GAUGING NEW ZEALAND'S SUCCESS AT POVERTY REDUCTION IN THE NEW MILLENIUM

This paper presents the results of the New Zealand Poverty Measurement Project's analysis of the effects of the 1990s social reforms in New Zealand on the incidence and severity of poverty, and assesses the impact of five social and economic policies introduced by the Labour‐led coalition governments since 1999: New Zealand superannuation, income‐related rents on state houses, active labour market policies for an employment‐rich economy, the Primary Health Care Strategy and the planned income support policy to reduce child poverty. Superannuation is assessed as both adequate and sustainable, rents for state houses are found to be affordable, and GDP growth and employment have increased incrementally as unemployment and benefit numbers have decreased. The Primary Health Care Strategy is an innovative initiative that will increase affordable access to general practitioners, but it and the proposed child assistance initiatives are too new to be adequately assessed. Of the challenges that remain, policy priorities should centre on housing alternatives, including home ownership for low‐income households not in state houses; income support for poor households, particularly those with children; and multi‐sector development of education and training aimed at lifting economic and social capacity.     

Distributional and employment effects of labour tax changes in Finland

Labour income taxes in Finland decreased considerably during the period 1996–2008. At the same time the Finnish economy grew rapidly. Nevertheless, there was another coincidental trend in this period: a rapid rise in inequality. This study aims to answer to what extent labour income tax reductions between 1996 and 2008 contributed to this trend in inequality. The study also examines how much more employment was achieved owing to the labour tax reforms. To answer these questions, I build a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. The model is calibrated to fit the Finnish economy. The study finds that the labour income tax cuts fractionally raised the Gini coefficient for net labour income. They also increased the concentration of wealth. The employment gains due to the reforms have been modest, but nevertheless significant.     

‘MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK’: TEENAGE WOMEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET, 1947 TO 1992

Teenage women have been particularly disadvantaged by the collapse of the youth labour market over the last 20 years. This article outlines the dimension of that problem, comparing the position young women held in the teenage labour market in the late 1940s with their position today. While the 1950s and 1960s saw growth in some areas of paid work for teenage women, the 1970s marked a watershed. With the major exception of saleswork in the retail industry and clerical work in banking, teenage women saw their place in the labour market dramatically shrink during that decade. Nearly 30,000 full-time jobs disappeared during the 1970s, to be replaced by nearly the same number of part-time jobs. The 1980s has seen these developments reach crisis proportions. In the late 1980s, nearly 40,000 clerical jobs were lost to teenage women, and again the only significant employment growth was in casualised service sector jobs, such as cashiers and sales workers. This article concludes by exploring the structural reasons behind these dramatic long-term changes.     

On Childcare as a Support for Maternal Employment Wages and Hours

Data from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a stratified random sample of 1,364 children and their families from birth through first grade, were used to examine whether mothers' use of early childcare for their children predicted later maternal employment. Children's total number of hours in childcare was associated with higher maternal wages and more hours of employment when children were in first grade. The association between maternal hourly wages and hours in childcare was greater for mothers who were more educated. In addition, the effect of hours in childcare on employment hours was greater for non-poor mothers.     

Federal Defense Spending and Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Disparities in Economic Growth in the Southeast*

Objective. This study examines how defense spending in the 1980s and early 1990s affected economic growth in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties in the southeast. Methods. Using county‐level Census and other government data, the study employs a spatial lag regression model to predict how defense spending interacts with manufacturing growth to affect county economic growth during the business cycles of the 1980s and early 1990s, while controlling for other measures of regional processes. I supplement the regression analysis with brief case studies of five counties in this region. Results. The analysis shows that there is a positive interaction effect between federal defense spending and manufacturing growth on measures of income and employment growth. However, the interaction effects are much stronger and more consistent in metropolitan counties. Conclusion. As predicted, defense spending created regional variations in economic growth across the metropolitan‐nonmetropolitan divide in the southeast during the business cycles of the 1980s and early 1990s. Moreover, documented economic growth in nonmetropolitan counties is partly a function of spatial integration with metropolitan counties. The results have implications for current trends in defense spending.     

How is ‘welfare‐to‐work’ shaped by contingencies of economy,welfare policy and human capital?

