861 research outputs found
Work Incentives? Ex Post Effects of Unemployment Insurance Sanctions - Evidence from West Germany
Unemployment insurance (UI) sanctions in the form of benefit reductions are intended to set disincentives for UI recipients to stay unemployed. Empirical evidence about the effects of UI sanctions in Germany is sparse. Using administrative data we investigate the effects of sanctions on the reemployment probability in West Germany for individuals who entered UI receipt between April 2000 and March 2001. By applying a matching approach that takes timing of events into account, we identify the ex post effect of UI sanctions. As a robustness check a difference-in-differences matching estimator is applied. The results indicate positive effects on the employment probability in regular employment for both women and men.unemployment insurance sanctions, dynamic matching
Work incentives? Ex-post effects of unemployment insurance sanctions
"Unemployment insurance (UI) sanctions in the form of benefit reductions are intended to set disincentives for UI recipients to stay unemployed. Empirical evidence about the effects of UI sanctions in Germany is sparse. Using administrative data we investigate the effects of sanctions on the reemployment probability in West Germany for individuals who entered UI receipt between April 2000 and March 2001. By applying a matching approach that takes timing of events into account, we identify the ex post effect of UI sanctions. As a robustness check a difference-in-differences matching estimator is applied. The results indicate positive effects on the employment probability in regular employment for both women and men." (authors abstract
The impact of powerful authorities and trustful tax payers: Evidence for the extended slippery slope framework from Austria, Finland and Hungary
Tax authorities utilize a wide range of instruments to motivate
honest taxpaying ranging from strict audits to fair procedures or
personalized support, differing from country to country. However,
little is known about how these different instruments and
taxpayers' trust influence the generation of interaction climates
between tax authorities and taxpayers, motivations to comply,
and particularly, tax compliance. The present research examines
the extended slippery slope framework (eSSF), which distinguishes
tax authorities' instruments into different qualities of power of
authority (coercive and legitimate) and trust in authorities (reasonbased
and implicit), to shed light on the effect of differences
between power and trust. We test eSSF assumptions with survey
data from taxpayers from three culturally different countries (N =
700) who also vary concerning their perceptions of power, trust,
interaction climates, and tax motivations. Results support
assumptions of the eSSF. Across all countries, the relation of
coercive power and tax compliance was mediated by implicit
trust, which leads to an antagonistic climate and enforced
motivation. The connection from legitimate power to tax
compliance is partially mediated by reason-based trust. The
relationship between implicit trust and tax compliance is
mediated by a confidence climate and committed cooperation.
Theoretical and practical implications are discussed
Do more placement officers lead to lower unemployment? : evidence from Germany
"In this paper we examine the effect of a pilot project of the German Federal Employment Agency, where in 14 German local employment offices the caseload (number of unemployed per caseworker) was significantly reduced. Since the participating local offices were not chosen at random, we have to take into account potential selection bias. Therefore, we rely on a combination of matching and a difference-in-differences estimator. We use two indicators of the offices' success (unemployment rate, growth of the number of SCIII clients). Our results indicate a positive effect of a lower caseload on both outcome variables." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Arbeitsvermittlung - Erfolgskontrolle, Arbeitsvermittler - Modellversuch, berufliche Reintegration - Quote, Arbeitslosenquote, Arbeitsvermittlerquote
The VuFind based "MT-Katalog" - a customized music library service at the University of Music and Drama Leipzig
Collectively Building a Sustainable Sharing Economy Based on Trust and Regulation
The articles in this Special Issue on the sharing economy's role in fostering sustainability
comprise eight contributions to answer how trust and regulation shape relations of providers and
consumers. We identify indispensable aspects of the sharing economy to show its potential in fostering
sustainability. This is in some contrast to existing definitions and applications of sharing economy
business models, which do not place sustainability in their focus. The studies employ a variety of
methods, covering quantitative and qualitative research to investigate building of communities on
the consumer side, as well as trust-building and implementation of regulations in the interaction
between providers and consumers in Asia and Europe. Some areas in the sharing economy foster
sustainability, some foster social cohesion and in the end build social capital, but others focus at first
sight on convenience and lifestyle
Power versus trust - what matters more in collaborative consumption?
Purpose -
Collaborative consumption, such as car sharing, speci
fi
cally implicates customer-to-customer interaction, which must be regulated by
service providers (companies, peers and self-regulating communities), comprising different challenges for business organizations. While in
conventional business relations, consumers are protected from undesirable customer behavior by laws, regulations (power) in the context of
collaborative consumption are rare, so that trust becomes more relevant. It is the purpose of the study to investigate possible mechanisms to
prevent undesirable customers in collaborative consumption.
