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Summary The Great Recession triggered a resurgence of short-time work (STW) throughout the OECD. Several countries introduced STW from scratch or significantly expanded the scope of the programmes already in place. In some countries like Italy, Japan and Germany between 2.5% and 5% of the workforce participated in STW schemes at the trough of the recession. In this paper we analyse the rationale for STW benefits and their effects on labour adjustment from both a cross-country and a time-series perspective. We find that STW actually contributed to reduce job losses during the Great Recession. However, the number of jobs saved, according to our macroeconomic and microeconomic estimates, is smaller than the number of participants in these schemes and the full-time equivalent jobs involved, pointing in some countries to sizeable deadweight costs. Other institutions, like plant-level bargaining over hours, wages and employment levels, may be more effective than STW in encouraging adjustment along the intensive margins in the presence of temporary shocks. Our results also suggest that STW cannot be readily extended to countries having much different institutional configurations as the demand for STW is very much affected by other institutions such as employment protection legislation and the degree of centralization of collective bargaining. Furthermore, STW must be temporary as during upturns may actually negatively affect employment. We also find that specific design features of STW - such as experience-rating and disincentives to 100% reductions in working hours - are important in improving the cyclical properties of STW. - Tito Boeri and Herbert Bruecker [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that differences between German and Japanese environmental politics during the 1990s are due to differences in the composition and working of the environmental policy-making networks in both countries. The main assumption is that the relatively proactive role of German environmental politics can be explained by a highly integrated pluralistic network, which includes all major actors in the environmental field. The paper explores this argument by focusing on the role NGOs play in the national environmental policymaking in Germany and Japan. It presents empirical data concerning the position of NGOs in the policymaking networks in both countries with regard to NGOs' resources and opportunities to shape environmental policies. The analysis of the data demonstrates that NGOs are still weak in the network in Japan while, in Germany, the big national NGOs are well integrated and are considered to play a significant role in the policy-making process. This comparison suggests that what accounts for their greatest difference is the availability of means of compensating for weak resources, which is considered to be much more favorable in Germany than in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Populations throughout the developed world are dramatically ageing owing to rapid declines in fertility and mortality. Providing long‐term care to the growing numbers of frail elderly people will be a vital public policy challenge in the decades ahead. Japan and Germany are among the few countries that have met this challenge by introducing comprehensive legislation directed at long‐term care. This paper reviews the differences between these Long‐term Care Insurance Laws, with a focus on the availability of a cash allowance for people receiving family‐based care. It reflects on the social, political and economic context of the laws, characterizes each system and points out the inherent difficulties on each side. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context: Aromatase excess syndrome (AEXS) is a very rare disorder characterized by prepubertal gynecomastia, bone age acceleration, and early growth arrest. Heterozygote submicroscopic rearrangements within the promotor of CYP19A1 result in overexpression of aromatase and enhanced aromatization of androgens.Objective: The objective was to study long-term treatment effects of an aromatase inhibitor.Methods: Data from 7 boys with AEXS were retrospectively collected. Genetic analysis revealed upstream of CYP19A1 a 165 901 bp deletion in 4 German cousins, a 198 662 bp deletion in 2 Japanese brothers, and a 387 622 bp tandem duplication in a Japanese boy.Results: All boys developed prepubertal gynecomastia, at median 9.0 years of age (range: 7.0-11.0). Height was +1.20 standard deviation score (SDS) (-0.24 to +1.98); predicted adult height was -1.29 SDS (-3.29 to +1.09). Four boys were treated with 1.0 mg of anastrozole daily, while 3 reached adult height untreated. Treatment with anastrozole was stopped after 5.6 years (4.0-6.8). Three treated boys exceeded their prognosis by 2.4, 6.9, and 8.1 cm, while 1 untreated boy fell below the prognosis by 8.6 cm. One treated with a low dose and 2 untreated reached their prognosis. Adult heights were -0.91 SDS with anastrozole (-2.86 to -0.29) and -0.15 SDS without (-2.31 to -0.03). Distance to target height was -0.22 SDS with anastrozole (-1.72 to +0.52) and +0.54 SDS without (+0.23 to +1.30).Conclusion: Spontaneous growth in AEXS varied, even in the same family. Our data suggest that early started, long-term inhibition by anastrozole promotes adult height in boys with AEXS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When investigating the association between brain tumors and use of mobile telephones, accurate data on tumor position are essential, due to the highly localized absorption of energy in the human brain from the radio-frequency fields emitted. We used a point process model to investigate this association using information that included tumor localization data from the INTERPHONE Study (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Our main analysis included 792 regular mobile phone users diagnosed with a glioma between 2000 and 2004. Similar to earlier results, we found a statistically significant association between the intracranial distribution of gliomas and the self-reported location of the phone. When we accounted for the preferred side of the head not being exclusively used for all mobile phone calls, the results were similar. The association was independent of the cumulative call time and cumulative number of calls. However, our model used reported side of mobile phone use, which is potentially influenced by recall bias. The point process method provides an alternative to previously used epidemiologic research designs when one is including localization in the investigation of brain tumors and mobile phone use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education has been systematically and deliberately used in both Germany and Japan to force minds of young people and adults alike into the rigid mold of Axis ideology. Since the Imperial Japanese Department of Education, through its Bureau of Thought Supervision, has dispatched "thought supervisors" to the various provinces "for inspection, for guidance and for supervision in connection with thought matters." Japan has thereby woven a net in which the intellectual powers of her people are entangled. Germany has been equally zealous. No room is left for private opinion. The life and sports of students as well as the thought and conduct of teachers are brought within the system of regimentation. The declared purpose and program it again. When this war is won, the United Nations should be able to choose whether the educational systems of the Axis countries shall be allowed to lead into another war by the continued teaching of lies and false attitudes and values, or whether they shall be compelled to mend their ways.