Geschlechtersegregation in deutschen Betrieben (Gender segregation in German firms)

"The social inequality of the sexes in the labour market is closely related to the segregation into male and female occupations. This paper deals for the first time with the description and measurement of occupational segregation in firms using a representative databasis, and asks whether further results can be obtained at firm level compared with the labour market. By looking at establishment level, segregation is to be measured where it is experienced by the labour market participants. The study is descriptive: we first report about the proportions of women in the 30 most common occupations in the labour market and compare them with the mean proportions of women resulting from an establishment-related examination. In the average of the establishments they are similar to the overall labour market, although there is a considerable variance between the establishments. After this, classical segregation indices (Duncan Index, standardised Duncan Index, interaction measurement) are calculated at establishment level and compared with the index values for the entire labour market. Taking into account the establishment level leads to higher segregation values than for the labour market overall. Approximately one third of the establishments employ men and women in completely different occupations and only a tiny minority shows a gender composition in the occupations represented which is equivalent to that of the workforce. The results support the view that any labour market policy aimed at reducing occupational segregation should also take the establishment level into consideration." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Personalpolitik, geschlechtsspezifischer Arbeitsmarkt, Beschäftigtenstruktur, Segregation, Männerberufe, Frauenberufe, Geschlechterverteilung, Berufsstruktur, IAB-Betriebspanel

Diffusion of a social movement: the example of the German local exchange systems

"In the late 1980ies and early 90ies a new social movement -the local exchange systems- reached Germany. This initially Canadian movement draws attention to societal failures and wants to resolve them on a local level. They promote a sustainable and local economy and improve the conditions of living of underprivileged people. Whereas founding activity was rather retained in their first years a boom occurred in the mid 1990ies. Considering the success of this movement, we are interested in the circumstances causing their rapid diffusion. Focusing on the formative years of those systems we aim to analyze how they diffused across Germany. For explaining their process of diffusion we draw back on theories concerned with social networks and the effects of spatial and social proximity. Additionally we consider the impact of news media and the societal culture and incorporate theories of organizational ecology analyzing the effects of population density on the systems' founding rates. Using data for the period 1998 to 2005 we were able to prove that social contagion and news media were of considerable importance for the growth of the exchange systems. Furthermore the environmental and ecological assumptions are at least supported for West German exchange schemes." (author's abstract

Pouring water into wine: Revisiting the advantages of the crosswise model for asking sensitive questions

The Crosswise Model (CM) has been proposed as a method to reduce effects of social desirability in sensitive questions. In contrast with former variants of Randomized Response Techniques (RRTs), the crosswise model neither offers a self-protective response strategy, nor does it require a random device. For these reasons, the crosswise model has received a lot of positive attention in the scientific community. However, previous validation studies have mostly analysed negatively connoted behaviour and thus draw on the principle of “more is better”. Higher prevalence rates of socially undesirable behaviour in the crosswise model cannot be attributed unambiguously to a reduction in social desirability bias, since random ticking resulting from respondent confusion about the question format cannot be ruled out as an alternative explanation. Unlike most research on crosswise models and randomized response techniques, we conduct an experiment in a general population survey that does not assess negatively connoted but socially desirable behaviour (namely, whether respondents had donated blood within the last twelve months). This design allows us to empirically disentangle the reduction of social desirability bias from random responses. We find signifcantly higher prevalence rates in the crosswise condition than in the direct question. What is more, we could not identify any subgroup of respondents, in which the CM successfully reduced social desirability bias. These results cast doubts on the validity of cosswise models. They suggest that a considerable number of respondents do not comply with the intended procedure

