Social Networks and Labour Market Outcomes: The Non-Monetary Benefits of Social Capital

We contrast Granovetter's hypothesis (Granovetter, M. (1973). American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380; Granovetter, M. (1974). Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers. University of Chicago Press; Granovetter, M. (1995). Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers. University of Chicago Press) that social networks help individuals to find better-paid jobs with a new model, which predicts that networks are helpful with respect to non-pecuniary job characteristics but not concerning the monetary pay-offs. Following Montgomery (Montgomery, J. D. (1992) American Sociological Review, 57, 586-596), our model is a combination of classical job-search theory and the network hypothesis. First, concerning the monetary consequences, we test our hypotheses empirically by analysing the 2001 International Social Survey Programme on social relations and support systems. We show that using social ties is a common job-search strategy in all countries. However, using social networks does not increase the monetary pay-off. Second, we use a sample of 8,000 Swiss university graduates who recently entered the labour market to show that informal job-search channels are beneficial with respect to important non-monetary job characteristics. Thus, graduates who received their jobs through social contacts tended to get jobs that are linked to their educational degree and offer better career perspectives. Furthermore, using personal networks is related to lower search costs. Therefore, the results suggest overall that networks improve the non-pecuniary characteristics but not the monetary pay-off

The external validity of giving in the dictator game: A field experiment using the misdirected letter technique

We investigate the external validity of giving in the dictator game by using the misdirected letter technique in a within-subject design. First, subjects participated in standard dictator games (double blind) conducted in labs in two different studies. Second, after four to five weeks (study1) or two years (study2), we delivered prepared letters to the same subjects. The envelopes and the contents of the letters were designed to create the impression that they were misdirected by the mail delivery service. The letters contained 10 Euros (20 Swiss Francs in study2) corresponding to the endowment of the in-lab experiments. We observe in both studies that subjects who showed other-regarding behavior in the lab returned the misdirected letters more often than subjects giving nothing, suggesting that in-lab behavior is related to behavior in the fiel

Poverty in Europe: How long-term poverty developed following the financial crisis and what drives it

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the development of the long-term relative poverty rate in Europe. We use European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data (EU-SILC) for 26 European countries between 2009 and 2018. In addition to describing the development of longterm poverty, we also analyse the drivers of poverty on the country level via fixed effects panel regression analysis. We are particularly interested in how economic growth, employment rates, social expenditure, and short-term poverty rates are related to long-term poverty. Overall, the results show that longterm poverty has increased in 13 out of 26 countries, but was unchanged or decreased in 13 countries. Gross domestic product growth is not related to the development of long-term poverty. However, we find that male employment and social welfare expenditure reduce poverty rates. Furthermore, short-term poverty is negatively associated with long-term poverty. Hence, short-term poverty and long-term poverty rather substitute than complement each other

Fairness und Reziprozität im Diktatorspiel

"In der Spieltheorie sind in den letzten Jahren zunehmend verhaltenstheoretische Ansätze in den Vordergrund gestellt worden, die sich mit Abweichungen vom ökonomischen rationalen Entscheidungsmodell beschäftigen. Das ökonomische Standardmodell kann das Verhalten in vielen Situationen nicht erklären. Die Ergebnisse in Diktator- und Ultimatumsspielen deuten darauf hin, dass in den Verhaltensweisen von Menschen neben egoistischen Motiven Altruismus, Fairness und Reziprozität eine große Rolle spielen (vgl. Diekmann 2004; Fehr/ Gächter 2000; Ockenfels 1999). In vielen Fällen orientieren sich die Akteure nicht am Nash-Gleichgewicht, sondern Diktatoren, Proposer und Responder weichen zum Teil erheblich von rationalen Strategien ab (u.a. Forsythe et al. 1994). Das Ausmaß der Abweichung variiert dabei in verschiedenen experimentellen Studien. Die Schwankungen sind bislang noch nicht zufriedenstellend erklärt worden. Die wesentliche Frage ist also, auf welche Ursachen sich die Heterogenität an Verhaltensweisen in diesen einfachen Spielen zurückführen lässt? Einige Studien deuten an, dass das Ausmaß der Marktintegration in einer Gesellschaft eine erklärende Variable darstellt (Henrich et al. 2004). Die Abgaben würden also mit dem Grad der individuellen Einbettung in Netzwerke schwanken. Ist also die Netzwerkeinbindung ein Erklärungsfaktor für unterschiedliche Abgaben in Diktatorspielen? Neben einem Experiment zum sequenziellen Diktatorspiel (vgl. Diekmann 2004) werden über Fragebögen Netzwerkdaten erhoben. Die Erhebung der individuellen Netzwerke zu unterschiedlichen Lebensbereichen (Freunde, Familie, Bekannte, etc.) ermöglicht es, die Zusammenhänge zwischen Netzwerkeinbindung und dem strategischen Verhalten in Spielsituationen genauer darzustellen." (Autorenreferat

