The Labor Market Participation of Sandwich Generation Italian Women

We empirically analyzed the labor market participation of Italian women, with special emphasis on the role of intergenerational family links. Older relatives, on the one hand, discourage the work participation of women by requiring care; on the other hand they may provide household services favoring labor supply. We studied this dual impact estimating a trivariate probit model where the three choices to be in the labor force, to use informal help from older relatives and to care for them are jointly determined. Our estimates show that care duties towards members of the previous generation hinder the labor market participation of Italian women, and that informal help received from older relatives strongly increases their probability of being engaged in paid work.

What is child care? Lessons from time-use surveys of major English-speaking countries

This paper examines the definition and measurement of time devoted to child care in the diary-based surveys administered by the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Detailed analysis of the relationship between measures of care activity and supervisory care in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) illustrate the larger conceptual issues at stake.

Efficiency and the Fix Revisited: Informal Relations and Mock Routinization in a Nonprofit Nursing Home

Participant observation in a nonprofit nursing home reveals that informal patterns of work routinization depart markedly from official procedures designed to protect the health and safety of workers and residents. Six aspects of the informal organization of work are found to correspond closely to patterns observed by Roy (1954): the mismatch between time and tasks, the development of new (informal) skills, the institutionalization of rule-breaking, negative effects on quality, the collaboration of shop-level supervision, and workers’ experience of managerial irrationality. However, whereas classic manufacturing studies emphasized upper management's periodic attempts to force compliance to official rules and routines, here upper management engages only in symbolic interventions, collaborating with workers and nursing home residents in the “mock routinization” of work. The article concludes by showing how, in the context of contradictory external workplace regulation, all three parties to the labor process of the contemporary nursing home experience mock routinization as compatible with their own interests.

“Family-Friendly” Fringe Benefits and the Gender Wage Gap

Evidence suggests a large portion of the gender wage gap is explained by gender occupational segregation. A common hypothesis is that gender differences in preferences or abilities explain this segregation; women may prefer jobs that provide more “family-friendly” fringe benefits. Much of the research provides no direct evidence on gender differences in access to fringe benefits, nor how provision affects wages. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we find that women are more likely to receive family-friendly benefits, but not other types of fringe benefits. We find no evidence that the differences in fringe benefits explain the gender wage gap.

The scoring rules in an endogenous election

Plurality rule is mostly criticized from being capable of choosing an alternative considered as worst by a strict majority. This paper considers elections in which the agenda consists of potential candidates strategically choosing whether or not to enter the election. In this context, we examine the ability of scoring rules to fulfil the Condorcet criterion. We show for the case of three potential candidates that Plurality rule is the only scoring rule that satisfies a version of the Condorcet criterion in two cases: 1) when preferences are single-peaked and, 2) when preferences are single-dipped.

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Exploring the Design of Financial Counseling for Mortgage Borrowers in Default

This paper analyzes the effects of counseling provided to borrowers in mortgage default (n = 299). Borrowers receiving more hours of counseling perceive counseling more favorably than those receiving fewer hours of counseling. Using measures of marketing efforts to instrument counseling time confirms the positive effect of counseling duration on borrower ratings of counseling. Borrowers are more likely to attend additional counseling sessions after receiving face-to-face counseling as opposed to telephone counseling, although preference among modes can largely be explained by time in counseling. Each additional hour of counseling reduces the marginal probability of a borrower moving to a more severe stage of foreclosure. Counseling could be more successful if provided for longer durations regardless of the delivery mode.

Business Ethics of Innovation

Business ethics of innovation strives to give orientation in settings where new products, new markets, new environments are predominant. The provision of new products and solutions is inseparably intertwined with the consequences of their use. These can be manifold and in some cases an (unwanted) consequence might even preclude them from being used. A case in point is illustrated by an example from the pharmaceutical industry.An earlier version of this paper appeared in the Newsletter No. 49, September 2004 of the Europäische Akademie GmbH, ISSN 1432–0150.

