Determinants of environmental innovation—New evidence from German panel data sources

In most cases, empirical analyses of environmental innovations based on firm-level data relied on surveys for one point in time. These surveys allow for the inclusion of many explanatory variables such as different policy instruments or the influence of pressure groups but it is not possible to address the dynamic character of environmental innovations. This paper uses two German panel databases, the establishment panel of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Mannheim innovation panel (MIP) of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), to explore the determinants of environmental innovations. The econometric estimations show that the improvement of the technological capabilities (“knowledge capital”) by R&D triggers environmental innovations. Environmental regulation, environmental management tools and general organizational changes also encourage environmental innovation, a result that has also been postulated by the famous Porter-hypothesis.     

A Place for Kids? The Public Image of Natural History Museums

Scholars, commentaries, guide books, and people “on the street” seem to agree and take for granted that natural history museums are mainly aimed at children. Nevertheless, no studies have specifically investigated the public image of natural history museums. In this study, we provide quantitative evidence that natural history museums are indeed seen by the public as being primarily aimed at children and families with children, and we discuss the consequences that this fact has for the potential role that natural history museums could have in promoting science literacy and for the perception of science in general.     

The Impact of Copyright on the Enjoyment of Right to Science and Culture

This paper started life in September 2014 as a submission by the International Publishers Association (IPA) to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is the IPA’s view that human rights and intellectual property rights are not only compatible, but also mutually supportive and interdependent. Copyright in particular, is a success story. It has proven to be a powerful tool to strengthen science and culture, improve participation in them, and provide a legal framework that confers such rights and enables policies to promote them. This is particularly true in the online environment, where copyright laws enable science and culture to prosper, and are giving scientists, creators and publishers new economic ways of exercising their profession, creating the diversity of content and services that a rapidly growing majority of the world’s population is able to participate in. Copyright creates a marketplace that empowers citizens, and reduces the need for government interference with culture and science, a welcome state of affairs, in particular from the human rights perspective.     

Assessing what generates precompetitive emotions: development of the precompetitive appraisal measure

Athletes’ precompetitive appraisal determines which emotion they experience with regard to an upcoming competition. Such precompetitive emotions have powerful and potentially destructive consequences for performance. To control and optimise these consequences, it is important to examine precompetitive appraisal. Currently, such efforts are hampered by the lack of a valid measurement tool. The present study aimed to develop a novel measure of precompetitive appraisal. Specifically, the Precompetitive Appraisal Measure (PAM) was constructed by adapting an existing self-report scale. Female and male intercollegiate team sport athletes (N = 384) completed the PAM, along with a measure of intensity and interpretation of precompetitive anxiety symptoms (CSAI-2D) prior to competition. On these responses, (a) a Principal Component Analysis and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the PAM’s suggested two-factor structure (Primary and Secondary Appraisal), (b) cluster analyses indicated the measure’s ability to distinguish theoretically congruent appraisal profiles (Threat and Challenge) and (c) a MANOVA and multiple regression analyses demonstrated that PAM-responses predicted precompetitive symptom intensity and interpretation. Further, analyses revealed that the majority of athletes appraised the upcoming competition as a challenge.     

THE RELEVANCE AND CONSEQUENCES OF PISA SCIENCE IN A DANISH CONTEXT

This article reports a case study that described and analyzed the changes in the Danish school culture induced and encouraged by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. The educational policy and reforms that were temporally connected with the publication of the PISA 2000 results are outlined and the related socioeconomic and sociopolitical influences are explicated. Furthermore, we investigated to what degree the PISA science assessment framework and test system were in accordance with the Danish educational goals in science in order to discuss the relevance of PISA as a catalyst for the educational actions taken. The results of our inquiry revealed areas of good correspondence and fundamental differences related to values underlying the Danish school system and PISA, respectively (e.g., Bildung orientation versus cognitive skills/competency orientation, different learning/assessment paradigms). We argue that such differences are crucial when considering curricular relevance, validity, and the use of PISA as an agent of change on the national level.     

Not all markets are created equal: re-conceptualizing market elements in higher education

Increasing reliance on market mechanisms in higher education is analysed both as one of the approaches to steering as well as in relation to the consequences of markets for quality and accessibility of higher education. This article goes beyond the normative considerations of market elements as inherently good or bad and the economic theory-guided focus on freedoms of users and providers, by presenting an alternative conceptualization. The conceptualization adapted from studies of markets in other parts of the welfare state to the context of higher education is based on two dimensions: (1) who effectively controls production of certain goods and services and (2) how access to and funding of these goods and services are regulated. It focuses on interests of three main actors—the state, the users (students) and the providers (higher education institutions). This leads to six conceptually distinct markets, whose key characteristics are illustrated by examples from Denmark, England, India, Norway, Portugal and Serbia. The key message is that this alternative conceptualization allows identifying variance in marketization of higher education with regards to (1) which actors are empowered, (2) who are the likely winners and losers and (3) what might be the risks of introducing specific market elements in a higher education system. More generally, a more nuanced analysis relying on this conceptualization can potentially contribute to a deeper understanding of political and policy dynamics in higher education.