Does education matter? - economic dependency ratios by education

When studying the economic consequences of changes in the age structure of the population, looking at economic dependency ratios provides us with some descriptive and intuitive initial insights. In this paper, we present two economic dependency ratios. The first ratio is based on economic activity status, and relates the number of dependent individuals to the number of workers. The second dependency ratio relates consumption to total labour income. To build up the second ratio, we rely on the recently set up National Transfer Accounts (NTA) for Austria. Simulations of the employment-based dependency ratio with constant agespecific employment rates indicate that the employment-based dependency ratio will increase from 1.23 in 2010 to 1.88 in 2050, based on a population scenario that assumes low mortality, medium fertility and medium migration in the future. The corresponding values for the NTA-based dependency with constant age-specific labour income and consumption are 1.12 in 2010 and 1.49 in 2050.We then compare how the dependency ratio would di¿er if we accounted for the increasing levels of educational attainment. While the education-specific age patterns of economic activities are kept constant as of 2010, the changing educational composition up to 2050 is accounted for. In Austria, higher educated individuals enter and exit the labour market at older ages and have more total labour income than lower educated individuals. Our simulations of the education-specific economic dependency ratios up to 2050, based on the optimistic projection scenario of low mortality and high educational levels in the future, show that the employment-based ratio will increase to 1.68 and the NTA-based dependency ratio will rise to 1.28. These increases are still considerable, but are well below the values found when changes in the educational composition are not taken into account. We can therefore conclude that the trend towards higher levels of educational attainment may help to reduce economic dependency

The European National Transfer Accounts: Data and Applications

Population ageing exerts considerable pressure on the funding of public transfers. It is of utmost importance to understand how the transfer system can adapt to population ageing. Using National Transfer Accounts, we illustrate the different organisation of transfer systems across Europe. Countries like Greece and Romania, where labour income already falls short of consumption at age 54, would greatly improve their public system sustainability by following the Swedish example where this happens ten years later. High consumption at older ages is less problematic when financed substantially through savings (the UK) rather than almost exclusively through transfers (Austria)

The Broken Generational Contract in Europe: Generous transfers to the elderly population, low investments in children

Based on European National Transfer Accounts data from 2010, this paper quantifies and evaluates the balance of intergenerational transfer flows in 16 EU countries, including transfers in the form of unpaid household work. On average, the value of net transfers received by a child amounts to sixteen times the labour income of a full-time worker, and the net transfers received by an elderly person to six times the labour income of a full-time worker. Intergenerational transfers can be regarded as the reciprocal exchange between two generations: the size of the transfers to the child generation determines their potential to generate income and finance public transfers to the elderly population once they enter employment. We develop and calculate an indicator to analyse if there is a balance between transfers to children and transfers expected by the elderly population. The results indicate that in most of the analysed countries the human capital investments in children are far too low to finance the generous transfers to the elderly population in the future

