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Seit 1972 weist der Mikrozensus eine stetig wachsende Zahl nichtehelicher Lebensgemeinschaften nach. Diese Entwicklung ist Ausdruck eines Wandels der traditionellen Lebensformen, der seinerseits die Individualisierungstendenzen innerhalb der Gesellschaft widerspiegelt. Anhand von statistischen Daten stellt der Beitrag fest, daß es hinsichtlich Ehepaaren und nichtehelichen Lebensgemeinschaften in West- und Ostdeutschland deutliche Unterschiede sowohl in demographischer als auch in sozio-ökonomischer Hinsicht gibt. In beiden Teilen wird die nichteheliche Lebensgemeinschaft nicht als Alternative zur Ehe, sondern eher als Vorstadium dieser angesehen. Daraus resultiert, daß unverheiratet zusammenlebende Paare häufig junge Menschen am Beginn ihrer beruflichen Zukunft sind. Dies ist der Grund für das niedrige Einkommen bei diesem "Familienstand", obwohl das durchschnittliche Bildungsniveau tendenziell eher über dem verheirateter Paare liegt. (pre)

Epidemic control measures that aim to introduce social distancing help to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their consequences in terms of mental well-being might be negative, especially for older adults. While existing studies mainly focus on the time during the first lockdown, we look at the weeks afterward in order to measure the medium-term consequences of the first wave of the pandemic. Using data from the SHARE Corona Survey, we include retired respondents aged 60 and above from 25 European countries plus Israel. Combining SHARE data with macro-data from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker allows us to include macro-indicators at the country level, namely the number of deaths per 100,000 and the number of days with stringent epidemic control measures, in addition to individual characteristics. The findings show that both macro-indicators are influential for increased feelings of sadness/depression, but that individual factors are crucial for explaining increased feelings of loneliness in the time after the first lockdown. Models with interaction terms reveal that the included macro-indicators have negative well-being consequences, particularly for the oldest survey participants. Additionally, the results reveal that especially those living alone had a higher risk for increased loneliness in the time after the first COVID-19 wave. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00640-8.

Aim: In view of increasing concern about a two-class system in the German health care sector, this study investigates the relevance of health insurance schemes and other socioeconomic characteristics to the level of specialist health care provision. Subjects and Methods: Referring to Ronald M. Andersen's model of health care utilization and more content-based approaches, we implement a negative binomial hurdle regression to estimate the number of specialist visits within the last 12 months. Our data source is the German sample of the first wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) in 2004. Results: The results show that men's number of specialist visits is markedly sensitive to predisposing and enabling factors, whereas women's health care utilization depends less on such socioeconomic characteristics. With reference to previous findings concerning general practitioner consultation, the assumption of a bipolar health care system providing general practitioner care primarily to the statutory insured and specialist care to the privately insured is supported empirically as to men. Education, which is considered to be highly correlated with health lifestyles, has a positive effect on medical health care. Every additional year of education increases by about 10% the probability of men seeking specialist consultation. Furthermore, the results indicate an unfavorable situation for the self-employed concerning health care because of their specific employment situation and health insurance coverage. Discussion: The research results suggest the existence of relevant differences in the amount of specialist consultation according to health insurance and other socioeconomic features. Further research could concentrate on the question of whether these inequalities in utilization levels indicate overprovision or underprovision of ambulant health care. Moreover, we recommend longitudinal research that is particularly suited to detangle age and cohort effects.

This paper presents a New Economic Geography model with distortionary taxation and endogenized trade costs. Tax revenues finance a public good, infrastructure. We show that the introduction of costly public investment in infrastructure increases agglomerative tendencies. With respect to the regions' sizes, in the periphery, the price-index for manufacturing goods decreases, whereas for the core, the price-index is rather high since the distortionary effect of taxes dominates. 'Free riding' ¡ or, in terms of regional policy, externally funded infrastructure investment; is beneficial for the periphery, which can devote all its tax revenue to local demand support, generating a positive home market effect and driving the catch-up process.

This paper presents a New Economic Geography model with distortionary taxation and endogenized trade costs. Tax revenues finance a public good, infrastructure. We show that the introduction of costly public investment in infrastructure increases agglomerative tendencies. With respect to the regions' sizes, in the periphery, the price-index for manufacturing goods decreases, whereas for the core, the price-index is rather high since the distortionary effect of taxes dominates. 'Free riding' ¡ or, in terms of regional policy, externally funded infrastructure investment; is beneficial for the periphery, which can devote all its tax revenue to local demand support, generating a positive home market effect and driving the catch-up process.