Childbearing Across Partnerships in Australia,the United States,Norway, and Sweden

This article compares mothers’ experience of having children with more than one partner in two liberal welfare regimes (the United States and Australia) and two social democratic regimes (Sweden and Norway). We use survey-based union and birth histories in Australia and the United States and data from national population registers in Norway and Sweden to estimate the likelihood of experiencing childbearing across partnerships at any point in the childbearing career. We find that births with new partners constitute a substantial proportion of all births in each country we study. Despite quite different arrangements for social welfare, the determinants of childbearing across partnerships are very similar. Women who had their first birth at a very young age or who are less well-educated are most likely to have children with different partners. The educational gradient in childbearing across partnerships is also consistently negative across countries, particularly in contrast to educational gradients in childbearing with the same partner. The risk of childbearing across partnerships increased dramatically in all countries from the 1980s to the 2000s, and educational differences also increased, again, in both liberal and social democratic welfare regimes.     

The Impact of Social Expenditure on Attitudes Towards Immigration in Europe

There is a growing body of literature dealing with the causes behind anti-immigrant sentiment and xenophobia. Based on the literature on the fiscal burden model, this paper contends that the differences in attitudes toward immigration, between low and high statuses, can be explained by the size of the welfare state. We argue that the impact of socio-economic status on attitudes toward immigration is larger in countries where social expenditure is high. Since a potential increase in the number of welfare recipients due to new immigrants might lead to a reduction in per capita transfers, low-income individuals in these countries are expected to be more concerned about the effect of immigration on social benefits. Using multilevel models and data from the European Social Survey we have found that while the effect of socio-economic status on attitudes toward immigration is positive there is a great deal of variation between countries. The difference in attitudes between high and low socio-economic statuses increases as social expenditure increases. Moreover, increases of social expenditure in the short run increases anti-immigrant sentiment as it raises concerns about the impact of immigration on welfare services.     

Do Cross-National Differences in the Costs of Children Generate Cross-National Differences in Fertility Rates?

Parity-specific probabilities of having a next birth are estimated from national fertility data and are compared with nation-specific costs of having children as measured by time-budget data, by attitude data from the International Social Survey Program, and by panel data on labor earnings and standard of living changes following a birth. We focus on five countries (the United States, the former West Germany, Denmark, Italy, and the United Kingdom), whose fertility rates span the observed fertility range in the contemporary industrialized world and whose social welfare and family policies span the conceptual space of standard welfare-state typologies. Definitive conclusions are difficult because of the multiple dimensions on which child costs can be measured, the possibility that child costs affect both the quantum and the tempo of fertility, the relatively small fertility differences across industrialized nations, and the inherent small-N problem resulting from nation-level comparisons. Empirical analysis, however, supports the assertion that institutionally driven child costs affect the fertility patterns of industrialized nations.     

The marginal cost of public funds with an aging population

"As populations in the United States and other advanced economies grow older, the burden of social security and health care financing is expected to rise markedly. Payroll, income, and other taxes on working populations are projected to rise accordingly. The marginal welfare cost to workers of social security and other public expenditures is analyzed within the context of a two-period life cycle model. By relaxing separability assumptions that have become common in the literature, the theoretical structure properly incorporates the effect of these public expenditures on labor supply. Comparative statics results indicate that changing age structure is likely to raise the marginal welfare to workers of social security, education, and other public expenditures. Illustrative calculations for the United States confirm this result, suggesting that the cost to workers of incremental social security benefits may easily double by 2025-2050."     

Validation of the Beliefs Against Volunteering Scale among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Participation in volunteer service is an indicator of quality of life. This study attempts to validate the Beliefs Against Volunteering Scale (BAV), an assessment of the negative beliefs about volunteerism among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. The BAV was administered to 5,946 Chinese adolescents. The BAV and its subscales were found to be internally consistent. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed two factors (i.e., “conceptual bias” and “instrumental bias”) against volunteering. This supports the factorial validity of the test. The BAV scores showed a differentiation of volunteers versus non-volunteers, thus supporting the criterion-related validity of the test. The negative correlations between BAV and (1) measures of positive beliefs about volunteering; and (2) purpose in life demonstrated the construct validity of BAV. The findings suggest that BAV is a reliable and valid instrument in assessing underlying negative beliefs about volunteerism among Chinese adolescents.     

