Socioeconomic, medical care, and public health contexts affecting infant mortality: a study of community-level differentials in Peru

Socioeconomic, medical care, and public health contexts are examined in Peruvian communities for their relationship to infant mortality. A deviant case analysis is used to uncover characteristics important in the social structure of Peruvian communities. Results from fieldwork in two "deviant" communities suggest that economic diversity, income disparity, social class fluidity, and women's autonomy, along with refined measures of medical care and public health resources, are important in understanding differentials in mortality. Attention is drawn to the community context and to the interplay of socioeconomic determinants affecting infant mortality.     

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING,THE EDUCATIONAL INCOME GAP,AND OVERALL INCOME INEQUALITY

An important consequence of the economic structure transformations of recent decades is increased income inequality. While an extensive literature has explored the relationship between economic restructuring and inequality, the unique contribution of this article is that it develops and tests a model that explores the mechanisms by which this process occurs. Specifically, the intervening role of the income gap between the well-educated and those with lower levels of education (the educational income gap) and other moderating factors are explored. The 5 percent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing was used in the analysis. The data provided strong support for the model. It was found that economic structure and the moderating variables were strongly related to the educational income gap, which in turn was strongly related to overall income inequality. Generally, both the educational income gap and overall income inequality were greater in geographic areas with higher proportions of the labor force employed in services, and both were lower where greater proportions of the labor force were employed in goods-producing industries.     

Socioeconomic Implications of the Increasing Foreign Remittance to Nepal: Evidence from the Nepal Living Standard Survey

The period since the 1990s witnessed a strong economic performance and labour demand in many countries in the Middle East, East Asia, and West, which coincided with the major political turmoil in Nepal causing enormous increase in emigration and foreign remittance. Using micro‐data for 1996 and 2004, this paper examines foreign remittance to Nepal and its socioeconomic implications. Data indicate that foreign remittance has helped increase income sizably and reduce poverty and income inequality marginally. Various family and individual characteristics are used to test whether the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups such as those with low non‐remittance income and assets, low caste and ethnic backgrounds, and from rural areas and remote regions benefited equally from foreign remittance. Analytical strategy involved estimating regressions of foreign remittance using the Generalized Least Squares estimator for families with foreign remittance and Three Stage Least Squares estimator for all families to minimize self‐selection and simultaneous causality bias. Although non‐remittance income and some of the low caste, ethnic, and spatiality backgrounds showed less consistent relationships, findings suggest that smaller families particularly with low asset‐holding and socioeconomic backgrounds were likely to receive less remittance. These findings highlight an important progress that the Nepali society is making toward levelling the playing field in foreign employment and remittance with migration to the regions and countries other than India offering better remittance prospects. Yet, further policy efforts are needed to ensure that foreign employment and remittance do not exacerbate the increasingly polarizing economic structure leaving the bottom sections of the society further worse off.     

Economic Interests and the Vindication of Deviance: Tobacco in Seventeenth Century Europe*

Sociologists have tended to neglect vindication, the process by which deviant behavior becomes redefined as respectable or legitimate. The few studies emphasize the importance of moral persuasion in bringing about vindication. Tobacco's early history suggests that economic interests can also play an important role. In the early seventeenth century, Europeans viewed tobacco as a deviant drug; but in spite of continued moral opposition, it was vindicated by the end of the century because powerful persons and agencies discovered that supporting the trans-Atlantic tobacco trade was in their economic interest.     

Married women's resource position and household food expenditures in Cebu,Philippines

This study analyzes how married women use their access to and control over economic resources to increase household spending on food. Using data from Cebu, Philippines, where child malnutrition is high, this study finds that the more income women earn and control, the more households spend on food. Women's control over their income is particularly important for increasing food expenditures in the poorest households. In richer households, women who earn little of their own income also use spouse income transfers to increase food expenditures. The findings from this study suggest that in a developing country setting, improving women's economic status so that they earn and control more household resources can increase household spending on goods that benefit children.     

