Abgeschlossene Projekte
Labour market, income and well-being trajectories before and after the birth of the first child
The aim of this research project is to estimate the parental costs and rewards of childbearing in a life course perspective in three countries: Germany (West and East Germany), Hungary, and the US. Using longitudinal data and methods such as Group Based Trajectory Modeling and Sequence Analysis, we investigate individual labour market and income trajectories before and after the birth of the first child as well as well-being trajectories (subjective and psychological well-being, physical health). Therefore, we are able to assess how the well-being of parents having different labour market and income trajectories change after the birth of their first child.
The project is innovative since it takes into account both the material and nonmaterial dimensions of the costs and benefits of childbearing and it also considers not only the short-term effects of having a child on parents’ lives, but also the long-term ones as well. Moreover, the analysis uses a systematic cross-national comparative approach with countries having different social contexts of parenting strategies after the birth of children (i.e. the uptake of parental leaves by mothers and fathers, and the transition back to work).
While Hungary is characterized by an exceptionally long and extensively used paid parental leave by mostly mothers but a less flexible labour market, in Germany the paid leave is shorter, but the working arrangements are more flexible. There is also a convergence of West and East Germany in this respect. In the US there is no national program for paid parental leave, and the leave largely depends on employers. The analysis will have important implications for fertility research and policy, since it will shed light on the question why so many couples in Germany and Hungary forego a second child. Furthermore, the life course perspective will make it possible to reach important findings about the labour market integration of parents in ageing societies and how it is related to the well-being of parents.
Principal Investigators: Lili Vargha, Antonino Polizzi, Anette Fasang
Finanzierung: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Start: 1. Februar 2021
Haushaltsstrukturen und ökonomische Risiken während der COVID-19 Pandemie in Ost- und Westdeutschland: Kompensation oder Akkumulation? (KOMPAKK) [Link]
Die wirtschaftlichen Folgen der COVID-19 Pandemie bringen für viele Menschen Einkommensverluste mit sich und erhöhen das Armutsrisiko. Haushaltsstrukturen können diese Risiken verstärken oder verringern, beispielsweise über die Anzahl erwerbstätiger Erwachsener oder minderjähriger Kinder im Haushalt. Sozialpolitische Maßnahmen können Risiken kompensieren. Dieses Projekt untersucht die ungleiche Verteilung von ökonomischen Risiken und Kompensationsmöglichkeiten in Haushalten in Ost- und Westdeutschland während der COVID-19 Pandemie und wertet sozialpolitische Interventionsstrategien hinsichtlich der Risikoverteilung aus.
Principal Investigators: Anette Fasang, Emanuela Struffolino, Hannah Zagel
Finanzierung: Fördernetzwerk für Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung, Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales
Start: 1. September 2020
Understanding Family Demographic Processes & In-Work Poverty in Europe - How Marriage, Parenthood, and Divorce Affect the Risk of In-work Poverty across the Life Course [Link]
This project analyses the role of family demographic processes (leaving parental home, marriage, divorce, and parenthood) for the probability of being working poor and how it changes over the life course. The research outputs will make at least three innovative contributions to understanding family demographic processes and in-work poverty in Europe. First, the researchers will undertake a systematic review of the family-related risk factors for in-work poverty. Second, they will analyse how the association between family demographic processes and in-work poverty varies across the life course and by gender across western democracies using CNEF data. As an example, they will address the crucial questions on whether entering parenthood and experiencing divorce increase the risk of in-work poverty and whether these associations strengthen or weaken as individuals grow older. Finally, they will study the association between family demographic processes and in-work poverty comparing two countries, Germany and the UK, where welfare measures against poverty differ greatly.
Applicants: Emanuela Struffolino, Johannes Giesecke, Christiaan Monden (Oxford), Zachary van Winkle (Oxford)
EQUALLIVES: Inequality, early adult life courses and economic outcomes at mid-life in comparative context [Link]
The Research project "EQUALLIVES: Inequality, early adult life courses and economic outcomes at mid-life in comparative context" –Prof. S. Harkness, University of Bath, Prof. J.P. Erola, University of Turku, Prof. A.E. Fasang, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Dr T. Leopold, University of Amsterdam and Prof. M.M. Jaeger, University of Copenhagen– funded by the NORFACE network (the New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) will begin its work soon as a part of the "fourth major transnational research programme on the topic of Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course: structures and processes (Acronym: DIAL)".
Zeitraum: 2017 - 2021
Atypical employment and the Intergenerational Transmission of disadvantage: Britain and Germany in Comparative Perspective [Link]
Since the early 1990s, the incidence of atypical employment – fixed-term, part-time, low paid or flexible shift work – has increased markedly in many advanced economies. This includes but is not limited to the rise of the ‘gig economy’, i.e. the growing share of the economy that relies on work being performed through short-term contracts or freelancing. We currently lack a good understanding of whether, how and to what extent the negative consequences of atypical employment that are known to affect individuals in these kinds of employment conditions are further transmitted to the next generation, thus entrenching social disadvantage amongst this group and hampering social mobility. Our project aims to shed light on this question by bringing together two bodies of inquiry — research on social consequences of atypical employment and research on the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. Building on the theoretical and empirical advances in these two fields of research, we aim to establish the empirical associations between different types of atypical employment in the parental generation and the development and life chances of children.
Forschungsleitung: Anette Eva Fasang, Bastian Betthäuser (Oxford)
Finanzierung: OX-BER Research Partnership Seed Grant
Zeitraum: 2019 - 2021
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Family Formation Policies [Link]
This project, seed-funded by the OX-BER partnership, explores the potential challenges in linking policies oriented to the pre-parental phase of family with those oriented to the parental phase. Theories on the latter are far more developed than on the former, certainly from a social policy perspective. Moreover, the two phases of life are typically treated in isolation and by distinct research fields. Policies for the preparental phase tend to be considered from a public health perspective whereas the parental phase tends to be the province of classical family policies. Hence, little is known about similarities and differences in the logics of law and social policy shaping partnership and family formation on the one hand, and parenthood and family life on the other. This omission is highly problematic especially because it makes for a lacuna in social policy knowledge and potential contradictions between social policy, law and health policy. In sum, the project opens up the view of the life course as starting before conception and aims to contribute to elaborating an innovative perspective of social rights of children and parents across the life course.
Forschungsleitung: Hannah Zagel, Mary Daly (Oxford)
Finanzierung: OX-BER Research Partnership Seed Grant
Zeitraum: 2019 - 2021