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Zunehmende Flexibilisierung der Arbeitszeit: Höchststand von 473 Millionen Stunden auf Kurzzeitkonten
No full textErstmals werden hier gesamtwirtschaftliche repräsentative Daten über die Stundenzahl auf den sogenannten Gleitzeit- oder Kurzzeitkonten der Beschäftigten in Deutschland vorgelegt. Über alle Wirtschaftszweige hinweg gab es im vierten Quartal 2023 einen positiven Saldo von insgesamt 473 Millionen Stunden auf diesen Konten. Das waren 150 Millionen Stunden mehr als im Jahr 2013. Die Bedeutung von Arbeitszeitkonten ist im Zeitverlauf gestiegen. Das zeigt auch der zunehmende Anteil der Betriebe und Verwaltungen, die diese nutzen
A comment on "From Hashtag to Hate Crime: Twitter and Antiminority Sentiment"
No full textKarsten Müller and Carlo Schwarz (2022) investigate the impact of Twitter on anti-Muslim hate crimes, demonstrating that higher Twitter usage correlates with increased hate crimes, particularly during Donald Trump's political rise. Their findings highlight social media's ability to amplify xenophobic attitudes and translate online rhetoric into real-world violence. Our replication confirms the main findings, showing that a one standard deviation increase in Twitter usage is associated with a 32% rise in hate crimes. While minor rounding differences exist, our computational results align with the original study, reinforcing the robustness of its empirical framework. Extending the analysis, we show heterogeneity in Twitter's impact, finding that weighting by Muslim population share strengthens the effect, whereas population-weighted estimates yield a weaker relationship, suggesting demographic composition plays a crucial role. Additionally, our urban-rural analysis reveals that Twitter's influence on hate crimes is significantly stronger in urban areas, likely due to higher connectivity and media exposure. Finally, we assess educational attainment, demonstrating that higher education mitigates the amplification of anti-Muslim tweets into hate crimes. These findings underscore the need for policy interventions, including digital literacy programs, targeted content moderation, and algorithmic adjustments, to curb online hate speech and its offline consequences
A demarcation of the Gini coefficient
No full textWe specify the domain in the income distribution that includes the people to whom income transfers will not increase inequality in that income distribution. Inspired by Sen’s (1973, 1997) characterization of the Gini coefficient as a ratio between a measure of aggregate income-based “depression” (stress) and aggregate income, we inquire as to whether in the wake of an increase of an income or of incomes in a given income distribution, the Gini coefficient does not increase. To this end, we identify the corresponding “safe” domain and show that the pivotal value that demarcates this domain can be elicited from a simple linear function of the Gini coefficient itself. Our rule of demarcation provides for policy interventions that seek to increase a particular income or particular incomes while not exacerbating inequality in the income distribution as measured by the Gini coefficient
At Which Level Does Unemployment Affect Political Trust? A Multilevel Analysis Across Europe
No full textHow does unemployment at the national, regional, and individual levels affect political trust in Europe? Previous research has assessed the negative impact of unemployment at the national and individual levels on political trust. However, the literature has not yet addressed the interactions between unemployment dynamics across levels, which are increasingly relevant in socio-political research. In this article, we posit that national, regional, and individual unemployment depress political trust and formulate hypotheses on their interactions, integrating perspectives from sociology, social psychology, and political science. We test these hypotheses relying on Rounds 4–9 (2008–2018) of the European Social Survey, for 28 countries, 218 regions, and 877 region-years. Results from three-level multilevel models with cross-level interactions indicate that individual and national unemployment are associated with lower political trust, although their interaction is unclear. In contrast, there are significant interactions between regional and individual unemployment levels. A Fairbrother decomposition further clarifies this pattern: lower average regional unemployment rates powerfully exacerbate the individual relationship, while the latter is mitigated at higher average unemployment rates. Robustness checks with linear regressions and country-year fixed effects reinforce the main results. Theoretically, these empirical patterns support the habituation mechanism emerging from related research on socio-political behaviour, and they thus illuminate the joint centrality of contextual and individual socio-economic hardships to understand political trust, which is crucial for the health of democracies
Implementational governance as a tool of political steering over entrepreneurial freedom – A constitutional analysis using current ESG regulations as a case study
No full textMit Blick auf gemeingesellschaftliche Ziele wie Klimaneutralität oder der Achtung von Menschenrechten werden mit Compliance- und ESG-Vorgaben Unternehmen in Deutschland und der EU von den Gesetzgebern zunehmend in die Verantwortung genommen. Durch Gesetze wie etwa dem deutschen Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz oder seinem europäischen Pendant, der "Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" (CSDDD), werden Unternehmen zu Überwachungssystemen, Berichtspflichten oder anderen organisatorischen Vorkehrungen verpflichtet. Ihr Recht, unter Beachtung klarer Rechtsgrenzen eigenverantwortlich über unternehmenseigene wirtschaftliche, technische und finanzielle Ressourcen zu verfügen, wird damit vom Gesetzgeber missachtet. Hinzu kommen die gesetzlich festgeschriebene Überwachung und Kontrolle der Compliance-Vorgaben. Hier müssen Unternehmen mit staatlichen oder zivilgesellschaftlichen Akteuren wie Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) zusammenarbeiten und werden zur Kooperation gezwungen. Auch das ist ein Eingriff in die unternehmerische Freiheit. Der beschriebene Steuerungsansatz des Gesetzgebers führt also zu erheblichen rechtsmethodischen Problemen: Unternehmerische Grundrechte, wie sie in Art. 12 GG und Art. 16 der Europäischen Grundrechte-Charta festgelegt sind, werden von der EU-Kommission sowie der deutschen Bundesregierung deutlich unterschlagen. In der Folge drohen das deutsche LkSG sowie die europäische CSDDD zu einer rechtsstaatlich und grundrechtlich nicht mehr handhabbaren unternehmerischen Freiheitseinschränkung zu werden. Die Gesetzgeber haben inzwischen erkannt, dass die "Über-Regulierung" der Unternehmen ihre internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit deutlich verschlechtert. Auf EU-Ebene soll deshalb mit dem sogenannten Omnibuspaket die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Auflagen wiederhergestellt werden. Doch reicht der Schaden über das Einbußen von Wettbewerbsfähigkeit hinaus. Die Studie zeigt