Protecting the Old in a Young Economy: Old Age Insurance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Taking the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a reference point, this paper looks at social protection in developing economies, which are beset by economic stagnation, widespread poverty and unemployment. If the main breadwinner dies, is unable to work or is an older person, these factors are prime causes of absolute poverty. This is hardly surprising, since private and public systems of social security are totally inadequate in this area in particular. Current thinking on social security suggests that what is needed is the rapid introduction of a comprehensive system of retirement provision, comprising a mandatory capital-funded insurance component, with defined contributions, administered on a decentralized basis; and a state-administered pay-as-you-go basic insurance component with lump-sum transfers to safeguard the poorest. A system of this kind works to prevent poverty in old age by redistributing funds from some individuals to others and ensuring an income for life, and it represents a compromise between a fair return on what people have contributed and a fair distribution over society as a whole. It is thus a major force for stability in society.     

Mother–infant Interaction Quality and Infants' Ability to Encode Actions as Goal‐directed

The current study investigated the relationship between mother–child interaction quality and infants' ability to interpret actions as goal‐directed at 7 months in a sample of 37 dyads. Interaction quality was assessed in a free play interaction using two distinct methods: one assessed the overall affective quality (emotional availability), and one focused on the mother's proclivity to treat her infant as an intentional agent (mind‐mindedness). Furthermore, infants' ability to interpret human actions as goal‐directed was assessed. Analyses revealed that only maternal emotional availability, and not maternal mind‐mindedness, was related to infants' goal‐encoding ability. This link remained stable even when controlling for child temperament, working memory, and maternal education. These findings provide first evidence that emotionally available caregiving promotes social‐cognitive development in preverbal infants.     

„Analysis of Categorical Data and Discrete Choices“ 30. Frühjahrsseminar des Zentralarchivs für Empirische Sozialforschung Universität zu Köln, 5.–23. März 2001

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Comparing Observed and Unobserved Components of Childhood: Evidence From Finnish Register Data on Midlife Mortality From Siblings and Their Parents

In this study, we argue that the long arm of childhood that determines adult mortality should be thought of as comprising an observed part and its unobserved counterpart, reflecting the observed socioeconomic position of individuals and their parents and unobserved factors shared within a family. Our estimates of the observed and unobserved parts of the long arm of childhood are based on family-level variance in a survival analytic regression model, using siblings nested within families as the units of analysis. The study uses a sample of Finnish siblings born between 1936 and 1950 obtained from Finnish census data. Individuals are followed from ages 35 to 72. To explain familial influence on mortality, we use demographic background factors, the socioeconomic position of the parents, and the individuals’ own socioeconomic position at age 35 as predictors of all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The observed part—demographic and socioeconomic factors, including region; number of siblings; native language; parents’ education and occupation; and individuals’ income, occupation, tenancy status, and education—accounts for between 10 % and 25 % of the total familial influence on mortality. The larger part of the influence of the family on mortality is not explained by observed individual and parental socioeconomic position or demographic background and thus remains an unobserved component of the arm of childhood. This component highlights the need to investigate the influence of childhood circumstances on adult mortality in a comprehensive framework, including demographic, social, behavioral, and genetic information from the family of origin.     

Trends in the association between educational attainment and class destinations in West Germany: Looking inside the service class

The paper investigates long-term trends in the association between educational attainment and class destinations in Germany. Most recent evidence for several European countries reveals a downward effect of education on social class. To test changes in the association in Germany I use the 1976–2007 waves of the German Microcensus (GMC), which is a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional survey. For Germany, log-linear models indicate that the relationship between education and class destinations remains rather constant for both sexes. I also find that returns to higher education in access to service class positions do not consistently decline either. Only university graduates’ relative access chances slightly decreased in comparison to Abitur-holders from the 1980s to the 1990s. In order to consider compositional changes in the service class in more detail, I further disaggregate the service class into three types of employment: administrative/managerial positions, professional experts and professional positions in the social services. In fact, I find that access to administrative and managerial positions is less dependent on education than access to the professions. While professional positions in the social services become less stratified by education over time, it is compensated by a reverse development for professional experts. As substantially more employees work in administrative and managerial jobs since the 1970s, the slight reduction in university returns can indeed be attributed to a compositional effect. In spite of these qualitative and quantitative changes, the strong impact of education on access to the service class does not become blurred. The paper concludes that the persistent institutional framework in Germany does not lead to a decline in the overall association between educational attainment and class destinations.     

Kooperation unter Konkurrenten? Regionale Kulturmuster und soziale Praktiken betriebsübergreifender Personalwirtschaft

During the recent financial and economic crisis, trade unions and employers’ associations have increasingly concluded collective agreements on so-called “collegial temporary work” that enables flexible deployment of employees, especially for small and medium sized enterprises. Empirical results show large differences in the application of those collective agreements: While the possibilities of the agreements were sometimes actively used in some regions, companies in other regions avoided implementation – despite their potential to cope with important challenges of economic crises and skill shortages. The paper selects a structuration theory perspective to analyze the reasons for the differences in the practice of this human resource management strategy by comparing two German regions (Braunschweig and the Ruhr area). The differences in the practices can be traced back to regional cultural patterns, interests of key actors, and the degree of involvement during the implementation period.     

Verarmungsrisiken nach kritischen Lebensereignissen in Deutschland und den USA

We study how the impact of job loss, sickness, retirement, and family dissolution on the risk of relative income poverty differs between Germany and the United States, and whether the impact of these events has changed between 1980 and 2009. Americans are more likely than Germans to enter poverty after any of the four events, yet they also recover more quickly from job loss and family dissolution. Comparisons over time do not indicate a secular rise in the impact of critical life events on poverty risks, but our results show that poverty trajectories are subject to stronger cyclical fluctuations in the United States: Through its emphasis on market mechanisms, the liberal American welfare state raises the importance of (re-)employment opportunities for coping with the consequences of adverse life events. The absence of clear long-term trends leads to a reassessment of common views about welfare state change such as Jacob Hacker??s thesis of a ??Great Risk Shift?? or the notion of an ??Americanization?? of Continental European welfare states. So far, there is also little evidence that the often claimed recalibration of welfare states towards ??new social risks?? has alleviated the adverse economic consequences of family dissolution.     

The new ‘sustainable communitarian’ logging schemes and their critique inside multiple-use conservation areas in the Brazilian Amazon: preliminary notes

Deforestation has risen sharply in Brazil since 2012, and conservation areas are facing increased pressure. This article studies the rise of so-called ‘sustainable’, ‘communitarian’, and/or ‘cooperative’ logging schemes inside multiple-use conservation areas in the Amazon. The findings, based on fresh field research in Acre and Pará, reveal conflicts, problems, and risks associated with logging schemes, although they are portrayed in the international timber trade as certified and socio-environmentally sustainable solutions that help conservation. However, the expansion of logging presents a danger for curtailing forest degradation, fires, and corruption that is linked to the fast returns from sale of timber, especially inside conservation areas that have been mostly intact until now. There is an urgent need to change the strategy of promoting logging as a key source of income for forest-dwellers, and a need to change the policies allowing the expansion of ‘sustainable logging’.