Lagging behind in suburbia: Suburban versus urban newcomers’ employment settlement service outcomes in Metro Vancouver,Canada

Suburbanization is reshaping the context of immigrant settlement in Canada. Newcomer immigrants are increasingly settling initially in suburban communities as opposed to traditional receiving neighborhoods in urban centers. However, the quality of settlement services for newcomers to suburban neighborhoods has lagged behind, creating a mismatch between newcomer settlement patterns and service provision. As settlement patterns are recognized as significant determinants of employment success for newcomers and employment achievement is a key theme of integration, this study compares suburban and urban newcomers’ satisfaction with employment settlement services, associated financial experiences and coping mechanisms. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with 43 newcomer immigrants in Vancouver and three surrounding suburbs, we argue that suburban newcomers experience more difficulties with employment services from settlement service agencies than do urban newcomers. Subsequent unemployment may contribute to suburban settlers experiencing greater difficulty paying their monthly bills than do urban immigrants.     

Opportunities for making ends meet and upward mobility: differences in organizational deprivation across urban and suburban poor neighborhoods

Objectives. Given the recent rise of poverty in U.S. suburbs, this study asks: What poor neighborhoods are most disadvantageous, those in the city or those in the suburbs? Building on recent urban sociological work demonstrating the importance of neighborhood organizations for the poor, we are concerned with one aspect of disadvantage—the lack of availability of organizational resources oriented toward the poor. By breaking down organizations into those that promote mobility versus those that help individuals meet their daily subsistence needs, we seek to explore potential variations in the type of disadvantage that may exist.Methods. We test whether poor urban or suburban neighborhoods are more likely to be organizationally deprived by breaking down organizations into three types: hardship organizations, educational organizations, and employment organizations. We use data from the 2000 U.S. County Business Patterns and the 2000 U.S. Census and test neighborhood deprivation using logistic regression models.Results. We find that suburban poor neighborhoods are more likely to be organizationally deprived than are urban poor neighborhoods, especially with respect to organizations that promote upward mobility. Interesting racial and ethnic composition factors shape this more general finding.Conclusion. Our findings suggest that if a poor individual is to live in a poor neighborhood, with respect to access to organizational resources, he or she would be better off living in the central city. Suburban residence engenders isolation from organizations that will help meet one's daily needs and even more so from those offering opportunities for mobility.     

女性犯罪特点及防控

女性犯罪是影响家庭和谐及社会稳定的重要因素。近年来,女性犯罪呈现逐渐上升趋势,且超过同期的男性犯罪增长率。为有效预防具有增长势头的女性犯罪,应全面加强法制教育和道德教育,提高女性就业率和经济地位,发挥社区保障功能,努力营造健康的社会文化环境、和谐的家庭氛围。     

日本帝国主义殖民统治下的台湾地区阶级分析

本文利用台湾“中央研究院”的“历史人口计划”所提供的日据时期户籍数据库,运用新韦伯派阶级分类法,分析不同出生世代的阶级结构,并以多元逻辑回归统计模型估计其阶级流动的几率。研究发现,无论在农业部门还是工业部门,越晚出生的世代(尤其是1895年后的出生者)无产阶级化的趋势越明显,而且糖业资本集中发展的中南部地区比北部地区更明显;其次,工业部门的本土雇主与自雇者大幅减少,显示日本垄断资本对台湾地区本土资本的竞争优势导致台湾地区工商业部门的无产化;第三,农业部门人口比例衰退的趋势在20世纪20年代之后逐渐稳定下来,这可能是“米糖相克”与家户生计逻辑造成的结果;第四,一方面受“农业台湾”的日本殖民政策限制,另一方面受家庭生计逻辑的影响,台湾地区的专业管理阶级或资本家在子女分户时仍经常划分农地给后嗣,因此出现了工业部门人口回流农业部门的向下流动的特殊现象,但已经靠农业就业的人口却难以流向工业部门。本文的贡献在于重建历史资料来研究日据时期台湾地区的阶级流动,并呈现工业国家之外殖民地社会的阶级不平等。     

Global Economy and Gender Inequalities: The Case of the Urban Chinese Labor Market*