Obesity and excess mortality among the elderly in the United States and Mexico

Increasing levels of obesity could compromise future gains in life expectancy in low-and high-income countries. Although excess mortality associated with obesity and, more generally, higher levels of body mass index (BMI) have been investigated in the United States, there is little research about the impact of obesity on mortality in Latin American countries, where very the rapid rate of growth of prevalence of obesity and overweight occur jointly with poor socioeconomic conditions. The aim of this article is to assess the magnitude of excess mortality due to obesity and overweight in Mexico and the United States. For this purpose, we take advantage of two comparable data sets: the Health and Retirement Study 2000 and 2004 for the United States, and the Mexican Health and Aging Study 2001 and 2003 for Mexico. We find higher excess mortality risks among obese and overweight individuals aged 60 and older in Mexico than in the United States. Yet, when analyzing excess mortality among different socioeconomic strata, we observe greater gaps by education in the United States than in Mexico. We also find that although the probability of experiencing obesity-related chronic diseases among individuals with high BMI is larger for the U. S. elderly, the relative risk of dying conditional on experiencing these diseases is higher in Mexico.     

Latin America and the Social Contract: Patterns of Social Spending and Taxation

This article analyzes the incidence of social spending and taxation by income quintile for seven Latin American countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Absolute levels of social spending in Latin America are fairly flat across income quintiles, a pattern similar to that in the United States and differing from the more progressive pattern of spending in the United Kingdom. The structure of taxation in Latin America is also similar to that of the United States. Because of high income inequality in Latin America and the US, the rich bear of most the burden, whereas the United Kingdom taxes the middle class to a greater extent. The analysis suggests that many Latin American countries are trapped in a vicious cycle in which the rich resist the expansion of the welfare state (because they bear most of its tax burden without receiving commensurate benefits), and their opposition to its expansion in turn maintains long‐term inequalities.     

Social Capital and Casino Gambling in U.S. Communities

This paper empirically analyzes the impact that the spread of casino gambling has on social capital in communities throughout the United States. Social capital is a networking process that translates into an individual’s effectiveness in the community and workplace, and binds communities together. Several recent studies have also demonstrated a link between higher levels of social capital and quality of life. In this study, social capital is measured based on six dimensions: trust, civic, volunteerism, group participation, giving, and meeting obligations of family and friends. Using data from the DDB Needham database for the years 1978, 1988, and 1998, regression analysis is conducted on over 300 Metropolitan Statistical Areas throughout the United States to determine the impact that the spread of casino gambling has on social capital. The results of the analysis indicate that the presence of casino gambling significantly reduces social capital when a casino is located within 15 miles of a community, suggesting that a casino’s location influences a community’s quality of life and should be a consideration when deciding on the merits of gambling legalization.     

You can go home again: Evidence from longitudinal data

In this paper we analyze the economic and demographic factors that influence return migration, focusing on generation 1.5 immigrants. Using longitudinal data from the 1979 youth cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLSY79), we track residential histories of young immigrants to the United States and analyze the covariates associated with return migration to their home country. Overall, return migration appears to respond to economic incentives, as well as to cultural and linguistic ties to the United States and the home country. We find no role for welfare magnets in the decision to return, but we learn that welfare participation leads to lower probability of return migration. Finally, we see no evidence of a skill bias in return migration, where skill is measured by performance on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test.     

Exploration of the Factorial Structure of the Revised Personal Functions of the Volunteerism Scale for Chinese Adolescents

Participation in volunteer services can be regarded as an indicator of quality of life among adolescents. The Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) has long been used to assess the underlying motives of volunteers. Owing to conceptual, methodological and empirical limitations, the VFI could not be fully endorsed to understand Chinese adolescent volunteerism. Another scale was devised, called the Revised Personal Functions of the Volunteerism Scale (R-PFVS). This study focused on the exploration of the factorial structure of the R-PFVS. The R-PFVS was administered to a large sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 5, 946). Data were split into two halves: one for exploratory factor analysis and the other for confirmatory factor analysis. The scale showed good factorial validity. Seven factors were revealed, namely, well-being, learning, socializing, pro-social competence, altruistic concern, future plan, and civic responsibility functions. The factors were highly correlated with each other. A second-order factor model was established, and all seven factors were loaded on this higher-order abstract factor. The R-PFVS subscales and the overall scale demonstrated good internal consistency. The findings were compared with the VFI. The R-PFVS can be used in assessing the underlying motives behind volunteerism among Chinese adolescents and in studies on the quality of life.     

