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In 2021, the federal government of the United States expanded a set of income transfers that led to strong reductions in child poverty. This research note uses microdata from more than 50 countries and U.S. data spanning more than 50 years to place the 2021 child poverty rate in historical and international perspective. We demonstrate that whether using the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), relative poverty measures, or an absolute poverty measure, the U.S. child poverty rate in 2021 was at its lowest level since at least 1967. The U.S. tax and transfer system reduced the 2021 SPM child poverty rate by more than 75% relative to the pre-tax/transfer child poverty rate; this reduction was three times the mean reduction effect between 1967 and 2019. These policy changes improved the country's standing from having a relative poverty rate twice that of Germany's in 2019 to the same as Germany's in 2021. Moreover, the U.S. progressed from reducing child poverty at less than half the rate of Norway in 2019 to a rate comparable to Norway in 2021. However, the U.S. success was temporary: after the expiration of the 2021 income provisions, the child poverty rate doubled and returned to being higher than in most other high-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the emerging cold war, why did the United States stress industrial expansion in Western Europe but focus on primary production alongside policing operations in the non-western world? Examining US postwar occupation in Germany and Korea from a world-systems perspective, this article argues that a given country's standing in the capitalist economy generally shapes American foreign policy toward that particular country in the early cold war years. A paladin of system-wide prosperity and peace, the United States sought to restore the international division of labor after World War II. Reactions varied across the system, however, because of distinct socio-economic developments. The presence of capital-intensive export-dependent industry afforded western Germany flexible labor-management relations. Politics was overall stable there, and America dispensed with heavy-handed intervention. In southern Korea, labor-exploitive tenancy farming rendered interclass compromise virtually impossible. As intransigent peasants threatened the market economy, the United States used force to keep the ally in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative studies describing the transition from higher education to work have often simplified the complex transition processes involved. In this paper we extend previous research by taking into account several steps that comprise labor market entry, e.g., recurrent education leading to more than one instance of labor market entry. By comparing Germany and the United States we also examine how the tertiary education systems influence these transitions via the mode of stratification (parallel tracks in Germany vs. consecutive tracks in the US), the coordination mechanism (state-controlled vs. market-based) and the degree of standardization in educational programs. In our empirical analyses using large-scale longitudinal survey data we find that transitions in the US are less standardized and regulated than in Germany. Furthermore, differences between students from lower- and higher-tier institutions are less marked than expected, both within and between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study is an attempt to compare a comprehensive list of GARCH models in quantifying risks of VaR under stress times. We gather data of stock market indices from both emerging (Brazil and Turkey) and developed (Germany and the USA) markets, over the period of global financial crisis and make use of numerous GARCH specifications to return VaR values. Then we compare the assessments of VaR with the realized returns by Kupiec and Christoffersen Tests. Besides, we calculate Quadratic Losses to evaluate the GARCH specifications in calculating VaR. The results reveal that the ARCH specification is the best performer followed by GARCH(1,1) and the Student’s t distribution is slightly better than the Normal. The other outcome of the paper is that the worst performers are Non-Linear Power GARCH and Non-Linear Power GARCH with a shift. All GARCH estimations are carried out with STATA that uses the Maximum Likelihood method of estimation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article reports a comparative analysis of the thrust in solar photovoltaic (PV) research during 1981-1988 and 2001-2008. Global solar PV literature in the latter period recorded a 4.5-fold increase over those in 1981-1988. The USA leads all the countries in terms of absolute number of publications as is the case in other areas of basic sciences. But its relative activity in solar PV research in terms of transformative activity index (TAI) values has decreased from 1.8 in 1981-1988 to 0.9 in 2001-2008. The performance of National Renewable Energy Laboratory of USA, the top institute is similar to its national trend, i.e. increase in absolute number and decrease in TAI. Presence of 3 German institutes in the top 10 institutes is an indication of Germany's emphasis as well as the leadership in global solar PV research. The share of silicon-based papers as percentage of total solar PV publication has decreased from around 36% in 1981- 1988 to 34% in 2001-2008. The share of non-silicon-based publication has increased from 9% in 1981- 1988 to 17% in 2001-2008. Within silicon, the emphasis is still on crystalline silicon while among non-silicon materials, the growth of dye-sensitized solar cells output is outstanding. The developments especially in the areas of non-silicon solar PV cells, thus, raise hopes of the possibility of developing cost-effective and more efficient solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis. Gymnica is the property of Palacky University in Olomouc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A number of important contributions to the political economy literature have argued that changes in the financial sector have been amongst the main reflections, or even the driving forces, of recent transformations of capitalism in the rich countries. This hypothesis has been referred to as 'financialization'. This article argues that the interdisciplinary literature can be enriched if the macroeconomic dimension of financialization is more explicitly taken into account. In particular, important macroeconomic constraints regarding the determination of profits, in the face of a decreasing importance of physical investment and an increased importance of financial operations, are often not explicitly considered. The author compares his macroeconomic approach with contributions from different strands in the existing literature, including empirical analyses of new patterns of profit generation, the 'varieties of capitalism' approach, the British 'social accounting' literature, and the French 'regulationist' literature. The