Kumulation von Mikrodaten – Konzeptionelle Grundlagen und ein Vorschlag zur Realisierung

Zusammenfassung: In dieser Studie wird ein Konzept zur Kumulation von laufenden Haushaltsbudgetbefragungen im Rahmen des Projektes Amtliche Statistik und sozioökonomische Fragestellungen entwickelt und zur Diskussion gestellt. Dafür werden die theoretischen Grundlagen und Bausteine gelegt und die zentrale Aufgabe einer strukturellen demographischen Gewichtung mit einem Hochrechnungs–/Kalibrierungsansatz auf informationstheoretischer Basis gelöst.Vor dem Hintergrund der Wirtschaftsrechnungen des Statistischen Bundesamtes (Lfd. Wirtschaftsrechnungen und EVS) wird darauf aufbauend ein konkretes Konzept für die Kumulation von jährlichen Haushaltsbudgetbefragungen vorgeschlagen. Damit kann das Ziel einer Kumulation von Querschnitten mit einer umfassenderen Kumulationsstichprobe für tief gegliederte Analysen erreicht werden. Folgen sollen die Simulationsrechnungen zur Evaluation des Konzepts.

---

Summary: In this study a concept for cumulating periodic household surveys within the frame of the project Official Statistics and Socio–Economic Questions is developed and asks for discussion. We develop the theoretical background and solve the central task of a structural demographic weighting/calibration based on an information theoretical approach.Based on the household budget surveys of the Federal Statistical Office (Periodic Household Budget Surveys and Income and Consumption Sample (EVS)) a practical concept is proposed to cumulate yearly household surveys. This allows a cumulation of cross–sections by a comprehensive cumulated sample for deeply structured analyses. In a following study this concept shall be evaluated.

     

Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research

A number of governments and public policy institutes have developed Quality of Life Indexes – statistics that attempt to measure the quality of life for entire states or regions. We develop 14 criteria for determining the validity and usefulness of such QOL indexes to public policy. We then review 22 of the most-used QOL indexes from around the world. We conclude that many of the indexes are successful in that they are reliable, have established time series measures, and can be disaggregated to study subpopulations. However, many fall short in four areas: (1) indexes vary greatly in their coverage and definitions of domains of QOL, (2) none of the indexes distinguish among the concepts of input, throughput, and output that are used by public policy analysts, (3) they fail to show how QOL outputs are sensitive to public policy inputs, and (4) none have examined convergent validity against each other. We conclude that many of these indexes are potentially very useful for public policy and recommend research to further improve them.     

Beyond enmeshment: evidence for the independence of intrusiveness and closeness-caregiving in married couples

In a 1996 article on family theory, we (Green & Werner) proposed that family enmeshment should not be equated with high cohesion and that the construct of enmeshment fails to discriminate between two distinct relationship processes: Closeness-caregiving and intrusiveness. In this study, our model of these two independent dimensions of family connectedness was tested by assessing spouses from 264 couples, using the California Inventory for Family Assessment (CIFA). The CIFA scales showed acceptable reliability. Significant interspouse validity correlations also were obtained. As predicted by our theory, factor analyses distinguished dimensions of intrusiveness (blurring of boundaries) from dimensions of closeness-caregiving (such as warmth and nurturance). On all but two factors, behaviors of only one spouse (but not of both) had interpretable loadings. That is, in most areas, the two spouses' behaviors did not load together to form meaningful factors. The latter finding suggests that family systems theory--with its central notion of reciprocally contingent behaviors between family members--may be useful in understanding only a few dimensions of spouses' behavior (such as reciprocal aggression) whereas personality-in-context theories may be better for understanding most other dimensions (such as warmth and nurturance).     

Perceived Risks from Radiation and Nuclear Testing Near Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan: A Comparison Between Physicians, Scientists, and the Public

Determining the difference in perception of risk between experts, or more educated professionals, and laypeople is important so that a potential hazard can be effectively communicated to the public. Many surveys have been conducted to better understand the difference between expert and public opinions, and often laypeople exhibit higher perceptions of risk to hazards in comparison to experts. This is especially true when health risk is due to radiation, nuclear power, and nuclear waste. This article focuses on one section of a risk perception survey given to two groups of individuals with a more specialized education (scientists and physicians) and laypeople (villagers) in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan. All of these groups live near the former Soviet nuclear test site. Originally, it was expected that the scientists and physicians would have similar perceptions of radiation risk, while the public perceptions would be higher, but this was not always the case. For example, when perceptions of risk pertain to the health impacts of nuclear testing or the dose-response nature of radiation exposure, the physicians tend to agree with the laypeople, not the scientists. The villagers are always the most risk-averse group, followed by the physicians and then the scientists. These differences are likely due to different frames of reference for each of the populations.     

Consumer Selection of Food-Safety Information Sources

The aim of this study is to examine the preferences of consumers for different information sources when they have a question about food safety. On the basis of a nationally representative survey conducted in the Netherlands, five distinct consumer groups are identified that not only differ on the reported use of information sources but also regarding several personality characteristics and sociodemographic variables. The empirical results show that two-thirds of the consumers are selective in their use of information sources and prefer either institutional or social sources. So, multiple information-acquisition patterns exist among the general public. The study illustrates how these findings can help to develop effective risk communication strategies.     

On trends and constants in periodic autoregressions

Periodic autoregressions are characterised by autoregressive structures that vary with the season. If a time series is periodically integrated, one needs a seasonally varying differencing filter to remove the stochastic trend. When the periodic regression model contains constants and trends with unrestricted parameters, the data can show diverging seasonal deterministic trends. In this paper we derive explicit expressions for parameter restrictions that result in common deterministic trends under periodic trend stationarity and periodic integration.     

General location transform of the order statistics from the exponential,pareto and weibull,with application to maximum likelihood estimation

Based one some common distribution properties of the order statistics and the transformation theory by Efron(1982), we determine unified explicit general location transformations, which map the distributions of the order statistics from the Exponential, Pareto and Weibull to a standard normal distribution. This result is used to derive analytical formulas for the maximum likelihood estimators of the shape parameter of these distributions of order statistics. The presented exact method is applied to catastrophe earthquake life reinsurance.     

Determinants of Perceived Interfirm Dependence in Industrial Supplier Relations

Studies of industrial buyer-supplier relations mostly focus on structural characteristics of the transactions between parties, and assume a direct relation between these factors and characteristics of the relationships. This paper focuses on the psychological dimension of transaction relations, reflected in perceptions of dependence, from the perspective of an industrial supplier. In the first step of the analysis, three groups of structural determinants of perceived supplier dependence are explored: factors related to goal mediation, factors related to relation-specific assets, and factors related to network embeddedness. After that, the influence of these structural factors and of perceived supplier dependence on the ordering of buyer-supplier relations is investigated. Data come from a study of the micro-electronics assembly industry in the Netherlands. The findings show that sales to a particular buyer as a percentage of the total sales of the supplier and the growth of sales to a particular buyer (two forms of goal mediation) are important determinants of perceived supplier dependence. Human asset specificity is also related to perceived supplier dependence. Network embeddedness variables play only a minor role in explaining perceived supplier and buyer dependence in this study. The data further show that perceived dependence has an effect on the degree of ordering in the relationship, next to structural factors like the extendedness of the relationship beyond the focal transaction and physical asset specificity. The effects of human asset specificity and dedicated assets on ordering are contrary to what was expected on the basis of the literature.