Age and productivity: Sector differences?

In most industrialised countries, the workforce is ageing rapidly. If ageing workforces affect sectors differently, the total impact of ageing will depend on the industrial structure of an economy. This paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on productivity using representative linked employeremployee panel data. We argue that establishment age-productivity profiles might differ for various reasons. For example, the importance of physical strength and possibilities to compensate deficits in skills differ between sectors. We investigate differences in the age-productivity profiles between the (metal) manufacturing and services sectors. However, in our preferred specification that controls for several potential sources of estimation biases, we find no significant differences in the ageproductivity profiles between these sectors. --Ageing workforce,age,productivity,linked employer employee data,sectors

Age and productivity: evidence from linked employer employee data

In most Western, industrialised countries the workforce is ageing rapidly. In order to assess the possible consequences of an ageing workforce, this paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on productivity using representative linked employer-employee panel data. We take into account that the levels as well as the changes in the age structure of establishments and their production are likely to be simultaneously determined and apply dynamic GMM methods. We find that establishment productivity increases with the share of employees until the age of 50-55 and only decreases slightly afterwards. Our findings suggest that previous estimations are biased because they either do not take into account endogeneity, time dependencies, or crucial information correlated with age shares and productivity. Large standard deviations point to important variation in the age productivity profile among establishments. --ageing workforce,age,productivity,LEED,system GMM

Separating wheat and chaff: age-specific staffing strategies and innovative performance at the firm level

Adopting a dynamic perspective, this paper investigates age-related staffing patterns in German establishments and their effect on innovative performance. First, we investigate how establishments achieve the necessary workforce rejuvenation - from the inflow of younger or from outflows of older workers. In addition, we explore whether certain staffing patterns are more likely to appear under different economic regimes. In a second step, we analyse whether an establishment's innovative performance is related to the staffing patterns it experiences. The analysis of linked-employer-employee data shows that most of the 585 German establishments covered rejuvenate by inflows of younger workers. Half of the establishments also use the outflow of older workers. Furthermore, workforces are more likely to become more age-heterogeneous in growing establishments. Finally, we do not find evidence that a youth-centred human resource strategy (always) fosters innovation. --Workforce aging,staffing strategies,innovation

NK and T cells constitute two major, functionally distinct intestinal epithelial lymphocyte subsets in the chicken

Non-mammalian NK cells have not been characterized in detail; however, their analysis is essential for the understanding of the NK cell receptor phylogeny. As a first step towards defining chicken NK cells, several tissues were screened for the presence of NK cells, phenotypically defined as CD8(+) cells lacking T- or B-lineage specific markers. By this criteria, approximately 30% of CD8(+) intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL), but <1% of splenocytes or peripheral blood lymphocytes were defined as NK cells. These CD8(+)CD3(-) IEL were used for the generation of the 28-4 mAb, immunoprecipitating a 35-kDa glycoprotein with a 28-kDa protein core. The CD3 and 28-4 mAb were used to separate IEL into CD3(+) IEL T cells and 28-4(+) cells, both co-expressing the CD8 antigen. During ontogeny, 28-4(+) cells were abundant in the IEL and in the embryonic spleen, where two subsets could be distinguished according to their CD8 and c-kit expression. Most importantly, 28-4(+) IEL lysed NK-sensitive targets, whereas intestinal T cells did not have any spontaneous cytolytic activity. These results define two major, phenotypically and functionally distinct IEL subpopulations, and imply an important role of NK cells in the mucosal immune system

Which personnel measures are effective in increasing productivity of old workers?

In this study, we investigate the effect of five specific human resource measures for old employees (SMOE) on their relative productivity. Despite the fact that SMOE are applied in the majority of establishments, this is the first representative study on the effectiveness of these measures. We find that the relative productivity contributions of old workers are significantly higher in establishments that provide either specific equipment of work places or age-specific jobs for old workers. In establishments that apply mixed-age working teams the productivity contributions of old and of young employees are significantly higher than in establishments without this measure. Working time reductions and specific training for old employees are not associated with higher relative productivity of these employees. Our paper provides a joint explanation for two recent findings, the only modest decline of the productivity contributions of old workers and the high variance for estimates of age-productivity profiles