This research weighed the impact made by the economy, welfare policy and human capital on unemployed welfare mothers in the USA. Specifically, it asked how welfare mothers' employment status, poverty status, and enrolment for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are affected by these three factors. Longitudinal data from the Survey of Income Program Participation (SIPP) provided a sample of TANF mothers. The SIPP data shed light on modes of economic adaptation exhibited by these mothers. Event history analysis was applied to the data (for years 1996–2000), and results were obtained showing that restrictive welfare policies combined with high unemployment can boost the number of working poor Americans by severing them from TANF. Human capital contingencies – which here comprised development of the sample's occupational skills, work experience and education – helped TANF mothers gain employment and even leave welfare. Some were able to do so and live above the poverty level. Social support, especially family support, was another factor included in this study that was found to be of some use to unemployed mothers in terms of finding work. Results bear several implications for TANF policy.     

A home of her own: an analysis of asset ownership for non-married black and white women

Race and gender are strong predictors of asset ownership including home ownership, self-employment and interest, dividends and rental income. Yet, seldom have the two concepts been linked in the sociological literature on wealth and wealth inequality. Additionally, potentially important determinants such as business income have often times been excluded from the analyses despite findings suggesting that business income may be an important indicator for racial and minority groups who would otherwise be relegated to employment in low status jobs in the secondary labor market. Using data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (C2SS), this study examines the following research questions: (1) Are their racial differences in the relative odds of home ownership for non-married black and white females? (2) What roles do business income and interest, dividends and rental income have on predicting the likelihood of home ownership for non-married black and white females? (3) Are the determinants of home ownership different for non-married black and white females? Significant racial differences in the likelihood of home ownership exists with regards to education and labor force participation, and business income and interest, dividends and rental income are significant indicators of home ownership for both non-married black and white females.     

Lone mothers,workfare and precarious employment: Time for a Canadian Basic Income?

Abstract   The growth of precarious employment poses significant challenges to current social assistance income support policies yet it remains largely neglected in policy-making arenas. Drawing upon qualitative data from a study in Ontario, Canada, this paper examines the particular implications of these challenges for lone mothers, who figure prominently both in non-standard employment and as targets for workfare policies. In the context of changing labour markets, the article considers the potential strengths and limitations of Basic Income approaches to achieving economic security for lone mothers.     

The Time‐related Underemployment of Lone Parents during Welfare Reform,Recession and Austerity: A Challenge to In‐work Conditionality?

Reforms to UK social security benefits introduced between 2008 and 2012 that increased lone parent obligations to enter employment coincided with economic crisis and government austerity. Increases in underemployment in the broader population during this period both in terms of unemployment and time‐related underemployment raise questions regarding the extent to which lone parents not only managed to enter paid work but obtain a sufficient number of employment hours. Activation policies have increased labour market exposure at a time of greater underemployment. At the same time, high levels of economic hardship, in the context of stagnant real wage growth and benefit cuts linked to broader austerity policy, could place additional pressures on lone parent time‐related underemployment where a desire for greater employment hours to improve household income is not met by availability. We present findings showing disproportionately high growth in time‐related underemployment among lone mothers with, at peak, around one in five employed lone mothers with a youngest dependent child aged over five experiencing such underemployment. The implications to in‐work conditionality policies and the roll out of the UK's new working age benefit Universal Credit are highlighted.     

Stagnation of Heights Among Second‐Generation U.S.‐Born Army Personnel*

Objectives. The physical stature of a population is a useful supplementary indicator of the living standards of children and youth insofar as it is sensitive to income and medical care. It is, thus, somewhat of a conundrum that U.S. heights tended to stagnate between around the mid‐1950s to the mid‐1970s birth cohorts, an otherwise economically prosperous period. Because of the controversial nature of the finding based on the NHANES data sets we seek independent corroborating evidence. Methods. The height of U.S.‐born army personnel is analyzed in order to explore ethnic and second‐generation effects on height, in particular if these affect the trend among the birth cohorts of the 1950s and 1960s. We limit the regression analysis to U.S.‐born (non‐Hispanic) blacks and whites, controlling for ethnicity (own, mother's, and father's), foreign‐born parents, and region of their birth within the United States stratified by race and gender. Results. We find that none of the above variables affect the trend meaningfully: the height of U.S. military personnel tended to stagnate during the period considered. Only black males showed some improvement in height. Hence, the army data support the trends obtained from the civilian population, which cannot be controlled for second‐generation effects. Conclusion. The quality of nutritional intake and of medical care was not improving among children and youth in these decades in spite of the fact that the income of their parents was increasing.     

