Mortality and economic fluctuations

Using wavelet methods, this paper analyzes the relationship between the age-adjusted, infant, and cause-specific mortality rates and the business cycle in Sweden over the period 1800–2000 (1911–1996 for cause-specific mortality). For the period 1800–2000, an increase in GDP by 1% decreased mortality by 0.7%. This overall relationship is due to a strong counter-cyclical relationship in the nineteenth century, which disappeared in the twentieth century. In contrast, in the twentieth century higher mortality in economic upturns is found for mortality caused by circulatory diseases (including stroke) and accidents.     

Verlustnutzung von Kapitalgesellschaften bei Umwandlungen – Eine ökonomische Vorteilhaftigkeitsanalyse

This paper investigates the potential utilization of tax loss carry-forwards in case of reorganizations of corporations from an economic point of view. Thereby, we analyze the tax impacts of indirect utilizations of tax loss carry-forwards by means of increasing assets’ book values as well as the tax impacts of the minimum taxation. The paper illustrates that the implementation of minimum taxation on transfer gains – which is reasonable at first glance – results in the following effects: Contrary to assumptions made in literature, the consequence of the regulation is that no reorganization can be utilized in order to avoid minimum taxation of current earnings in a profitable way. Surprisingly, for reorganizations due to other intentions it may be economically reasonable to let tax loss carry-forwards lapse at least partially. From an economic viewpoint this is in breach of the objective net principle.     

Emotions and the optimality of uneven tournaments

Standard results from tournament theory show that an employer should avoid organizing uneven tournaments in which workers are characterized by different cost functions. In this paper, we introduce a concept of emotions that workers have when comparing their own performance with the performances of their co-workers. We can show that under emotional workers the employer may prefer uneven tournaments to even ones. In that case, the employer benefits from both positive and negative emotions. Moreover, the behavior of emotional workers fits well with experimental findings on uneven tournaments where players choose excessive effort levels.     

Compulsory intergenerational family solidarity shaping choices between work and care: Perceptions of informal female carers and local policymakers in Estonia

Estonians are obliged by law to provide maintenance for family members who are unable to cope by themselves. As a result, 80% of fragile older people receive informal care. Whether this is because the carers themselves feel solidarity and choose informal caring or because they lack alternatives is the question. We applied the cultural approach for explaining the construction of compulsory family solidarity in care provision to older people through the perceptions of informal carers and policy actors. Our interest is in how filial norms framed by individual responsibilities of care provision required by law can influence (i) informal carers’ perceptions concerning their choices between work and care and (ii) impact policy actors’ perceptions concerning eldercare service provision. Analysing the empirical data produced during focus groups with female carers and interviews with policy actors, we demonstrate the triple‐fold pressure to informal caregiving as an expression of compulsory family solidarity. Key Practitioner Message: ? The article demonstrates how the national Family Law Act constitutes a compulsory requirement of family solidarity in society; ? The compulsory family solidarity norm influences local‐level policymaking and inhibits the development of formal care services for older people; ? Informal carers’ choices between work and care are shaped by their personal filial norms, familialistic policymaking, and pressure exerted by older people.     

The trinity of wage setting in EMU: A policy proposal

Diverging labor cost developments are often considered to be one of the most important factors that led to large current account imbalances in the euro area (EA) in the run-up to the global financial crisis. It has also been shown that wage growth differentials have significantly lowered the co-movement of EA countries’ business cycles – the most widely used meta-criterion for optimum currency areas. Against this background, this paper develops a wage-setting benchmark that aims to keep the economy in internal equilibrium and to maintain price stability, while it also exhibits the capacity to correct for external imbalances. The proposed wage benchmark is very simple and may serve as an anchor for the macroeconomic dialogue in Economic and Monetary Union. In order to demonstrate the potentially beneficial effects of such a wage benchmark we present some simulations showing how current account balances and labor costs would have developed across EA countries if the rule had served as a benchmark already in the run up to the crisis.     

