Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility

There are four main interconnecting themes around which the contributions in this book are based. This introductory chapter aims to establish the broad context for the chapters that follow by discussing each of the themes. It does so by setting these themes within the overarching demographic challenge of the twenty-first century – demographic ageing. Each chapter is introduced in the context of the specific theme to which it primarily relates and there is a summary of the data sets used by the contributors to illustrate the wide range of cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysed

A stalled revolution? What can we learn from women’s drop-out to part-time jobs: A comparative analysis of Germany and the UK

This study examines how within-couple inequalities, that is power differences between men and women in a partnership, act as predictors of transitions from full-time to part-time employment applying Heckman corrected probit models in three different institutional and cultural contexts; Eastern Germany, Western Germany and the United Kingdom. The analyses show that when women are in a weaker position within their relationships they are more likely to drop-out of full-time work, but that this propensity varies by context. The authors also find an increased tendency over time for women to leave full-time for part-time employment in both Eastern and Western Germany, but observe no such trend in the UK. This is suggestive of ongoing incompatibilities in the institutional support for equality in dual-earning in Germany. The study uses longitudinal data covering the period 1992 until 2012 from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for Germany and from the British Household Panel (BHPS) and the ‘Understanding Society’ data for the UK

Early entry in the NBA Draft: The influence of unraveling, human capital, and option value

ABSTRACT In an influential article, "Unraveling in Matching Markets," Li and Rosen (1998) note the first seven picks, and 17 among 29 first round selections of the 1997 NBA draft, were not college seniors. In 2004, the first pick in the NBA draft was a high school senior, and 25 of the first 29 picks were not college seniors. Li and Rosen (1998) suggest early entry is a form of unraveling in a labor market as firms attempt to secure the most promising player. We suggest recent NBA contract provisions implemented to slow the early entry of talented players have instead provided additional incentives to both players and firms for early entry into the NBA. In particular, the lowering of the fixed wage contract and lengthening of rookie contracts have given firms limited monopsonistic power and the ability to capture economic rents. We explore two competing models that predict why teams choose a talented player sooner under the new rookie contract system. The first model is the traditional human capital model, and the second is the Lazear (1995) option value model. To test why unraveling occurs, we use a panel study of all NBA players for 12 years from 1989 through 2002. The data include individual player performance statistics on a season-to-season basis, salary, and draft number.

Entrepreneurial Origin and the Configuration of Innovation in Rural Areas: The Case of Cumbria, North West England

This paper examines the incidence of innovation and the configuration of innovation systems in rural areas, which are viewed as possessing weak knowledge-generating subsystems. Drawing on the results of a microlevel study in rural Cumbria, North West England, the paper shows that entrepreneurs were able to access nonlocal knowledge infrastructure. Thus, the emergent actor-constructed regional innovation system stretched well beyond the confines of Cumbria. This configuration can be explained, in large part, by considering entrepreneurial origin. New arrivals (especially immigrants) demonstrated the greatest propensity to innovate, using innovation systems which cut across the regional and national boundaries. Locally born and returnee entrepreneurs demonstrated a low incidence of innovation. The paper concludes that a distinction between regional innovation systems (as macrolevel analytical units with a normative dimension) and actor-constructed regional innovation systems (as microlevel descriptive units) offers scope for the advancement of research in this field of study

Effects of noradrenaline on intracellular pH in acutely dissociated adult rat hippocampal CA1 neurones

We examined the effects of noradrenaline on steady-state intracellular pH (pHi) and the recovery of pHi from internal acid loads imposed by the NH4+ prepulse technique in hippocampal CA1 neurones acutely dissociated from adult rats.Under nominally HCO3−-free conditions, acid extrusion was accomplished by a Na+-dependent mechanism, probably the amiloride-insensitive variant of the Na+-H+ exchanger previously characterized in both fetal and adult rat hippocampal neurones. In the presence of external HCO3−, acid extrusion appeared to be supplemented by a Na+-dependent HCO3−-Cl− exchanger, the activity of which was dependent upon the absolute level of pHi.Noradrenaline evoked a concentration-dependent and sustained rise in steady-state pHi and increased rates of pHi recovery from imposed intracellular acid loads. The effects of noradrenaline were not dependent upon the presence of external HCO3− but were blocked by substituting external Na+ with N-methyl-D-glucamine, suggesting that noradrenaline acts to increase steady-state pHi by increasing the activity of the Na+-H+ exchanger.The effects of noradrenaline on steady-state pHi and on rates of pHi recovery from imposed acid loads were mimicked by β1- and β2-, but not α-, adrenoceptor agonists. The β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol blocked the ability of noradrenaline to increase both steady-state pHi and rates of pHi recovery from acid loads.The effects of noradrenaline on steady-state pHi and on pHi recovery rates following acid loads were not dependent on changes in [Ca2+]i. However, the effects of noradrenaline were blocked by pre-treatment with the adenylate cyclase inhibitor 2′,5′-dideoxyadenosine and the cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitors Rp-adenosine-3′,5′-cyclic monophosphorothioate (sodium salt; Rp-cAMPS) and N-[2-(p-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulphonamide (H-89).Forskolin, an activator of endogenous adenylate cyclase, and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, mimicked the ability of noradrenaline to increase both steady-state pHi and rates of pHi recovery from imposed acid loads, as did Sp-cAMPS, a selective activator of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. The effect of forskolin on steady-state pHi was blocked by pre-treatment with Rp-cAMPS whereas the effect of Sp-cAMPS was enhanced by pre-treatment with the protein phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid.Noradrenaline also increased steady-state pHi and rates of pHi recovery from imposed acid loads in cultured postnatal rat hippocampal neurones. In this preparation, the effects of noradrenaline were occluded by 18–24 h pre-treatment with cholera toxin.We conclude that noradrenaline increases the activity of the Na+-H+ exchanger in rat hippocampal neurones, probably by inducing an alkaline shift in the pHi dependence of the antiport, thereby raising steady-state pHi. The effects of noradrenaline are mediated by β-adrenoceptors via a pathway which involves the α-subunit of the stimulatory G-protein Gs (Gsα), adenylate cyclase, cAMP and the subsequent activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase which, in turn, may phosphorylate the exchange mechanism

Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions Following a First Birth

Cohabitation, Childbearing, Marriage, Union dissolution, Union stability,