Klientenorientiert beraten

Mitarbeiter im Pflegerstützpunkt - Das Pflegeweiterentwicklungsgesetz (PfWG) hat die Beratung und Unterstützung von Menschen mit Pflegebedarf zur Regelversorgung erhoben. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Care und Case Management hat für die Weiterbildung von Mitarbeitern in Pflegestützpunkten Standards erarbeitet.     

Modelling Sustainable Consumption. From Theoretical Concepts to Policy Guidelines

Changes in consumption processes have been recognised as important steps towards sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of research on sustainable consumption and to sketch new approaches in economic modelling ofsustainable consumption. A special focus is given to the relationship between stocks and flows as well as consumer services as being welfare relevant. From that three different steps of modelling are proposed, where the links between material goods demand and consumer services demand as well as the stock-flow relationship can be made explicit.     

Multivariate Business Cycle Synchronization in Small Samples*

In this paper, we study the degree of business cycle synchronization by means of a small sample version of the Harding and Pagan's [Journal of Econometrics (2006) Vol. 132, pp. 59–79] Generalized Method of Moment test. We show that the asymptotic version of the test gets increasingly distorted in small samples when the number of countries grows large. However, a block bootstrapped version of the test can remedy the size distortion when the time series length divided by the number of countries T/n is sufficiently large. Applying the technique to a number of business cycle proxies of developed economies, we are unable to reject the null hypothesis of a non‐zero common multivariate synchronization index for certain economically meaningful subsets of these countries.     

Die Auswirkungen der steigenden Lebenserwartung auf die Prävalenz der Pflegebedürftigkeit in Deutschland

As a consequence of population ageing the number of persons in need of care will rise considerably in the decades to come. While the rise per se is uncontroversial a still open question is whether the increase in longevity will raise or lower the age-specific prevalence of long term care. As there are both empirical studies finding an increase or a decrease of prevalence as life expectancy increases, most existing projections of the number of persons in need of care are based on the assumption of constant age-specific prevalence rates. While this question cannot be answered ultimately from the current point of view, this paper gives some guidance on the range of the future increase in cases. To this end we first analyze the interplay of changes in mortality, incidence and prevalence within a flow figure model. This approach allows for a better understanding of the conditions which must be met for an increase or a decline of the prevalence of care in the future. Based on German data we then adapt a scenario approach to analyze the model's quantitative implications for the prevalence of care and the number of nursing cases in the future. Our results indicate that the number of nursing cases will range between 2,6?m and 7?m persons in the year 2060. Nonetheless, based on the existing empirical findings for Germany and other industrialized countries, a doubling on 4?m persons in need of care seems to be the most realistic scenario.     

Empirical constitutional economics: Onward and upward?

Empirical constitutional economics has made a huge leap forward over the last decade. Interesting insights into the effects of constitutions have been discovered. Rather than summarizing the state of the art, this paper identifies some of the current shortcomings and proposes a number of extensions. It calls for recognizing additional constitutional institutions as explanatory variables, as well as the incorporation of additional dependent variables. Its major emphasis is, however, on calling for the next logical step in this field, namely to endogenize constitutions.