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Sooner or Later - Economic Insecurity and the Timing of First Birth

Does economic insecurity delay fertility? Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2001-2011, the impact of economic insecurity on the timing of first birth is examined. Focusing on the timing decision within a career context, different measures of insecurity are analyzed. These include subjective and objective influences on the individual and on more aggregate levels. Results ...

Public versus Private Education with Risky Human Capital

This paper studies the long-run macroeconomic, distributional and welfare effects of tuition policy and student loans. We therefore form a rich model of risky human capital investment based on the seminal work of Heckman, Lochner and Taber (1998). We extend their original model by variable labor supply, borrowing constraints, idiosyncratic wage risk, uncertain life-span, and multiple schooling decisions. ...

Parasites and Raven Mothers: A German-Japanese Comparison on (Lone) Motherhood

Having a child out of wedlock used to be associated with shame and scorn. This is mostly not the case anymore in the western world. Therefore, freed from social sanctions, single motherhood has become an additional family-choice alternative for women, along with marriage and childlessness. Yet, the institutions that infl uence women’s decisions diff er across countries. We compare the institutional ...

Removing the Stigma of Divorce: Happiness before and after Remarriage

Many studies confirm that marriage does not have lasting effects on levels of happiness, whereas divorce induces serious, scarring effects through social stigma. However, few academic efforts have been made regarding how remarriage after divorce impacts the subjective well-being (SWB) of the divorced. Taking into consideration that remarriage often entails regaining social acceptance, this paper examines ...

The Redistributive Effects of Pension Systems in Europe: A Survey of Evidence

Inequality of opportunities vs. inequality of outcomes: Are Western societies all alike?

Family Determinants of the Changing Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: A Comparison of the U.S. and Germany

Trends in the gender gap in college completion for the U.S. and Germany show that the gender gap has closed in Germany as it has in the U.S., but, unlike the U.S., women have not yet achieved inequality in rates of tertiary degree attainment, let alone overtaken men. A central reason for this difference is the fact that the relationship between parental education and gender-specific rates of tertiary ...

Upward and downward social mobility probabilities have converged for men and women

This study investigates professional social mobility, i.e., changes in one’s occupational status compared to that of their parents. It uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (Sozio-oekonomisches Panel, SOEP) on middle-aged, western Germans who were born between 1939 and 1971. On average, social status relative to parents has increased (absolute social mobility). However, looking at how positions ...

Integrating Randomized Controlled Field Trials into (Existing) Panel Surveys : The "Mentoring of Refugees" Study

Randomized controlled trials (RCT) are the gold standard in research design for studying causal relationships. In migration studies, they can, for instance, help studying the effects of government and non-government programs on migrant integration. However, RCTs are challenging and cost-intensive to conduct. In this brief, we outline a research design that integrates RCTs into existing panel surveys ...

Time and Poverty in Western Welfare States. United Germany in Perspective