegTeilG hindert eine Anmerkung der Rangordnung die Abschreibung, sofern nicht die Ausfertigung des die Anmerkung bewilligenden Bescheids vorgelegt wird; in diesem Fall ist die Abschreibung sowie die Bezeichnung der für das Trennstück er?ffneten neuen Einlage auf der vorgelegten Ausfertigung zu vermerken.     

Trade secrets versus Cost Benefit Analysis

We argue that administrative agencies should base their decisions on Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) for two reasons: first the well known ex ante effect that CBA make public decisions more rational and second the little discussed ex post effect that the agency’s CBA provides valuable information to judicial or political bodies controlling the agency. The ex post purpose of CBA implies (judicial review of administrative decisions) or requires (political review) the public availability of the CBA. A conflict between this public availability and the protection of trade secrets arises, if the costs or benefits of a decision depend on information which are trade secrets. As a solution to this conflict, we propose a nonpublic in camera court procedure which leaves little discretion to the agency.     

Grundbuchsrecht

Rechtsprechung

Grundbuchsrecht