Söhne bevorzugt? Geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede beim Gymnasialbesuch türkischstämmiger Schülerinnen und Schülern

It is often assumed that in Germany the situation in Turkish families can be characterized by traditionalism, a patrilineal organization of family relationships and a rigid gender role orientation including a traditional gender division between gainful employment and housework. Against this background one would expect Turkish parents to have a particular strong interest in a high educational attainment of their sons and consequently they should invest more in their education. This article examines whether there is evidence for such preferences and relevant behaviours. An analysis of official school statistics of the federal state North-Rhine Westphalia shows that Turkish boys are more likely to make a transition to a Gymnasium than Turkish girls. However, a systematic preference of Turkish parents of a transition to secondary education for their sons cannot be confirmed by way of micro data. Moreover results from our macro data indicate that already in grade seven the gender ratio is reversed. All in all our analyses indicate that there is no significant and sustainable disadvantage for Turkish girls in comparison to Turkish boys.     

Boundedly rational banks’ contribution to the credit cycle

We investigate how banks’ boundedly rational learning influences their views about default risks over the business cycle. Our analysis details the direction and the magnitude of these effects assuming that banks update probability in a Bayesian way. With a limited experience span lenders are liable to overestimate (underestimate) losses from defaulting loans early (late) in the boom. Depending on their experience span, banks turn over-optimistic and underprice default risk 3–5 years into the boom. During recessions an overpricing of risk begins just quarters into the recession. Our simulations are calibrated with U.S. data and provide evidence for the view that banks contribute to excessive lending during the upswing and to credit crunches in recessions.     

Win statistics (win ratio,win odds,and net benefit) can complement one another to show the strength of the treatment effect on time-to-event outcomes

Conventional analyses of a composite of multiple time-to-event outcomes use the time to the first event. However, the first event may not be the most important outcome. To address this limitation, generalized pairwise comparisons and win statistics (win ratio, win odds, and net benefit) have become popular and have been applied to clinical trial practice. However, win ratio, win odds, and net benefit have typically been used separately. In this article, we examine the use of these three win statistics jointly for time-to-event outcomes. First, we explain the relation of point estimates and variances among the three win statistics, and the relation between the net benefit and the Mann–Whitney U statistic. Then we explain that the three win statistics are based on the same win proportions, and they test the same null hypothesis of equal win probabilities in two groups. We show theoretically that the Z-values of the corresponding statistical tests are approximately equal; therefore, the three win statistics provide very similar p-values and statistical powers. Finally, using simulation studies and data from a clinical trial, we demonstrate that, when there is no (or little) censoring, the three win statistics can complement one another to show the strength of the treatment effect. However, when the amount of censoring is not small, and without adjustment for censoring, the win odds and the net benefit may have an advantage for interpreting the treatment effect; with adjustment (e.g., IPCW adjustment) for censoring, the three win statistics can complement one another to show the strength of the treatment effect. For calculations we use the R package WINS, available on the CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network).     

Determinants of obesity: The case of Germany

Obesity now has the rank of a global epidemic, but finds its severest expression in the economically advanced parts of the world. This study offers an interdisciplinary analysis of obesity in Germany, including socio-economic factors. In comparison to related studies, it uses a continuous BMI variable as well as an improved empirical design. The coefficient of the term for sport activities is significantly negative, and the coefficient for the age terms are significantly positive. The results for the income variable are ambiguous. Cigarette consumption does not indicate negative relationships with individual BMI-levels. No evidence was found for systematic differences in BMI between the eastern and western regions in reunified Germany.     

Linking Maternal Warmth and Responsiveness to Children's Self‐regulation

The present study demonstrated that a more differentiated view of positive parenting practices is necessary in the study of children's acquisition of self‐regulation. Here, the unique contributions of maternal warmth and responsiveness to distress to children's self‐regulation were tested in a sample of 102 German mothers and their kindergarten children (51 girls and 51 boys). Behavior regulation and internalization of rules of conduct were examined as specific components of children's self‐regulation. As expected, maternal warmth was positively related to the child's behavior regulation. Responsiveness to distress was positively linked to the child's internalization of rules of conduct. No significant interactions between maternal parenting and either the child's gender or effortful control were found. The results are discussed with regard to the unique functions that different parenting practices have for children's self‐regulation.     

Business- and environment-related drivers of firms’ return on natural resources: A configurational approach

The sustainability challenges society faces call for firms to manage their use of natural resources wisely. Prior work on firm responses to sustainability challenges has largely focused on explaining and enhancing economic rather than environmental performance. We build on recent developments to extend resource dependence theory to include natural resources and seek to explain how business- and environment-related firm activities influence the use of natural resources. Using a configurational approach, we develop a conceptual model that explains the return on natural resources of firms based on four distinct sets of business- and environment-related comparative advantages. An illustrative application to the car-manufacturing sector demonstrates the practical applicability of our model and provides first insights into configurations we are likely to observe in practice. Our model and its application show that economic success is neither necessary nor sufficient to enhance a firm's return on natural resources.     

Population aging and environmental quality in OECD countries: evidence from sulfur dioxide emissions data

Recent literature has suggested that population aging may shape energy demand and related emissions. Recent scholarship also suggests that emissions play a role in contemporary climate change and, as such, understanding the effect of population compositional change has considerable environmental policy importance. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the macro-level relationship between population aging and emissions of sulfur dioxide. We extend a standard macroeconomic estimation function by including the age composition of the population. In doing so, we separate, for the first time in the literature on aging and the environment, the life-cycle dimension of the age structure from its cohort dimension. We utilize data representing a balanced panel of 25 OECD countries during the period from 1970 to 2000. Consistent with our expectations, we find that societies with a low proportion of young and a high proportion of senior citizens emit more sulfur dioxide. At the same time, our results suggest that a high proportion of individuals born before 1960 is positively correlated to national sulfur dioxide emissions. Our study contributes to understanding of past emission patterns in OECD countries and the findings may allow for improvements in future emission projections.     

The wild bootstrap for multivariate Nelson–Aalen estimators

Lifetime Data Analysis - We rigorously extend the widely used wild bootstrap resampling technique to the multivariate Nelson–Aalen estimator under Aalen’s multiplicative intensity...