Statistical models for time use data

In Zeitverwendungsstudien wird gewöhnlich analysiert wie viel Zeit von bestimmten Personengruppen für bestimmte Aktivitäten aufgewendet wird. Diese Daten sind klarerweise nichtnegativ, es gibt viele Personen welche die Aktivität am beobachteten Tag gar nicht ausüben und die Verteilung ist oft rechtsschief, d.h. wenn die Aktivität ausgeübt wird dann gleich für einen längeren Zeitraum. Die genaue Form der Verteilung ist stark von der betrachteten Aktivität und Charakteristiken der untersuchten Personengruppe abhängig. Die statistische Analyse erfordert daher Modelle welche die Charakteristiken von Zeitverwendungsdaten berücksichtigen und flexibel genug sind um sich sehr verschiedenen Verteilungen anpassen zu können. In dieser Magisterarbeit wird anhand der österreichischen Zeitverwendungsstudien aus dem Jahre 1992 und 2008 untersucht wie sich die Zeitverwendung von Frauen und Männern für Hausarbeit und Kinderbetreuung in diesem Zeitraum geändert hat. Dazu werden verschiedene statistische Modelle verwendet: Das Lineare Modell, das Tobit Modell für zensierte Daten sowie generalisierte lineare Modelle mit einer Negativ-Binomialverteilung und einer Poisson-Gamma Verteilung als stochastische Komponenten. Jedes dieser Modelle erweist sich als geeignet für bestimmte Aktivitäten bestimmter Personengruppen. Das lineare Modell und Tobit Modell sind jedoch völlig ungeeignet für Verteilungen mit einem hohen Anteil an Personen welche die Aktivität am Studientag nicht ausführen. Das generalisierte lineare Modell mit einer Negativ-Binomialverteilung erweist sich als unflexibel und für die meisten der auftretenden Verteilungen als ungeeignet. Ein hilfreiches Werkzeug in Zeitverwendungsstudien ist jedoch das generalisierte lineare Modell mit einer Poisson-Gamma Verteilung. Dieses Modell ist flexibel genug um sich den meisten der auftretenden Verteilungen anzupassen, und im Besonderen auch jenen Aktivitäten mit einer hohen Anzahl von Null-Beobachtungen und einer sehr rechtsschiefen Verteilung. Während österreichische Frauen in Paarhaushalten 2008 wesentlich weniger Zeit für Hausarbeit aufwendeten als 1992 blieb die Beteiligung der Männer auf vergleichsweise niedrigem Niveau konstant. Charakteristiken wie Alter, Haushaltsgröße und die Erwerbsbeteiligung des Partners sind mit mehr Hausarbeit für Frauen verbunden, während höher gebildete Frauen und Stadtbewohnerinnen weniger Zeit für Hausarbeit aufwenden. Für Männer können keine solchen Einflussfaktoren identifiziert werden. Deren Aufwand für Hausarbeit scheint auch unabhängig vom Haushaltstyp zu sein. Obwohl sich die durchschnittliche Zeit welche Väter und Mütter für Kindererziehung aufwenden erhöht hat, kann kein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen den Jahren festgestellt werden wenn für andere Charakteristiken wie Bildung kontrolliert wird.Time use research analyses usually the total amount of time which is devoted to a certain activity on a given day. This variable is non-negative, there may be many persons not engaging in the activity on the survey day and the distribution is often right-skewed. The exact shape of the distribution is strongly dependent on the activity under investigation and characteristics of the analysed population. The statistical analysis requires models which account for the characteristics of time use data and which are flexible enough to accommodate distributions of different shapes. In this thesis I analyse changes in the time use of men and women for housework and childcare activities using the Austrian time use surveys from 1992 and 2008. Several statistical models are used and compared: The linear model, the Tobit model for censored data as well as generalized linear models with a negative binomial and a Poisson-gamma distribution as random component. All of these models can be appropriate for certain activities and a certain subpopulation. But the linear and the Tobit model are inappropriate for distributions with a high share of observations which do not carry out the activity on the survey day. The generalized linear model with a negative binomial distribution can fit to time use data but should be used with care: It is unsuitable for a frequent characteristic of time use data with a large share of zero observations and where the density has a heavy right-tail or another peak at a strict positive value. The generalized linear model with a Poisson-gamma random component turns out to be a useful tool in time use research: It is flexible enough to provide a reasonable fit for most distributions and in particular also for activities with a large number of zero observations and a heavily skewed distribution. There has been a strong decline in the time which devoted to housework activities by women in Austria. But this decline has not been accompanied by an increase in the engagement of men. Several characteristics can be identified which affect women's time use for housework in couple-households: The time which women use for housework is positively related to the number of persons in the household, to their age and to the labour force participation of the partner. Higher educated women spend much less time on housework, and women living in a city do less housework than those living in less urban areas. None of these variables is significantly related to the housework of men. Their engagement is found to be independent also from household type, singles are doing with a bit more than one and half an hour the same amount of housework as men living in couple households with children

Erklären ESG-Faktoren Risikoprämien von Unternehmensanleihen?

Die herrschende Meinung ist, dass „Corporate Social Performance“ (CSP) sich positiv auf „Corporate Financial Performance“ (CFP) auswirkt. Allerdings wird diese gängige und einleuchtende Vermutung nicht durch eine überzeugende empirische Sachlage untermauert. Davon motiviert wird in dieser Arbeit der Einfluss von CSP auf die von Unternehmen zu zahlende Risikoprämie bei Anleihen untersucht. Der dazu verwendete Datensatz beinhaltet ca. 5.000 Anleihen und umfasst den Zeitraum von 2007 bis 2014. Die Messung der CSP erfolgt über vier unterschiedliche Quellen: Thomson Reuters ASSET4-Daten, dem SAM-Yearbook, der Blacklist des Corporate Responsibility Magazine und der Investitionspraxis des norwegischen Staatsfonds mit seinem Ethikrat. Verschiedene empirische Methoden werden angewandt. Die Ergebnisse lassen nur den Schluss zu, dass der Einfluss der CSP auf die Risikoprämie, falls überhaupt vorhanden, gering ist. Dies widerspricht der herrschenden Meinung, die eine Kausalität zwischen CSP und CFP unterstellt

The orphan adapter protein SLY1 as a novel anti-apoptotic protein required for thymocyte development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>SH3 containing Lymphocyte Protein (SLY1) is a putative adapter protein exclusively expressed in lymphocytes which is involved in antigen receptor induced activation. We previously have generated SLY1^Δ/Δmice harbouring a partial deletion in the N-terminal region of SLY1 which revealed profound immunological defects in T and B cell functions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, T cell development in SLY1^-/-and SLY1^Δ/Δmice was analysed <it>ex vivo </it>and upon cultivation with the bone marrow stromal cell line OP9. SLY1-deficient thymocytes were compromised in inducing nutrient receptor expression and ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation, indicating a defect in mTOR complex activation. Furthermore, SLY1 was identified as a novel anti-apoptotic protein required for developmental progression of T cell precursors to the CD4⁺CD8⁺double-positive stage by protecting from premature programmed cell death initiation in developing CD4^-CD8^-double-negative thymocytes. In addition, SLY1 phosphorylation was differentially regulated upon Notch ligand-mediated stimulation and expression of the preTCR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus, our results suggest a non-redundant role for SLY1 in integrating signals from both receptors in early T cell progenitors in the thymus.</p