A Profile of Lottery Players in Guangzhou,China

This research reports results from a survey of 1,101 lottery ticket buyers in Guangzhou, China. We found that the majority of lottery ticket buyers were young and middle-aged males with above-average-income and an education of high school/professional school or higher. Their buying behaviour usually continued for many years once they began to play. The amount of each purchase was moderate. Most reported spending less than 10% of their monthly income on the lottery each month. The majority claimed to buy lottery tickets purely for entertainment purpose while the second largest group bought lottery tickets in order to win money. The lottery business has provided more choices for meeting people's entertainment needs, and has great potential for further development. However, there were a relatively high percentage of buyers who bought lottery tickets beyond the level that was probably affordable given their income. This group should be paid special attention in order to avoid negative effects of the lottery.     

“Do you guys hate Aucklanders too?” Youth: voicing difference from the rural heartland

This paper extends recent work in the geography of childhood and youth studies by examining the ways in which rural youth voice their understandings of what it means to be a young person at this historic moment (the end of the twentieth century) in New Zealand. Youth First¹ has been a nationwide project which has sought to privilege what young people 10–17 years say as a basis for evaluating the last 15 years of economic and cultural change in New Zealand. Over the course of 3 years a methodology was used to constitute spaces where youth voices would be heard. Focus Groups and “Youth Tribunals” have been conducted across New Zealand involving young people from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds. This methodology was supported by a development programme for beginning researchers also from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, and by the significant participation by young people in the design and conduct of the “Youth Tribunals”. Their participation has been critical to the power of the methodology to constitute spaces where rural youth have provided rich testimonies about their complex lives. While the voices of rural youth in the study resonate with national youth themes, including the theme of “not being listened to” they also speak to the nuances and differences in the lives of rural New Zealand youth. We would argue that in sharp contrast to the organizing concept of one “rural childhood” our research clearly shows that there are different possibilities in growing up rural. Maori and Pakeha² youth for example draw on different cultural and linguistic resources to voice their relationships to place and identity. Although vehemently clear about the ways in which they were excluded from participation in community life and their strategies of resistance, rural youth in this study also provided analyses which showed their commitment to positive possibilities which they saw as part of rural lives and communities.     

Inequality,integration, and policy: issues and evidence from EMU

Simple theoretical arguments imply that while economic integration may or may not increase income inequality and volatility, it certainly makes it difficult for National governments to conduct independent fiscal policies and to enforce income redistribution schemes. Controlling for country-level income variation, available data suggest that Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was associated with a small but significant increase in disposable income inequality, and that this was in turn accounted for by less generous social policies.     

Understanding Chinese American Adolescents' Developmental Outcomes: Insights From the Family Stress Model

In this brief report, we investigated whether the Family Stress Model could be replicated with a sample of Chinese American families. Path analyses with 444 adolescents and their parents provided support for the model's generalizability. Specifically, mothers' and fathers' reports of economic status (i.e., income, financial, and job instability) were associated with parents' economic stress. Economic stress and economic status were related to parental depressive symptoms, which, in turn, were associated with more hostile and coercive parenting, less nurturing and involved parenting, and greater interparental hostility. Finally, mothers' hostile and coercive parenting was directly related to both adolescents' academic and sociobehavioral outcomes, whereas fathers' nurturing and involved parenting was related to academic but not sociobehavioral outcomes.     

Values of Portuguese/non‐Portuguese mothers of kindergarten children,and of kindergarten teachers

The aim of this research was to identify continuities/discontinuities in the values of Portuguese mothers with kindergarten children belonging to high and low socio‐cultural backgrounds, mothers from different cultures and kindergarten teachers. The sample was composed of sixty‐five mothers (fourteen Roma, fifteen Indian, twelve African, and ten Portuguese from low socio‐cultural backgrounds, and fourteen Portuguese from middle and high socio‐cultural backgrounds) and fifteen kindergarten teachers, from middle and high socio‐cultural backgrounds. They all worked in multicultural classes, and all were aged between 18 and 45. A list of behaviors and open questions about adaptive/non‐adaptive behaviors and the metaphor of Adaptive Adult were applied to identify their values. Results show continuities and discontinuities in mothers’ and kindergarten teachers’ values. The most important were: (1) valuing of autonomy by the kindergarten teachers and Portuguese mothers from high socio‐economic backgrounds and (2) valuing of conformity by Indian and Roma mothers. Discontinuities were also observed between (1) kindergarten teachers and all groups of mothers concerning personal fulfillment, only valued by kindergarten teachers, (2) professional fulfillment, only valued by Indian mothers, and (3) self characteristics, only valued by Portuguese mothers from a low socio‐economic background. Implications of these results are analyzed with regard to research, the training of kindergarten teachers and the nature of interventions with parents.     

