Multidimensional Wealth Inequality: A Hybrid Approach toward Distributional National Accounts in Europe

Distributional National Accounts (DINA) link macroeconomic aggregates with distributional information enabling a better understanding of distributional implications of macroeconomic developments and facilitate cross-country comparisons of inequality. This article proposes a practically feasible framework to allocate components of wealth to different sections of society and serves two functions: a comprehensive measure of net worth and its distribution, and a link to macroeconomic statistics. The article compiles DINA by breaking down twelve components of marketable wealth by wealth and income groups, as well as three major functions of wealth for Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Spain. The three functions of wealth considered are (i) precautionary saving, (ii) own use of housing assets and (iii) income generation via the ownership of businesses or landlordship. The resulting multidimensional wealth distributions reveal large heterogeneity in inequality and help understand (institutional) differences across countries and time. Results are top-tail adjusted using Pareto and Generalized Pareto models, and combining survey data (HFCS) with rich lists, or top wealth shares derived from tax data and leaked information on wealth held in offshore tax havens.Series: INEQ Working Paper Serie

Housing Rent Dynamics and Rent Regulation in St. Petersburg (1880-1917)

This article studies the evolution of housing rents in St. Petersburg between 1880 and 1917 covering an eventful period of Russian and world history. We collect and digitize over 5,000 rental advertisements from historic newspapers, which we use together with geo-coded addresses and detailed structural characteristics to construct a quality-adjusted rent price index in continuous time. We provide the first pre-war and pre-Soviet index based on market data for any Russian housing market. In 1915, one of the world's earliest rent control and tenant protection policies was introduced as a response to soaring prices following the outbreak of World War I. We analyze the impact of this policy: while before the regulation rents were increasing at a similar rapid pace as other consumer prices, the policy reversed this trend. We find evidence for official compliance with the policy, document a rise in tenure duration and strongly increased rent affordability among workers after the introduction of the policy. We conclude that the immediate prelude to the October Revolution was indeed characterized by economic turmoil, but rent affordability and rising rents were no longer the prevailing problems.Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Tracking Owners' Sentiments: Subjective Home Values, Expectations and House Price Dynamics

Economic theory predicts that expectations on future house price growth are related to the current price of a house. We test this relationship for the supply side of the secondary housing market using micro data that links individual expectations to a subjective owner estimated value (OEV). We find a strong causal relationship that optimistic expectations indeed imply higher OEVs as compared to neutral or pessimistic expectations. We find qualitatively and quantitatively consistent results for Italy and the US as well as for booming and gloomy years. Our results survive ample robustness checks. Since we use subjective data on house prices, we first show that OEVs are indeed a valid source to study house price dynamics by performing three types of convergent validity tests. We find that price dynamics derived by either combining OEVs and dwelling characteristics, or making use of repeatedly provided OEVs by the same owner over time reproduce objectively measured market trends strikingly well – even over decades. In contrast, OEVs and objective data tend to differ in levels – potentially due to psychological bias. These results hold for a large set of countries. We hence conclude that the "wisdom of the home-owner crowd" is sufficient to study house price dynamics but OEVs are less suited for measuring the level of market prices.Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Owner Occupied Housing in the CPI and its Impact on Monetary Policy during Housing Booms and Busts

The treatment of owner-occupied housing (OOH) is probably the most important unresolved issue in inflation measurement. How -- and whether -- it is included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) affects inflation expectations, the measured level of real interest rates, and the behavior of governments, central banks and market participants. We show that none of the existing treatments of OOH are fit for purpose. Hence we propose a new simplified user cost method with better properties. Using a micro-level dataset, we then compare the empirical behavior of eight different treatments of OOH. Our preferred user cost approach pushes up the CPI during housing booms (by 2 percentage points or more). Our findings relate to the following important debates in macroeconomics: the behavior of the Phillips curve in the US during the global financial crisis, and the response of monetary policy to housing booms, secular stagnation, and globalization.Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Generation and characterization of transcription activator-like effector nucleases