Gründungsmotive und Unternehmenserfolg

"Die Entwicklung neugegründeter Unternehmen ist von unterschiedlichen Faktoren abhängig, so der Höhe der eingesetzten Ressourcen, den Marktbedingungen in der Gründungsbranche und der Branchenerfahrung der Gründungspersonen. Im dem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob Gründungsmotive, die aus der Sicht der Gründungspersonen zum Zeitpunkt der Unternehmensgründung eine Rolle gespielt haben, einen zusätzlichen Einfluss auf den Erfolg neuer Unternehmen besitzen. Berücksichtigt werden das Motiv, mit der Gründung möglichst hohen Gewinn bzw. ein ausreichendes Einkommen zu erzielen, sowie die Bedeutung der Arbeitslosigkeit für die Unternehmensgründung. Auf der Basis eines Panels neugegründeter Unternehmen ('Leipziger Gründerstudie') werden Überlebenschancen und Beschäftigungswachstum in den ersten vier Jahren nach der Gründung analysiert. Die Überlebenschancen neuer Unternehmen sind geringer, wenn die Gründungspersonen auf Gewinne statt auf Einkommenssubstitution setzen. Das Gründungsmotiv Arbeitslosigkeit hat keinen Einfluss auf die Überlebenschancen im Allgemeinen. Die differenzierte Untersuchung des Überlebens nach der Art der Betriebsschließung ergibt, dass vor allem Gründungen zur Gewinnerzielung unter den 'gescheiterten' Einstellungen zu finden sind. Das Beschäftigtenwachstum wird in einem Mehrebenenmodell ('growth curves') untersucht. Bei Berücksichtigung der Branchen und einer Reihe wichtiger Kontrollvariablen ergeben sich wiederum deutliche Effekte für die Gründungsmotive: Mit Gewinnabsicht gegründete Unternehmen wachsen schneller; die Arbeitslosigkeit als Gründungsmotiv geht mit einer schwächeren Unternehmensdynamik einher. Die Wachstumsentwicklung besitzt eine hohe Varianz zwischen den Unternehmen, während die Streuung der 'growth curves' über die Branchen bei Berücksichtigung der unternehmens- und gründerspezifischen Variablen kaum mehr ins Gewicht fällt. Insgesamt belegen die Untersuchungen die Bedeutung von individuellem Anspruchsniveau und Opportunitätsstrukturen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt für die Entwicklung neugegründeter Unternehmen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)Unternehmenserfolg - Determinanten, Beschäftigungseffekte, Unternehmensgründung - Motivation

Lohnunterschiede zwischen Frauen und Männern in Branchen, Berufen und Betrieben

"Lohnunterschiede zwischen Frauen und Männern werden in der ökonomischen und sozialwissenschaftlichen Diskussion unter anderem auf die unterschiedlichen beruflichen Tätigkeiten von Männern und Frauen (Segregation) sowie die unterschiedliche Ausstattungen mit Humankapital zurückgeführt. In dem Beitrag wird unter Verwendung eines kombinierten employer-employee Datensatzes des Instituts für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (LIAB-Daten) gefragt, ob die Lohnunterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern mit der unterschiedlichen Verteilung von Frauen und Männern auf Wirtschaftsbereiche, Berufe und Betriebe erklärt werden können. Forschungsergebnisse aus den USA und Skandinavien zeigen, dass dort so gut wie keine geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnunterschiede im gleichen Beruf und im gleichen Betrieb (in sog. Job-Zellen) zu finden sind . Unsere Ergebnisse für westdeutsche Betriebe zeigen jedoch, dass auch innerhalb von Job-Zellen eine beachtliche Lohndifferenz zwischen den Geschlechtern besteht. Sie ist im Untersuchungszeitraum (1993-2001) von etwa 17 auf 15 Prozent des Männerlohnes gefallen. Wenn wir Ausbildung und Berufserfahrung in den Job-Zellen konstant halten, beträgt der Lohnunterschied etwa 12 Prozent. Zusätzlich untersuchen wir, ob sich die relativen Löhne von Frauen für hierarchische Berufsgruppen (nach ISCO) unterscheiden. Die Lohndifferenzen in den Job-Zellen sind bei Leitungskräften und bei Wissenschaftlern mit 7 und 5 Prozentpunkten verhältnismäßig gering. Messprobleme und Eigenheiten des verwendeten Datensatzes können möglicherweise für einen Teil des im internationalen Vergleich hohen Lohnunterschied in den Job-Zellen verantwortlich sein." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)Lohnunterschied - Determinanten, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Wirtschaftszweige, Berufsstruktur, IAB-Linked-Employer-Employee-Datensatz, Betrieb

A Factorial Survey on the Justice of Earnings within the SOEP-Pretest 2008

In the 2008 Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) Pretest, the factorial survey method was tested for the first time for use in the SOEP longitudinal study. In this paper, we describe the construction and application of the vignette module, which has its origins in the field of justice research and is used in particular in the measurement of income justice. We show that the factorial survey method is applicable in large-scale survey research when taking certain constraints into account,and that respondents of varying ages and educational groups are able to deal sufficiently well with answering the questions. The results obtained suggest that older respondents tend to take fewer dimensions into consideration in forming their opinions. Further studies will be needed to determine whether this is evidence that the evaluation tasks were too complex for these respondents and should thus be interpreted as a method effect, or whether it represents a valid substantive result. The results of the study demonstrate convincingly that alongside occupation, education, and performance-factors relating directly to employment-familial aspects such as civil status, the partner's employment status, and number of children constitute important criteria for determining what constitutes a "fair" income. The factor survey in the 2008 SOEP Pretest offers diverse analytical potential, both from a methodological point of view and in terms of the empirical results obtained. The positive experience with the 2008 SOEP Pretest suggests that the SOEP vignette module can be used effectively in a future wave of the main SOEP survey.income, justice theory, fairness, factorial survey method, SOEP

