The Effects of Expanding the Generosity of the Statutory Sickness Insurance System

In 1999, in Germany, the statutory sick pay level was increased from 80 to 100 percent of foregone earnings for sicknessepisodes of up to six weeks. We show that this reform has led to an increase in average absence days of about 10 percent or one additional day per employee, per year. The estimates are based on SOEP survey data and parametric, nonparametric, and combined matching-regression difference-in-differences methods. Extended calculations suggest that the reform might have increased labor costs by about EUR1.8 billion per year and might have led to the loss of around 50,000 jobs.Sickness absence, statutory sick pay, natural experiment, Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP)

A Natural Experiment on Sick Pay Cuts, Sickness Absence, and Labor Costs

This study estimates the reform effects of a reduction in statutory sick pay levels on various outcome dimensions. A federal law reduced the legal obligation of German employers to provide 100 percent continued wages for up to six weeks per sickness episode to 80 percent. This measure increased the ratio of employees having no days of absence by about 7.5 percent. The mean number of absence days per year decreased by about 5 percent. The reform might have reduced total labor costs by about EUR1.5 billion per year which might have led to the creation of around 50,000 new jobs.

The economic values of various traits in pig breeding

International audienc

Six Peaks Visible in the Redshift Distribution of 46,400 SDSS Quasars Agree with the Preferred Redshifts Predicted by the Decreasing Intrinsic Redshift Model

The redshift distribution of all 46,400 quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog III, Third Data Release, is examined. Six Peaks that fall within the redshift window below z = 4, are visible. Their positions agree with the preferred redshift values predicted by the decreasing intrinsic redshift (DIR) model, even though this model was derived using completely independent evidence. A power spectrum analysis of the full dataset confirms the presence of a single, significant power peak at the expected redshift period. Power peaks with the predicted period are also obtained when the upper and lower halves of the redshift distribution are examined separately. The periodicity detected is in linear z, as opposed to log(1+z). Because the peaks in the SDSS quasar redshift distribution agree well with the preferred redshifts predicted by the intrinsic redshift relation, we conclude that this relation, and the peaks in the redshift distribution, likely both have the same origin, and this may be intrinsic redshifts, or a common selection effect. However, because of the way the intrinsic redshift relation was determined it seems unlikely that one selection effect could have been responsible for both.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Discovering the genetic architecture of the mind:(Epi-)genome-wide association studies on human psychology and behavior

Koellinger, P.D. [Promotor]Posthuma, D. [Promotor

Two-parameter complex Hadamard matrices for N=6

A new, two-parameter, nonaffine family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6 is reported. It interpolates between the two Fourier families, and contains as one-parameter subfamilies the Dita family, a symmetric family and an almost (up to equivalence) self-adjoint family.Comment: 8 page

Carbon and oxygen isotope composition of carbonates from an L6 chondrite: Evidence for terrestrial weathering from the Holbrook meteorite

Terrestrial weathering in meteorites is an important process which alters pristine elemental and isotopic abundances. The Holbrook L6 chondrite fell in 1912. Material was recovered at the time of the fall, in 1931, and 1968. The weathering processes operating on the freshly fallen meteorite in a semi-arid region of northeastern Arizona have been studied after a ground residence of 19 and 56 years. It has been shown that a large portion of the carbonate material in 7 Antarctic ordinary chondrites either underwent extensive isotopic exchange with atmospheric CO2, or formed recently in the Antarctic environment. In fact it has been demonstrated that hydrated Mg-carbonates, nesquehonite and hydromagnesite, formed in less than 40 years on LEW 85320. In order to help further constrain the effects of terrestrial weathering in meteorites, the carbon and oxygen isotopes extracted from carbonates of three different samples of Holbrook L6: a fresh sample at the time of the fall in 1912, a specimen collected in 1931, and a third specimen collected at the same site in 1968