Designer nucleases are developed to modify the genome in various organisms, and are promising molecular tools for the advancement of gene therapy. They should introduce only one specific double-strand or single-strand break in a complex genome in order to trigger the DNA repair mechanisms of the cell such that the DNA damage is repaired by homologous directed repair (HDR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), an error-prone repair mechanism that can be applied to knock out genes. With the addition of an external DNA fragment, HDR can be exploited to correct or add a gene. Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) nucleases belong to a platform of designer nucleases and are known to be highly specific, efficient and easy to customize for any given target. Nevertheless, there is still a need to improve the accuracy of TALE nucleases for their reliable application in vivo. To this end, off-target activity should be avoided without compromising cleavage efficiency. This can be achieved by optimization of the catalytic domain as well as by improving the binding domain. The subjects of this comparative study are the homing endonuclease I-SceI, the widely used TALE-FokI fusion protein, the new RNA guided Cas9 nuclease and our recently developed TALE-PvuII variants as well as the TALE-MutH fusion protein, whose nuclease domain is a sequence- and strand-specific nickase. In the study we have analyzed the toxicity and cleavage efficiency of these specific nucleases in a yeast based single-strand annealing assay as well as in vitro. The present study also focus on the characterization of the in vitro binding mechanism of TALE. Binding characteristics of AvrBs3(Delta N152-C28) were analyzed via anisotropy measurements, specific singleand double-labeled TALE variants were designed and DNA::Protein complexes were analyzed employing FRET measurements.We gained labeled variants remaining their binding characteristics and enables the investigation of the in vitro binding mechanism of TALE proteins.Our results demonstrate convincingly that the monomeric TALEMutH nickase displays less toxicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared to the widely used dimeric TALE-FokI nuclease and is able to introduce the repair of the DNA damage via single-strand annealing as efficient as I-SceI, the gold standard for cleaving genomic DNA. To improve the design of TALE-MutH nickases, we analyzed the cleavage behavior on various specific loci in vitro and in vivo. The results presented show that the TALE-MutH fusion protein is a promising programmable nickase for in vivo applications and these results were confirmed by a TALE-MutH addressing a relevant therapeutic gene.Konstruierte Nukleasen wurden entwickelt um das Genom in verschiedenen Organismen zu modifizieren und sind viel versprechende Werkzeuge zur Weiterentwicklung von effizienten Gentherapien. Spezifische Nukleasen sollten einen spezifischen Doppel- oder Einzelstrangbruch in dem komplexem Genom induzieren und hierdurch den DNA Reparaturmechanismus der Zelle auslösen. Die DNA wird hierbei durch homologous directed repair (HDR) oder non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repariert. NHEJ ist ein zu Fehlern neigender Reparaturmechanismus und kann zur Ausschaltung eines Gens angewendet werden. Mit Hilfe eines externen DNA Fragments kann HDR zur Korrektur oder zum Hinzufügen eines Gens genutzt werden. Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) Nukleasen bilden eine Gruppe der konstruierten spezifischen Nukleasen und sind aufgrund ihrer hohen Spezialität, Effizienz und einfachen Anfertigung für beliebige adressierte Sequenzen bekannt. Dennoch werden weitere Verbesserungen benötigt um die Genauigkeit von TALENs für die zuverlässige in vivo Anwendung zu gewährleisten. Hierbei müssen off-target Ereignisse vermieden werden ohne dabei die Spaltaktivität zu kompromittieren. Dies kann durch die Optimierung der katalytischen Domäne, sowie durch die Verbesserung der Bindungsdomäne erreicht werden. Die Themen dieser vergleichenden Arbeit sind die Homing Endonuklese I-SceI, das weit verwendeten TALE-FokI Fusionsprotein, die neuartige RNA gesteuerte Cas9 Nuklease und die erst kürzlich etablierten TALE-PvuII Varianten, sowie das TALE-MutH Fusionsprotein. Letzteres besitzt eine Nuklease Domäne, welche eine Sequenzund Strand-spezifische Nickase darstellt. In der Arbeit haben wir die Toxizität und Spaltaktivität dieser spezifischen Nukleasen in Hefe durch einen single-strand annealing assay und in vitro analysiert. Die aktuelle Studie konzentriert sich auch auf die in vitro Charakterisierung des Bindungsmechanismus von TALE. Die Bindungscharakteristika von AvrBs3(1 N152-C28) wurden durch Anisotropiemessungen bestimmt, spezifisch einzel- oder doppelt-markierte TALE Varianten wurden hergestellt und DNA::Protein Komplexe wurden durch FRET-Messungen untersucht. Wir konstruierten fluoreszenzmarkierte Varianten die ihre Bindungscharakteristiken behielten und somit die Untersuchung der in vitro Bindungsmechanismen ermöglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen dass die monomere TALE-MutH Nickase eine geringere Toxizität in Saccharomyces cerevisiae im Vergleich zu der dimer TALE-FokI Nuklease aufweist. Des weiteren ist TALE-MutH zur Reparatur des DNA Schaden durch single-strand annealing fähig und hierbei genauso effizient wie der Goldene Standard I-SceI. Zur Verbesserung des TALE-MutH Designs wurde das Spaltverhalten auf verschiedene Loci in vitro und in vivo getestet. Die präsentierten Ergebnisse zeigen dass das TALE-MutH Fusionsprotein eine vielversprechende Nickase für in vivo Anwendungen darstellt mit welchem auch therapeutisch relevante Gene adressiert werden können

