Personal Values as Mitigating Factors in the Link Between Income and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from the European Social Survey

Using data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey, we examine the link between income, reference income and life satisfaction across Western Europe. We find that whilst there is a strong positive relationship between income and life satisfaction, reference or comparison income exerts a strong negative influence. Interestingly, our results confirm the importance of personal values and beliefs not only as predictors of subjective well-being, but also as mitigating factors in the relationship between income, reference income and life satisfaction. While our findings provide additional empirical support for the relative utility hypothesis, they are also consistent with Rojas’ (J Econ Psychol 28:1–14, 2007) Conceptual-Referent-Theory (CRT), which is based on the premise that the salience of income and comparison income depends on one’s intrinsic values and personal beliefs.

Urban forest cover of the Chicago region and its relation to household density and income

Urban forests and herbaceous open space play a vital role in the environmental and aesthetic health of cities, yet they are rarely identified in land-use inventories of urban areas. To provide information on urban forests and other vegetative land cover in Illinois cities, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data from June 27, 1988, were classified for the Chicago metropolitan region (9,717 km²). Ten land-cover classes were identified, including two types of forestland (occupying 5.8% of the total area), residential land with trees (14.6%) or without trees (7.8%), cropland (37.5%), two types of grassland (7.7%), urban with impervious surfaces (23.1%), water (1.6%), and miscellaneous vegetation (2.1%). Correlation analyses indicated that household income and household density are strongly related to land covers in the region, particularly those with tree cover and urbanized land. Population changes for 1980–1985 and 1985–2010 (projected) show a pattern of increasing density in the urbanized zone concurrent with continued urban sprawl, primarily into current cropland.     

Gender and income in pharmacy: human capital and gender stratification theories revisited

This is a case study of gender and earnings in pharmacy--a profession characterized by its rapid recruitment of female practitioners. We try to account for disparities in earnings between male and female pharmacists in Ontario with the aid of human capital theory and gender stratification theory. Data is drawn from a random sample of 463 Ontario pharmacists. We find a consistent sex gap in earnings regardless of occupational level of practitioners (i.e. owner, manager or employee) and net of such factors as hours worked, commitment to work, hours devoted to childcare, absences from the labour market, and years since graduation. Instead, the main reason why women in pharmacy earn less than males is because they remain employees throughout their careers. However, we are less successful at identifying the additional factors responsible for the depressed earnings of female practitioners. We discuss our findings in light of the claims of gender stratification and human capital theory.     

二元经济结构下的城乡居民收入消费水平的区域差异分析

我国的国民经济结构是一个典型的二元经济结构,东、中、西三大区域城乡差距依此递增,三大地带内部城乡差距呈现明显拉大趋势。这种现状产生的原因是多方面的,但农业和非农业部门劳动生产率水平的巨大差异和国家的农业投资政策是不容忽视的两个因素。推进二元经济结构演化,缩小城乡居民差距必须树立工农城乡协调发展的战略思想,加大对农业的投入,积极推进农村税费改革,加快城镇化步伐,实施农业产业化经营。     

邓小平与中国“三农”问题

邓小平历来关心农业、农村和农民的问题,对于农村经济体制的改革更是他进行改革的历史起点.他关于"三农"问题的理论,不仅使改革初期以及后来的农民受益匪浅,而且指明了党和政府农村工作的方向,即一切为农民着想,不断进行体制创新和制度创新,加快发展农业,繁荣农村经济,努力提高农民生活水平.坚持和贯彻这一理论是新时期党和政府"以人为本"精神的集中体现.     

农村公共物品供给与农民收入增长相关性分析

农村公共物品供给短缺是农民收入增长和城乡协调发展的重大障碍,其形成原因主要有城乡"二元供给体制"、政府职能残缺、融资体制障碍等。建立农村公共物品供给与农民收入增长相关性分析模型,验证了农村公共物品供给不足对农民收入增长的重大影响。据此,文章提出协调城乡经济发展、保障农村公共物品供给的对策设计。     

农民收入问题及其农业经营中市场机制作用“被扭曲”的本质

我国当前农民收入问题的本质是市场机制作用"被扭曲",导致农业生产要素的优化组合陷入一个制度性的困境中:农民收入严重依赖于国家的价格干预,农民只能采用"弹性投入策略"以适应市场。要不断地缓解我国的农民收入问题,除了对现行的户籍和土地制度进行改革和完善外,国家还应该采取其他一些政策措施,有效缓解当前的突出问题,维护农村乃至整个社会的稳定局面。     

科技资源要素及其参与企业收益分配的研究

十六大明确提出"确立劳动、资本、技术和管理等生产要素按贡献参与分配的原则,完善按劳分配为主体、多种分配方式并存的分配制度",强调了技术要素参与分配的重要性。科技对经济增长的作用至关重要,通过增长函数法的实证分析,证实了这一点。因此,科技资源要素应和其他要素一样参与企业收益分配,但由于科技资源本身具有的特征,决定其参与收益分配的形式不同于其他要素,它还需要相应的政策和外部环境的支持。     

增加农民收入,积极培育和发展农村市场

我国是一个发展中的农业大国,"三农"问题是制约我国经济社会持续、稳定发展的重大问题。如何增加农民收入,积极培育和发展农村市场,是解决我国"三农"问题的关键所在,也是目前我国政府的工作重点。在此情况下,政府应采取积极有效的措施抓好这个重点工作。     

Inequality and welfare evaluation of heterogeneous income distributions

This paper establishes the principles that should govern the welfare and inequality analysis of heterogeneous income distributions. Two basic criteria – the equity preference condition and the compensation principle – are shown to be fundamentally incompatible. The paper favours the latter, thereby vindicating the traditional method of dealing with heterogeneous samples. However, inequality and welfare comparisons will usually be well defined only if equivalent incomes are obtained using constant scale factors; and researchers will need to distinguish clearly between inequality of nominal incomes and inequality of living standards. Furthermore, household observations must always be weighted according to family size.