Suchergebnisse

The reliability of general self-rated health status is examined using the reform of the public health insurance system of Germany in 2004 as a source of exogenous variation. The reform introduced a co-payment for ambulatory doctor visits and increased the co-payments for prescription drugs. This natural experiment allows identification of the causal impact of the program on self-assessed health (SAH). A difference-in-differences estimator is applied to estimate the effect of the reform on SAH. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, the results indicate that the reform improved the treatment group's average SAH even when there was no discernible impact on actual health. The exercise reveals the sensitivity of SAH to a perturbation in the insurance system. More objective measures of health may be needed to acquire an accurate assessment of general health when the health system is in flux. Adapted from the source document.

ObjectiveThe reliability of general self‐rated health status is examined using the reform of the public health insurance system of Germany in 2004 as a source of exogenous variation. The reform introduced a co‐payment for ambulatory doctor visits and increased the co‐payments for prescription drugs.MethodsThis natural experiment allows identification of the causal impact of the program on self‐assessed health (SAH). A difference‐in‐differences estimator is applied to estimate the effect of the reform on SAH.ResultsUsing data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel, the results indicate that the reform improved the treatment group's average SAH even when there was no discernible impact on actual health.ConclusionThe exercise reveals the sensitivity of SAH to a perturbation in the insurance system. More objective measures of health may be needed to acquire an accurate assessment of general health when the health system is in flux.

This paper estimates the causal impact of compulsory military service on men in Germany using social security and pension administrative data for the cohort of individuals born in the period 1932-1942. Due to the combination of laws restricting conscription only to men born on or after July 1, 1937, difference-in-differences estimates of the effect of conscription on average daily wages can be computed using cohorts of women as a comparison group. The results indicate that conscription had no significant impact on a draftee's labor-market performance, validating an earlier result using an alternative identification strategy. ; Dieses Papier zeigt den kausalen Einfluss der Wehrpflicht auf Männer in Deutschland. Es werden Daten der Sozialversicherung und administrativen Pensionsdaten für die Kohorte der Individuen, die im Zeitraum von 1932 bis 1942 geboren wurden, verwendet. Aufgrund der Kombination der Gesetze zur eingeschränkten Wehrpflicht kann nur bei Männern, die am 01. Juli 1937 oder danach geboren wurden mittels des Differenz von Differenzen-Ansatzes der Effekt der Wehrpflicht auf den durchschnittlichen Tageslohn geschätzt werden. Als Vergleichsgruppe wird die Kohorte der Frauen verwendet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Wehrpflicht keinen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Arbeitsmarktentwicklung Wehrpflichtiger hat, was ein früheres Ergebnis mit einer alternativen Identifikationsstrategie bestätigt.

Defense activities exercised in a specific region may alter the region's economic performances. An accurate assessment of the potential economic impacts of defense activities within a specific area is therefore a valuable undertaking, especially for regional planners who may want to prepare for changes. The variety in the methodological landscape, counting, among others, input-output models, economic base models, Keynesian regional multipliers, fixed-effects estimators, and casestudy approaches inspired by geography, sociology, or political science may pose a dilemma. In this paper, we detail the historical and theoretical background of each method, as well as select exemplary cases where these methods were successfully or inappropriately applied. By examining old and 'new' methods based on the extant literature in regional economics, we aim to construct a methodological typology that could be extremely valuable to all stakeholders. ; Militärische Aktivitäten in einer Region, z.B. das Vorhandensein eines militärischen Stützpunkts, können einen Einfluss auf die Wirtschaftsleistung dieser Region haben. Eine genaue Analyse der regionalökonomischen Effekte dieser militärischen Aktivitäten ist daher ein nützliches Unterfangen, besonders für regionale Planer, die sich auf mögliche Änderungen vorbereiten möchten. Die Vielzahl der methodischen Ansätze, die für eine solche Analyse genutzt werden können, u.a. Input-Output-Modelle, Exportbasismodelle, Keynesianische Multiplikatorenanalyse, Fixed-Effects-Modelle und durch Geographie, Soziologie oder Politikwissenschaft inspirierte Fallstudien-Ansätze, können ein Dilemma darstellen. In diesem Papier beschreiben wir den historischen und theoretischen Hintergrund jeder Methode und zeigen beispielhaft auf, wann diese Methode erfolgreich oder nicht angemessen angewendet wurde. Durch die Untersuchung alter und 'neuer' Methoden auf Basis der bestehenden regionalökonomischen Literatur haben wir zum Ziel eine Typologie der Methoden zu erstellen, die für alle Interessengruppen von hohem Wert sein kann.

Abstract
We investigate the relationship between self-reported importance of religion and risky behaviors in adolescence using data from a large and detailed longitudinal study of English teenagers. We use school and individual fixed effects, and treatment effects with inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment, controlling for a rich set of characteristics, including individual personality traits. Our results show that individuals with low religiosity are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors.

We identify the causal effect of a reduction in military personnel on a number of socioeconomic indicators within the periphery of the military base. The base realignments and closures (BRACs) within the German armed forces is an exogenous source of variation that allows for the estimation of the causal effect of a particular demand shock on household income, output, unemployment, and crime rates within a specified buffer zone around each base. The analysis covers 129 communities for the period 2003-2007. Consistent with evidence found elsewhere, we find that these base adjustments have a marginal impact on the local community in which the bases are located. Within the context of the current political discussion over BRACs in Germany, this study provides policy guidance by examining the costs and benefits to the surrounding community. It also gives an indication of how quickly a local economy can adjust to an exogenous reduction in demand. The data on crime were obtained from the Criminal Statistics of the German Police. Other socioeconomic variables are drawn from the federal and state statistical offices of Germany. The data are recorded at the level of the Kreis (NUTS 3). The data on military bases, closures, and core personnel were taken from the Deployment Concept of the Federal Armed Forces of Germany 2004. This includes a variable that spatially situates the base at the Gemeinde level (LAU 2/NUTS 5). To incorporate the information from the home and surrounding Kreise, we use a Geographic Information System (GIS) application to draw a circular buffer around the centroid of the selected Gemeinde. The area of the buffer's overlap with each of the Kreise contained therein is calculated and then divided by the total area of the buffer. This quotient is used to construct a weighted sum of the information in each of the surrounding Kreise for the variables used in the analysis. One advantage of this approach is that, by adjusting the size of the buffer, it allows us to readily test the robustness of the results according to the scale of the analysis.