How Stressful is Retirement? New Evidence from a Longitudinal, Fixed-effects Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of retirement on psychological well-being. Findings from previous research in this field are inconsistent, as both positive, negative, and sometimes no effect of retirement on well-being is reported. In the paper we suggest that the divergent results may arise from the mixing of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, problems with the size and quality of existing longitudinal data, and the statistical methods used to analyze the impact of retirement on well-being. In the paper we propose to deploy the fixed-effect estimator whichs provides consistent estimates of the effect of retirement on well-being, even when retirement is correlated with other observed and unobserved explanatory variables. Using a large (N = 4,634) and nationally representative panel data set with elderly Danish respondents, we find that retirement does not have any significant effect on well-being. When estimating separate model for men and women we find indications (p = .06) that men experience a decline in well-being as a consequence of retirement, while women are unaffected by retirement. Our findings for men would substantiate the crisis theory perspective that holds that retirement implies a loss of important social roles associated with labor market participation. Several suggestions for future research are also discussed.retirement; psychological well-being; gender; methodology; fixed-effect model

Relative Risk Aversion and Social Reproduction in Intergenerational Educational Attainment: Application of a Dynamic Discrete Choice Mode

The theory of Relative Risk Aversion (RRA) claims that educational decision-making is ultimately motivated by the individual’s desire to avoid downward social class mobility, and that this desire is stronger than the desire to pursue upward mobility. This paper implements a dynamic programming model which tests the central behavioral assumption in the RRA theory stating that (1) individuals are forward-looking when choosing education and (2) that the RRA mechanism comprises an important component in the educational decision-making process. Using data from the Danish Youth Longitudinal Study, we find strong evidence of RRA in educational decision-making over and above the effect of traditional social background variables.

Intergenerational Educational Mobility in the Comprehensive Danish Welfare State: Testing the Primacy of Non-monetary Social Origin Effects

The aim of this paper is investigate the extent to which monetary and non-monetary social background factors explain intergenerational educational attainment in Denmark. The main hypothesis tested is that non-monetary social background factors (cultural, social, and cognitive parental resources) are particularly important relative to economic factors within the institutional context of the comprehensive and highly redistributive Danish welfare state. Drawing on the notion of ‘capital’ by Pierre Bourdieu and a longitudinal Danish data set, we find that parental economic capital is of little importance in explaining educational outcomes, while different non-monetary social background resources, and especially cultural capital, are very important. Our findings then indicate that a particular Scandinavian institutional “mobility regime” may exist in which educational inequalities are predominantly generated by non-monetary forms of stratification. Several suggestions for future research are also discussed.intergenerational educational mobility; Denmark; mobility regimes; Bourdieu; forms of capital; mixed logit model; concomitant variables; confirmatory factor analysis

Selection Bias in Educational Transition Models: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Most studies which use Mare’s (1980, 1981) seminal model of educational transitions find that the effect of family background variables decreases across educational transitions. Cameron and Heckman (1998, 2001) have argued that this “waning coefficients” phenomenon might be driven by selection on unobserved variables. This paper, first, analyzes theoretically how selection on unobserved variables leads to waning coefficients and, second, illustrates empirically how selection affects estimates of the effect of family background variables on educational transitions. Our empirical analysis which uses data from the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands shows that the effect of family background variables on educational transitions is largely constant across transitions when we control for selection on unobserved variables. We also discuss the inherent difficulties in estimating educational transition models which deal effectively with selection on unobserved variables.

Which background factors matter more in intergenerational educational attainment: Social class, cultural capital or cognitive ability? A random effects approach

The sociological research literature on intergenerational educational attainment has highlighted three types of theoretical frameworks in explaining to what extent social origins influences people’s educational choices and possibilities. The three explanatory frameworks are 1) the socio-economic situation in the upbringing, 2) the “cultural capital” of the home (e.g. the level of education of the parents), and finally 3) the cognitive abilities of the individual. While all three explanatory frameworks have been shown empirically to be of significance in explaining people’s educational attainment when analyzed individually or two at a time, then only very few studies have simultaneously included all three frameworks and thus been able to present a coherent picture of the influence of social origins on educational attainment vis-à-vis individual ability. As a consequence very little knowledge exists on the relative significance of each of the three explanatory frameworks in explaining educational attainment when analyzed in a common, multivariate setting. Using data from the Danish Youth Longitudinal Panel Survey we analyse the relative significance of each of the proposed explanatory frameworks in explaining intergenerational educational attainment. By means of a multinomial random effects logit model we find father’s social class to be the strongest predictor of educational attainment followed by father’s level of education and finally cognitive ability. Furthermore, we find that the direct effect of father’s level of education is complex in that it to some extent is transmitted via cognitive ability and is more vulnerable to unobserved characteristics captured in the random effect.educational attainment; social mobility; multinomial logit regression; random effects model; Denmark

Crossing university boundaries: Students' experience of PBL as a new epistemic game

