Considering Social Cohesion in Quality of Life Assessments: Concept and Measurement

In recent years, the concept of social cohesionhas received great attention in scientificresearch as well as in politics. It representsa central policy goal at the national and thesupranational level as declared for example bymany policy documents of the European Union.The present paper integrates social cohesioninto the components of quality of life anddistinguishes two essential goal dimensionsinherent in the concept: the inequalitydimension and the social capital dimension. Thefirst dimension incorporates the goals ofreducing disparities, promoting equalopportunities and combating social exclusion,while the second dimension deals with allaspects aiming at strengthening socialrelations, interactions and ties. A proposal ismade on how to measure this conceptualisationof social cohesion within the framework of aEuropean System of Social Indicators, and someexamples of indicators of social cohesion inEurope are discussed.     

Heterogeneity in the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment: evidence from Switzerland on natives and second-generation immigrants

This study applies rich data from the 2000 Swiss census to investigate the patterns of intergenerational education transmission for natives and second-generation immigrants. The level of secondary schooling attained by youth aged 17 is related to their parents’ educational outcomes based on data on the entire Swiss population. Extending economic theories of child educational attainment, we derive hypotheses regarding the patterns of intergenerational education transmission. The data yield substantial heterogeneity in intergenerational transmission across population groups. Only a small share of this heterogeneity is explained by the predictions of economic theory.

Paddling on One Side of the Canoe? The Changing Nature of New Zealand's Development Assistance Programme

New Zealand's aid policy has undergone a revolution under the National Party government elected in 2008. Prior to this, NZAID, a semi‐autonomous unit, had evolved to manage aid in line with internationally agreed principles. Under the new government, NZAID was reincorporated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, its focus was shifted from poverty reduction to economic growth, and its programme was aligned with foreign policy. This article aims to provide an overview of the shifts in New Zealand's aid policy over four decades, to explore the relationship between the global aid regime and national practice, and to analyse the influence of politics, and of key individuals, in setting the direction of aid policy.     

Low back pain disability and stay at work: contradiction or necessity?

The incidence of occupational diseases in the population is high and factors such as long working hours, poor posture, psychological and physical stress can contribute to its development. Among work-related musculoskeletal disorders, back pain has a high prevalence. The aim of the present study was to quantify and characterize pain complaints and to identify individuals with low back pain, in order to assess the degree of disability. Participated 226 employees of an institution of higher education. They answered a general questionnaire about location and quantification of pain complaints visual analog scale for pain and the Quebec Disability Questionnaire. Of all the workers, 69.60% had some type of musculoskeletal complaint; of those, 15.41% had low back pain. Considering workers who had back pain, 54.9% were female, 52.94% are under 30 years old and 43.14% between 1 and 5 years of work. As for the final score for the degree of disability, 41.17% had minimal disability and 37.25% moderate disability. The present study found large number of pain complaints and high prevalence of low back pain, resulting in individual's inability and difficulties in performing work activities.     

The transition to tertiary education and parental background over time

We analyze the role of parental background for transitions to tertiary education in Germany and answer three questions: (a) does the relevance of parental background shift from short-term (contemporary income) to long factors (ability, parental education) at higher levels of education? (b) Did the impact of parental background on participation in tertiary education change over time? (c) Are there different patterns by sex and region? Parental income significantly affects transitions to tertiary education. Its impact seems to have lost magnitude over time. We find no clear differences by sex and larger parental income effects in West than in East Germany.