Parental job loss and children's educational attainment in black and white middle-class families

Objectives. We aim to understand why blacks are significantly less likely than whites to perpetuate their middle-class status across generations. To do so, we focus on the potentially different associations between parental job loss and youth's educational attainment in black and white middle-class families.Methods. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), following those children “born” into the survey between 1968 and 1979 and followed through age 21. We conduct multivariate regression analyses to test the association between parental job loss during childhood and youth's educational attainment by age 21.Results. We find that parental job loss is associated with a lesser likelihood of obtaining any postsecondary education for all offspring, but that the association for blacks is almost three times as strong. A substantial share of the differential impact of job loss on black and white middle-class youth is explained by race differences in household wealth, long-run measures of family income, and, especially, parental experience of long-term unemployment.Conclusions. These findings highlight the fragile economic foundation of the black middle class and suggest that intergenerational persistence of class status in this population may be highly dependent on the avoidance of common economic shocks.     

劳动力非永续性转移的经济成因及其创新路径

遵循本文提出的城市生活能力分析框架,在转移成本不断减少的情况下,劳动力的即期城市生活能力不断增强,但在可持续性工资收入瓶颈、城市生活成本过高等成本收益的双重约束下,劳动力的长期城市生活能力很低,由此形成了当前中国特殊的“两栖”劳动力转移形式,但这显然不是中国劳动力转移的理想模式。为此,本文提出,劳动力的代际转移是一种可行的次优路径。当代劳动力“两栖”转移的长远意义在于,为其子女的代际转移提供非人力财富、人力资本和社会资本等多维的原始动力。同时,必须为代际转移的顺利实现辅以必要的政策支持,当务之急是为进城务工农民子女的率先市民化提供一揽子的政策举措。     

The Portfolio Choices of Hispanic Couples*

Objectives. The objective of this article is to assess the overall wealth level and portfolio choices of Hispanic families. Methods. We use Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data to first estimate the determinants of net worth. Conditioning on overall wealth levels, we then estimate a model of asset portfolios. Results. Our results reveal that Hispanic couples as a group are less wealthy than otherwise similar white couples, although there is substantial variation across Hispanic‐origin groups. Accounting for these wealth disparities, Hispanic couples hold less financial wealth, but more real estate and business equity than do white couples. Conclusions. Much of the disparity in portfolio choices of Hispanics as a group relative to whites appears to stem from the fact that they are less wealthy. At the same time, it is important to separately analyze the wealth position of distinct Hispanic‐origin groups.     

What Price Nondisclosure? The Effects of Nondisclosure of Real Estate Sales Prices*

Objective. Only a select set of states still do not require mandatory public disclosure of real estate sales prices. In this article we examine the possible public‐sector consequences of failing to make real estate sales prices publicly accessible. Methods. We propose a set of possible public‐sector consequences of sales price nondisclosure (property tax assessment inequities, tax revenue leakages, administrative inefficiencies, and related ancillary effects). We identify examples, provide limited empirical evidence (simple regressions and distributional analyses) on the restricted data available, and discuss the relevant legal considerations at a variety of administrative and geographic scales. Results. The limited statistical results and examples provide evidence of possible inequities in effective tax rates and tax revenue leakages that may be connected to sale price nondisclosure. Conclusions. We argue that there is a strong prima facie case for legitimate public concerns attached to real estate sales price nondisclosure.     

Distributional Impacts of Pension Policy in Argentina: Winners and Losers within and Across Generations

The paper deals with the life‐cycle intra‐ and intergenerational income transfers operated by the pension system in Argentina by estimating the internal rates of return obtained by different generations and types of workers from their participation in the system. The empirical analysis confirms that earlier generations of workers benefited from higher social security returns than later generations, which retired under a matured system with large deficits. The worst‐affected cohorts were those born after 1920, particularly suffering from a social security crisis and falling real wages. For future generations retiring fully under the new mixed pension system, returns will more closely depend on financial market performance and the evolution of administration costs. Intragenerational transfers were also observed for all cohorts under study, as a result of the original system design as well as adjustments adopted during the implementation process. The real distributional impact of progressive benefit formulas could, however, be offset by state transfers to cover pension deficits and forward tax shifting in a context of unequal pension coverage.     