Patterns of Mobile Phone Use in Developing Countries: Evidence from Africa

According to traditional welfare economics welfare occurs at the point where a good is purchased and some amount of utility is assumed to derive therefrom. According to Sen and others however one needs to look in addition to what use is made of the good after purchase. This paper throws new light on this process by means of a large new data-set that examines use patterns of mobile phones in 11 African countries. The main hypothesis is that this technology will be most widely used in countries lacking in viable alternatives to the use of mobile phones e.g. where public transport is weak or roads are poor. The results tend to support this view though there remains much to be explained.     

The economic nature and value of volunteer activity in Canada

Recent concerns with the quality of life have led economists to investigation of activities outside the market and beyond GNP, among them household work, volunteer services, and student time investment. The present study focuses upon volunteer activities, delineating at the outset the boundary between economic and non-economic types of volunteer action. Our main concern is to analyze what economic volunteer services are, and to estimate their dollar value. A scheme is proposed to classify volunteer actions as to their economic and non-economic aspects, isolating those that are economic in nature. This last group, Economic Volunteer Services (EVS) is further classified by type of function (Health, Education, etc.) and the scheme is illustrated by reference to a sample of 322 volunteer agencies. In addition a second scheme of classification is developed for the particular ESV jobs or tasks performed by volunteers, and this scheme is illustrated with a sample of 5334 volunteer requests made to the Metro Toronto Volunteer Centre. The analysis of agency types show that the major users of volunteers are Health and Rehabilitation centres, and Neighbourhood Multi-Service Agencies. Analysis by types of jobs reveals that Supervision and Friendly Visiting are the major ones; adding to this Parole Counselling, Child Care, Clerical Work, and Driving, one accounts for about 60% of all volunteer actions. Fifteen other groups of jobs account for the remaining 40%. The average work assignment in all agencies and jobs is 5.0 hours per week, varying from a high of 7.0 in Friendly Visiting and Co-ordination tasks, to a low of 2.0 for Teaching and Therapy Assistance. Variation by agency type is found to be far greater. The value of such volunteer work is then estimated and found to be, for the sample used, about $800 per annum per volunteer in 1971. A conservative estimate of the numbers of volunteers doing EVS places this value in the aggregate at 1% of GNP; an upper bound estimate for volunteer involvement makes the aggregate 3%. Finally, the study analyzes the availability of data in Canada on voluntarism, and concludes that there is very little hard data; in particular, there is not a single comprehensive census or even a national survey to serve as a benchmark. We note also, however, that there exists a good potential network for compiling such information, namely the Volunteer Centres or Bureaus in most Urban areas.     

Donating Time or Money? The Effects of Religiosity and Social Capital on Civic Engagement in Qatar

Few studies have examined the role of religiosity and social capital on civic engagement in the context of a Muslim country. In this paper, we explore the impact of religiosity and social capital on charitable donations and volunteerism in Qatar. Drawing on a nationally representative survey from Qatar, we consider various attitudinal and behavioral measures for capturing religiosity and social capital. The results indicate that, even after controlling for a wide range of demographic variables, behavioral measures have a stronger effect than attitudes. Individuals who regularly perform daily prayers are more likely to donate than those individuals who simply describe themselves as religious. Similarly, individuals who are more active in their neighborhood engagement are more likely to volunteer than those who merely report high levels of social trust. These results suggest that when it comes to the relationship between religiosity, social capital and civic engagement, individual behavior is much more predictive than attitudes alone. We also find that even in the case of Qatar, where citizen wealth has rapidly increased in the last few decades, there is little evidence of substitution effects: citizens do not appear to trade-off or substitute between time and money. Instead, more religious and active citizens are likely to do both.     

Black business transformation,black well-being,and public policy

This article examines public policy and social welfare issues related to a recent trend in black business ownership: the decline of black-owned businesses in ‘traditional’ personal services serving a predominantly black clientele, and the corresponding increase of black-owned businesses in ‘emerging’ capital- and knowledge-intensive fields. It is argued that, while the growth of black business ownership in emerging fields is a sign of black economic progress, overall trends in black business ownership are not entirely positive. For one thing, the divergent trends in traditional and emerging black-owned firms reflect widening socioeconomic disparities within black communities. Moreover, the decline of traditional black-owned firms bodes ill for disadvantaged blacks in inner-cities. After reviewing the development of black business enterprise in the United States, trends in black business ownership since the 1970s are examined. Patterns of change in traditional personal services and emerging business services are then linked to social and economic transformations that have enabled many blacks to participate in the larger national economy. The article concludes by discussing the implications of declines in traditional black businesses for black well-being and for public policy.     