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Effects of Dynamic Attributes of Smiles in Human and Synthetic Faces: A Simulated Job Interview Setting

We examined the effects of the temporal quality of smile displays on impressions and decisions made in a simulated job interview. We also investigated whether similar judgments were made in response to synthetic (Study 1) and human facial stimuli (Study 2). Participants viewed short video excerpts of female interviewees exhibiting dynamic authentic smiles, dynamic fake smiles, or neutral expressions, and rated them with respect to a number of attributes. In both studies, perceivers’ judgments and employment decisions were significantly shaped by the temporal quality of smiles, with dynamic authentic smiles generally leading to more favorable job, person, and expression ratings than dynamic fake smiles or neutral expressions. Furthermore, authentically smiling interviewees were judged to be more suitable and were more likely to be short-listed and selected for the job. The findings show a high degree of correspondence in the effects created by synthetic and human facial stimuli, suggesting that temporal features of smiles similarly influence perceivers’ judgments and decisions across the two types of stimulus.

Migration Decisions of Dual-earner Families: An Application of Multilevel Modeling

A comprehensive framework for guiding analyses of internal migration is lacking. This study contributes to the family migration literature in three important ways. We develop a multilevel theoretical framework emphasizing an integration of individual-, family-, and neighborhood-level effects; introduce multilevel statistical modeling; and explicitly assess how effects of economic-based explanatory variables vary by gender. Our data are from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We find that the likelihood of a family migrating is affected by economic and non-economic factors, some of which vary by gender. We add to the dual-earner migration literature by finding that wives are not likely to be tied-movers, but husbands are likely to be tied-stayers. Neighborhood factors also are important to the decision to migrate.

Paying for the Dream of Public Ownership: Case Studies on Corruption and Privatization in China

The proceeding of privatization is a tradeoff between short-term equality and long-term efficiency. Under the existing structures of enterprise management and government powers, enterprise managers are likely to conspire with government officials to decide the way of ownership transformation and share the benefits from there. The transformation of ownership will enhance the efficiency of the company. Corruption indeed presses ahead the transformation of company ownership, whereas inequality is also aggravated during the process. Case studies are provided to demonstrate the relationship between corruption and privatization in China. Corruption and inequality are what the country pays for their dream of public ownership in 1950s. Equality, efficiency and maintaining current social and political structure cannot be achieved simultaneously during enterprise restructuring.

The market for foster care: an empirical study of the impact of foster care subsidies

When parents are suspected of child abuse or neglect, their children may be placed with foster families. We estimate the relationship between the monthly subsidies paid to foster families and the quantity of foster care services provided. The empirical model uses variation in subsidies and foster care populations within 37 states and the years 1987–1995. One innovation in our approach is that we exploit the idea that states do not appear to set market clearing rates, as evidenced by a foster home shortage during this time period. In this case of excess demand, variation in the monthly subsidy traces out the supply curve. Our results show that states with high demand may be able to use economic incentives to recruit foster families.

Informal Caregiving: Dilemmas of Sandwiched Caregivers

Increased demand will intensify pressures for informal caregiving, especially for sandwiched caregivers. Using 1999, National Long Term Care Survey data, we contrasted socio-demographic statistics, care environments, activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) assistance, life quality, and employment burden of sandwiched versus non-sandwiched parental caregivers. Regression analysis explored variables influencing caregiving hours, employment accommodation, stress, strain, time for self, social life limits, free time, and excess burden. We found no differences in caregiving hours, no greater labor force accommodation, but lower quality of life among sandwiched caregivers with more than they can handle, but they undertook parent care despite quality of life reduction. Uniquely, the research indicates sandwiched caregivers’ employment mitigates stress, strain, and burden and supports policy changes providing more supportive workplace environments.

Top-Down Civic Projects Are Not Grassroots Associations: How The Differences Matter in Everyday Life

Research on civic associations blurs an important distinction between the unfunded, informal, ongoing associations that theorists like de Tocqueville described versus current participatory democracy projects that are funded by the state and large nongovernmental organizations, are open to all, and are usually short-term. Based on a long-term ethnography of youth programs in the United States, this paper shows that entities like these, which participants and researchers alike often called “volunteer” or “civic” groups, operate very differently from traditional civic groups. The ethnography systematically details prevalent tensions that actors face when they try to cultivate the civic spirit in these increasingly typical organizations.