Objectives. This article examines the effects of economic globalization on gender inequalities in urban China. It argues that the significance of economic globalization on gender inequality depends on its impact on job queues in the labor market of a country. Methods. Using both individual‐ and city‐level data, and a series of multilevel linear and logistic models, we analyze the effects of three city‐level variables on the gender gap in income: foreign direct investment (FDI) per capita, growth rate of FDI, and opening up to overseas investment early on. We also examine gender differences in employment in high‐paying foreign‐invested firms, and in lower‐paying export‐oriented manufacturing. Results. We find no variation in gender gap in income among cities of varying levels of FDI, growth rates of FDI, or whether they were among the earliest to open up to international investment. Women are more likely to be employed in export‐oriented manufacturing industries that offer lower wages and are less likely to work in high‐paying foreign firms and joint ventures. Conclusions. These results suggest that economic globalization profoundly influences gender inequalities by changing the nature of job queues, and men and women are sorted and matched into jobs accordingly. Economic globalization contributed to and perpetuated a gendered distribution of male and female workers in the Chinese urban labor market in the late 1990s.     

Local approaches to counter a wider pattern? Urban poverty in Portland,Oregon

A model U.S. city, Portland Oregon's progressive policies are often credited with making it highly livable, with a vibrant urban core. Yet these policies have not protected Portland from broader trends that have increased urban poverty over the past several decades in the U.S., including social welfare cuts and the shift in the economy to the service sector. In terms of poverty dynamics and social policies, we argue that while regional planning and other progressive policies have helped protect Portland from extremely high concentrated poverty present in many large U.S. cities, it has still experienced growing social dislocations associated with national and macro-level social and economic factors. These trends suggest both the possibilities and limits of local policy, regional planning, and activism for ameliorating the deleterious consequences of social welfare retrenchment and franchise capitalism for vulnerable urban populations, and highlight the importance of the broader social policy context and economic change for understanding urban poverty and the experiences of the urban poor.     

加强城乡规划工作,引导中国城镇化健康发展

市场经济的发展使城市在区域之间、城镇之间、城乡之间的经济社会联系加强,中心城市在区域经济发展中的辐射带动作用不断提高,城镇密集地区在区域经济发展发挥着重要作用。因此,加强城乡规划工作,引导中国城镇化健康发展在当前显得尤为重要。     

源于身份的隔阂:人口多样性、社会信任与犯罪

本文以2014年中国劳动力动态调查（CLDS）数据为基础，构建了一个人口多样性指数，并将其与288个城市的数据相匹配，检验了人口多样性与犯罪率之间的关系。实证结果表明，人口多样性是导致城市犯罪率上升的原因之一，且这一发现是稳健的。作用机制检验结果表明，社会信任是一个重要的中介变量，即人口多样性通过削弱社会信任水平导致犯罪率的上升。进一步，从地区制度环境和民生支出水平两个角度展开的实证检验发现，产权保护越完善、民众对法庭越有信心，政府在公共教育和社会保障上的财政支出越高，人口多样性对犯罪率的影响越弱，说明良好的制度和较高的社会福利支出具有显著的犯罪治理效应。本文的发现为城市化进程中我国各级政府的犯罪治理政策选择提供了经验证据，有助于科学把握犯罪治理的着力点。     

Crime in Our Cities: A Comparative Study

Crime rates in New South Wales are compared with overseas figures. Comparisons are made between Sydney and eight American and two Canadian cities of similar size. Urban-rural crime rates are studied by relating Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong to the rest of the State. In both rural and urban areas the rates for homicide, sex offences and other offences against the person are relatively low when compared with American rates. The rates for property offences and car theft are similar to those which exist in America and, and in the case of Sydney, exceed the rate of these offences in the two Canadian cities studied.     

Unification of the Urban Minimum Living Standard in China: Using a Consumption Expenditure Percentile Method

ABSTRACT. The Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (MLSG) system in urban China was established in the 1990s. As a national income benefit program, this system has huge regional differences as a result of regional variation in economic development and the methods used to calculate the benefit. This article uses a consumption expenditure percentile method to measure and evaluate the benefit level of the MLSG system. The analysis shows that the consumption expenditure replacement rates in central cities are decreasing, but in prefectural-level cities, by contrast, they are increasing. The regional differences in replacement rates when comparing central cities are considerable and are even larger among cities at a prefecture level. Per-capita consumption expenditure is positively correlated with minimal living standards but negatively correlated with the replacement rate. Such variation in the value and operation of the MLSG system suggests an urgent need to implement a national unified scheme. The article proposes a single approach to calculating Minimum Living Standard benefits using a consumption expenditure replacement rate that would allow for local differences while providing national cohesion.     

