Short-Run and Long-Term Effects of Childbirth on Mothers' Employment and Working Hours across Institutional Regimes: An Empirical Analysis Based on the European Community Household Panel

The employment behavior of mothers is strongly influenced by labor market regulations and certain institutional arrangements, which both vary greatly across European countries. Using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) 1994-2001 for Denmark, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, which represent four distinct 'institutional regimes', we estimate the short-run and long-term effects of childbirth on married women's employment and working hours. Estimation results show that these effects vary across the four countries in accordance with prevailing institutional regulations.employment and working hours, labor supply, childbirth, European Community Household Panel, panel data models

Public Pensions, Changing Employment Patterns, and the Impact of Pension Reforms across Birth Cohorts: A Microsimulation Analysis for Germany

We analyze the impact of changing employment patterns and pension reforms on the future level of public pensions across birth cohorts in Germany. The analysis is based on a rich dataset that combines household survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and process-produced microdata from the German pension insurance. A microsimulation model is developed which accounts for cohort effects in individual employment and unemployment and earnings over the lifecycle as well as the differential impact of recent pension reforms. Cohort effects for individuals born between 1937 and 1971 vary greatly by region, gender and education and strongly affect lifecycle wage profiles. The largest effects can be observed for younger cohorts in East Germany and for the low educated. Using simulated life cycle employment and income profiles, we project gross future pensions across cohorts taking into account changing demographics and recent pension reforms. Simulations show that pension levels for East German men and women will fall dramatically among younger birth cohorts, not only because of policy reforms but due to higher cumulated unemployment. For West German men, the small reduction of average pension levels among younger birth cohorts is mainly driven by the impact of pension reforms, while future pension levels of West German women are increasing or stable due to rising labor market participation of younger birth cohorts.public pensions, cohort effects, microsimulation

Poorer Health – Shorter Hours? Health and Flexibility of Hours of Work

We analyse the role of health in determining the difference between desired and actual hours of work in a sample of German men using the Socio-Economic Panel Data for years 1996-2007. The effects of both self-assessed health and legal disability status are examined. About 60% of employees report working more than they would wish with the mean difference of -3.9 hours/week. We estimate static and dynamic model specifications allowing for auto-regressive nature of the dependent variable and testing for the role of lagged health status. Important differences are found between east and west German Länder. In the west we find statistically significant role of general health measures in determining the disequilibrium. Employees in bad health want to work on average by about 0.4 hour/week less according to the static specification, and by about 1 hour/week less if dynamics of health and of the disequilibrium are taken into account. This is respectively 10% and 25% of the mean difference. We find no effects of legal disability status on the disequilibrium which we interpret as a reflection of stronger legal position of disabled employees. In both east and west we find significant state dependence in the hours disequilibrium.hours worked, health, disability, labour market flexibility

Public pensions, changing employment patterns, and the impact of pension reforms across birth cohorts: A microsimulation analysis for Germany

We analyze the impact of changing employment patterns and pension reforms on the future level of public pensions across birth cohorts in Germany. The analysis is based on a rich dataset that combines household survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and process-produced microdata from the German pension insurance. A microsimulation model is developed which accounts for cohort effects in individual employment and unemployment and earnings over the lifecycle as well as the differential impact of recent pension reforms. Cohort effects for individuals born between 1937 and 1971 vary greatly by region, gender and education and strongly affect lifecycle wage profiles. The largest effects can be observed for younger cohorts in East Germany and for the low educated. Using simulated life cycle employment and income profiles, we project gross future pensions across cohorts taking into account changing demographics and recent pension reforms. Simulations show that pension levels for East German men and women will fall dramatically among younger birth cohorts, not only because of policy reforms but due to higher cumulated unemployment. For West German men, the small reduction of average pension levels among younger birth cohorts is mainly driven by the impact of pension reforms, while future pension levels of West German women are increasing or stable due to rising labor market participation of younger birth cohorts. --Public pensions,cohort effects,microsimulation

Riester-Rente: Rezept gegen Altersarmut?

Die 2001 eingeführte staatliche Förderung der sogenannten Riester-Rente hat zum Ziel, die Anreize zum Aufbau einer kapitalgedeckten privaten Altersvorsorge zu erhöhen. In erster Linie soll die private Vorsorge Versicherten der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung und Beamten helfen, die langfristige Niveauabsenkung der gesetzlichen Renten und Pensionen zu kompensieren. Darüber hinaus zielt die staatliche Förderung insbesondere auf Geringverdiener und Mütter beziehungsweise Familien mit Kindern ab. Nach zehn Jahren haben jedoch weniger als 40 Prozent aller Anspruchsberechtigten einen Riester-Vertrag abgeschlossen. Und eine strukturelle Analyse der Inanspruchnahme der Riester-Rente auf Basis der Daten des sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) für die Jahre 2004 bis 2010 zeigt, dass Geringverdiener, Personen mit niedrigem Bildungsabschluss und Migrationshintergrund seltener "riestern" als der Durchschnitt der Bevölkerung. Bei Frauen ist die Riester-Rente am weitesten verbreitet, und es zeigt sich, dass die Zahl der Kinder die Wahrscheinlichkeit des Abschlusses eines Riester-Vertrags stark positiv beeinflusst. Die Gruppe der kindererziehenden Versicherten erhält signifikante staatliche Zuschüsse.Private pension provision, Riester scheme, tax incentives

