This publication contains the papers of the 14th Joint Seminar of the Faculties of Economics at the University of Nagoya and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg. Its topic is of great relevance now and will be of even greater importance in the future: "Interactions between Economy and Ecology". The papers cover a variety of aspects of ecological policy, ranging from theoretical basic research, empirical studies, business experiences to legal problems. The interested reader will get a good insight into different points of view of environmental policy.

This book contains the revised and updated versions of twelve papers which were presented at the 17th joint seminar of the faculties of economics of the Universities of Nagoya and Freiburg. The seminar took place in 1997 in Nagoya and marked the 25th anniversary of the cooperation between both faculties. The subjects of the book concentrate on long-term economic and business issues common to Japan and Germany on the turn of our century.Firstly, both countries experience continuing and interrelated problems in the labor market, budget deficits, demographic changes and the future of the social...