Task Force: zivilgesellschaftliche Entwicklungen in China

Die vorliegende Arbeit geht der Frage nach, ob sich in China eine Zivilgesellschaft in der Entstehung befindet. Die Autorinnen und Autoren widmen sich hierfür einer Reihe politischer und sozialer Entwicklungen und Phänomene, die auf ein sich änderndes Beziehungsgefüge zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft hindeuten. Sie untersuchen dabei (a) neue Partizipations- und Sicherungsinstitutionen in Chinas Großstädten, (b) die Auswirkungen des Internets, (c) die Rolle chinesischer sozialer Organisationen und leiten daraus (d) Empfehlungen für die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit mit China ab. Auch wenn von der Entstehung einer Zivilgesellschaft in China noch nicht gesprochen werden kann, wirken sich diese Entwicklungen doch auf den Charakter des politischen Systems aus. Ein erstes Verständnis dieser Auswirkungen ermöglicht den Autorinnen und Autoren dieser Studie Empfehlungen zu formulieren, wie sozialer Wandel in China von außen unterstützt werden kann.This report approaches the question of whether a civil society is emerging in China. It examines several political and social phenomena and developments which, at the first glance, seem to indicate significant changes in the relationship between state and society. The authors of this report analyse (a) new participatory and social security arrangements in China's cities, (b) the impact of the Internet, (c) the role of China's emerging social organizations and (d) formulate recommendations for development cooperation projects with China. Although the report finds not much evidence for an emerging civil society, it cannot be said that these phenomena and developments have no impact at all on China's political system. An approximation of these impacts enables the authors to formulate recommendations on how to support social change in China from the outside

Age and productivity : sector differences?

In most industrialised countries, the workforce is ageing rapidly. If ageing workforces affect sectors differently, the total impact of ageing will depend on the industrial structure of an economy. This paper measures the impact of changes in the age structure of establishments on productivity using representative linked employeremployee panel data. We argue that establishment age-productivity profiles might differ for various reasons. For example, the importance of physical strength and possibilities to compensate deficits in skills differ between sectors. We investigate differences in the age-productivity profiles between the (metal) manufacturing and services sectors. However, in our preferred specification that controls for several potential sources of estimation biases, we find no significant differences in the ageproductivity profiles between these sectors

Informal Institutions and the "Weaknesses" of Human Behavior

Political reforms can be understood as the reconfiguration of formal institutions. The rational choice of formal institutions is the core topic of the New Institutional Economics research program. While bounded rationality is a core assumption of the New Institutional Economics and the reason for suboptimal behavior there, additional reference is made to the individual aspiration to intrapersonal consistency and interpersonal conformity here. These sources of a systematic deviation from the standard model of the homo oeconomicus result in systematic weaknesses of perception and deviations of behavior. This contribution connects shared mental models as informal institutions in the sense of North with well-established social psychological approaches and thereby leads to an integrative reflection of the insights in a stringent model framework

Cytokines of Birds: Conserved Functions

Targeted disruptions of the mouse genes for cytokines, cytokine receptors, or components of cytokine signaling cascades convincingly revealed the important roles of these molecules in immunologic processes. Cytokines are used at present as drugs to fight chronic microbial infections and cancer in humans, and they are being evaluated as immune response modifiers to improve vaccines. Until recently, only a few avian cytokines have been characterized, and potential applications thus have remained limited to mammals. Classic approaches to identify cytokine genes in birds proved difficult because sequence conservation is generally low. As new technology and high throughput sequencing became available, this situation changed quickly. We review here recent work that led to the identification of genes for the avian homologs of interferon-a/b (IFNa/b) and IFN-g, various interleukins (IL), and several chemokines. From the initial data on the biochemical properties of these molecules, a picture is emerging that shows that avian and mammalian cytokines may perform similar tasks, although their primary structures in most cases are remarkably different

The Molecular Composition of Hydrophilic Sulfur Sols Prepared by Acid Decomposition of Thiosulfate [1]

Hydrophilic sulfur sols prepared from sodium thiosulfate and concentrated sulfuric acid and purified by repeated NaCl precipitation and peptization in water have been studied by chemical analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, ion-pair chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. The composition of the sol is Na164S28.606 • 5.9In S„ • 1.0 NaCl. The elemental sulfur S„ (n = 6-14; mainly S8) accounts for 17% the total sulfur; 83% of the S are present as long-chain polythionates which form micelles in which the S„ molecules are dissolved. On aging of the sol at 20 °C the polythionate micelles decompose to give water-soluble short-chain polythionates and elemental sulfur which precipitates from the solution. The micelle structure of hydrophilic sulfur sols may serve as a model for the so-called sulfur globules (S°) formed intra- or extracellularly by many sulfur bacteria which oxidize reduced sulfur compounds to S°. — Infrared and Raman spectra of K2Sm06 (m = 3—6) are reported. The photodecomposition of aqueous tetrathionate yields sulfite, thiosulfate, and polythionates with up to 9 sulfur atoms