Children's influence on household economic activity in Nigeria

This study estimates the effects of children's economic contributions on parents' allocation of time for income-earning activities, care of preschool children, non-income home production, and leisure activities in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Fathers spent 65% of work time, mothers 20%, and children 15% during the assessment of family time allocation and income contribution. Demographic factors affecting the parents' time for the children include age of parents, age and sex of children and the number of other people living in the household. Economic factors affecting parents' time allocation include education, house value, wealth, and combined income of parents. Major observations noted were the following: 1) children contribute non-negligible amounts of income and time to their families' income-earning activities; 2) they play important roles in non-income home production and child care activities; 3) their presence has a considerable influence on their parent's allocation of time; 4) children appear to stimulate fathers to work longer hours at the expense of leisure; 5) young children reduce mothers' time in income-earning activities and leisure time; 6) older male children substitute for mothers' shorter work time; 7) older female children substitute for mothers' lesser home production time; and 8) older children of both sexes appear to increase mothers' leisure time.     

Still working for the man? Women's employment experiences in Australia since 1950

This article tackles the question of what is the ‘good life’ for women in employment in Australia through an examination of national legislation and policies. Since 1950 what has been seen as the good life has changed dramatically. The article outlines three phases of change: in the 1950s and 1960s men were regarded as the wage earners and women the homemakers, with women barred from some jobs and paid less than men; in the 1970s legislation and equal pay cases removed overt discrimination against women; from the mid 1980s the complexity of achieving equality for women at work was recognised through equal opportunity legislation, work and family policies and equal pay inquiries. In 2010 the ‘good life’ for women is having the same opportunities and outcomes in employment as men. While policy provisions support this, the reality of achieving this is difficult. So in 2010 many women are still ‘working for the man’ in the context that most managers are men.     

Population ecology and niche seeking in the development of gay and lesbian rights groups

This paper explores the formation of groups within the framework of the population ecology literature. Specifically, I argue that newly formed groups’ target membership bases and policy agendas will become more focused as the density of interest groups in a population increases, though groups will not necessarily continue this focused trend once the density of the population has reached its upper limits. To test this theory, I utilize Nownes’ [Nownes, A. J. (2004). The population ecology of interest group formation: Mobilizing for gay and lesbian rights in the United States, 1950–1998. British Journal of Political Science, 34, 49–67] dataset on the population ecology of gay and lesbian rights groups and a typology of groups that Bosso [Bosso, C. J. (2005). Environment, Inc.: From Grassroots to Beltway. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas] used in explaining the focus of environmental rights groups. I find that as the population of gay and lesbian groups became more dense, the groups that formed tended to narrow down their potential membership populations. However, the results were different for a newly formed group's policy agenda. While niche seeking occurred during the rapid growth of groups in the 1970s and the early 1980s, groups that formed after growth leveled off in the mid-1980s balanced their agendas between being too broad and too narrow. This important finding indicates that niche seeking does not always occur in very dense interest populations.     

Center‐Based Early Childhood Education and Care in China: Policies,Trends, and Implications

The development of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies and programs in China has been closely intertwined with social, economic, and demographic changes. This article systematically reviews center‐based ECEC policies and programs in China and presents the major trends and implications for future research and policy. The focus of China’s ECEC policy has shifted from health and custodial care to nurturing and child‐centered education since the economic reforms and the one‐child policy were launched in the late 1970s. Empirical data show that the costs of ECEC services have been continuously increasing. Both the number of children enrolled and the overall enrolment rates have declined during the late 1990s but they have increased slightly since 2001. The ECEC programs vary substantially in every regard by urban or rural residence, type of organization, and region. The quality of center‐based ECEC programs in China is still quite low, indicated by their high child–teacher ratios and low levels of education among principals and teachers relative to developed countries. Children living in rural areas or less developed regions and those from low‐income families suffer from fewer resources and lower quality ECEC as compared to their peers. These problems must be addressed by future policy interventions.     

Children's Living Conditions in Sweden. Social Patterns and Trends in Parental Accessibility, Child Care and Economic Resources

In this study, using data from the Swedish level of living surveys in 1981 and 1991 of more than 3,500 children, social patterns and trends in children's living conditions are analysed. The conditions focused on are linked to parental employment, namely, parental accessibility, use of child care and economic resources. The primary statistical method used is logistic regression analysis. The results show differences in children's access to mothers and fathers as parental access is restricted by various aspects of employment. There were also differences in childrenrsquo;s resources by social class and family structure. Of further importance was the combination of these, especially in the way that social class was more decisive for the children of single parents.     

