Alexander W. Schmidt-Catran

Immigration and Welfare Support in Germany

In recent years, several international-comparative studies have analyzed the relationship between migration and native populations’ decreasing support for redistributive policies. However, these studies use cross-sectional designs and aggregate the number of foreign-born residents at the national level. Both aspects are theoretically and methodologically problematic. We address these shortcomings by investigating cross-sectional as well as longitudinal effects in the case of Germany, using a combination of individual- and regional-level data for several time points from 1994 to 2010. Our results suggest that native-born populations become more reluctant to support welfare programs when the proportion of foreigners at the regional level increases. This effect is particularly strong in the initial phase of immigration, and it is further moderated by the economic context: the higher the unemployment rate, the more negative is the effect of foreigners on natives’ attitude toward providing welfare.

Depressed during the depression: has the economic crisis affected mental health inequalities in Europe? Findings from the European Social Survey (2014) special module on the determinants of health

Background: Economic crises constitute a shock to societies with potentially harmful effects to the mental health status of the population, including depressive symptoms, and existing health inequalities. Methods: With recent data from the European Social Survey (2006–14), this study investigates how the economic recession in Europe starting in 2007 has affected health inequalities in 21 European nations. Depressive feelings were measured with the CES‐D eight‐item depression scale. We tested for measurement invariance across different socio‐economic groups. Results: Overall, depressive feelings have decreased between 2006 and 2014 except for Cyprus and Spain. Inequalities between persons whose household income depends mainly on public benefits and those who do not have decreased, while the development of depressive feelings was less favorable among the precariously employed and the inactive than among the persons employed with an unlimited work contract. There are no robust effects of the crisis measure on health inequalities. Conclusion: Negative implications for mental health (in terms of depressive feelings) have been limited to some of the most strongly affected countries, while in the majority of Europe persons have felt less depressed over the course of the recession. Health inequalities have persisted in most countries during this time with little influence of the recession. Particular attention should be paid to the mental health of the inactive and the precariously employed.

The Non-uniqueness Property of the Intrinsic Estimator in APC Models

This article explores an important property of the intrinsic estimator that has received no attention in literature: the age, period, and cohort estimates of the intrinsic estimator are not unique but vary with the parameterization and reference categories chosen for these variables. We give a formal proof of the non-uniqueness property for effect coding and dummy variable coding. Using data on female mortality in the United States over the years 1960–1999, we show that the variation in the results obtained for different parameterizations and reference categories is substantial and leads to contradictory conclusions. We conclude that the non-uniqueness property is a new argument for not routinely applying the intrinsic estimator.

Institutions, culture and migrants' preference for state-provided welfare: Longitudinal evidence from Germany

Using the difference-in-differences estimator and data provided by the German Socio-Economic Panel, this article explores migrants’ preferences for state-provided welfare. The study finds evidence that over time, the preferences of immigrants and natives become more similar. We interpret this finding as evidence that the culture of home countries does not have a time-invariant effect, and that immigrants’ welfare preferences are subject to a socializing effect of the host countries’ welfare regime.

The intrinsic estimator, alternative estimates, and predictions of mortality trends: A comment on Masters, Hummer, Powers, Beck, Lin, and Finch

In this article, we discuss a study by Masters et al. (2014), published in Demography. Masters and associates estimated age, period, and cohort (APC) effects on U.S. mortality rates between 1959 and 2009 using the intrinsic estimator (IE). We first argue that before applying the IE, a grounded theoretical justification is needed for its fundamental constraint on minimum variance of the estimates. We next demonstrate IE’s high sensitivity to the type of dummy parameterization used to obtain the estimates. Finally, we discuss challenges in the interpretation of APC models. Our comments are not restricted to the article in question but pertain generally to any research that uses the IE.

Migration, migrant integration and support for social spending: The case of Switzerland

An extensive body of scholarship has claimed that the relationship between migration and the welfare state is a potentially troublesome one, because the native population might be concerned about the fiscal, economic and cultural threats this poses. At the same time, studies have argued that ‘migrants differ’, not only in their actual numbers but also in their similarities or differences compared with the native population. Taking these differences into account, we analyse the effect of the integration of migrants for natives’ support for welfare. In detail, we test for the possibility that the integration of migrants might have a direct impact on the economic and cultural difficulties which natives associate with migration and in this way will have an indirect effect on their support for social spending. Our results show that the objective integration of migrants has only limited relevance for the relationship between migration and welfare support and point to the need to focus on subjectively perceived migration- and integration-related attitudes of natives.

Feeling German: The impact of education on immigrants’ national identification

In this study, we investigate the role of education in immigrants’ identification with the host society. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and latent growth curve mediation models, we test the immigration paradox hypothesis (de Vroome et al. 2011), which claims that highly educated immigrants identify less with the host society, due to their higher sensitivity to discriminatory experiences. While previous research found support for this hypothesis based on cross-sectional data, our analysis based on longitudinal data casts doubt on the validity of the immigration paradox argument.