Genetic Relationships under Different Management Systems and their Consequences for Dairy Cattle Breeding

Advances in breeding and management resulted in a considerable increase of production traits in Austrian dairy cattle. Besides, low input systems were also established. Possible genotype by environment interactions (G x E) and genetic antagonisms dependent on production level might indicate the need for separate breeding programmes for dairy farms differing in management intensity. Thus, G x E and genetic correlations (ra) between milk yield and selected fitness traits were estimated for Upper Austrian Fleckvieh cattle under high and low production levels. Data of the current herdbook cow population and their dams were extracted. Two data sets were selected based on the herd average of milk; extensive (≤6,000 kg herd average) and intensive (≥9,000 kg herd average) farms. Yield deviations were used for the analysis of yield traits, functional longevity, reproduction traits and milking speed; raw data were used for somatic cell count (SCC). For yield deviations, a model including the effects year of birth (fixed) and animal (genetic, random) was applied, while a model close to the routine evaluation was run for SCC. The lowest ra between extensive and intensive farms was found for protein yield (ra = 0.89) while ra values close to unity were found for all functional traits. Genetic antagonisms between milk yield and functional traits were stronger in intensive systems, however, standard errors were large. Currently, separate breeding programmes for different management intensities do not seem to be necessary

Calving Performance in the Endangered Murboden Cattle Breed: Genetic Parameters and Inbreeding Depression

Calving is a key event on any cattle farm, with both economic and animal welfare consequences when complications arise. Although mostly reported in highly selected breeds, problematic calving performance is also a worry to the unselected dualpurpose Murboden breed, local to Austria. This study presents genetic parameter estimates for calving ease and stillbirth in Murboden cattle. Furthermore, a potential effect of inbreeding on the breeds’ calving performance is evaluated. Results show a moderate direct and maternal heritability (0.18±0.04; 0.11±0.02) and a significant negative direct-maternal genetic correlation for calving ease (-0.41±0.10). Heritabilities of stillbirth are low yet significant (0.048±0.01; 0.018±0.007). A significant effect of inbreeding was detected on maternal calving ease i.e. the ease with which a dam calves. By categorizing the inbreeding coefficients of the dam in six ascending classes it was shown that calving ease worsens as inbreeding coefficients become larger. Results of this study reveal significant genetic variation in calving performance of the Murboden breed which opens doors for genetic selection. An additional important aspect of this study is that its result on inbreeding depression gives counterweight to the general intuitive notion in literature that high selection for production traits is the major contributor to calving difficulty in dairy and beef cattle breeds worldwide