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The aim of this paper is to investigate the hypothesis of a causal effect of individual labour-market-security and -integration on fertility by looking at the timing of first birth decisions after leaving the educational system. The analysis focuses on two major research questions: First, how is the timing of first parenthood related to previous labour market performance? Second, can we identify differences in first birth risks depending on individual labour market performance? In other words, to what extent do successfully integrated individuals differ with respect to their fertility decisions from those who are poorly integrated (as indicated by discontinuous or precarious employment patterns)? Integral to the analysis is a cross-national comparison of the relevance of institutional settings and their impact on family formation. In this context the editor focuses on the continental conservative German system and the liberal welfare state of the UK. He conceptualizes the initial transition to parenthood as the result of a rational as well as biographical planning process. The empirical investigation of the length of time up to first birth is based on an event history analysis, applying a piecewise constant exponential model to data from the SOEP and the BHPS. Results show the well known patterns of a still widely traditional division of labour between men and women on one hand side and extensive antagonisms of occupational and familial role. The cross-national comparison underlines the picture that this situation is especially virulent in Germany. In the case of German men with weak labour market integration he finds clear evidence of reduced probabilities of first birth - which is most likely due to limited breadwinner qualities. A reduced first birth risk also comes to the fore for women in Germany and the UK who show levels of extensive labour market integration (as indicated by a high amount of doing overtime work, e.g.). Yet an incomplete labour market integration of German women (as indicated by part time employment) also goes hand in hand with a reduced first birth risk. Among British women the editor cannot identify any clear fertility effects, related to initial labour market integration. This may be due to the fact that instable patterns of labour market entry are much more common in the UK and thus do not invoke any unsettling effect on fertility decisions

This paper is about the relative impact of retirement and social class on individual attitudes towards welfare state policies in advanced industrial democracies. Which factor is more important in explaining individuals' social policy preferences: socio-economic background or retirement? How can differences in patterns between countries be explained? These questions are explored using ordered logistic regression models on the 1996 ISSP Role of Government data set for fifteen countries. First, it is shown that retirement matters; there are consistent differences between policy areas that can be explained by life-cycle salience. Particularly in the case of preferences regarding education spending, being retired matters more than the socio-economic background. Second, some countries, such as the United States, show a higher salience of the age/retirement cleavage across all policy fields; age/retirement is a more important line of political conflict in these countries than in others. Third, country characteristics matter. Although the relative salience of retirement varies across policy areas, a large variance within each of the policy areas across countries is evident. Most interestingly, the more generous the state provisions are in a given policy area, the stronger the age/retirement cleavage is (with the exception of pension policies). Overall, the findings of this study are not in line with simple rational choice models. Instead, the explorative results call for more complex theoretical models, including institutional structures, in order to gain a better understanding of individuals' attitudes towards the welfare state in aging societies. Dieses Discussion Paper untersucht den relativen Einfluss von Alter und Klassenposition auf die individuellen Einstellungen zu wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Politiken in entwickelten Industrienationen. Welcher Faktor trägt mehr zur Erklärung von sozialpolitischen Präferenzen bei: die sozioökonomische Klassenposition oder der Eintritt ins Rentenalter? Welche Faktoren erklären unterschiedliche Muster in einzelnen Ländern? Diese Fragen werden unter Verwendung des ISSP-Datensatzes "Role of Government" beantwortet, der Daten zu fünfzehn Ländern enthält. Hieraus ergibt sich erstens, dass der Übertritt ins Rentenalter einen Erklärungsbeitrag leisten kann, besonders, wenn man unterschiedliche Dynamiken in einzelnen Politikfeldern miteinander vergleicht. Im Fall Bildung zeigt sich, dass der Alterseffekt einen größeren Erklärungsbeitrag leistet als die sozioökonomische Klassenposition. Darüber hinaus weisen einige Länder, wie zum Beispiel die USA, in der Altersdimension ein insgesamt höheres Konfliktpotenzial auf als andere. Daraus folgt, dass selbst in einem gemeinsamen Politikfeld Länderunterschiede wichtig bleiben, denn es zeigt sich ein hoher Grad an Variation der relativen Erklärungskraft der Altersvariablen zwischen Ländern. Dabei zeigt sich, dass ein einfaches "Rational-Choice"-Modell die Ausprägung der Alterskonfliktlinie nicht ausreichend erklären kann. Die Autoren schlagen vor, stattdessen ein komplexeres Erklärungsmodell zu entwickeln, das den Einfluss der institutionellen Struktur von alternden Wohlfahrtsstaaten berücksichtigt. 1 Literature review and theoretical framework Literature review Theoretical framework 2 Data, methods, and research design Data Methods and variables 3 Results Descriptive results Multivariate results Macro-level relationships: Rankings and bivariate correlations 4 Conclusions

It is often assumed that habits constitute an important component in human behavior. However, since the beginning of the century many sociologists have overlooked their role in explaining behavior. In this article we are testing empirically the completeness of an economic model made by Stigler and Becker to explain the effect of habit on behavior in a new context. According to the model habits are economically efficient in many cases. However, when an individual is faced with a permanent change in the environment, behavior is not determined by habits, but by the amount invested in information on the best options. We collected data from a field experiment on travel-mode choice with an intervention program to change the behavior of people moving to a new town. The intervention included information on available public transportation. Habit was measured by the subject's judgments of the likelihood that using public transport will take place in different kinds of situations. Theory was confirmed by the empirical data: there was no effect of habits on behavior in the new context. People in the intervention group used public transportation more often. However, search for information prior to the move had no effect. Some socio-economic variables had an additional effect on behavior in contrast to theory. People with a car at their disposal and those with higher education used the car more often.