Germany has long been faced with low birth rates and a pronounced aging of society. Recently divorces and single parenthood have been on the rise. Family policies and regulations dealing with family break-up are thus confronted with new and greater challenges. After describing important changes...

Die Einkommensverteilung innerhalb der verschiedenen Länder der Welt weist enorme Unterschiede auf. Diese Form der Ungleichheit bleibt im Zeitalter der Globalisierung zentral, da auf der Ebene des Staates die relevanten politischen Entscheidungen getroffen werden; die intranationale...

This article analyzes how institutional changes in the welfare state influence income mobility around job loss in the United States andWest Germany. Drawing both on an analysis of changes in provisions for the unemployed and on panel data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the...

Pensions absorb the largest share of the welfare state in financial terms. This is true not only in the aggregate but also for individuals. Financial security in old age is of key importance. The provision of financial security, however, is contingent upon the institutional arrangement of social...

The incidence of a health risk may result in two different types of financial consequences: the creation of new needs and the loss of savings and/or income to meet those needs. Illness often requires the purchase of medical help. Although in Germany virtually the entire population is covered by...

Systems of unemployment compensation in many OECD countries have undergone major institutional changes during the past three decades. These changes were a response to severe fiscal pressures and the fear of potential adverse effects on labor market behaviour that might arise from generous public...

As a consequence of changing patterns of family formation and dissolution in the western world, national welfare institutions confront new demands to accommodate such issues as disproportionate poverty risks among single-mother families, increased requirements for non-parental child care...

Demographic and fiscal pressures have increased pressures on governments in most wealthy countries to reduce the generosity of their public pension programs. Mechanisms that automatically adjust public pension levels to take account of factors such as increased life expectancy and slower...

Die Annahme, dass Partizipation - verstanden als Entscheidungsteilhabe - sich positiv auf gesundheitsrelevante Ressourcen von Individuen und Gruppen auswirkt, prägt bereits heute das Vorgehen in vielen gesellschaftlichen Praxisfeldern wie z.B. in der Gesundheitsförderung und zum Teil auch in...

Technologische Neuerungen versprechen die Lösung drängender technisch-sozialer Probleme, aber auch wirtschaftliches Wachstum und sozialen Wohlstand in den zunehmend wissensgetriebenen Ökonomien der OECD-Welt. Die beiden Fälle Biotechnologie (bzw. Gentechnik) und Elektromobilität...