Population growth,farmland, and the long-run standard of living

This paper studies the natural-resources element in the theory of population growth over the very long run. In the context of the stock of land and Malthusian crises in earlier times, the model shows how resources have become more available rather than more scarce, even as population and income have increased.The paper sketches a mechanism which, added to the Malthusian system, leads to entirely different conclusions than does the Malthusian system. Using the illustration of food and land, change in knowledge and hence in the stock of resources is made a function of the stock of knowledge and the price of resources. The speed of adjustment depends on the economic and social climate for the development of new knowledge. Population growth first raises food and land prices, which then stimulate the creation of new resources, eventually leading to less scarcity of resources and lower prices than originally prevailed.That is, population growth creates new problems which in the short run constitute additional burdens which, in the longer run, lead to new developments that leave people better off than if the problems had never arisen.This paper benefitted from being presented in earlier draft at a Population Association of America meeting, to the Economic History workshop at the University of Illinois, and to a seminar of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population in New Delhi. We appreciate valuable comments on earlier drafts from Stanley Engerman, E. L. Jones, William McNeill, and two anonymous referees. Gunter Steinmann acknowledges financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation and a travel grant from Fulbright Commission.     

Human capital,technological progress and the demographic transition*

We emphasize the importance to consider components of population growth — fertility and mortality ‐ separately, when modeling the mutual interaction between population and economic growth. Our model implies that two countries with the same population growth will not converge towards the same level of per capita income. The country with the lower level of birth and death rates will be better off in the long run. Introducing a spill over effect of average human capital on total productivity our model implies multiple equilibria as illustrated in Becker el al. (1990) and Strulik (1999). Besides the existence of a low and high level equilibrium ‐ as characterized by low and high levels of per capita output respectively ‐ we show the existence of multiple low level (Malthusian) equilibria. Initial conditions and parameters of technological progress and human capital investment determine whether an economy is capable to escape the low level equilibrium trap and to enjoy sustained economic growth.     

Risk assessment of banknotes as a fomite of SARS-CoV-2 in cash payment transactions

The COVID 19 pandemic has triggered concerns and assumptions globally about transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus via cash transactions. This paper assesses the risk of contracting COVID-19 through exposure to SARS-CoV-2 via cash acting as a fomite in payment transactions. A quantitative microbial risk assessment was conducted for a scenario assuming an infectious person at the onset of symptoms, when virion concentrations in coughed droplets are at their highest. This person then contaminates a banknote by coughing on it and immediately hands it over to another person, who might then be infected by transferring the virions with a finger from the contaminated banknote to a facial mucous membrane. The scenario considered transfer efficiency of virions on the banknote to fingertips when droplets were still wet and after having dried up and subsequently being touched by finger printing or rubbing the object. Accounting for the likelihood of the scenario to occur by considering (1) a local prevalence of 100 COVID-19 cases/100,000 persons, (2) a maximum of about one-fifth of infected persons transmit high virus loads, and (3) the numbers of cash transactions/person/day, the risk of contracting COVID-19 via person-to-person cash transactions was estimated to be much lower than once per 39,000 days (107 years) for a single person. In the general populace, there will be a maximum of 2.6 expected cases/100,000 persons/day. The risk for a cashier at an average point of sale was estimated to be much less than once per 430 working days (21 months). The depicted scenario is a rare event, therefore, for a single person, the risk of contracting COVID-19 via person-to-person cash transactions is very low. At a point of sale, the risk to the cashier proportionally increases but it is still low.     

Was hei?t und zu welchem Ende führt Coaching an der Hochschule?

In the past years professional consulting practice spread into the universities and reached all institutional levels and status groups. Above all coaching found a large acceptance. The article undertakes the attempt of a critical overview and analyzes the change of roles and responsibilities at the universities regarding both: the consulting practice and institutional changes through this practice. The consulting authority in the field of the university and quality standards must be developed and a quality discourse must be continued.     

Promotionscoaching. Von einer Privatangelegenheit zum institutionellen Support

The process of attaining a doctorate is influenced by paradoxes. Who ever gets involved in it must learn to manage this process independently and to overcome the arising crises and challenges. Coaching for doctoral students is the result of a didactical concept in higher education with the goal to professionalize consultation in the graduation phase and to establish an institutional support structure.     

A model on the escape from the Malthusian trap

We consider a demoeconomic model where output is produced using physical capital, human capital and technology as inputs. Human capital depends on the number of people and the level of education in the economy. The dynamics of labour, physical capital, education and technology are endogenously determined such as to reflect the interdependence between economic and demographic factors. The longrun path of the economy and in particular the possibility to escape the Malthusian trap crucially depend on technological progress, which provides for economy wide increasing returns to scale. The build up of technology is positively related to the stock of human capital. Our model predicts that positive population growth is sufficient to escape the Malthusian trap. Received: 22 August 1996 / Accepted: 11 December 1997     

The paradox of integration: why do higher educated new immigrants perceive more discrimination in Germany?

This article analyses the relation between immigrants’ educational attainment and their perceived discrimination. Previous studies in the Netherlands have found that ethnic discrimination is a particularly salient concern among higher educated immigrants, also referred to as the paradox of integration. By using data from the SCIP-project (‘Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe’), I empirically examine, firstly, whether this counterintuitive finding applies to the group of recently arrived Polish and Turkish immigrants in Germany. Secondly, based on three theoretical perspectives, and taking the opportunity structure, immigrants’ awareness, and their relative deprivation into account, I am concerned with the explanation of the integration paradox. Bivariate results confirm the existence of the integration paradox for recent immigrants in Germany. The findings of mediation analysis and effect decomposition indicate that all three theoretical approaches contribute to the explanation; however, the positive relation between educational attainment and perceived discrimination requires slightly different explanations for Poles and Turks. The results further illustrate that it would be misleading to conclude that higher educated immigrants are automatically protected against discriminatory acts.