A pilot study differentiating recurrent major depression from bipolar disorder cycling on the depressive pole

Marty Hinz1, Alvin Stein2, Thomas Uncini31Clinical Research, NeuroResearch Clinics, Inc., Cape Coral, FL, USA; 2Stein Orthopedic Associates, Plantation, FL, USA; 3DBS Labs, Duluth, MN, USAPurpose: A novel method for differentiating and treating bipolar disorder cycling on the depressive pole from patients who are suffering a major depressive episode is explored in this work. To confirm the diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 bipolar disorder, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria require that at least one manic or hypomanic episode be identified. History of one or more manic or hypomanic episodes may be impossible to obtain, representing a potential blind spot in the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Many bipolar patients who cycle primarily on the depressive side for many years carry a misdiagnosis of recurrent major depression, leading to treatment with antidepressants that achieve little or no relief of symptoms. This article discusses a novel approach for diagnosing and treating patients with bipolar disorder cycling on the depressive pole versus patients with recurrent major depression.Patients and methods: Patients involved in this study were formally diagnosed with recurrent major depression under DSM-IV criteria and had no medical history of mania or hypomania to support the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. All patients had suffered multiple depression treatment failures in the past, when evaluated under DSM-IV guidelines, secondary to administration of antidepressant drugs and/or serotonin with dopamine amino acid precursors.Results: This study contained 1600 patients who were diagnosed with recurrent major depression under the DSM-IV criteria. All patients had no medical history of mania or hypomania. All patients experienced no relief of depression symptoms on level 3 amino acid dosing values of the amino acid precursor dosing protocol. Of 1600 patients studied, 117 (7.3%) nonresponder patients were identified who experienced no relief of depression symptoms when the serotonin and dopamine amino acid precursor dosing values were adjusted to establish urinary serotonin and urinary dopamine levels in the Phase III therapeutic ranges. All of the 117 nonresponders who achieved no relief of depression symptoms were continued on this amino acid dosing value, and a mood-stabilizing drug was started. At this point, complete relief of depression symptoms, under evaluation with DSM-IV criteria, was noted in 114 patients within 1–5 days. With further dose adjustment of the mood-stabilizing drug, the remaining three nonresponders achieved relief of depression symptoms.Conclusion: Resolution of depression symptoms with the addition of a mood-stabilizing drug in combination with proper levels of serotonin and dopamine amino acid precursors was the basis for a clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder cycling on the depressive pole.Keywords: depression, bipolar, serotonin, dopamine, mania, hypomani

Designing Multi-Factorial Survey Experiments: Effects of Presentation Style (Text or Table), Answering Scales, and Vignette Order

Multi-factorial survey experiments have become a well-established tool in social sciences as they combine experimental designs with advantages of heterogeneous respondent samples. This paper investigates three under-researched design features: how to present vignettes (running text vs. table), how to measure responses (rating vs. open scale), and how to sort vignettes (random vs. extreme-cases-first, to prevent censored responses). Experiments were conducted in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subject design with 408 university students rating decks à 20 vignettes. Analyses of 7,895 ratings showed no differences of whether vignettes were presented as running texts or tables. Open scales revealed more measurement problems, e.g., missing values, than rating scales. Finally, vignettes presented randomly sorted produced similar results compared to sorting extreme vignette cases first. Recommendations based on the findings are to use random orders of vignettes and rating scales. Table vignettes provide an alternative to text vignettes but should be further evaluated with heterogeneous samples

The dual-gate lumen model of renal monoamine transport

The three-phase response of urinary serotonin and dopamine in subjects simultaneously taking amino acid precursors of serotonin and dopamine has been defined.1,2 No model exists regarding the renal etiology of the three-phase response. This writing outlines a model explaining the origin of the three-phase response of urinary serotonin and dopamine. A “dual-gate lumen transporter model” for the basolateral monoamine transporters of the kidneys is proposed as being the etiology of the three-phase urinary serotonin and dopamine responses