Having a child out of wedlock used to be associated with shame and scorn. This is mostly not the case anymore in the western world. Therefore, freed from social sanctions, single motherhood has become an additional family-choice alternative for women, along with marriage and childlessness. Yet,...

In a high-crime environment with many high-income citizens, private security companies which off er protection against crime can fl ourish. In this article crime is modelled as a game where richer victims yield a higher return on crime, but with decreasing returns to crime as more criminals...

This paper analyzes whether immigrant families facing credit constraints adopt a family investment strategy wherein,upon arrival,an immigrant spouse invests in host country-specific human capital while the other partner works to finance the family’s current consumption. Using data for West...

Drawing on household data from Germany, this study econometrically analyzes the determinants of automobile ownership, focusing specifically on the extent to which decreases in family size translate into fewer cars at the national level. Beyond identifying several variables over which policy...

This paper evaluates the eff ectiveness of the introduction of a Writing Center at a university. The center has the purpose to provide subject-specifi c courses that aim to improve students‘ abilities of scientifi c writing. In order to deal with presumed selfperceptional biases of students in...

This study analyzes the educational attainment and early labor market outcomes of young migrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) who arrived in Germany between 1989 and 1994. The results reveal that migrants have lower educational attainments than natives, and that within the group of...

The results of the PISA 2000 study renewed the interest in the contribution of human capital to economic growth. So far the exploration of large country comparisons delivered rather mixed results. Concentrating on those OECD member countries which participated in PISA 2000, this paper uses panel...

This paper examines the patterns of educational assortative mating in East and West Germany. In the literature it is well known that individuals do not mate randomly with respect to social and cultural traits, and that highly assortative mating can lead to polarization and exacerbate economic...

Since their first implementation in 2000, the PISA studies have attracted public attention and spurred the demand for institutional changes in schooling systems. The introduction of standardized student tests and of incentives for schools and teachers are notable examples of such institutional...

This paper examines empirically whether midwifes, as an integral part of the health and family planning programs in Indonesia, are effective in advising young women to delay their first birth and also influence the decision on post-primary school attendance. Using the Indonesian Family Life...