论政府在统筹城乡发展中的功能与作用

统筹城乡发展是一项非常复杂的社会系统工程,加强政府对城乡关系的宏观调控至关重要,不可或缺。政府对统筹城乡发展具有规划功能、导引功能、调节功能、服务功能。政府必须把加快城镇化建设,实现城乡劳动者充分就业,培育城乡统一市场,实现城乡居民收入增长作为调控现阶段城乡关系的方向和重点。应注意充分发挥规划、政策、法律等机制在调控城乡关系中的作用。     

Economic adversity and crime: old theories and new evidence

In this article we make a case for the continuing relevance of economic adversity and social policy in the understanding and prevention of crime. We begin by discussing early theories positing a causal relationship between economic adversity and crime and examine the factors that have led to a loss of confidence in these theories. We then summarise two prominent strands of research investigating important indirect criminogenic effects of economic adversity. The first deals with the long‐term impact of economic adversity on parenting. The second analyses the impact of economic adversity on crime through its effect on informal social controls within a community. Finally, we review recent empirical studies that use modern econometric techniques to explore the direct effects of economic adversity on crime, highlighting research focused on factors such as wages, employment, housing, and income support programs. The paper concludes by suggesting a number of areas for future research.     

Is Immigration Responsible for the Crime Drop? An Assessment of the Influence of Immigration on Changes in Violent Crime Between 1990 and 2000*

Objectives. The idea that immigration increases crime rates has historically occupied an important role in criminological theory and has been central to the public and political discourses and debates on immigration policy. In contrast to the common sentiment, some scholars have recently questioned whether the increase in immigration between 1990 and 2000 may have actually been responsible for part of the national decrease in crime during the 1990s. The current work evaluates the influence of immigration on crime in urban areas across the United States between 1990 and 2000. Methods. Drawing on U.S. Census and Uniform Crime Report data, I first use ordinary least squares regression models to assess the cross‐sectional relationship between immigration patterns and rates of homicide and robbery among U.S. cities with populations of at least 50,000. Second, I employ pooled cross‐sectional time‐series models to determine how changes in immigration influenced changes in homicide and robbery rates between 1990 and 2000. Results. In the ordinary least squares models, immigration is associated with higher levels of homicide and robbery. However, the pooled cross‐sectional time‐series models suggest that cities with the largest increases in immigration between 1990 and 2000 experienced the largest decreases in homicide and robbery during the same time period. Conclusion. The findings offer insights into the complex relationship between immigration and crime and suggest that growth in immigration may have been responsible for part of the precipitous crime drop of the 1990s.     

Threats,chances and opportunities: social capital in Europe in times of social and economic hardship

The 2008 financial and economic crisis, characterized by an economic breakdown unparalleled since the Great Depression, provides a unique opportunity to study the relationships between economic developments and social capital by asking: How does social capital change in times of social and economic hardship? In order to explore the trends of social capital development, data from the European Social Survey 2002–2016 are used. The results suggest that economic decline – particularly increasing unemployment – is associated with a decline in social capital, especially in southern European countries. Furthermore, increasing long-term interest rates as an indicator of government future debt sustainability appear to be detrimental for social capital development. The impact of economic decline, however, appears to be contingent upon the functioning of state institutions: especially in countries characterized by well-functioning governments social capital is significantly less affected by economic decline than other countries.     

Residents’ preferred policy actions for shrinking cities

Cities facing a continued and prolonged process of population decline require innovative urban regeneration policies complementary to growth-oriented policies. Losing inhabitants involves a decrease in economic activity and social capital. Therefore citizens’ participation in defining policies to cope with population decline is being increasingly advocated. This research focused on four shrinking cities of Portugal to capture residents’ knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of their city of residence as well as the policies and actions they prioritized for dealing with the population decline. The responses from 701 questionnaires show that economic revival policies as well as safety and accessibility policies were preferred. To put these policies into action, the recovery of industrial activity, the creation of business incubators, an improvement in law enforcement, and public lighting were ranked as top priorities. Rank-ordered logistic regression models were used to understand which variables influenced the residents’ rankings. We found that the evaluation of the city's characteristics impact the ranking of the policies and actions. Hence, residents show a high level of coherence when engaging in a discussion at the level of policy-making. Therefore, the findings support residents’ involvement in decision-making processes regarding urban regeneration in shrinking cities.     