State Growth Management and Housing Prices*

Objective. In the United States, growth regulations aimed at environmental protection and better‐quality urban areas have become very popular since the 1960s. Although many studies have examined the housing‐price effects of local and regional growth management regulations, none has examined the effects of a state law. Past research has also tended to be cross‐sectional, rather than longitudinal, and has frequently ignored alternate hypotheses that could explain housing‐price trends. The research presented in this article examines the housing‐price effects of Florida's Growth Management Act of 1985. Methods. Using secondary source data from all 67 counties of the state for the period 1980–1995 and employing pooled time‐series analysis techniques I test the hypothesis that the Act had an inflationary effect on single‐family house prices. Results. After controlling for alternate hypotheses such as population, income, and size of house, I find a statistically significant increase in the price of single‐family houses attributable to statewide growth management. Also, the demand‐side and supply‐side price inflationary effects of growth management are similar in magnitude. Conclusions. Since higher housing prices could become the Achilles heel of growth management programs and thwart their implementation, I suggest a few ways some of the price inflationary effects may be reduced.     

Population,environment and sustainable development

The present population of Sri Lanka (17.7 million) is sufficient to create concern about the use, limitations, and waste of natural resources. Between 1871 and 1946, the population grew at an average rate of 1.4% annually, with high fertility and mortality. The population doubled between 1946 and 1981, and mortality declined. Between 1971 and 1991, the rate of growth declined due to a decrease in fertility and an increase in emigration. With a growth rate of 1.4%, the population will again double to 35 million by 2040. Technological improvements in Sri Lanka have led to an eight-fold increase in metric tons of rice production, but the growth in population has caused a deficiency in output so that basic per capita caloric requirements are not being met. Increased productivity has almost depleted the area available for cultivation, and the use of fertilizers to increase yields has environmental drawbacks. The high fertility of the 1970s contributed to increased labor force participation rates of 2.2%, which resulted in more people joining the labor force than leaving. Thus, the employment market has been unable to absorb the unemployed or potential new workers. Growth of the employment market may also conflict with environmental protection, as exemplified by the mining of the coral reef on the southwestern coast. The conversion of forests to agriculture resulted in forest losses of about 42,000 hectares per year during 1956-83. Deforestation is also occurring in the high forests due to increased pressure for fuelwood. In the wet zone, the use of forests for fuelwood is declining, but rubber wood is being harvested for industrial production. In order to slow population growth to replacement levels by the year 2000 (with a total population of 25 million), contraceptive prevalence must be increased to 72% at a cost of about $25 million.     

Affective Qualities of Sibling Disputes, Mothers' Conflict Attitudes, and Children's Theory of Mind Development

Preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) was examined in relation to emotional features of their conflicts with siblings, using mothers as privileged informants. Fifty-four children aged 3 to 5 years and their 54 mothers took part. Children were given 10 standard false belief tasks and a standardized language test. Mothers completed questionnaires, rated vignettes, and kept a conflict diary to provide detailed data on siblings' conflicts, mothers' conflict attitudes, and mothers' use of mental state language to talk about children's disputes. Results revealed that children's ToM scores were significantly correlated with affective dimensions of their sibling disputes, including more frequent expression of positive emotion while disagreeing and less post-conflict distress. Logistic regression showed these associations were independent of age and verbal ability. Mothers' conflict attitudes were significantly correlated with the affective outcome of their children's disputes but not with the preschooler's level of ToM understanding. Findings are discussed in relation to possible reciprocal influences between ToM development and the growth of affectively positive and constructive conflict resolution skills.     

(Not) Taking Account of Precarious Employment: Workfare Policies and Lone Mothers in Ontario and the UK

Workfare is, at least in part, a policy response to changing labour markets and the expansion taking place in jobs that are low‐paid, irregular and insecure. For lone mothers, increasingly the focus of workfare policies, precarious employment creates special challenges. However, the nature of the jobs that are available to women on social assistance has received relatively little attention in the workfare literature, which focuses more on individual characteristics, supports to employment, and programme impacts. Drawing upon both primary and secondary sources and using Ontario, the province with the most developed workfare programme in Canada, this article examines the ways in which policies support and enforce precarious employment. The article also considers the implications of precarious employment for UK policy, which has not (yet) adopted workfare for lone mothers, although incremental steps in that direction are taking place as employment is increasingly viewed as the appropriate objective of income support programmes for lone mothers.