Agent Based Traffic Signals Regulating Flow On a Basic Grid

A simulation study on traffic light optimisation with agent-based behaviour of the traffic signals

How Fair Is Income Taxation in the View of the German Public?

It is not possible to provide a scientific answer to questions regarding the 'fairness' of taxation. Nonetheless, empirical economics and social science research can still yield helpful information for legislators charged with deciding on the level and structure of the tax system. Such research also includes the public's assessment of the fairness of the tax system. At the beginning of 2005, DIW Berlin incorporated questions concerning the fairness of income taxation in its 'Socio-Economic Panel' longitudinal study. Preliminary findings of this research are now available. The tax burden on unskilled workers was considered excessively high by almost two-thirds of respondents. By contrast, the burden on the board members of large enterprises was considered too low by three-quarters of those surveyed, and this view was actually shared by two-thirds of the executive staff in the sample. However, it is not possible to draw any direct conclusions for economic and fiscal policy from these findings. The evaluation of such data is a wholly political act lying in the exclusive domain of the parliament. However, these results at least demonstrate unambiguously that when it comes to the issue of income and fiscal equity, people belonging to all sections of the population think in a more egalitarian manner than is assumed by large segments of public opinion and politics.

Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz - Der Gipfel der Hybris : Die NATO auf Kollisionskurs mit dem Rest der Welt

Schon im Vorfeld der alljährlich stattfindenden Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz, dem weltweit wichtigsten Treffen der außenpolitischen und militärischen Eliten, ging es turbulent zu. Die Frage, wie die zunehmend eskalierende Situation in Afghanistan in den Griff bekommen werden könne, bestimmte schon das kurz zuvor abgehaltene Treffen der NATO-Verteidigungsminister in Sevilla, bei dem u.a. von Deutschland massiv gefordert wurde, sich noch mehr an dem dortigen Krieg zu beteiligen, als dies ohnehin schon der Fall ist. Mit dem Beschluss des Bundeskabinett vom 7. Februar, Bundeswehrtornados nach Afghanistan zu entsenden, kommt Deutschland dieser Forderung nach und macht sich damit offen zum Komplizen des US-amerikanischen Amoklaufs, der offiziell als "Krieg gegen den Terror" bezeichnet wird, de facto aber genau das Gegenteil darstellt. Überhaupt zeigte vor allem Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel bei der Sicherheitskonferenz ihre "bedingungslose Solidarität" mit den USA und suchte demonstrativ den Schulterschluss mit Washington

Comparing the Predictive Power of Subjective and Objective Health Indicators: Changes in Hand Grip Strength and Overall Satisfaction with Life as Predictors of Mortality

Self-reported measures of health are generally treated as weak measures of respondents' objective health status. On the other hand, most surveys use self-reported health to measure health status and to determine the effects of a range of other socio-economic characteristics of the local environment on individual health. It is therefore of interest to the public health research community to verify the validity of self-reported health data. We do this by analyzing data from a longitudinal household panel survey: the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). In 2006, and again in 2008, hand grip strength was measured as part of the SOEP. The hand grip data can be compared with other indicators of health and well-being from the SOEP survey. In a first step, we examine short-term mortality outcomes predicted by changes in hand grip strength. Then we compare the predictive power of the results with those of a subjective indicator of well-being: overall life satisfaction. We find that both measures are related to mortality risk. However, the effects are quite independent. Thus we argue that changes in hand grip strength and overall life satisfaction capture two different aspects of health status and its changes. We therefore test this hypothesis by correlating the indicators with other survey-based health measures that were also taken in the SOEP in 2006 and 2008.grip strength, subjective health status measures, mortality, subjective well-being, SOEP

Life Satisfaction and Relative Income: Perceptions and Evidence

Using a unique dataset we study both the actual and self-perceived relationship between subjective well-being and income comparisons against a wide range of potential comparison groups, enabling us to investigate a broader range of questions than in previous studies. In questions inserted into a 2008 module of the German-Socio Economic Panel Study we ask subjects to report (a) how their income compares to various groups, such a co-workers, friends, and neighbours, and (b) how important these income comparisons are to them. We find substantial gender differences, with income comparisons being much better predictors of subjective well-being in men than in women. Generic (same-gender) comparisons are the most important, followed by within profession comparisons. Once generic and within-profession comparisons are controlled for, income relative to neighbours has a negative coefficient, implying that living in a high-income neighbourhood increases happiness. The perceived importance of income comparisons is found to be uncorrelated with its actual relationship to subjective well-being, suggesting that people are unconscious of its real impact. Subjects who judge comparisons to be important are, however, significantly less happy than subjects who see income comparisons as unimportant. Finally, the marginal effect of relative income on subjective well-being does not depend on whether a subject is below or above the reference group income.income comparisons, relative income, life satisfaction, German Socio Economic Panel Study, SOEP