Today, educational trajectories take university students through a range of different institutional and organizational contexts. Many students choose to earn their master’s degree at a university different from their bachelor university. This increased mobility causes many students to cross university borders, both nationally and internationally. While the principles of collaborative learning, student-centered pedagogic approaches, and engagement with real-life problems are now widely applied principles at most universities, and are also promoted through large-scale transnational policy processes such as the Bologna Process, a few universities have demonstrated their strong commitment to such principles by dedicating themselves to the pedagogic approach of problem-based learning (PBL). This commitment may further internal cohesion and the development of a distinct and recognizable identity. In other words, a university’s commitment to the teaching and learning philosophy of PBL creates identity boundaries (Santos & Eisenhardt 2005). This study explores the experience of students who cross these boundaries and make an effort to learn PBL, in other words, to study in a PBL context. Theoretically, PBL is understood as an overarching epistemic game (Perkins 1997; Markauskaite & Goodyear 2017a) that students seek to master. The empirical investigation was carried out at a PBL university that strongly encourages group work. Three focus group interviews were conducted at two different points in the project-writing period: once mid-term, when the project work was ongoing, and at a later point right after the (collective) oral defense of the project work. The findings suggest that while students seek to identify clear and manifest rules of the epistemic game of PBL, supervisors and censors expect students to be able to “learn through design of inquiry” (Markauskaite and Goodyear 2017b), in other words, to make their own choices regarding the epistemic framework

Trapped in the digital divide?:old people in the information society

Senior citizens have not been amongst the first to start utilising Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Thus there is a danger that they will be excluded from the growing Information Society. In a Danish program, six local experiments are trying out the possibilities of utilising ICT to fulfil the needs of old people. This article will present some of the results of the program. First, I will present the Danish ICT-policy, which shapes the political background for the program. Second, I will present the program. Third, I will give a brief presentation of the methodology and the theoretical framework the study is based on. Through an analysis of two of the local experiments I will show how ICT becomes a part of old people’s everyday life. Finally, I will conclude as to whether or not old people in Denmark are becoming part of the Information Society through these local development projects. *Key words*: social experiment, information society, digital divide

Unobserved Heterogeneity in the Binary Logit Model with Cross-Sectional Data and Short Panels: A Finite Mixture Approach

This paper proposes a new approach to dealing with unobserved heterogeneity in applied research using the binary logit model with cross-sectional data and short panels. Unobserved heterogeneity is particularly important in non-linear regression models such as the binary logit model because, unlike in linear regression models, estimates of the effects of observed independent variables are biased even when omitted independent variables are uncorrelated with the observed independent variables. We propose an extension of the binary logit model based on a finite mixture approach in which we conceptualize the unobserved heterogeneity via latent classes. Simulation results show that our approach leads to considerably less bias in the estimated effects of the independent variables than the standard logit model. Furthermore, because identification of the unobserved heterogeneity is weak when the researcher has cross-sectional rather than panel data, we propose a simple approach that fixes latent class weights and improves identification and estimation. Finally, we illustrate the applicability of our new approach using Canadian survey data on public support for redistribution.binary logit model; unobserved heterogeneity; latent classes; simulation

Digital Citizenship:A review of the academic literature

When digital technologies become a part of everyday life in most parts of society, it changes the way we work, organize, communicate, and make relations. It also changes the relationship between the state and its citizens - a relationship usually conceptualized as citizenship. To capture this transformation, a new concept of digital citizenship has emerged. The overall purpose of this paper is to overcome the fragmentation of knowledge about how citizenship is transformed into digital citizenship through a systematic review of the academic literature on the concept of digital citizenship. The literature review identifies four streams of literature in the academic landscape of digital citizenship, and by a content analysis, it outlines the many dimensions and facets of digital citizenship. In this way, the literature review offers a comprehensive picture of both the impacts of the digital transformation on citizenship and the concept within the academic debate.Wenn digitale Technologien in den meisten Teilen der Gesellschaft das tägliche Leben durchdringen, verändert das die Art und Weise, wie wir arbeiten, uns organisieren, kommunizieren und Beziehungen eingehen. Es verändert auch die Beziehung zwischen Staat und Bürgerinnen und Bürgern - eine Beziehung, die normalerweise als Staatsbürgerschaft konzeptualisiert wird. Um diesen Wandel zu erfassen, hat sich ein neues Konzept der digitalen Bürgerschaft herausgebildet. Das übergeordnete Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Fragmentierung des Wissens darüber, wie Staatsbürgerschaft in digitale Staatsbürgerschaft umgewandelt wird, durch eine systematische Überprüfung der akademischen Literatur zum Konzept von Digital Citizenship zu überwinden. Der Beitrag identifiziert vier wissenschaftliche Literaturstränge zu Digital Citizenship und skizziert mittels einer Inhaltsanalyse die vielen Dimensionen und Facetten von Digital Citizenship. Auf diese Weise bietet die Literaturübersicht ein umfassendes Bild sowohl der Auswirkungen der digitalen Transformation auf die Bürgerschaft als auch des Konzepts innerhalb der akademischen Debatte