The heterogeneous impact of pension income on elderly living arrangements: evidence from China’s new rural pension scheme

This paper investigates the impact of pension income on living arrangements of the elderly. Taking advantage of a unique opportunity due to the recent establishment and expansion of the New Rural Pension Scheme in China, we explicitly address the endogeneity of pension status and pension income through a fixed-effect model with instrumental variable approach by exploiting exogenous time variation in the program implementation at county level. We find an overall positive effect of pension income on independent living as well as considerable heterogeneity. The positive income effects of the NRPS are concentrated among the elderly with adult children living nearby, of higher socio-economic status, and with better health at baseline; for other groups, the effects are insignificant. We also find that more generous programs exhibit larger effects. Our results highlight that living arrangement is multidimensional in rural China.     

If My Blood Pressure Is High,Do I Take It to Heart? Behavioral Effects of Biomarker Collection in the Health and Retirement Study

Starting in 2006, respondents in the biennial U.S. Health and Retirement Study were asked to submit biomarkers every other wave and were notified of several results. Rates of undiagnosed high blood pressure and diabetes according to these biomarkers were 1.5 % and 0.7 %, respectively. An intent-to-treat analysis suggests that collection and notification had small effects on the average respondent and may have reduced health care utilization. Among respondents who received notification of potentially dangerous biomarker levels, subsequent rates of new diagnosis and associated pharmaceutical usage increased by 20 to 40 percentage points, an order of magnitude above baseline. High blood glucose A1C was associated with a 2.2 % drop in weight and an increase in exercise among respondents without a previous diagnosis of diabetes. Notifications appear also to have altered health behaviors by spouses, suggesting household responses to health maintenance. Biomarker collection seems to have altered circumstances for an interesting minority of HRS respondents.     

基本养老服务制度建设的理论阐释和政策框架

随着人口老龄化程度的加深,养老服务已经成为政府和全社会关注的重大民生工程。其中,基本养老服务制度建设成为一个关键议题。文章认为,如果这一关键议题不搞清楚,势必会影响养老服务的路径选择,甚至影响所选择的养老服务的发展路线和发展道路是否顺畅。为此,文章结合已经出台的养老服务政策,首先,从社会政策理论的角度阐明在什么情况下要建立基本养老制度,以及社会福利体制与基本养老服务制度建设的关系;其次,对养老服务制度建设的意识形态理据和中国养老服务模型的选择进行阐述,据此提出混合经济的养老服务模型,认为必须建立基本养老制度,厘清政府与市场之间的关系和界限;再次,提出基本养老服务制度的政策框架。     

雷锋生命价值的三重维度及当代意蕴

雷锋的生命价值从历史、空间、境界三重维度上表现为延伸性、普遍性和超越性。雷锋的生命价值符合人与社会全面发展进步的需要,即符合人的超越性的要求、符合群体共同发展的要求、符合中华民族道德实践的要求、符合中国共产党的宗旨要求,是对生命为什么有价值、生命价值是什么、怎样实现生命价值问题的直接解答。     

论我国刑事诉讼中“非法证据”的界定标准

在刑事非法证据排除规则的具体运用中,"非法证据"的界定是当然前提。非法证据并非是任一证据合法性要件欠缺的广义非法证据,而专指取证主体通过严重非法的手段或者侵犯公民基本权利的方式所获取的证据材料。我国刑事非法证据包括非法言词证据和非法实物证据两类,两类非法证据在实际判断中虽存在差异,但都应围绕取证手段的非法性展开,分别考察取证手段是否违反法律规定以及违法的严重程度,以准确界定刑事非法证据的范围。     

Interval estimation for conformance proportions of multiple quality characteristics

A conformance proportion is an important and useful index to assess industrial quality improvement. Statistical confidence limits for a conformance proportion are usually required not only to perform statistical significance tests, but also to provide useful information for determining practical significance. In this article, we propose approaches for constructing statistical confidence limits for a conformance proportion of multiple quality characteristics. Under the assumption that the variables of interest are distributed with a multivariate normal distribution, we develop an approach based on the concept of a fiducial generalized pivotal quantity (FGPQ). Without any distribution assumption on the variables, we apply some confidence interval construction methods for the conformance proportion by treating it as the probability of a success in a binomial distribution. The performance of the proposed methods is evaluated through detailed simulation studies. The results reveal that the simulated coverage probability (cp) for the FGPQ-based method is generally larger than the claimed value. On the other hand, one of the binomial distribution-based methods, that is, the standard method suggested in classical textbooks, appears to have smaller simulated cps than the nominal level. Two alternatives to the standard method are found to maintain their simulated cps sufficiently close to the claimed level, and hence their performances are judged to be satisfactory. In addition, three examples are given to illustrate the application of the proposed methods.     

领导干部党性修养评价机制研究

建立健全领导干部党性修养评价机制,是加强党的执政能力建设,建设高素质执政骨干队伍的客观需要。坚定的政治信念、牢固的党纪意识、严谨的自律能力、优秀的道德品质和勤勉的工作作风是评价领导干部党性修养的主要内容。要明确评价领导干部党性修养的指导思想、评价主体和评价原则,要建立健全领导干部党性修养的评价指标体系,不断探索科学的评价领导干部党性修养的方式方法。     

现代性批判:权力和资本的不同视角——福柯与马克思现代性批判思想的比较

对微观权力的分析是福柯打破教条化马克思主义的一种努力,拓展了现代性批判的视野,在一定程度上丰富和补充了马克思的现代性批判思想,使我们从丰富多彩的社会生活中对现代性的黑暗、矛盾有了更加深刻的理解。整体上说,福柯的权力概念过于泛化,而且只有与马克思的资本概念联系起来理解才能避免抽象化。福柯所倡导的微观政治、生存美学忽视了宏观权力在当代社会的统摄作用,它所表达的不过是西方国家在马克思所主张的无产阶级革命没有希望情况下的一种抗争。