Design/methodology/Approach -
In between subject designs, samples of 186 and 328 consumers
fi
lled in experimental online questionnaires
with vignettes. Analyses were made of differences among car sharing companies, private persons and car sharing communities in terms of the
power of providers, trust in providers and trust in other users of the shared goods, undesirable customer behavior and consumer -
provider relations.
Findings -
Companies, private persons and self-regulating communities differ in terms of perceived power and trust. Participants speci
fi
cally
perceive mainly coercive power with the car sharing company, but with the private person and the community, reason-based trust in other users is
perceived as prevalent. Nevertheless, undesirable customer behavior varies only marginally over the models.
Originality/value -
The present study is the first to investigate measures to prevent undesirable customer behavior over different collaborative
consumption models. This enables appropriate identification of market segments and tailoring of services. The study identifies opportunities for
companies in contrast to private persons and self-regulating communities and, in doing so, provides important stimulation for marketing strategy
and theory development
Explaining consumer choice of low carbon footprint goods using the behavioral spillover effect in German-speaking countries
The aim of the research was to investigate how to stimulate sustainable consumer behaviors that lead to a lowering of the carbon footprint. Because of environmental challenges at the individual and societal levels, researchers agree that behavioral change is necessary. We argue that when already performing a sustainable behavior, this behavior can spill over to other sustainable actions, even to more difficult ones. First, we studied whether a positive behavioral spillover occurs between product categories and whether the spillover effect depends on the ease or difficulty of the sustainable behavior. Second, we investigated whether high awareness of sustainability determines the spillover between categories. We conducted three online experiments in Central Europe, investigating whether spillover takes place between behaviors assigned to the same category (transport or food) or between behaviors assigned to different categories (transport or food). In all three studies participants had to make two independent decisions. In studies 1a (N=281) and 1b (N=195), the effect of the ease/difficulty of the behavior was tested. In study 2 (N=164), awareness of CO2 emission reducing effects was manipulated. Findings revealed a behavioral spillover between sustainable choices
Age-related differences of microRNA-21 in leukocytes and its association with physical performance
INTRODUCTION: Several studies suggest chronic inflammation as an underlying biological mechanism for the decline in physical performance of elderly (Cesari et al., 2004; Tiainen et al., 2010). Moreover, it has been shown that habitual exercise ameliorates the higher proinflammatory gene expression in leukocytes of elderly (Gano et al., 2011). Within the last years several microRNAs (short, non-coding RNAs) have been demonstrated to regulate gene expression also in the context of exercise immunology (Wessner et al., 2010). Interestingly, some of these microRNAs (miRs) such as miR-21 and miR-146 are involved in pathways important for ageing as well as inflammatory processes (Olivieri et al. 2012). Therefore, the main aims of the current study were (1) to investigate whether miR-21 and miR-146 levels in leukocytes are affected by age and (2) to correlate performance levels of elderly to miR gene expression levels.
METHODS: Healthy young (n=7, age: 25.28 ± 2.3 years) and old (n=25, age: 83.40 ± 5.63 years) females participated in the study. After an overnight fast, leukocytes were isolated from heparinized blood using BD Vacutainer CPT tubes. miR-21 and miR146 gene expression in leukocytes was determined by quantitative RT-PCR using miScript Primer Assays (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Additonally, leukocyte numbers and inflammatory markers (hs-CRP, hs-IL6, IL1-ra) were quantified. In order to relate potential inflammtaory markers to the fitness level of the elderly, several functional tests were performed (handgrip, 6min walking test, chair-rise test, isokinetic measurement of knee extension and flexion). Differences between groups were detected by unpaired t-tests. Correlations between markers were characterized using Pearson correlation coefficients.
RESULTS: Interestingly, miR-21 expression in leukocytes was significantly enhanced in the elderly (+55.1%, p=0.036) while miR-146a levels were not affected by age (p=0.492). However, miR-21 correlated signifantly with hs-CRP levels (r=0.352; p=0.033), we did not detect any associations between miR-21 expression and performance parameters of the elderly: Handgrip (r=0.533; p=0.121), 6-min Walking Test (r=0.231; p=0.220), Chair Rise (r=0.336; p=0.070), Peak Torque knee extension (r=0.589; p=0.105) as well as flexion (r=0.203; p=0.291).
CONCLUSION: In conclusion these preliminary results show that miR-21 seems to be enhanced with age but not influenced by fitness level of the elderly. Gene targets of miR-21 have been identified in the TGF-β signaling pathway. Therefore, next steps would be to associate the changes in miR-21with its potential targets to further elucidate its role in the ageing process
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