auf, dass die aktuellen Steuerungsansätze des Gesetzgebers und die damit verbundene Einengung unternehmersicher Dispositionsfreiheit als Grundrechtseingriff zu bewerten sind.With regard to overarching societal goals such as climate neutrality and the respect for human rights, companies in Germany and the EU are increasingly being held accountable by legislators through compliance and ESG requirements. Through legislation such as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act or its European counterpart, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), companies are obligated to implement monitoring systems, reporting duties, and other organizational measures. Their right to dispose autonomously of their economic, technical, and financial resources within a framework of clear legal boundaries is thereby disregarded by the legislator. Moreover, legal provisions mandate the monitoring and enforcement of compliance requirements. In this context, companies must cooperate with state actors or civil society organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), effectively being compelled into collaboration. This, too, constitutes an encroachment on entrepreneurial freedom. The described implementational governance approach of the legislator thus leads to significant legal-methodological problems: Fundamental entrepreneurial rights, as enshrined in Article 12 of the German Basic Law and Article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, are clearly undermined by the EU Commission and the German federal government. Consequently, both the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and the European CSDDD risk developing into an untenable restriction on entrepreneurial freedom from a constitutional and rule-of-law standpoint. Legislators have meanwhile recognized that the "over-regulation" of companies significantly undermines their international competitiveness. To restore proportionality in implementational obligations, the EU Commission has announced an "omnibus package". However, the damage extends beyond the loss of competitiveness. The study demonstrates that the current implementational governance approaches and the associated restriction of entrepreneurial discretion must be assessed as an interference with fundamental rights
Drivers of VR adoption by Generation Z: Education, entertainment, and perceived marketing impact
No full textVirtual reality (VR) can influence people's lives and business development. It can bring immersive experiences for people and can strengthen the relationships between customers and companies. In this paper, Generation Z (Gen Z) members' interest in VR is analyzed in various domains, like education, entertainment, and marketing. This study considers the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theoretical framework and explores the factors influencing Gen Z's perceptions of VR potential. The approach is based on hypotheses and a survey-based investigation, followed by logistic regression modeling. The results show that VR attracts Gen Z members to educational and entertainment activities. Also, they believe that VR is important for marketing activities. The results show the importance of investments in VR, in all three domains, and the importance of adapting strategies to leverage VR's potential effectively
The Effects of Exposure to a Large-Scale Recession on Higher Education and Early Labor Market Outcomes
No full textThis study examines the effects of timing of exposure to the Asian financial crisis on higher education and early labor market outcomes. We estimate a generalized difference-in-differences model exploiting variation in age at exposure and regional severity of the recession in South Korea. Using the Census and Youth Panel data, we find that individuals from hard-hit regions are less likely to attain a college education, tend to shift away from humanities to STEM majors, and have lower-quality first jobs, than their peers in the same cohort. These effects are more pronounced among individuals who experienced the recession at younger ages
Can strategic agility help retain public sector employees in times of uncertainty? A longitudinal study
No full textThe world is undergoing significant transformations that compel leaders to embrace more resilient and agile approaches to sustain positive organizational performance. While research concerning organizational strategic agility is growing, its value and application in the public sector are under-researched. This paper aims to explore the role of organizational strategic agility (OSA) in public sector organizations, how perceived OSA contributes to employee intentions to stay, and identify whether this effect is sustained over times of uncertainty. We use a longitudinal study and panel data from the public sector annual engagement survey before, during, and after the COVID-19 crisis, and perform a fixed-effect OLS regression to empirically analyze the impact of the employee perception of trust in leadership, supervisor support, and organizational strategic agility on employee intention to stay (ITS). The findings provide evidence of the value of organizational strategic agility for employees of the organization as a factor positively contributing to intentions to stay in times of uncertainty and identify trust in leadership as an essential contributor to developing OSA in the public sector. It contributes to understanding the value of organizational strategic agility for employees inside the organization in times of uncertainty. It captures the positive effect on employees over organizational and time effects, thus providing evidence of sustained impact
Use it or lose it: How cognitive skills change with age
No full textIt is commonly assumed that cognitive skills start to decline by age 30 if not earlier, which could pose major challenges for rapidly aging populations. But this assumption largely relies on cross-sectional data that cannot distinguish between aging patterns and cohort differences in skills. Using unique German longitudinal skill data, our analysis breaks the confounding of age and cohort patterns. We find that skills on average actually increase strongly into the forties before decreasing slightly in literacy and more strongly in numeracy. Furthermore, skills decline at older ages only for those with below-average skill usage
Disconnecting Women: Gender Disparities in the Impact of Online Instruction
No full textWe study the impact of online instruction with a field experiment that randomly assigns 1,344 university students to different proportions of online and in-person lectures in multiple introductory courses. Increased online instruction leaves men's exam performance unaffected but significantly lowers women's performance, particularly in math-intensive courses. Online instruction also reduces women's longer-run performance and increases their study dropout. Exploring mechanisms, we find that women exposed to more online lectures report greater difficulty in connecting with peers, less engaging instructors, and lower course satisfaction. Our findings suggest that shifting toward more online instruction may disproportionally harm women