Researching Social Services of General Interest: an Analytical Framework Derived from Underlying Policy Systems

This paper discusses Social Services of General Interest, a political term of the European Union, which lies at the heart of the European Model of Society and Cohesion concepts. How and why is the organization and provision of services across Europe rooted in, and shaped by, the prevailing national constitutional components of social welfare and spatial planning systems? A high degree of interrelation between these two systems is confirmed and Social Services of General Interest are detected and conceptualized as a substantiation of components of both systems. In a concluding step, an analytical framework is introduced which enables us to research Social Services of General Interest from different angles for the purpose of deploying promising policy solutions

The polarization process of ferroelectric materials analyzed in the framework of variational inequalities

We are concerned with the mathematical modeling of the polarization process in ferroelectric media. We assume that this dissipative process is governed by two constitutive functions, which are the free energy function and the dissipation function. The dissipation function, which is closely connected to the dissipated energy, is usually non-differentiable. Thus, a minimization condition for the overall energy includes the subdifferential of the dissipation function. This condition can also be formulated by way of a variational inequality in the unknown fields strain, dielectric displacement, remanent polarization and remanent strain. We analyze the mathematical well-posedness of this problem. We provide an existence and uniqueness result for the time-discrete update equation. Under stronger assumptions, we can prove existence of a solution to the time-dependent variational inequality. To solve the discretized variational inequality, we use mixed finite elements, where mechanical displacement and dielectric displacement are unknowns, as well as polarization (and, if included in the model, remanent strain). It is then possible to satisfy Gauss' law of zero free charges exactly. We propose to regularize the dissipation function and solve for all unknowns at once in a single Newton iteration. We present numerical examples gained in the open source software package Netgen/NGSolve

Aufkommen von Erbschaftssteuern - Modellrechnung exemplarischer Tarife

(no Abstract available

Distributional National Accounts (DINA) with Household Survey Data: Methodology and Results for European Countries

The paper builds Distributional National Accounts (DINA) using household survey data. We present a transparent and reproducible methodology to construct DINA whenever administrative tax data are not available for research and apply it to various European countries. By doing so, we build synthetic microdata files which cover the entire distribution, include all income components individually aligned to national accounts, and preserve the detailed socioeconomic information available in the surveys. The methodology uses harmonized and publicly available data sources (SILC, HFCS) and provides highly comparable results. We discuss the methodological steps and their impact on the income distribution. In particular, we highlight the effects of imputations and the adjustment of the variables to national accounts totals. Furthermore, we compare different income concepts of both the DINA and EG-DNA approach of the OECD in a consistent way. Our results confirm that constructing DINA is crucial to get a better picture of the income distribution. Our methodology is well suited to build synthetic microdata files which can be used for policy evaluation like social impact analysis and microsimulation.Series: INEQ Working Paper Serie

CMOS-compatible graphene photodetector covering all optical communication bands

Optical interconnects are becoming attractive alternatives to electrical wiring in intra- and inter-chip communication links. Particularly, the integration with silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology has received considerable interest due to the ability of cost-effective integration of electronics and optics on a single chip. While silicon enables the realization of optical waveguides and passive components, the integration of another, optically absorbing, material is required for photodetection. Germanium or compound semiconductors are traditionally used for this purpose; their integration with silicon technology, however, faces major challenges. Recently, graphene has emerged as a viable alternative for optoelectronic applications, including photodetection. Here, we demonstrate an ultra-wideband CMOS-compatible photodetector based on graphene. We achieve multi-gigahertz operation over all fiber-optic telecommunication bands, beyond the wavelength range of strained germanium photodetectors, whose responsivity is limited by their bandgap. Our work complements the recent demonstration of a CMOS-integrated graphene electro-optical modulator, paving the way for carbon-based optical interconnects.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. Nature Photonics, 201

Sozioökonomische Charakteristika der Millionärshaushalte in Österreich

Mithilfe der Vermögenserhebung HFCS 2010 können die sozioökonomischen Charakteristika der österreichischen Privathaushalte mit einem Nettovermögen von mehr als 1 Mio. Euro analysiert werden. Im Vergleich zur Zusammensetzung der Gesamtpopulation zeigt sich, dass Haushalte, deren HöchstverdienerIn einen akademischen Abschluss erzielt hat, selbstständig arbeitet, Betriebsvermögen in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft besitzt oder bereits eine Erbschaft erhalten hat, deutlich überrepräsentiert sind. Demgegenüber haben nur 2% der Unselbstständigen- Haushalte mehr als 1 Mio. Euro Nettovermögen und sind somit stark unterrepräsentiert, unabhängig von ihrem Bildungsgrad oder anderen sozioökonomischen Charakteristika. (authors' abstract

Die Doctrine classique des Familienbonus+ - Eine Debatte in 5 Akten

Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags werden die Auswirkungen der 2018 in Österreich eingeführten Familienförderungsmaßnahme Familienbonus+ in Hinblick auf die Ausschöpfung der steuerlichen Entlastung nach unterschiedlichen Faktoren, wie etwa Haushaltstruktur, Alter, Geschlecht, Bildung und Urbanisierungsgrad, analysiert. Die Simulation der Steuerreform wurde mithilfe des Mikrosimulationsmodells EUROMOD durchgeführt. Es zeigt sich, dass Familien bzw. Kinder in sehr unterschiedlichem Ausmaß von der Maßnahme profitieren, da manche Eltern über nicht genügend Einkommen verfügen oder zuvor mehr von den abgeschafften Steuerbegünstigungen (Kinderfreibetrag und Absetzbarkeit von Kinderbetreuungskosten) profitieren konnten. Entgegen der politischen Diskussion werden insbesondere Haushalte, in denen beide Elternteile Vollzeit arbeiten, nur unterproportional zu ihrer Steuerleistung entlastet, während Haushalte mit Vollzeit-Teilzeit-Aufteilung und AlleinverdienerInnen überproportional profitieren. Darüber hinaus werden insbesondere Personen zwischen 20 und 45 Jahren, welche in ländlichen Gebieten wohnen und einen Abschluss der Sekundarstufe aufweisen, entlastet. Zusätzlich zeigt sich, dass Männer aufgrund der hohen Einkommensdifferenzen zwischen den Geschlechtern über dreimal so viel von dieser Maßnahme profitieren wie Frauen.Series: INEQ Working Paper Serie