Why are mothers working longer hours in Austria than in Germany? A comparative micro simulation analysis

Labor force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar, however full-time employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax transfer system, we perform a comparative micro simulation exercise. After estimating structural labor supply models of both countries, we interchange two important institutional characteristics of the two countries, namely (i) the definition of the tax unit within the personal income tax and (ii) the parental leave benefit scheme. As our analysis shows, differences in mothers’ employment patterns can partly be explained by the different tax systems: While Germany has a system of joint taxation with income splitting for married couples, Austria taxes everyone individually, which leads to lower marginal tax rates for secondary earners than the German system.labor supply; micro simulation; family policy; income taxation; Austria; Germany

Why Are Mothers Working Longer Hours in Austria than in Germany?: A Comparative Micro Simulation Analysis

Labor force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar, however full-time employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax transfersystem, we perform a comparative micro simulation exercise. After estimating structural labor supply models of both countries, we interchange two important institutional characteristics of the two countries, namely (i) the definition of the tax unit within the personal income tax and (ii) the parental leave benefit scheme. As our analysis shows, differences in mothers' employment patterns can partly be explained by the different tax systems: While Germany has a system of joint taxation with income splitting for married couples, Austria taxes everyone individually, which leads to lower marginal tax rates for secondary earners than the German system.Labor supply, micro simulation, family policy, income taxation, Austria, Germany

Loss of control as a violation of expectations: Testing the predictions of a common inconsistency compensation approach in an inclusionary cyberball game

Personal control relies on the expectation that events are contingent upon one’s own behavior. A common ‘inconsistency compensation approach’ posits that a violation of expectancies in social interaction triggers aversive arousal and compensatory effort. Following this approach, we tested the hypothesis that interventions affecting participants' decisions violate the expected personal control. In a modified version of the established cyberball paradigm, participants were not excluded, but consistently included. However, their decisions regarding the recipient of a ball throw in the virtual game were occasionally overruled (expectancy violation). We hypothesized that this intervention will trigger a P3 response in event-related brain potentials (ERP). Since this component is related to subjective expectancies, its amplitude was assumed to depend on the frequency of interventions (independent factor: loss of control). Further, we manipulated the vertical position of the participants’ avatar on the computer screen (independent factor: verticality). Building on research showing that verticality is related to the self-assigned power and influences the expected level of control, we hypothesized that the ERP effects of intervention should be more pronounced for participants with avatars in superior position. As predicted, both experimental factors interactively affected the expression of the ERP response: In case of low intervention frequency, P3 amplitudes were significantly pronounced if the participants’ avatar was positioned above as compared to below co-players (high > low self-assigned power). The effect of verticality could be traced back to a lack of adaptation of P3 amplitudes to recurring aversive events. By demonstrating that loss of control triggers ERP effects corresponding to those triggered by social exclusion, this study provides further evidence for a common cognitive mechanism in reactions to aversive events based on an inconsistency in expectancy states

Memoriales Schreiben und Phänomene der literarischen Erinnerung bei Walter Benjamin, Ernst Jünger und Friedo Lampe

This study introduces the concept of "memoriales Schreiben" (`memorial writing') as a literary mode that differs from the chronological narratives of traditional autobiographies. In the Introduction, I place "memoriales Schreiben" in the context of the theories of memory, including Maurice Halbwachs's "kollektives Gedächtnis" (`collective memory') and Aleida and Jan Assmann's "kulturelles Gedächtnis" ('cultural memory'). Examining the literary modes and techniques of remembering and narrating memories and focusing on "Gedächtnisarbeit" (`memory work'), and "Gedächtnisräume" ('spaces of memory'), I discuss works by three authors who share many generational experiences although their works left very different marks on German literature and culture: Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), Ernst Jünger (1895-1998), and Friedo Lampe (1899-1945). Chapter One analyzes Benjamin's Berliner Chronik and Berliner Kindheit um neunzehnhundert. As the revising of these childhood memories evidences, Benjamin's "memoriales Schreiben" transforms the autobiographical into a `memory work' that reflects the intersection of personal story and general history. Chapter Two examines Jünger's output after his initial WWI diary turned narrative, In Stahlgewittern. Works such as Afrikanische Spiele and Das Abenteuerliche Herz reveal fictionalized autobiographical material while Auf den Marmorklippen deals with cultural and contemporary memory. Chapter Three investigates Lampe's two novels and some short stories printed despite the Nazi publishing restrictions. His `memorial writing' serves as a cultural recollection of times that faded from memory during the Nazi period. As different as these authors are, their `memorial writing' transcends the mere autobiographical by entering the `space of memory' with perceptions of their environments and reflections on the movements of history. While there are similarities and dissimilarities in the `memory work' of these authors, I have focused on the literary transformations of the memories portrayed: Benjamin's `memorial writing' is "geschichtsphilosophisch" (`historio-philosophical'); Jünger's `memorial writing' transforms his autobiographical adventures into literary `memory work'; Lampe's `memorial writing' claims a subjective space at a time of historical marginalization. Finally, the literary `memory work' of all three authors still needs to enter the public and collective memory

