We support labour contents as an absolute and reliable measurement unit and as an accounting procedure that expresses the real costs and profits of the economic system. As far as this measurement capacity of labour is concerned, we try to demonstrate, that, from a theoretical point of view, the...

We deal with three subjects, namely, the presence of more than one rate of profit in an economy due to the existence of rents (absolute and monopoly rents); the subordination of the prices and the rate of profit (in price terms) to the real profit or net product, measured in value terms; and the...

We support labour contents as an absolute and reliable measurement unit and as an accounting procedure that expresses the real costs and profits of the economic system. As far as the labour capacity of expressing real social costs and profits is concerned, we highlight the inaccuracy in the...

A rate of profit, expressed in labour magnitudes, that allows matching total plus value with total profits is determined. The relative prices, expressed in wage units, associated with this rate ensure that total profits are equal to the difference between the sum of relative prices and the sum...

In explaining economic phenomena, economic analysis concentrates on selected influences and fixes the host of other factors under a ceteris paribus clause. This view, which goes back to Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), is developed in the first part of the book. Aggregation is viewed as a particular...

Life annuities provide a guaranteed income for the remainder of the recipient’s lifetime, and therefore, annuitization presents an important option when choosing an adequate investment strategy for the retirement ages. While there are numerous research articles studying annuities from a...

Even 50 years after Modigliani/Miller’s irrelevance theorem, the basic question of how firms choose their capital structure remains unclear. This survey paper aims at summarizing and discussing corresponding recent developments in empirical capital structure research, which, in our view, are...

There has been a wide-spread misconception based on the imprecise wording of Art. 52 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) that the protection of business methods by patents is prohibited in Europe. This paper investigates the legal framework set by patent laws with respect to the...

Ein Großteil der Neugründungen in Deutschland ist auf staatliche Förderung von Existenzgründern zurückzuführen. Dieser Anteil hat sich nach Einführung des als „Ich-AG“ bekannten Existenzgründungszuschusses Anfang 2003 stark erhöht. Die Erfolgsfaktorenforschung hat diese Form von...

In 2003, Swiss Re introduced a mortality-based security designed to hedge excessive mortality changes for its life book of business. The concern was apparently brevity risk, i.e., the risk of premature death. The brevity risk due to a pandemic is similar to the property risk associated with...