The Financial Assimilation of an Immigrant Group: Evidence on the Use of Checking and Savings Accounts and Currency Exchanges

This article examines the determinants of financial market participation for a particular group of immigrants: Hmong refugees in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Our findings indicate that controlling for income and education, Hmong immigrants are less likely to have savings accounts and credit cards and are more likely to use currency exchanges, compared to randomly selected non-Hmong households living in the same neighborhoods. However, these effects are mitigated by time spent in the US. Financial assimilation appears to take 15–20 years. These findings expand our understanding of immigrant assimilation and highlight some of the complexities associated with the process of assimilation.

Close to Home: A Simultaneous Equations Model of the Relationship Between Child Care Accessibility and Female Labor Force Participation

Rising rates of maternal employment among current and former welfare recipients have increased the use of non-parental child care. Little empirical work examines the relationship between women’s labor supply and the geographic supply of child care. We combine census data with child care provider information for the state of Maryland to explore the relationship between female labor supply and the geographic supply of child care. OLS and 3-SLS equations are estimated, and the findings are consistent across each estimator: Women’s labor supply is sensitive to the geographic supply of child care and vice versa. These results are important because states now spend significant money on quality improvement initiatives, many of which increase child care supply in low-income neighborhoods.

Ethnic Identity Development Among Adolescents in Foster Care

Because past research indicates that stronger ethnic identity is related to better outcomes in areas such as academic achievement and mental health, it is important to provide youth in foster care with opportunities to develop their ethnic identity. Using data from in-person interviews with 188 youth aged 14–17 in foster care (88.7% response rate), this paper explores two areas related to ethnic identity: (1) youth perceptions about their own ethnic identity, and (2) attitudes about ethnic identity development specific to the experience of being in foster care. Results suggest that black youth and Hispanic/Latino youth have a stronger sense of ethnic identity than white youth. Most youth are interested in learning more about their ethnic background. Understanding how youth in foster care identify ethnically and understanding their beliefs related to ethnic identity may lead to the enhancement of services provided to youth across child welfare, education, and mental health systems.

Path to Poverty Alleviation: Marriage or Postsecondary Education?

We examined the role of human capital in determining economic well-being and marital status of mothers with children. We analyzed 1996 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a nationally representative survey of 36,700 American households conducted by the Census Bureau. The results indicate that among the human capital variables postsecondary education significantly improves the economic well-being of mothers irrespective of their marital status. Also, educated mothers are more likely to be married. These findings are especially relevant as we debate the importance of marriage in poverty alleviation.

The quality of time spent with children in Australian households

Using data from the 1992 and 1997 Australian Time Use Surveys, we explore patterns in the quality of child care time spent by parents in Australia. Drawing on existing research, we construct and evaluate four alternative ways of defining child care quality. We estimate censored regression models of the time parents spend in high-quality child care, lower-quality child care, and market work according to these different definitions. We find that seemingly small changes in how the quality of time spent caring for children is conceptualized markedly affect the conclusions we draw about the associations of different household and personal characteristics with parents’ child care time.

Households’ precautionary behaviors—the effects of the introduction of National Health Insurance in Taiwan

By reducing risk of large out-of-pocket medical expenses, comprehensive social health insurance may reduce households’ motivation to engage in precautionary behaviors such as saving, procurement of private insurance, and spousal labor-force participation. We use the natural experiment provided by the 1995 introduction of National Health Insurance in Taiwan to examine these effects, using pre-existing differences in access to health insurance (tied to the household head’s and spouse’s joint employment status) to identify the effects of increasing insurance coverage. We find that comprehensive health insurance has a statistically significant and large effect on household savings, but no significant effects on purchase of private accident insurance and spousal employment.

Efficient nonanthropocentric nature protection

This paper analyzes nature protection by a social planner under different ‘utilitarian’ social welfare functions. For that purpose we construct an integrated model of the economy and the ecosystem with explicit consideration of nonhuman species and with competition between human and nonhuman species for land and prey biomass. We characterize and compare the efficient allocations when social welfare is anthropocentric (only consumers have positive welfare weights), when social welfare is biocentric (only nonhuman species have positive welfare weights) and when social welfare is nonanthropocentric (all species have positive welfare weights). Not surprisingly, biocentric social welfare calls for suspending all economic activities. It is more important, however, that both anthropocentrism and nonanthropocentrism make the case for nature protection through different channels, though. Our analysis suggests that one may dispense with the concept of nonanthropocentric social welfare provided that in the anthropocentric framework the consumers' intrinsic valuation of nature is properly accounted for.

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