Family dissolution and public policies in Germany: Social provisions and institutional changes since the 1980s
Germany has long been faced with low birth rates and a pronounced aging of society. Recently divorces and single parenthood have been on the rise. Family policies and regulations dealing with family break-up are thus confronted with new and greater challenges. After describing important changes in household and family composition in more detail, this paper outlines the regulation of the consequences of family break up in relation to alimony and child support. The main part of the paper focuses on public policies in support of families. Here monetary benefits as well as child care services are considered. Because of the increase of single-parent families a small-subsection specifically looks at special benefits for single parents. The analysis of child care and parental benefits, and their evolution in Germany, reveals considerable increases in benefits since the mid-1980s. The changes in child benefits and parental allowance can be broadly classified into three periods where benefits rise from low to high: 1) until 1985, benefits were very low; 2) in 1986, parental allowance was introduced, so that from 1986 to 1995 the level of benefits was moderate; 3) in 1996, the period of high benefits began and benefits were increased considerably. The 2007 reform of parental allowance led to an implicit indexation in which the benefit is now related to formerly earned income. This reform entailed clear increases for middle and high earners. However, low income earners and recipients of social transfers clearly lost when the benefit duration was reduced. Not only have cash benefits been increased, but child care services have also been extended in the western federal states. In terms of institutional reforms regarding alimony and child support, there has been little change compared to the development of family policy benefits.
Verarmungsrisiken nach kritischen Lebensereignissen in Deutschland und den USA
ZusammenfassungEs wird untersucht, in welchem Maße die Ereignisse „Arbeitsplatzverlust“, „Krankheit“, „Verrentung“ und „Familientrennung“ in Deutschland und den USA zu Armut führen, und ob sich die Ereignisfolgen zwischen 1980 und 2009 verändert haben. In den USA wird zunächst ein größerer Teil der betroffenen Personen arm als in Deutschland. Allerdings erholen sich US-Amerikaner im Fall von Arbeitsplatzverlust und Familientrennung schneller von den Verlusten. Der Zeitvergleich ergibt allenfalls schwache Hinweise auf generell zunehmende Verarmungsrisiken, zeigt aber, dass die Ereignisfolgen in den USA unabhängig von wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Reformen starken Schwankungen unterliegen. Offenbar führt die stärkere Betonung von Marktmechanismen im liberalen amerikanischen Wohlfahrtsstaat dazu, dass die konjunkturabhängigen (Wieder-)Beschäftigungschancen entscheidende Bedeutung für die Bewältigung der Ereignisfolgen haben. Die Befunde führen zu einer Neubewertung geläufiger Zeitdiagnosen wie des für die USA beschriebenen „Great Risk Shift“ oder der „Amerikanisierung“ kontinental-europäischer Sozialstaaten. Auch scheint der häufig behauptete Umbau des Sozialstaats zur Bearbeitung „neuer“ sozialer Risiken bislang nicht zu einer Verringerung des Armutsrisikos nach Familientrennungen geführt zu haben.AbstractWe study how the impact of job loss, sickness, retirement, and family dissolution on the risk of relative income poverty differs between Germany and the United States, and whether the impact of these events has changed between 1980 and 2009. Americans are more likely than Germans to enter poverty after any of the four events, yet they also recover more quickly from job loss and family dissolution. Comparisons over time do not indicate a secular rise in the impact of critical life events on poverty risks, but our results show that poverty trajectories are subject to stronger cyclical fluctuations in the United States: Through its emphasis on market mechanisms, the liberal American welfare state raises the importance of (re-)employment opportunities for coping with the consequences of adverse life events. The absence of clear long-term trends leads to a reassessment of common views about welfare state change such as Jacob Hacker’s thesis of a “Great Risk Shift” or the notion of an “Americanization” of Continental European welfare states. So far, there is also little evidence that the often claimed recalibration of welfare states towards “new social risks” has alleviated the adverse economic consequences of family dissolution.
The prospect of flooding and the motivation to prepare in contrasting urban communities : a qualitative exploration of Protection Motivation Theory
.............................................................................................................. i! Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... ii! Publications, Reports & Presentations ........................................................... v! Table of