The Experiences of Reciprocity among Filipino Older Adults in Canada: Intergenerational,Transnational, and Community Considerations

ABSTRACT

This article illustrates the concept of reciprocity in the context of immigrant families. It recommends that definition of reciprocity account for exchanges beyond the immediate family, and render visible the simultaneous location of older people as care recipients and providers, and care arrangements across generations, borders, community, and time. Adopting a critical ethnographic study on the aging and care experiences of older Filipinos in Canada, this article analyzes data from extended observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 older people, 6 adult children, and 13 community stakeholders. Findings highlight the unique configurations of care among the Filipino community whereby older people engage in care exchange as active participants across intergenerational, transnational, and fictive kin networks.     

Estimating the fiscal costs of long‐term jobless families in Australia

Despite substantial costs to society associated with the adverse consequences of joblessness, studies estimating actual costs are rare. This paper identifies the main costs to the Government of long‐term jobless families in Australia. The costs were split into three groups: immediate support costs, immediate opportunity costs, and indirect/intergenerational costs. Using a microsimulation model, the paper estimates the fiscal costs, which include immediate support costs such as the welfare system, and the immediate opportunity costs such as potential revenue from the tax system. We estimate that welfare payments and lost taxation revenue from long‐term joblessness cost the Government AU$5.55 billion per year.     

Changes in the taxation of private pensions: Macroeconomic and welfare effects

This paper provides an applied general equilibrium analysis of several alternative taxation regimes applying to private pensions. The analysis focuses on the implications of this and other pension tax regimes for intergenerational equity, national living standards, labour supply, saving and social welfare. The method of analysis is simulation of an open economy overlapping generations CGE model. The model is calibrated to Australia and is used to examine the decision, announced by the Australian Government in its 2006 Budget, to exempt from tax all superannuation (the Australian term for superannuation) benefits received by recipients over 60 years of age.     

Economic Segregation,Race, and Homicide*

Objective. Prior research assessing the association between structured inequality and homicides has produced inconsistent findings, particularly in regard to establishing an association between economic disadvantage and black homicide rates. In this study, we employ a measure of the spatial distribution of income, Jargowksy's (1996) economic segregation measure, to assess overall and race‐specific homicide rates. Methods. Using cross‐sectional Census data and Supplemental Homicide Report data across 166 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the present analysis uses negative binomial regression models to examine the association between economic segregation and homicide rates. Results. We find that both economic segregation and absolute deprivation (i.e., the overall extent of economic disadvantage) are robust predictors of black, white, and overall homicide rates. However, an alternative measure of economic segregation, a measure capturing poverty concentration, was not found to be a significant predictor of black homicide rates. Conclusion. We suggest that further studies should consider the extent of isolation across the income continuum, instead of focusing solely on poverty concentration.     

The Roles of Parenting Styles and Social Capital in the School Performance of Immigrant Asian and Hispanic Adolescents*

Objective. This study investigates the role of parenting styles and social capital (parental involvement, intergenerational closure, expectation, and trust) in accounting for school performance among ethnic groups and across immigrant generations. Methods. Using data from the Adolescent Health Survey, we estimate fixed‐effects models to analyze students' grade‐point averages. We compare three generations of Asian students and three generations of Hispanic students to the third‐generation (native born with native parents) white students. Results. We find significant differences by both race/ethnicity and generational status in parenting styles and forms of social capital. However, while family socioeconomic status (SES) accounts for the achievement gap between foreign‐born Hispanic and the third‐generation white students, parenting styles and forms of social capital do not moderate any ethnic‐generational differences. Conclusions. Family influences, apart from SES, cannot explain ethnicity‐generation differences in school grades among Hispanic and Asian adolescents. This study provides conceptual clarification and empirical evidence for the significant but independent association between students' school grades and parenting styles on the one hand, and social capital on the other.     