Flight into despair: a profile of recent Haitian refugees in South Florida

Based on a 1983-1984 random sample survey of 499 Haitians who had recently arrived in the US, plus participant observation and intensive interviewing, this article examines the following areas: 1) individual background characteristics of Haitian immigrants; 2) their arrival and early resettlement experiences; 3) their education, knowledge of English, and information about the US; 4) current employment status and occupation; 5) income and use of public assistance; 6) predictors of employment, occupation, and income; and 7) beliefs and orientations. Few immigrant groups in recent history have suffered unemployment, downward occupational mobility, and poverty to the extent that Haitians have. In part, this situation is a consequence of the modest education and occupational training brought by these refugees--above average in the country of origin but significantly below US standards. However, even among the better educated and knowledgeable, unemployment rates are unacceptably high and occupational status and income extremely low. The 2nd part of the explanation must be found in the reception accorded to this group. Haitians arrived into a social context unprepared to receive them either as economic immigrants or as political refugees. Their claims for political asylum have been repeatedly rejected by the US. The motivation of individuals who crossed 700 miles of open sea to Florida aboard barely seaworthy craft is high enough to succeed, but the Haitians' inability to gain more than a temporary entrant status weighs heavily against their eventual success.     

Living Arrangements, Employment Status, and the Economic Well-Being of Mothers: Evidence from Brazil, Chile, and the U.S

Using data from Brazil, Chile, and the U.S., we estimate country specific models of household income that characterize mothers according to their marital status, living arrangement, and employment status. We assess the predicted economic well-being of each type of mother relative to a benchmark of married mothers in the same country, and at various points in the income distribution. We find dramatic cross-country differences in the distribution of mothers across categories, but few differences in each type's relative economic status. In all three countries and at all points in the income distribution, mothers who are the only adults in their households have the lowest levels of predicted income, while married mothers—followed closely by cohabitors—have the highest levels.     

How Contexts of Reception Matter: Comparing Peruvian Migrants’ Economic Trajectories in Japan and the US

This paper examines how Peruvian migrants fare economically in two historically and culturally distinct host countries, Japan and the US, drawing upon a survey and interviews conducted in both countries. Peruvian migrants surveyed share similar socio‐economic backgrounds and migrated to both countries for similar reasons roughly around the same time. Yet, over time, they achieved more occupational upward mobility in the US than in Japan. Japan has not done quite as well as the US in providing immigrants with occupational opportunities due to its less diversified immigrant labor market, limited entrepreneurship opportunities, and restricted modes of immigrant incorporation. Does it mean, however, that Peruvian migrants are less successful in Japan than the US? Although occupational mobility is a commonly used measure of social mobility, the definitions and meanings of “success” are context‐dependent. Peruvians in the US do experience more occupational mobility, but diverge more greatly in economic achievement amongst themselves. In Japan, on the other hand, while they experience little occupational mobility, they have had more economic equality with relatively stable and high wages. The paper examines Peruvian migrants’ distinct economic trajectories over time, focusing on their occupational mobility. We conclude that occupational mobility matters, not necessarily because it accompanies higher income, but because it shapes migrants’ aspirations. In the context where immigrants’ destinations have become more diverse in the world, the paper provides insights into how immigrants “make it” and what it means to “make it” in recent destinations, such as Japan, in comparison to more traditional immigrant countries, such as the US.     