Das Eltern-Kind-Programm - ein wirkungsvoller Beitrag zur Lebensbegleitung junger Familien

"Ein Schwerpunkt der Forschungstätigkeit des Staatsinstituts für Familienforschung an der Universität Bamberg (ifb) liegt seit längerem in dem Themenbereich niederschwellige Fami-lienbildung. In diesem Rahmen sollten insbesondere zwei Maßnahmen untersucht werden: die Elternbriefe und das Eltern-Kind-Programm. Dieses umfängliche Forschungsvorhaben wurde als Verbundprojekt zwischen dem ifb und dem Deutschen Jugendinstitut (DJI) realisiert: Während bezüglich der Gestaltung, Verteilung und Akzeptanz der Elternbriefe verschiedene Teilstudien am ifb durchgeführt wurden, erfolgte die Evaluation in des Eltern-Kind-Programms in der Verantwortung des DJI unter der Leitung von Dr. Pettinger, dem wir an dieser Stelle für sein Engagement ganz herzlich danken möchten. Die Ergebnisse der Unter-suchung der Elternbriefe wurden bereits in dieser Reihe veröffentlicht (Walter, Wolfgang u.a.: Familienbildung als präventives Angebot. Einrichtungen, Ansätze, Weiterentwicklung. ifb-Materialien Nr. 5-2000). In diesem Band wird daher ausschließlich die Evaluation des Eltern-Kind-Programmes thematisiert. Das Eltern-Kind-Programm ist inzwischen 26 Jahre alt, vielfach erprobt und es wurde im Laufe der Zeit auch an die veränderten Bedürfnissen von jungen Familien angepasst. Auch die Qualität des Instrumentes wurde stetig unter Berücksichtigung der neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse verbessert. Es handelt sich um ein relativ standardisiertes Angebot für Eltern von Kleinkindern vor Ort, in den Kirchengemeinden, das mit vielfältigen, eigens entwickelten Materialien arbeitet und auf Qualifizierung der Betreuer/innen setzt. So gilt es als ein bedeutendes Muster für niederschwellige Familienbildung. Dies belegt auch die hohe Nachfrage. Für die Erforschung der Familienbildung bildet es daher einen höchst interessanten wie auch modellhaften Untersuchungsgegenstand, der wichtige Informationen für die Weiterentwicklung präventiver Familienarbeit liefern kann." (Textauszug

Von der Finanzkrise zur Weltwirtschaftskrise (III): Die Rolle der Ungleichheit

Eine zentrale Ursache der aktuellen Krise, die von international renommierten Ökonomen betont wird aber in der öffentlichen Debatte in Deutschland noch wenig Beachtung findet, ist die rasante Zunahme der Einkommensungleichheit in vielen Industrieländern, aber auch in einigen Schwellenländern. In den USA haben viele Privathaushalte - unterstützt durch ein dereguliertes Finanzsystem - auf stagnierende Realeinkommen mit einer immer ausgedehnteren Kreditaufnahme reagiert. Nur so konnte der private Konsum über Jahre hinweg zur tragenden Stütze des Wirtschaftswachstums in den USA werden. Anders in Deutschland: Hier haben die schwache Lohnentwicklung und sozialpolitische Einschnitte nicht zu erhöhter Verschuldung, sondern zu Konsumverzicht geführt, dessen Ergebnis eine anhaltende binnenwirtschaftliche Wachstumsschwäche war. Spiegelbild der extremen, durch schwache Lohnzuwächse unterstützten Exportsteigerungen der deutschen Wirtschaft waren hohe Kapitalexporte sowie eine starke (und riskante) Auslandsorientierung des Bankensektors. Mit der aktuellen Krise sind beide Wachstumsmodelle an offensichtliche Grenzen gelangt. Ein Richtungswechsel in der Verteilungspolitik ist eine notwendige Bedingung für die künftige gesamtwirtschaftliche Stabilität der deutschen und auch der globalen Wirtschaft