author's theoretical framework is illustrated by means of an empirical comparison of the effects of financialization in the USA and in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ICD-11 includes a new disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). A network approach to CPTSD will enable investigation of the structure of the disorder at the symptom level, which may inform the development of treatments that target specific symptoms to accelerate clinical outcomes.AimsWe aimed to test whether similar networks of ICD-11 CPTSD replicate across culturally different samples and to investigate possible differences, using a network analysis.Method: We investigated the network models of four nationally representative, community-based cross-sectional samples drawn from Germany, Israel, the UK, and the USA (total N = 6417). CPTSD symptoms were assessed with the International Trauma Questionnaire in all samples. Only those participants who reported significant functional impairment by CPTSD symptoms were included (N = 1591 included in analysis; mean age 43.55 years, s.d. 15.10, range 14-99, 67.7% women). Regularised partial correlation networks were estimated for each sample and the resulting networks were compared.Results: Despite differences in traumatic experiences, symptom severity and symptom profiles, the networks were very similar across the four countries. The symptoms within dimensions were strongly associated with each other in all networks, except for the two symptom indicators assessing aspects of affective dysregulation. The most central symptoms were 'feelings of worthlessness' and 'exaggerated startle response'.Conclusions: The structure of CPTSD symptoms appears very similar across countries. Addressing symptoms with the strongest associations in the network, such as negative self-worth and startle reactivity, will likely result in rapid treatment response.Declaration of interestA.M. and M.C. were members of the World Health Organization (WHO) ICD-11 Working Group on the Classification of Disorders Specifically Associated with Stress, reporting to the WHO International Advisory Group for the Revision of ICD-10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the official policies or positions of the International Advisory Group or the WHO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Evaluating the potential of the high-dimensional propensity score (HDPS) to control for residual confounding in studies analyzing quality of care based on administrative health insurance data.Data Source: Secondary data from 2004 to 2009 from three German statutory health insurance providers.Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in patients with elective percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) and compared the mortality risk between the in- and outpatient setting using Cox regression. Adjustment for predefined confounders was performed using conventional propensity score (PS) techniques. Further, an HDPS was calculated based on predefined and empirically selected confounders from the database.Principal Findings: Conventional PS methods showed a decreased mortality risk for outpatient compared to inpatient PCIs, while trimming of patients with nonoverlap in the HDPS distribution and weighting resulted in a comparable risk. Most comorbidities were less prevalent in the HDPS-trimmed population compared to the original one.Conclusion: The HDPS methodology may reduce residual confounding by rendering the studied cohort more comparable through restriction. However, results cannot be generalized for the entire study population. To provide unbiased results, full assessment of all unmeasured confounders from proxy information in the database would be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food and beverage marketing contributes to poor dietary choices among adults and children. As consumers spend more time on the Internet, food and beverage companies have increased their online marketing efforts. Studies have shown food companies' online promotions use a variety of marketing techniques to promote mostly energy-dense, nutrient-poor products, but no studies have compared the online marketing techniques and nutritional quality of products promoted on food companies' international websites. For this descriptive study, we developed a qualitative codebook to catalogue the marketing themes used on 18 international corporate websites associated with the world's three largest fast food and beverage companies (i.e. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken). Nutritional quality of foods featured on those websites was evaluated based on quantitative Nutrient Profile Index scores and food category (e.g. fried, fresh). Beverages were sorted into categories based on added sugar content. We report descriptive statistics to compare the marketing techniques and nutritional quality of products featured on the company websites for the food and beverage company websites in two high-income countries (HICs), Germany and the United States, two upper-middle-income countries (UMICs), China and Mexico, and two lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), India and the Philippines. Of the 406 screenshots captured from company websites, 67·8% depicted a food or beverage product. HICs' websites promoted diet food or beverage products/healthier alternatives (e.g. baked chicken sandwich) significantly more often on their pages (25%), compared to LMICs (14·5%). Coca-Cola featured diet products significantly more frequently on HIC websites compared to LMIC websites. Charities were featured more often on webpages in LMICs (15·4%) compared to UMICs (2·6%) and HICs (2·3%). This study demonstrates that companies showcase healthier products in wealthier countries and advertise their philanthropic activities in lower income countries, which is concerning given the negative effect of nutrition transition (double burden of overnutrition and undernutrition) on burden of non-communicable diseases and obesity in lower income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitamins play a crucial role in health, but modern lifestyles may lead to suboptimal intakes even in affluent countries. The aim of the present study is to review vitamin intakes in Germany, the UK, The Netherlands and the USA and to compare them with respective national recommendations. Data on adults from the most recently published national dietary intake surveys for the first three countries and data for adults from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003 to 2008 for the USA were used as a basis for the analysis. The proportions of the populations with intakes below recommendations were categorised as < 5, 5–25, >25–50, >50–75 and >75 % for each vitamin. The data generated are presented in a ‘traffic light display’, using colours from green to red to indicate degrees of sufficiency. The trends found were compared with the results from the European Nutrition and Health Report 2009, even though in that report, only information on mean