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Using data from a retrospective life-course survey conducted in the Netherlands in the beginning of the 1990s, we investigate the influence of the dynamics in residential and work locations and of the importance of the residential location versus the household situation on commuting distances. We find that a longer duration of an episode between two changes in the residential or work location is associated with a shorter commuting distance. Residential relocations between municipalities lead to greater commuting distances than workplace mobility between municipalities. Living in a more urbanized area has a negative effect on commuting distance. We conclude that residential location choice is a crucial factor underlying commuting distances. It seems that bivariate associations between commuting distance and characteristics of the household and its housing are attributable to the fact that families and owner-occupied single-family housing are mainly found outside the more urbanized areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of orientations towards motherhood and paid work in the association between level of education and late motherhood in the Netherlands. Using small-scale survey data, we analysed: the association between level of education and orientations; and the association between level of education and orientations on the one hand and age at first motherhood on the other. We found that highly educated mothers are likely to be individualistic mothers who find work important. The association between orientations and age at first motherhood was also found to be as we expected, but it does not remain statistically significant after controlling for Level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the average level of education in the Dutch population has risen in the past few decades, this is less so for average job levels. This paper addresses the match between education and job level. We focus on regional differences, using data from the 1995 and 1996 Labour Force Surveys. We show that in the Randstad (the core region of the Netherlands) people are more likely to have a job - and to reach a certain job level - than in peripheral regions. We also show that the probability of a good match between education and job level is greater in areas with better 'job access' (number of suitable jobs within reach). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commitments in the housing career (buying a home) are strongly connected with commitments in the household career (marriage and first childbirth). But, although marriage and childbirth have been postponed by recent birth cohorts, this is not true for buying a home. The results of survival analyses show that homes are bought at increasingly younger ages. The growth of home-buying rates is mainly concentrated in the period between first partnership formation and first childbirth. The findings conform with the hypothesis that, rather than buying directly at partnership formation, couples increasingly tend to buy after a few years when they have reached stability in their relationship. An unexpected finding is that the difference in home-buying behaviour between married and cohabiting couples seems to be disappearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on economic development in the Netherlands. According to the author, home ownership, earned income as well as the quality of housing has increased in the Netherlands. Homeowners are stated to move less as compared to tenants as the transaction costs of moving within the owner-occupied sector are higher. The transaction costs include total transfer tax, notary fees, and brokerage fees. According to the author, the origin of growth lies in a deep rooted human tendency to be keen on change.

The article presents the author's comments on demographic predictions of the Central Bureau for Statistics of the Netherlands. The Bureau's forecasts are based on certain assumptions including everything remains the same; the recent development of the last period is continued; and convalescence will take place to an earlier situation. According to the author, the Bureau's habit is a right and obvious one.

The article presents the author's comments on the article "Is Nederland vol?," by Anton Kuijsten, a Dutch demographer who died in 2000. This article appeared in the November 1992 issue of a publication of Elsevier. Kuijsten has referred to the stationery population structure in the Netherlands while contributing to his article and the article left several experts concerned on the question about the demographic distribution in the Netherlands. The author has found that Kuijsten proposed very sensible things in his article.

The article presents the opinion of the author on the need of gathering information related to social development at particular time in different countries. The author says that this step could help social scientists to grasp differences at stages of social development. The author says that a similar thought was presented by Arland Thornton in his presidential address at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Washington, in March 2001.

The article focuses on the comments of the author regarding the application of the concept of renewal in diverse areas including marketing, education, and science. According to the author, although there can be no improvement without renewal, certain dangers are also associated with it. The author opines that emphasis on renewal in science would result in broadening rather than deepening of knowledge, whereas its emphasis in the field of education would result in surplus of teaching staff.