Global imbalances and household savings: The role of wealth

Many claim that fluctuations in U.S. private savings help to create and to sustain global imbalances because of their influence on the current account deficit. To test this claim, this paper investigates the determinants of aggregate household savings using a panel of 18 developed countries for the period 1980–2005. We weave two strands of literature: the first strand from consumer theory, considering specifically the ‘wealth effect’, the second strand from aggregate private savings theory. The original contribution of this paper derives from the main explanatory variables of the household savings function: two measures of household wealth, the first a financial variable and the second a variable for tangible/housing stock. The salience of these variables has not been tested before. The model is then enriched with variables taken from the private savings literature. To find the best technique to estimate the long run savings function, unit root and cointegration tests are carried out, from which evidence of a cointegrating relationship is found. The group means FMOLS is used to estimate the model. The empirical evidence suggests effects consistent with theory: an increase in wealth negatively affects household savings. Furthermore, when important explanatory variables, such as government savings and population dependency ratios, are included in the model, tangible wealth becomes the only kind of wealth to (weakly and negatively) influence household savings in developed countries. In the U.S. however, wealth does not seem to affect household savings negatively, it seems instead that government savings and population changes better explain the decline of savings during the past two decades. This finding provides additional evidence on the issue of global imbalances, and suggests that the recent booms of the stock and the real estate markets should not be blamed for the decline in U.S. household and private savings.     

Equity and Redistribution Between Generations: A Challenge for the Future of Pensions and all Social Protection Schemes

Throughout Europe today, the problems of employment and the prospects of pronounced demographic ageing combine to raise a number of questions on the future of pensions and on the underlying principles of redistribution between generations. Everywhere a new debate has arisen on intergenerational equity. It has often served as the justification for pension scheme reforms introduced or pending in most countries. Some clarification is needed on what is actually meant by intergenerational equity, all the more so with the ongoing complexity of the scientific and political arguments on the subject. In this paper I attempt to show, on the basis of information derived from my research, why a financial view of intergenerational redistribution seems inadequate and how, in discussing the future of such redistribution, there are new forms of life cycle organization and redistribution of worktime and compensated inactivity across this life cycle that need to be considered. This paper aims to show that in considering the future of pension schemes and the prospects of a contract between generations one must take into account the manner in which the distribution of work operates between all ages and across the whole life cycle, in relation to the structure of social security. Welfare states today constitute an inextricable tangle of risks and coverage systems. In such circumstances it would seem rash to countenance the kind of public pension reforms that have been envisaged by a number of member countries of the European Union, not leastFrance, without taking into account the close relationship that now exists between pensions, unemployment insurance and disability. Reform in one sector cannot meet the challenge of the ageing population in our developed societies.     

Intergenerational Continuities and Their Influences on Children's Social Development

The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of the recent efforts by psychologists to explore intergenerational continuities and their influences on children's social development. A primary criterion for inclusion in the review was use of three generations of subjects represented in the research, although two generation studies were included to supplement or expand upon the conclusions drawn from three generation studies. The following domains of research were reviewed: (1) literature regarding the repetition of child abuse across generations, (2) research examining the intergenerational continuity of attachment status, (3) investigations of the continuity of parenting and childrearing behavior parents experienced with their own parents, (4) research examining intergenerational continuities in parenting involving non-human primates, and (5) investigations of intergenerational continuities in both peer and sibling relationships. Across all literatures reviewed, evidence was found for intergenerational continuity with gender of parent affecting results. Two primary mechanisms for transmission appear to be cognitive schemas of relationships and modeling. A paradigm is proposed describing possible means of intergenerational transmission of influence on the social development of children.     

Maintaining solidarity across generations in New Zealand: Support from mid‐life adult to ageing parent

Abstract

This paper establishes the key factors influencing functional solidarity—the material and emotional support mid‐life New Zealanders provide to an ageing parent or in‐law. Using the theoretical framework of intergenerational family solidarity, empirical analysis draws on the 1997 Transactions in the Mid‐Life Family survey of individuals aged 40–54. Results indicate that mature, adult children with no partner and living far from their parent are the least likely to provide emotional and in‐kind help and will be more hesitant to offer emotional support to in‐laws compared to their own parents. Adult children of Christian background, and possibly those who are homemakers and not employed, are more likely to provide in‐kind help, but those in rural areas are less likely. Surprisingly, ill health, a large household, being employed, and continuing to provide help to a young adult child who has left home do not necessarily hinder the respondent in helping an ageing parent. The argument that intergenerational relations are increasingly subject to compromise as mid‐lifers face unprecedented demands for support from other generations needs critical consideration. Further analysis should consider the cultural significance of intergenerational transactions, and how they may be influenced by the cognitive‐affective dimensions of intergenerational family solidarity.     

