Fertility assimilation of immigrants: Evidence from count data models

This study applies count data estimation techniques to investigate the fertility adjustment of immigrants in the destination country. Data on completed fertility are taken from the 1996 wave of the German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP). While the economic literature stresses the role of prices and incomes as determinants of fertility, the demographic literature discusses whether assimilation or disruption effects dominate immigrants' fertility after migration. We find evidence in favor of the assimilation model according to which immigrant fertility converges to native levels over time. In addition, we confirm the negative impact of female human capital on fertility outcomes. Received: 7 January 1999/Accepted: 10 August 1999     

The Influence of Materialistic Inclination on Values,Life Satisfaction and Aspirations: An Empirical Analysis

This article attempts to measure the effect ofmaterialistic inclination on the degree of lifesatisfaction. The study is based on a sample of about1600 respondents randomly selected from differentparts of the city state of Singapore. Theserespondents were divided into two distinct groups withhigh or low materialistic inclination. It wasobserved that when these respondents were asked torate the importance of the nine items from Kahle'sList of Values, the ratings of seven of these itemswere found to be significantly different between thetwo groups. The two groups also indicated differentchoices when asked to rate the things they wanted mostout of life. Finally, it was revealed that they alsoreported different degrees of satisfaction withvarious domains in life in general. However, as withregard to satisfaction with life in Singapore inparticular, there were no significant differencesobserved between the two groups.     

Proportionate universalism in child and family social work

Integrated services in preventive health care and child and family social work increasingly embrace the concept of proportionate universalism (PU) as a means of overcoming the dichotomy between universal and targeted services in contexts of diversity. The implementation of the concept of PU raises several theoretical and empirical questions that form the basis of this article. This study aims to provide more insight in how the concept of PU is operationalized in child and family social work. Qualitative research was performed in three specific cases of child and family social work, the so‐called “Huizen van het Kind” or Children's Houses in Flanders (Belgium). The study triangulates three perspectives: policy, organizational level, and street level. The findings generate three meta‐themes: perseverant structuring of populations or predefinitions, image and conceptualization of the Children's House, and organizational challenges. These results reveal a difference between the theoretical assumption of PU and the practical implementation in child and family social work.     

Extension,Compression, and Beyond: A Unique Classification System for Mortality Evolution Patterns

A variety of literature addresses the question of how the age distribution of deaths changes over time as life expectancy increases. However, corresponding terms such as extension, compression, or rectangularization are sometimes defined only vaguely, and statistics used to detect certain scenarios can be misleading. The matter is further complicated because mixed scenarios can prevail, and the considered age range can have an impact on observed mortality patterns. In this article, we establish a unique classification framework for realized mortality scenarios that allows for the detection of both pure and mixed scenarios. Our framework determines whether changes of the deaths curve over time show elements of extension or contraction; compression or decompression; left- or right-shifting mortality; and concentration or diffusion. The framework not only can test the presence of a particular scenario but also can assign a unique scenario to any observed mortality evolution. Furthermore, it can detect different mortality scenarios for different age ranges in the same population. We also present a methodology for the implementation of our classification framework and apply it to mortality data for U.S. females.     

Erwiderung zu den Anmerkungen von Georg Merkl zum Beitrag ?Quasirententheorie und Abschlusspr��fungshonorare in Deutschland��

The comments made by Merkl on our study Bigus and Zimmermann (2009) are generally not helpful. The arguments put forward are partly wrong, partly not consistent and partly irrelevant.