Substrate Pre-Folding and Water Molecule Organization Matters for Terpene Cyclase Catalyzed Conversion of Unnatural Substrates

Terpene cyclase enzymes have recently been challenged with terpene substrate derivatives to generate additional chemical complexity beyond to what is currently found in nature. Herein, molecular dynamics and biocatalysis are used to shed light on the flexibility and inherent limitation of a triterpene cyclase in converting unnatural substrates. Our studies suggest that populating binding modes which allows for concerted reaction pathways is a key element towards an expanded substrate scope and new chemistries displayed by terpene cyclases. Additionally, we show that the spatial organization of water, which is influenced by both the substrate architecture as well as the active site geometry, controls the product selectivity. This highlights that activity and selectivity displayed by terpene cyclases acting on unnatural substrates is particularly difficult to predict, since they depend on various parameters

PILGRIM: Nachhaltigkeit und Religion(en) - eine Pilgerreise: kommentierte Literaturübersicht, ExpertInnen- und Institutionenverzeichnis zum Thema 'Nachhaltigkeit'

'Die Literaturauswahl soll einen Überblick über verschiedene Zugänge und wissenschaftliche Diskurse im Zusammenhang mit dem Leitbild einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung geben. Das Hauptaugenmerk richtet sich dabei auf verschiedene Forschungsfelder und internationale Beiträge zur Konzeptualisierung und Operationalisierung von Nachhaltigkeit. Obwohl die Beiträge meist inter- und transdisziplinärer Natur sind, werden sie je nach Forschungsthema und wissenschaftlicher Herkunft in die Disziplinen Naturwissenschaften und Technik, Wirtschaftswissenschaften sowie Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften eingeteilt. Ein weiterer Literaturblock mit dem Fokus Politik und Umsetzung soll Beiträge kommentieren, bei denen es um umwelt-, sozial- und entwicklungspolitische Maßnahmen auf lokaler, regionaler, nationaler oder globaler Ebene geht. Basierend auf dieser Literaturauswahl findet sich in Kapitel 2 eine Auflistung internationaler ExpertInnen sowie ihrer Institutionen und Organisationen, die sich mit Forschungsfragen zur Nachhaltigkeit sowie deren Umsetzung beschäftigen.' (Textauszug

The Division of Labour Within Households: Fractional Logit Estimates based on the Austrian Time Use Survey

The allocation of paid and unpaid work within households strongly depends on the household members’ individual characteristics. The most important of these characteristics is gender, followed by education and parenthood. Despite the significant increase in women’s labour market participation in the last decades, they still perform 73 percent of housework and 79 percent of childcare in 2008/09. This paper studies the determinants of the persistent division of labour within households with a new approach that combines standard absolute measures of time use with the relative measure of time use shares. This approach allows for a better understanding of the division of labour and the influence of the household member’s characteristics on these allocations. The empirical analysis relies on the Austrian time use survey conducted in 1992 and 2008/09. To appropriately account for the complex structure of time use data, the fractional logit model is applied for predicting shares, and a Poisson-gamma model is introduced for estimating total amounts. Hereby, the complex dynamics of task allocation can be studied in Austria for the first time. The results indicate for the last two decades that there has been an overall increase in the time devoted to market work and childcare, but also that there has been a total decrease in housework. The latter may be explained by an increase in outsourcing work, due to gains in productivity, or because work is simply left undone. The results of the study also show that the higher women are educated, the more balanced paid and unpaid work are within households. On the contrary, parenthood increases female specialisation into unpaid work. Lastly, the results indicate a slight relaxation of gender roles over the last 20 years, however, the segregation of paid and unpaid work still persists

The Division of Labour Within Households: Fractional Logit Estimates based on the Austrian Time Use Survey

The allocation of paid and unpaid work within households strongly depends on the household members’ individual characteristics. The most important of these characteristics is gender, followed by education and parenthood. Despite the significant increase in women’s labour market participation in the last decades, they still perform 73 percent of housework and 79 percent of childcare in 2008/09. This paper studies the determinants of the persistent division of labour within households with a new approach that combines standard absolute measures of time use with the relative measure of time use shares. This approach allows for a better understanding of the division of labour and the influence of the household member’s characteristics on these allocations. The empirical analysis relies on the Austrian time use survey conducted in 1992 and 2008/09. To appropriately account for the complex structure of time use data, the fractional logit model is applied for predicting shares, and a Poisson-gamma model is introduced for estimating total amounts. Hereby, the complex dynamics of task allocation can be studied in Austria for the first time. The results indicate for the last two decades that there has been an overall increase in the time devoted to market work and childcare, but also that there has been a total decrease in housework. The latter may be explained by an increase in outsourcing work, due to gains in productivity, or because work is simply left undone. The results of the study also show that the higher women are educated, the more balanced paid and unpaid work are within households. On the contrary, parenthood increases female specialisation into unpaid work. Lastly, the results indicate a slight relaxation of gender roles over the last 20 years, however, the segregation of paid and unpaid work still persists