intakes in the different countries was available. We showed that, although inter-country differences exist, intakes of several vitamins are below recommendations in a significant part of the population in all these countries. The most critical vitamin appears to be vitamin D and the least critical niacin. The variation between the countries is most probably due to differences in recommendations, levels of fortification and local dietary habits. We show that a gap exists between vitamin intakes and requirements for a significant proportion of the population, even though diverse foods are available. Ways to correct this gap need to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives. We examined the relationship between unemployment and mortality in Germany, a coordinated market economy, and the United States, a liberal market economy. Methods. We followed 2 working-age cohorts from the German Socioeconomic Panel and the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1984 to 2005. We defined unemployment as unemployed at the time of survey. We used discrete-time survival analysis, adjusting for potential confounders. Results. There was an unemployment-mortality association among Americans (relative risk [RR] = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.7, 3.4), but not among Germans (RR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.0, 2.0). In education-stratified models, there was an association among minimum-skilled (RR = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.4, 4.7) and medium-skilled (RR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.5, 3.8) Americans, but not among minimum- and medium-skilled Germans. There was no association among high-skilled Americans, but an association among high-skilled Germans (RR = 3.0; 95% CI = 1.3, 7.0), although this was limited to those educated in East Germany. Minimum- and medium-skilled unemployed Americans had the highest absolute risks of dying. Conclusions. The higher risk of dying for minimum- and medium-skilled unemployed Americans, not found among Germans, suggests that the unemployment- mortality relationship may be mediated by the institutional and economic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the impact of industry characteristics such as research and development, capital intensity and labor productivity on the export performance of U.S., Japanese and German firms. The study utilizes ordinary least squares multiple regression and samples of the top 1000 publicly listed manufacturing companies by those countries from 2001 to 2005 in which samples were matched on the basis of industry type. Findings, as well as the implications of the study are cited.

Copyright of Journal for Educational Research Online / Journal für Bildungsforschung Online is the property of Waxmann Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a comparative study on the differences and similarities of the laws and case law of copyright ownership in works created in employment relationships in Colombia, Germany, and the U.S. It discusses the ownership of specific kinds of works particularly computer programs regulated in the European Community Directive 91/250. Furthermore, it analyzes the authorship and differences between the author's right law system and the Anglo American Copyright system.

The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a relatively new instrument developed in the US to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) in healthy and ill children and adolescents. It is quick and easy to use, suitable for assessment by children and parents and based on a modular approach with a generic measure addressing all general domains of HRQL and disease-specific modules. We report here the results of translating the original US generic core instrument and the cancer module into German and testing the German PedsQL in samples of paediatric patients who have been treated for cancer or epilepsy. Like in studies with the original instrument, score distributions tended to be skewed toward higher HRQL, but a full response range was demonstrated for each item. The German PedsQL is reliable in terms of internal consistency with the majority of scales exceeding a Cronbach's alpha of 0.70. Clinical validity was confirmed by differences between the cancer and epilepsy groups in the expected direction and by the ability of the PedsQL to discriminate between subjects with different degrees of medical and psychosocial sequelae. Comparing our findings to US results, the German PedsQL seems to be equivalent to the original version. Future methodologic research should evaluate construct validity, sensitivity and responsiveness, and test the usefulness of the instrument in other clinical populations and healthy children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the determinants of variations in welfare state attitudes between Germany, Norway, and the United States. Besides the influence of different ‘welfare regime types’ as discussed by Esping‐Andersen and others, compositional effects of individual variables measuring people's socio‐economic interests and socialization experiences and the interaction of aggregate‐level (welfare regime) and individual‐level (individual variables) determinants of welfare state attitudes are considered. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), results of our analysis show that remarkable between‐country differences in welfare state attitudes exist. Our results suggest that these differences have to be explained both in terms of overall country effects and of the influence of country‐specific economic interests and socialization experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many firms competing in the Current global economy are multinational corporations (MNCs) that operate across national boundaries. Multinational corporations have the dual imperatives of maintaining internal consistency among their subsidiaries while simultaneously adapting to different local environments. Comparing personnel outcomes between subsidiaries of the same multinational corporation located in different countries would provide a specific context within which we can examine the relative importance of these two imperatives. Using personnel data from a multinational bank, we compare personnel outcomes such as turnover and hiring rates, tenure distributions, proportion of part-time workers, and gender composition of its subsidiary retail banking operations in the Federal Republic of Germany and in the United States. We further analyze differences in outcomes between comparable job levels in each country, recognizing that different levels in the hierarchical structures of MNCs may face varying pressures for internal consistency and local adaptation. Our results show that the local environment has a strong effect on personnel outcomes, although differences between countries decrease at higher job levels. The possible sources and implications of increasing similarity at higher job levels is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]