Income characteristics and the use of microfinance services: evidence from economically active persons with disabilities

The purpose of this empirical research from Uganda is to provide initial insight into the ‘black box’ of understanding the economic behaviour of persons with disabilities and about their use of microfinance services. First, we analyse the income levels of persons with disabilities in relation to their sources of income. Second, we study the income sources and income levels for different types of disabilities. Finally, we analyse how income level and income source relate to the use of microfinance services for persons with disabilities. We present evidence that farmers with disabilities and persons with visual impairments have lower income levels than other persons with disabilities. We then document that those with the lowest income levels have the least access to microfinance services, in particular services from formal institutions. Moreover, respondents involved in farming and manufacturing have less access to formal microfinance services than those involved in retail/wholesale or service activities.     

Women's Economic Standing,Marriage Timing,and Cross‐National Contexts of Gender

Proponents of the theory of specialization and exchange hypothesize that in any national context, women's higher economic standing will decrease their chance of marriage. Some researchers suggest, however, that only in industrialized countries with a high degree of role differentiation by gender does the inverse relationship between women's economic standing and the chance of marriage exist. To evaluate contrasting cross‐national predictions, I test with longitudinal data and standardized methods whether the inverse relationship exists in 3 similarly affluent industrialized countries that vary in their degree of role differentiation by gender: the United States, Japan (a context more differentiated by gender than the United States), and Sweden (a context less differentiated by gender than the United States). Contrary to the prediction that develops out of the theory of specialization and exchange, results indicate that women's higher levels of income discourage first marriage formation in Japan, but encourage it in the United States and Sweden.     

Net Worth and the Economic Diversity of the Elderly

Using data from the 1984 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this article examines characteristics of the older population disaggregated by net-worth quantities. The authors argue that income is not a sufficient measure of economic status for current policy discussions on issues such as changing Medicare co-payments, increasing the taxation of social security benefits, or means-testing under Medicaid. Net worth is a better measure of economic status, particularly for the elderly, because it represents the net value of assets accumulated over the life course. Their results indicate that there is considerable diversity in the economic status of the older population, which is masked by aggregate statistics (such as means and medians) typically used to summarize the economic status of population groups. Stereotypical views of the elderly based on such aggregates result in misdirected policy formulation. In the future, policymakers will need to formulate policies and program using information on the distributions of income and assets among the older populations rather than relying on statistical aggregates.     

Net worth and the economic diversity of the elderly

Using data from the 1984 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), this article examines characteristics of the older population disaggregated by net-worth quintiles. The authors argue that income is not a sufficient measure of economic status for current policy discussions on issues such as changing Medicare co-payments, increasing the taxation of social security benefits, or means-testing under Medicaid. Net worth is a better measure of economic status, particularly for the elderly, because it represents the net value of assets accumulated over the life course. Their results indicate that there is considerable diversity in the economic status of the older population, which is masked by aggregate statistics (such as means and medians) typically used to summarize the economic status of population groups. Stereotypical views of the elderly based on such aggregates result in misdirected policy formulation. In the future, policymakers will need to formulate policies and programs using information on the distributions of income and assets among the older populations rather than relying on statistical aggregates.     

Socio-economic fertility theories and their relevance to population policy

A theory of fertility is necessary to assess the justification for family planning and to understand the effectiveness of the programs. 3 possibilities for uses of a theory of fertility are discussed: 1) assessment of population projections, 2) indications of what can be expected from family planning, and 3) assessment of population control projects. Birthrates are high, but fertility rates in developing countries are between 40% and 60% below the maximum possible. Social and cultural elements and economic incentives and constraints play a role in keeping the birthrates high. Economic development is frequently accompanied by a drop in fertility, but economic development implies other simultaneous changes which influence fertility rates. Gary Becker's fertility theory holds that with higher income people would purchase more children, the people behaving as they would in purchasing consumer durables. However, higher income groups frequently have fewer children. Becker says that higher income families want high-quality children who are more expensive. A pure economic theory does not explain all of the fertility variations; it is necessary to take account of the socioeconomic processes that result from economic development. Family planning policies that influence people's motivations should be developed.