Making the locational choice: A case approach to the development of a theory of offshore outsourcing and internationalization

Offshore outsourcing is one of the most sustained management strategies of the 21st century, and researchers are paying attention to this contemporary, yet complex and controversial phenomenon. Despite the increasing amount of research, from the theoretical and managerial perspectives several important aspects remain inconclusive. The focus in this article is on theory development in two complex areas. The first concerns the location, the idea being to identify the factors that influence the final decision, in which ownership is not the mode of control. Secondly, the aim is to explore whether offshore outsourcing facilitates international expansion. Through a process of theoretical rationalization and inductive case analysis propositions are arrived at according to which non-locational factors most heavily impact the firm's decision to outsource offshore and its subsequent internationalization. The results indicate that this subsequent internationalization may be a by-product of offshore outsourcing, or it may be an intentional strategy. The article thus adds new aspects to the existing theory on outsourcing decision-making, which forms the basis of an emergent theory for future academic research.     

The same and the other: male childcare workers managing identity dissonance

As childcare workers, men are in a contested position. On the one hand, they are in danger of being depicted as the pedophile; on the other hand, they are expected to bring something new and innovative to the thus-far female-dominated field. These men are experiencing ‘identity dissonance’ and have to find ways to manage and facilitate legitimate subject positions as both childcare workers and as men. Applying a perspective of discursive positioning, this article discusses men's positioning practices in nine qualitative interviews conducted with male childcare workers in German-speaking Switzerland. We identified a total of six discursive practices that men engage in to manage identity dissonance and construct a legitimate subject position. We found that men are engaging in a greater variety of practices than have been discussed so far. Unlike findings from other studies of men in female-dominated occupations, ours do not point to a clear-cut typology with regards to hegemonic and alternative masculinities; instead they show a variety of practices that are mobilized throughout all interviews.     

THE POPULAR IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

This paper suggests a systems theoretical re-reading of popular communication and the Popular in the political system. Luhmann' anti-humanist notion of communication helps to reframe the discussion of the Popular: it is not defined by an en- or decoding instance, but by a particular mode of ‘connectivity'. Drawing from heterogeneous material (Mars Attacks!, crowd psychology, theory of democracy), it is argued that the problem of the Popular arises when a functional system has to represent something that transgresses the system' universality. That which the system has to exclude to become a system re-emerges as ‘grotesque hybrid’, thus pointing at a universality that is, on the one hand, an opportunity for a further universalization and, on the other, a threat to the very universality of the system. The ‘Popular’ thus acquires a hybrid position by articulating these two dimensions.     

Well‐being among employed and non‐employed caregiving women in Taiwan

Chou Y‐C, Kröger T, Chiao C, Pu C‐Y. Well‐being among employed and non‐employed caregiving women in Taiwan This study addressed various groups of non‐employed/employed and non‐caring/caring women in Taiwan. Data from the 2006 National Taiwanese Women Survey (at age 16–64, n= 6,017) were analysed to determine whether there are differences in terms of well‐being, as measured by self‐rated health and family life satisfaction, between women who work and/or care and between different carer groups. Other factors associated with well‐being of carers of young children (n= 1,697) were also analysed. The results showed that non‐employed carers of disabled adults stood out as the most disadvantaged group. However, the importance of work has been replaced by support among carers of young children. This study suggests that unpaid carers, particularly carers of disabled adults who are non‐employed, ought to be supported by policies. To improve carers' well‐being, care–work reconciliation among working‐age women needs to be included in the future care scheme in Taiwan.     

Sleep and Its Association With Socioeconomic Status,Health, and Risky Behaviors Among Ghanaian School Children

Socioeconomic differences in sleep and how sleep relates to health and risky behaviors among 12‐ to 18‐year‐old Ghanaians (N = 1,195) were investigated. Overall, 49.2% of boys and 60.8% of girls had inadequate sleep. Girls (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.3–2.0) and older (16‐ to 18‐year‐olds) adolescents (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.3–2.1) had higher probability of inadequate sleep than boys and younger (12‐ to 15‐year‐old) adolescents, respectively. High material affluence, low parental education, low parental occupational grade, drunkenness, marijuana use, drug use, and not having plans to continue schooling after graduation decreased the chances of inadequate sleep, while low school performance, low fruit and vegetable intake, and tiredness during daytime increased the probability of inadequate sleep. Promotion of adequate sleep and gender equality should be taken into consideration in adolescent health promotion programs.