Drug Enforcement and Crime: Recent Evidence from New York State*

Objective. The objective of this article is to provide evidence about the effectiveness of drug law enforcement as a tool for reducing other types of crime. Considerable resources are devoted to enforcing our nation's drug laws, but existing research suggests that intensifying drug law enforcement may serve to increase, rather than decrease, crime. Method. Using data for 62 counties in New York State for 1996–2000, we estimate a set of models that evaluate the effects of recent drug arrests on reported rates of assault, robbery, burglary, and larceny. The estimated statistical model includes controls for fixed effects, time effects, autocorrelation, and heteroskedasticity. Results. The consistency of results is striking—there is no model in which drug arrests are found to have a significant negative relationship with crime. All crimes are positively related to arrests for the manufacture and sale of “hard drugs.” Increases in total per capita drug arrests and arrests for “hard drug” possession are accompanied by higher rates for all crimes except assault. Increased arrests for the manufacture or sale of marijuana are associated with increases in larcenies. Conclusions. The empirical findings raise serious questions about the effectiveness of drug enforcement as a crime‐control measure and suggest that significant social costs may arise from existing approaches to drug control.     

方言距离与城市流动人口犯罪的同群效应——基于广州、深圳、东莞三市的实证分析

在快速城市化过程中,由人口流动带来的区域文化碰撞在推动经济增长的同时,也深刻影响着社会融合。基于中国裁判文书网、《汉语方言大词典》、2017年全国流动人口动态监测调查的数据,本文以广州、深圳、东莞三大人口超千万的人口净流入城市为例进行实证分析,以方言距离为文化差异的代理变量,研究其如何影响城市流动人口的同乡团伙犯罪行为。研究表明,方言距离与流动人口同乡团伙犯罪显著正相关,同群效应是文化差异增加流动人口同乡团伙犯罪率的主要途径之一。本文从方言距离视角解读城市化过程中文化隔阂对城市社会和谐稳定的影响,丰富了文化影响移民犯罪及治理的理论探索,对推进以人为本的新型城镇化具有一定借鉴意义。     

SPECIAL ISSUE： REGIONAL CONVERGENCE AND COORDINATED URBAN GROWTH Externalities, Transport Networks and the Economic Growth of Urban Clusters

利用网络分析工具和新经济地理理论对新古典区域经济增长模型进行修正，通过对交易费用的细分构建外部性和运输网络下的城市群经济增长模型，并利用1990-2008年中国部分城市数据和向量自回归模型（VAR）进行实证检验，得出以下结论。在运输网络影响下，中心城市依靠要素集聚获得增长，非中心城市快速接近中心城市。运输网络的改善，将加速中心城市的要素集聚。同时，在保留部分新增要素的情况下，增加节点集聚系数、降低非中心城市问的运输成本，利于非中心城市对外部性的应用，加速其经济增长，促进与中心城市的协同增长。因此，在建设交通运输基础设施时，不仅要重视非中心城市与中心城市的互联互通，更要重视非中心城市间的相互联结。     

Social security in central and eastern European countries: Continuity and change

Continued social protection in central and eastern Europe is vital in order to compensate for the loss of rights previously provided by the State, to ease the process of economic change and, not least, to maintain social cohesion without altogether subjecting populations to the vagaries of the market economy system. Long steeped in the tradition of social insurance, many of these countries had adapted their systems of protection to the Soviet model, while reflecting certain universal trends of social security policy, with an emphasis on family assistance. More recently, schemes have been complemented by unemployment benefits and by mechanisms to better take inflation into account, without prejudice to the necessary guarantee of a minimum level of assistance. They must still be adapted to facilitate occupational mobility, to promote employment, to involve the people covered by them in their management, and to deal with deteriorating health services, while taking account of problems stemming from resource limitation. Although reform must not obscure the need for continuity, uncertainty remains as to its outcome.     

Welfare program participation among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers in China

Xu Q, Guan X, Yao F. Welfare program participation among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers in China Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 10–21 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. An estimated 225 million Chinese people have migrated to cities from China's rural areas over the past two decades. These rural‐to‐urban migrant workers have greatly challenged China's welfare system. The pre‐reform welfare system was a duel scheme with an urban–rural distinction in which rural residents were not covered by state‐run welfare programs and had to rely on their families and rural collectives. The development of employment‐based social insurance programs in 1999 made social welfare programs available for rural‐to‐urban migrant workers. Using an anonymous survey conducted in seven cities across China in 2006, we found that social insurance program participation rates were low among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers. Individual factors, including lack of knowledge of welfare programs and of a willingness to participate, and macro‐level factors, including type of employer and industry, are critical in determining migrant workers' participation in welfare programs. Implications for policies and practice are discussed.