Copayments in the German Health System – Do They Work?

This paper examines the effect of copayments on doctor visits using the German health care reform of 2004 as a natural experiment. In January 2004, copayments of 10 euros for the first doctor visit in each quarter have been introduced for all adults in the statutory health insurance. Individuals covered by private health insurance as well as youths have been exempted from these copayments. We use them as control groups in a difference-in-differences approach to identify the causal impact of these copayments on doctor visits. In contrast to expectations and public opinion our results indicate that there are no statistically significant effects of the copayments on the decision of visiting a doctor.Copayment, doctor visits, difference-in-differences, fixed-effect logit

Fiscal Effects of Minimum Wages: An Analysis for Germany

Against the background of the current discussion on the introduction of statutory minimum wages in Germany, this paper analyzes the potential employment and fiscal effects of such a policy. Based on estimated labor demand elasticities obtained from a structural labor demand model, the empirical results imply that the introduction of minimum wages in Germany will be associated with significant employment losses that are concentrated among marginal and low- and semi-skilled full-time workers. Even though minimum wages will lead to increased public revenues from income taxes and social security benefits, they will result in a significant fiscal burden, due to increased expenditures for unemployment benefits and decreased revenues from corporate taxes.minimum wages, employment, public budget, fiscal effects

Fiscal Effects of Minimum Wages – An Analysis for Germany

Against the background of the current discussion on the introduction of statutory minimum wages in Germany, this paper analyzes the potential employment and fiscal effects of such a policy. Based on estimated labor demand elasticities obtained from a structural labor demand model, the empirical results imply that the introduction of minimum wages in Germany will be associated with significant employment losses that are concentrated among marginal and low- and semi-skilled full-time workers. Even though minimum wages will lead to increased public revenues from income taxes and social security benefits, they will result in a significant fiscal burden, due to increased expenditures for unemployment benefits and decreased revenues from corporate taxes.Minimum wages, employment, public budget, fiscal effects

Malnutrition, poor food intake, and adverse healthcare outcomes in non-critically ill obese acute care hospital patients

Obesity, defined as a BMI\ua0≥\ua030\ua0kg/m, has demonstrated protective associations with mortality in some diseases. However, recent evidence demonstrates that poor nutritional status in critically ill obese patients confounds this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate if poor nutritional status, poor food intake and adverse health-related outcomes have a demonstrated association in non-critically ill obese acute care hospital patients.This is a secondary analysis of the Australasian Nutrition Care Day Survey dataset (N\ua0=\ua03122), a prospective cohort study conducted in hospitals from Australia and New Zealand in 2010. At baseline, hospital dietitians recorded participants' BMI, evaluated nutritional status using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and recorded 24-h\ua0food intake (as 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the offered food). Post-three months, participants' length of stay (LOS), readmissions, and in-hospital mortality data were collected. Bivariate and regression analyses were conducted to investigate if there were an association between BMI, nutritional status, poor food intake, and health-related outcomes.Of the 3122 participants, 2889 (93%) had eligible data. Obesity was prevalent in 26% of the cohort (n\ua0=\ua0750; 75% females; 61\ua0±\ua015 years; 37\ua0±\ua07\ua0kg/m). Fourteen percent (n\ua0=\ua0105) of the obese patients were malnourished. Over a quarter of the malnourished obese patients (N\ua0=\ua030/105, 28%) consumed ≤25% of the offered meals. Most malnourished obese patients (74/105, 70%) received standard diets without additional nutritional support. After controlling for confounders (age, disease type and severity), malnutrition and intake ≤25% of the offered meals independently trebled the odds of in-hospital mortality within 90 days of hospital admission in obese patients.Although malnourished obese experienced significantly adverse health-related outcomes they were least likely to receive additional nutritional support. This study demonstrates that BMI alone cannot be used as a surrogate measure for nutritional status and warrants routine nutritional screening for all hospital patients, and subsequent nutritional assessment and support for malnourished patients

Income inequality and the absence of a Tawney moment in the mass media

In this paper we address the paradox of increasing income inequality and the absence of public mobilization around the issue. As the mass media are our most important source of information on wider economic affairs, we examine the salience and framing of income inequality within major UK and US newspapers over the period 1990 – 2015. Despite an initial surge in media attention and again towards the end of the period, the issues-attention cycle of inequality resembles a hype-cycle that is more common with arcane academic or techno-scientific topics than with social mobilisation. The dominant frames present income inequality as the seemingly inevitable result of globalization, market forces and technological change. No new radical frames of economic injustice have emerged, neither have any new actors, and so policy solutions fall back onto existing left-right approaches