U.S. foreign economic policy and illegal immigration

It is often suggested that the most effective policy for the United States, if it wishes to curtail illegal immigration from nearby countries, is to manipulate foreign economic instruments to support their economic development. The Reagan administration's Caribbean Basin Initiative is responsive to this approach in its proposals for increased aid and trade and tax preferences for beneficiary countries. Analysis of U.S. trade, investment, and aid relations with migrant-sending countries leads to the conclusion that these preferences could have a marginal impact on job creation in these countries, but there is no assurance that a modest rise in economic opportunity will lead to a decrease in emigration in the foreseeable future. In addition, preferential trade and tax treatment for some countries involves a departure from U.S. policy and would lead to a clamor for equal treatment by other countries.     

我国家庭政策的发展路径与目标选择

我国家庭政策的发展经历了与欧美国家完全不同的路径。由于社会福利和保障制度背景和发展水平不同,我国家庭政策的发展方向与发达国家存在本质上的差异,与发达国家"去家庭化"的方向相反,我国家庭政策发展的主要方向应该是"家庭化",即基于家庭责任前提构建福利保障体系,通过强化家庭功能实现为公民提供福利和保障的目标。我国的家庭政策具有双重任务:一方面要补充社会福利发展水平低造成的保障程度不足,提升家庭自身福利供给和保障能力;另一方面要针对家庭变化产生的问题,调整社会福利配给和组织方式,扩大以家庭为生计单位的福利保障。我国的发展型家庭政策要以提升家庭发展能力为重点,包括就业支持政策和供养家庭支持政策两大类。     

Direct Versus Indirect Questioning: An Application to the Well-Being of Farm Animals

Recent events suggest people are increasingly concerned not just with their own well-being but that of animals as well. However, there is little systematic evidence on people’s willingness-to-trade their own well-being and quality of life for improvements in the well-being of farm animals. In this paper, we utilize a straightforward and unobtrusive technique to mitigate socially desirability effects and gage the publics’ opinion about farm animal welfare: indirect questioning. In survey of United States households, we find sharp differences between direct and indirect questions related to farm animal welfare. For example, whereas only 15.6% of the public said they think low meat prices are more important than the well-being of farm animals, 67.5% said the average American thinks low meat prices are more important than the well-being of farm animals. This finding, coupled with the extant literature on indirect questioning, suggests that people’s concerns for farm animal welfare are actually much lower than what they say they are.     

计划生育家庭福利政策改革思路研究

随着经济体制变革、社会结构变动、利益格局调整等不断深化,传统家庭功能面临严峻挑战,计划生育家庭问题尤为突出。家庭是国外为数不多的福利扩张领域,也应是我国福利"增长"的优先领域。计划生育家庭福利改革框架包括三个层面:一是针对因执行计划生育国策而产生的确定性风险或不足,在养老保障个人账户下建立计生子账户,实现国家补贴直接送达家庭;二是针对因特有概率事件而形成的不确定性风险建立政策性生育保险,并覆盖农村育龄群体;三是明确计划生育/生殖健康服务作为国家基本公共服务的属性。     

Future life expectancy in Australia,Europe, Japan and North America

Human life expectancy has risen in most developed countries over the last century, causing the observed demographic shifts. Babel, Bomsdorf and Schmidt (forthcoming) introduce a stochastic mortality model using panel data procedures which distinguishes between a common time effect and a common age effect of mortality evolvement. Using this mortality model, the present paper provides forecasts of future life expectancy for 17 countries divided into 12 regions: Australia, Alps, Bene, Canada, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Scandinavia and the United States of America. We consider (traditional) period life expectancies as well as cohort life expectancies, the latter being a more realistic approach but less common. It turns out that a continuing increase of life expectancy is expected in all considered countries. Further, we show that the probabilistic uncertainty of forecast life expectancies is different if either period life expectancies or cohort life expectancies are considered and, moreover, the uncertainty increases substantially if the error of parameter estimation is included.     

A Global Overview of Male Escort Websites

This article details a preliminary dataset of global male escort sites to give insight into the scale of the online market. We conducted a content analysis of 499 Web sites and also measured traffic to these sites. Our analysis examined the structural characteristics of escort services, geographical and regulatory contexts, and resilience of such services. Results suggest that most sites are independent and not affiliated to escort agencies, and the majority cater to male escorts soliciting male clients, with a number of sites for female clientele and couples. These Web sites are dispersed globally, with Asian, European, and South American countries the major hubs in the market and a small number of large multinational sites based in the United States and Europe figuring as a major presence in markets. Although still subject to high levels of regulation in many parts of the world, the data suggest that male escorting is becoming more visible in diverse cultural contexts as measured by the number of Web sites appearing in public spaces.