Climate Change in Environmental Attitudes? An Analysis of the ISSP 2000s

In dem Beitrag werden verschiedene Hypothesen zur Erklärung der Unterschiede und der Entwicklung des Umweltbewusstseins im internationalen Vergleich diskutiert und einem empirischen Test unterzogen. Wir diskutieren die Wohlstandshypothese, die These vom postmaterialistischen Wertewandel, die Globalisierungsthese und die Annahmen zum so genannten "Issue-Attention Cycle". Diese Hypothesen werden mit Hilfe einer Mehrebenenanalyse an den Daten des International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2000 überprüft. Die Ergebnisse stützen vor allem die Wohlstandshypothese. Es zeigt sich, dass das Umweltbewusstsein sowohl vom individuellen Einkommen als auch vom nationalen Wohlstandsniveau abhängt. Zusätzlich weisen auch postmaterialistische Werthaltungen der Befragten neben weiteren soziodemographischen Merkmalen einen engen Zusammenhang zum Umweltbewusstsein auf. Insgesamt ist das Umweltbewusstsein in den meisten Teilnehmerländern des ISSP 2000 im Vergleich zu 1993 leicht gesunken. Staaten, in denen die Bevölkerung über ein hohes Niveau an Umweltbewusstsein verfügt, weisen darüber hinaus eine höhere Ökoeffizienz hinsichtlich ihrer CO2-Emissionen auf als solche mit niedrigem Umweltbewusstsein.In this article we discuss diverse hypotheses concerning international differences and developments in regard to environmental attitudes and submit them to an empirical test. In particular, we discuss the affluence hypothesis, Inglehart's theory of postmaterialism, Dunlap's globalization explanation, and Downs' issue-attention-cycle. We test these hypotheses by applying multilevel analysis to the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data of 2000. The results support, above all, the affluence hypothesis. Individuals with higher income show higher levels of environmental concern within countries; and, in addition, the averages in wealthier countries are higher than those in poorer states. Furthermore, the results show that postmaterialistic attitudes are also closely associated with environmental concern, as are various other socio-demographic variables. Comparing the environmental concern measured in the ISSP 1993 with that of 2000 shows that environmental concern has slightly decreased. Our analysis also suggests that environmental concern matters: Countries with higher levels show more ecological efficiency with respect to CO2-emissions

Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?. An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Success in the Television Game Show

Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Determinanten einer erfolgreichen Teilnahme an der Fernsehshow "Wer wird Millionär". Befragt wurden 660 Teilnehmer, die zwischen 1999 und 2007 in der Quizsendung als Kandidaten aufgetreten sind. Wir interessieren uns besonders für die Fragen, wie die Human- und Sozialkapitalausstattung der Teilnehmer die Gewinnchancen beeinflusst. Die Bildung der Kandidaten sollte den Erfolg in der Show erhöhen, da der Gewinn in erster Linie durch das Wissen der Kandidaten und weniger durch andere Kriterien bestimmt wird. Die Schätzung der Humankapitalrenditen ist hierbei nicht durch unbeobachtete Heterogenität (Signale über weitere Fähigkeiten) verzerrt wie das in Untersuchungen zum Einkommen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt häufig der Fall ist. Damit kann ein von "signaling"-Effekten unabhängiger Humankapitaleffekt berechnet werden. Überdies können wir anhand unserer Daten den monetären Ertrag des Sozialkapitals schätzen. Der Telefonjoker wird von den Kandidaten aus ihren sozialen Netzwerken rekrutiert. Für die erfolgreiche Auswahl eines Telefonjokers sollte deshalb die Qualität des Netzwerkes eine besondere Rolle spielen. Beide Effekte von Human- und Sozialkapital lassen sich empirisch nachweisen und sind wesentliche Determinanten der erfolgreichen Teilnahme bei "Wer wird Millionär?".This paper analyses the determinants of successful participation in the well known television game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". Our sample consists of 660 contestants who participated in the German version of the show between 1999 and 2007. We are particularly interested in two hypotheses: First, according to human capital theory participants´ education should increase success and should lead to higher payoffs. Since contestants in the show can answer questions correctly only on the basis knowledge and since other characteristics of the candidates are irrelevant, estimates of the human capital effect are not affected by other possible causes suggested by signaling theory. The second hypothesis refers to the assumed advantage of social capital. The contestants have the possibility to use a telephone joker which they select from their personal networks. Hence, the telephone joker should be especially helpful if a participant is selected from a large network of knowledgeable contacts. Thus, our study allows for an estimation and comparison of human and social capital effects

DNA methylation changes during long-term in vitro cell culture are caused by epigenetic drift