Quantitative Evaluation of the Carbon Isotopic Labelled Urea Breath Test for the Presence of Helicobacter pylori

Faculty of Health Scicence School of Medicine 0100107g [email protected] 14C and 13C labelled urea breath tests (UBT) for detecting Helico-bacter pylori infection are well established but scope for improvement exists in both to reduce some of their shortcomings. For this study, the 14C UBT investigation focussed on reducing the quantity of radioactive tracer that is administered to the subject un-dergoing this test, with the aim of lowering the radiation dose to the patient, reducing the impact to the environment and exempting the test from radioactive materials licensing. Wider acceptance, availabil-ity, affordability to lower socio-economic groups and third party medi-cal treatment payers and using readily available equipment were fac-tors considered when developing the method. The principle of the method developed is to collect larger volume breath sample, quantitatively absorbing a defined volume of extracted breath CO2 in an efficient CO2 trapping agent using a specifically de-signed apparatus and measuring the activity with a low background β-spectrometer. A reduction in the quantity of 14C labelled urea administered to the pa-tient was achieved. The method also reduced the counting error mar-gin at a lower detection limit, improving discrimination between H. py-lori positive and negative patients. iii The 13C UBT is a non-radioactive test however, it is substantially more expensive. The 13C UBT investigation aimed to determine whether commercially available un-enriched urea could be used thus reducing the cost of the 13C UBT. A simple protocol with Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) for the measurement was used as opposed to the well-established 13C UBT protocol. The principle of the 13C UBT investigation was to detect the change of the breath δ13C (13C/12C) ratio after the administration of un-enriched urea with a δ13C different to the exhaled breath. Theoretical calculations showed that an administered dose of 500mg un-enriched urea with at least a 10‰ δ13C difference may be detectable using IRMS. In vitro investigations confirmed that levels of 0.01 to 0.001‰ δ13C were detectable by IRMS. A change in the δ13C of a standard breath CO2 was confirmed for a range between 0.14 to 50% v/v mixed CO2 samples, i.e. the projected range for in-vivo investigation. Results from the in-vivo investigation however were not able to distinguish positive from negative H. pylori patients. The use of the 1000mg dose of urea appears to have caused saturation of the enzyme. It was con-cluded that some enrichment of the 13C is necessary or less urea be used

Notes About Comparing Long-term Care Expenditures Across Countries; Comment on “Financing Long-term Care: Lessons From Japan”

The comparison of long-term care (LTC) expenditures is a difficult task. National LTC systems differ widely in terms of eligibility criteria, level of benefits, institutional variety and regional heterogeneity. In this commentary I will first give some general remarks on cross country comparisons. Then I discuss the role of the informal sector which is the most important pillar of all LTC systems. I conclude with some background on current developments in Germany. Different from Japan Germany is extending its LTC insurance instead of containing costs

The Effect of Health and Employment Risks on Precautionary Savings

This paper extends the idea of using ex-ante risk measures in a model of precautionary savings by explicitly simulating future net-income risks. The uncertainty measure takes into account the interdependency of labour market status and health. The model is estimated for prime age males using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study for years 2001-2007. The empirical analysis is conducted using a measure for saving stocks and saving flows. The latter model allows to control for individual specific effects. I find evidence for precautionary savings in response to the uncertainty measures. The results are robust and stable across specifications. There is evidence for a share of precautionary wealth of about 14 to 17 percent.Precautionary savings, health, employment, risks

The Effect of Health and Employment Risks on Precautionary Savings

This paper extends the idea of using ex-ante risk measures in a model of precautionary savings by explicitly simulating future net-income risks. The uncertainty measure takes into account the interdependency of labour market status and health. The model is estimated for prime age males using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study for years 2001-2007. The empirical analysis is conducted using a measure for saving stocks and saving flows. The latter model allows to control for individual specific effects. I find evidence for precautionary savings in response to the uncertainty measures. The results are robust and stable across specifications. There is evidence for a share of precautionary wealth of about 14 to 17 percent.Precautionary savings, health, employment, risks

Reform of Income Splitting for Married Couples: Only Individual Taxation Significantly Increases Working Incentives

The joint taxation of married couples in Germany with full income splitting is still a major hindrance to the participation of married women in the labor market. In their current financial proposals, the SPD (Social Democratic Party) is calling for income splitting for married couples to be replaced by individual taxation with maintenance deductions, in accordance with existing schemes for divorced spouses. Simulations implemented by DIW Berlin show that such a reform would only have limited effects on distribution and labor supply. Pure individual taxation, however, would not only lead to significant additional tax revenue but would also considerably increase the number of married women participating in the labor market. If politicians take the goal of greater integration of married women in the labor market seriously, then the current income splitting for married couples would have to be replaced by individuation taxation.Working incentives, joint taxation of couples, female labor supply