Übereinstimmung von Marken- und Konsumentenpersönlichkeit als Determinante des Kaufverhaltens – Eine Metaanalyse der Selbstkongruenzforschung

Seit einigen Jahren wird es für Industrieunternehmen immer schwerer, produktbezogene Wettbewerbsvorteile zu erlangen. Viele dieser Unternehmen erweitern deshalb ihr Leistungsspektrum und nehmen Dienstleistungen in das Angebot auf. Dies geschieht jedoch häufig unsystematisch und ohne Berücksichtigung der besonderen Anforderungen, die das Management solcher Dienstleistungen stellt. Die vorliegende Untersuchung identifiziert die wesentlichen Managementprobleme auf dem Weg vom Industrieunternehmen zum Dienstleister. Sie analysiert darüber hinaus die Praxis des Managements industrieller Dienstleistungen in Industrieunternehmen. Einander gegenübergestellt werden dabei Industrieunternehmen, die besonders erfolgreich Dienstleistungen anbieten und Industrieunternehmen, die hier weniger erfolgreich agieren. Somit wird es möglich, von den „besten Dienstleistern“ zu lernen, indem Lösungsansätze für ein erfolgreiches Management von Dienstleistungen abgeleitet werden. Diese beginnen bei der Gestaltung der strategischen Orientierung von Dienstleistungen und reichen über deren Verankerung im Unternehmen bis hin zu den resultierenden Erfolgswirkungen

Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit in Ostasien

Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit Hong Kongs, Singapurs, Südkoreas und Taiwans zu charakterisieren. Dies erfolgt unter Anwendung eines auf der Wohlfahrtsstaatstypologie Gøsta Esping-Andersens beruhenden Modells nach Ian Holliday, welches einen für bestimmte Länder Ostasiens charakteristischen Wohlfahrtsstaattypus hervorbringt. Zur Analyse der vier Länder werden die für jedes Land charakteristischen Modellkriterien entlang von vier Untersuchungsdimensionen überprüft. Die Dimensionen kennzeichnen die Qualität der sozialen Rechte, die soziale Schichtung, das Verhältnis zwischen Staat, Markt und Familie sowie den Stellenwert der Sozialpolitik. Die Untersuchung der Qualität der sozialen Rechte umfasst die Analyse der vorhandenen Formen der sozialen Sicherung, der Sozialfürsorgemaßnahmen bei Einkommensarmut und subventionierter Dienste im Gesundheits-, Bildungs- und Wohnbereich. In Bezug auf die soziale Schichtung werden die Wirkungen der sozialpolitischen Maßnahmen hinsichtlich Universalität und Selektivität untersucht. Das Verhältnis zwischen Staat, Markt und Familie betrachtet die Rollenverteilung zwischen diesen Akteuren in Bezug auf die Bereitstellung und Finanzierung sozialer Leistungen. Darüber hinaus wird der Stellenwert der Sozialpolitik anhand der öffentlichen Ausgaben für Sozialpolitik sowie anhand der Umverteilungswirkung überprüft. Die Analyse der Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit der ausgewählten Länder hat aufgrund der Bestätigung der überwiegenden Zahl der Modellkriterien ergeben, dass eine Übereinstimmung mit dem Wohlfahrtsstaattypus nach Ian Holliday besteht, wobei eine deutliche länderspezifische Spaltung in Bezug auf die Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit ersichtlich wurde, im Rahmen derer sich Hong Kong und Singapur auf der einen Seite und Südkorea und Taiwan auf der anderen Seite befinden.This thesis aims at characterizing the welfare state in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. So as to analyze the welfare state in these four countries, a model developed by Ian Holliday on the basis of Esping-Andersens welfare state typology is used. This model generates a characteristic welfare state type for certain East Asian countries. In order to analyze the four countries, the underlying model criteria for each country are tested along four dimensions. These dimensions denote the quality of social rights, social stratification, the relationship between state, market and family and the status of social policy. The study of the quality of social rights comprises measures of social security, social welfare in case of low income and subsidized services in health care, education and housing. Social stratification examines the effects of social policies on society in regard to universality or selectivity. The relationship between state, market and family analyzes the roles of these actors according to the provision and financing of social security and social welfare benefits. Furthermore the status of social policy is determined on the basis of government expenditure on social policy and the effects of income distribution. The welfare state analysis reveals that due to the confirmation of the majority of the model criteria a congruency of the four countries with Ian Holliday’s welfare state type is given, whereas a clear country-specific and welfare-oriented division with Hong Kong and Singapore on one side and South Korea and Taiwan on the other side became discernible