From the financial crisis to the world economic crisis: The role of inequality

A central cause of the crisis, which the public debate has taken little notice of so far, is the rapid increase of income inequality in many industrialised countries, but also in some emerging economies. In the USA many private households have reacted to stagnating real incomes by increasingly extending their borrowing. This was facilitated by a deregulated financial system. Only thus could private consumption become the main pillar of economic growth in the USA for years. The opposite holds for Germany: here the weak wage dynamics and social spending cuts have induced consumption restraint rather than higher debt, thus causing an extended period of weak domestic growth. High capital exports and a strong (and risky) foreign market involvement of the banking sector were the flip side of the extreme export hikes of the German economy, which were enhanced by weak wage increases. In the current financial crisis the limits of these opposite growth models become evident: both are based on the necessity to compensate the sluggish trend resulting from an increasing income inequality with other sources of demand. These consisted either in increased household borrowing (USA, UK, Spain) or in export- led growth (Germany, Japan, China).English version of IMK Report No. 41, translated from German into English by Katja Rietzler. German version: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/106050Eine zentrale Ursache der aktuellen Krise, die von international renommierten Ökonomen betont wird aber in der öffentlichen Debatte in Deutschland noch wenig Beachtung findet, ist die rasante Zunahme der Einkommensungleichheit in vielen Industrieländern, aber auch in einigen Schwellenländern. In den USA haben viele Privathaushalte - unterstützt durch ein dereguliertes Finanzsystem - auf stagnierende Realeinkommen mit einer immer ausgedehnteren Kreditaufnahme reagiert. Nur so konnte der private Konsum über Jahre hinweg zur tragenden Stütze des Wirtschaftswachstums in den USA werden. Anders in Deutschland: Hier haben die schwache Lohnentwicklung und sozialpolitische Einschnitte nicht zu erhöhter Verschuldung, sondern zu Konsumverzicht geführt, dessen Ergebnis eine anhaltende binnenwirtschaftliche Wachstumsschwäche war. Spiegelbild der extremen, durch schwache Lohnzuwächse unterstützten Exportsteigerungen der deutschen Wirtschaft waren hohe Kapitalexporte sowie eine starke (und riskante) Auslandsorientierung des Bankensektors. Mit der aktuellen Krise sind beide Wachstumsmodelle an offensichtliche Grenzen gelangt. Ein Richtungswechsel in der Verteilungspolitik ist eine notwendige Bedingung für die künftige gesamtwirtschaftliche Stabilität der deutschen und auch der globalen Wirtschaft

The manifestation of affective symptoms in multiple sclerosis and discussion of the currently available diagnostic assessment tools.

INTRODUCTION In addition to physical and cognitive symptoms, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems. METHODS This narrative review provides an overview of the appearance and epidemiology of affective symptoms in MS such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, euphoria, and pseudobulbar affect. Furthermore, the association between affective symptoms and quality of life and the currently used diagnostic instruments for assessing these symptoms are considered whereby relevant studies published between 2009 and 2021 were included in the review. RESULTS Patients with mild and moderate disability more frequently reported severe problems with depression and anxiety than severe mobility problems. Apart from the occurrence of depression, little is known about the association of other affective symptoms such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, euphoria, and pseudobulbar affect and subsyndromal symptoms, which fail to meet the diagnostic criteria but are nevertheless a significant source of distress. Although there are a few recommendations in the research to perform routine screenings for diagnosable affective disorders, a standardized diagnostic procedure to assess subsyndromal symptoms is still lacking. As the applied measurements are diverse and show low accuracy to detect these symptoms, patients who experience affective symptoms are less likely to be identified. DISCUSSION In addition to the consideration of definite psychiatric diagnoses, there is an unmet need for a common definition and assessment of disease-related affective symptoms in MS. Future studies should focus on the improvement and standardization of a common diagnostic procedure for subsyndromal affective symptoms in MS to enable integrated and optimal care for patients

Engineering of triply entangled states in a single-neutron system

We implemented a triply entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger(GHZ)-like state and coherently manipulated the spin, path, and energy degrees of freedom in a single neutron system. The GHZ-like state was analyzed with an inequality derived by Mermin: we determined the four expectation values and finally obtained M = 2.558 +/- 0.004 > 2, which exhibits a clear violation of the noncontextual assumption and confirms quantum contextuality.Comment: 4 pages, 2figure