Culture expansion of primary cells evokes highly reproducible DNA methylation (DNAm) changes. We have identified CG dinucleotides (CpGs) that become continuously hyper- or hypomethylated during long-term culture of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and other cell types. Bisulfite barcoded amplicon sequencing (BBA-seq) demonstrated that DNAm patterns of neighboring CpGs become more complex without evidence of continuous pattern development and without association to oligoclonal subpopulations. Circularized chromatin conformation capture (4C) revealed reproducible changes in nuclear organization between early and late passages, while there was no enriched interaction with other genomic regions that also harbor culture-associated DNAm changes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation of CTCF did not show significant differences during long-term culture of MSCs, however culture-associated hypermethylation was enriched at CTCF binding sites and hypomethylated CpGs were devoid of CTCF. Taken together, our results support the notion that DNAm changes during culture-expansion are not directly regulated by a targeted mechanism but rather resemble epigenetic drift

Zum Zusammenhang von Geschlechterungleichheiten in Bildung, Beruf und Karriere : ein Ausblick

Ziel der folgenden Ausführungen im abschliessenden Teil dieses Sammelbands zur Entwicklung und Genese von geschlechtsspezifischen Bildungsungleichheiten ist es, den Blick zu öffnen in Richtung Berufsleben. Wie sind die verbesserten Bildungsmöglichkeiten von Frauen zu interpretieren? Ist es in den letzten Jahrzehnten gelungen, eines der grundlegendsten gesellschaftlichen Ungleichheitsverhältnisse zu beseitigen? Oder beginnt sich dieses sogar zu verkehren in eine gesellschaftliche Benachteiligung der Männer? Wir gehen bei unseren Überlegungen von der These aus, dass ein Abbau von Benachteiligungen der Frauen im Bildungssystem für sich genommen noch wenig aussagekräftig ist, wenn wir uns mit der klassischen soziologischen Frage der Persistenz bzw. des Wandels von gesellschaftlichen Ungleichheiten befassen wollen. Erst wenn die ganze Verknüpfung von Bildung und gesellschaftlicher Ungleichheit in den Blick genommen wird und sich dabei zeigt, dass Frauen ihre Bildungsgewinne auch in entsprechende Chancen im Beschäftigungssystem umsetzen können, sind ihre verbesserten Bildungschancen ein Gewinn für die Individuen und ein Fortschritt für die Gesellschaft – und erst dann könnten mögliche Bildungsvorteile von Frauen, wie sie in den vorliegenden Aufsätzen z.T. diagnostiziert werden, gar als neue gesellschaftliche Benachteiligungen von Männern skandalisiert werden

Consumption-based versus production-based accounting of CO2 emissions: Is there evidence for carbon leakage?

Lately, a controversial debate has evolved regarding consumption-based accounting (CBA) versus production-based accounting (PBA) of CO2 emissions. So far, the debate has been predominately theoretical and has inspired only a few empirical studies. In this article, we compare production-based versus consumption-based emissions, and for the first time analyze reasons for the differences. In particular, we focus on whether there is evidence for carbon leakage from developed to developing countries. We use the newest available data for 110 countries and analyze whether there are differences between OECD and non-OECD members. Furthermore, we compare the within-country differences for the time span of 1997 to 2011 via fixed effects panel regression models in order to investigate whether increases in GDP per capita result in higher imported emissions. The results suggest that for most countries the differences depending on accounting schemes are small. Furthermore, we find no evidence for carbon leakages. In particular, the ratio of CBA to PBA is not driven by OECD membership or GDP per capita. Instead, the ratio is greater for countries with high energy efficiency and high import rates. Given the small differences between PBA and CBA, we suggest keeping the production-based accounting of CO2 emissions

Coronavirus risk perception and compliance with social distancing measures in a sample of young adults: Evidence from Switzerland

The health risk of the coronavirus pandemic is age-specific. The symptoms of a COVID-19 infection are usually mild in the healthy population below the age of 65; however, the measures laid down to prevent the spread of the virus apply typically to the whole population. Hence, those who have a low risk of severe symptoms face a social dilemma in cooperating and complying with the safety measures: Cooperating in preventing the spread of the disease is good for society but comes with individual costs. These costs provide an incentive not to cooperate with the safety measures. In this paper we analyze via structural equation modelling a sample of young adults (N = 510) who were surveyed right after the end of the first lockdown period in Switzerland. We investigate why and to what extent they cooperated in preventing the epidemic by following the recommendation to stay at home as much as possible. We hypothesize that those respondents who perceive themselves to be personally at risk, or who have relatives belonging to the risk group, complied more often with the safety measures as compared to those without severe risks. Cooperating should also be linked to individuals’ pro-social orientation. Furthermore, we hypothesize that those who believe that the virus is dangerous for society or who have a personal interest in protection show higher support for the general safety measures. Our empirical results show that compliance with the coronavirus social distancing measures was generally very high during the first lockdown. Although young adults perceived themselves to be at low personal risk, they still believed that the virus is dangerous for society. Those who had a personal interest in staying at home because they had relatives belonging to the risk group complied more often with the safety measures. Overall, the results suggest that the support of the preventive measures is the most important promoter of cooperation to prevent the spread of COVID-19