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.     

Citizenship Lessons from the Past: The Contours of Immigrant Naturalization in the Early 20th Century*

Objectives. What were the determinants and patterns of naturalization in the first two decades of the 20th century? Low levels of citizenship acquisition among contemporary immigrants are frequently contrasted to the assumed rapid naturalization of prior European migrants, but in truth we know little about the earlier period. Historic data are well suited to investigate four explanations for naturalization: individuals' resources and skills; regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to citizenship; relative costs and benefits of citizenship; and the degree of political mobilization directed to immigrants. Methods. I use U.S. Census microfile data to run logistic regression models, and documentary material to examine the contours of immigrant naturalization in the early 20th century. Results. I find that while individual attributes matter, place of residence could be even more important; in 1900, where an immigrant lived influenced naturalization more than birthplace, ability to speak English, or literacy. Residence effects seem linked to a state's relative openness to immigration and local political mobilization. Over time, however, residence effects attenuate as the 1906 Naturalization Act and establishment of a federal naturalization bureaucracy appear to make citizenship patterns more uniform across the country. Conclusions. These findings suggest that historic and contemporary explanations of immigrants' naturalization should focus as much on the context of reception as the presumed quality of immigrants.     

代际流动的模式：理论理想型与中国现实

本文在疏理西方代际流动理论的基础上,提出流动模式的三种理想类型,并分析其制度条件和结构特征,希望能对当代中国社会流动的特征和趋势分析有所启发。本文认为,在不同的制度背景和社会条件下,相应的流动模式是不同的。本文提出三种理想类型对应于三种不同的社会类型,分别是（1）依据绩效原则的自由竞争模式,其特征是流动机会按个人能力和贡献分配,对应于完全市场制度的社会;（2）社会不平等结构下的家庭地位继承模式,其特征是家庭的社会经济背景对子女的地位获得有决定性的影响,社会的不平等结构因此而代代相传,如果一个社会的不平等程度越大,跨阶层流动越困难,代际的地位继承性特征越突出;（3） 国家庇护流动模式,其特征是国家通过政策和制度设计,干预社会流动进程,特定的阶层将拥有更多的流动机会、或被剥夺应有的机会。文章最后对中国改革开放后流动模式的转变和现状提出了一些基本的判断。     

The new privatized market: A question of ideology or pragmatism within the Swedish addiction treatment system?

Given its traditions of universal welfarism and social democracy, Sweden had already scored unexpectedly high on New Public Management by the 1980s. Health and welfare services remain primarily tax‐funded, but the production of care is increasingly transferred to a competitive quasi‐market. To what extent can this development be understood in terms of right‐wing governments, and to what extent in terms of other, socioeconomic and pragmatic factors? We examined this question through official statistics on providers of institutional addiction care since 1976, and through the total expenditure and purchases by local‐level municipal social services of interventions for substance users in Sweden in 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. We have analyzed the distribution across public and private providers within the addiction treatment system, and whether national developments and local differences across the 290 municipalities—which bear the major treatment responsibility—can be understood in terms of local‐level political majority, population size, and local wealth. The share of purchased services has remained stable, but the treatment system shows increasing financial turnover and an increasing share of for‐profit providers among producers of purchased care, especially in outpatient treatment. While venture capital enterprises emerged as a new actor, non‐governmental organizations lost out in importance. Bourgeois government correlated with larger shares of purchasing and purchases from for‐profit providers. However, purchasing on a market dominated by for‐profit providers has also become the “new normal”, regardless of ideology, and recent years have shown a reversed effect of left‐wing municipalities purchasing more services than right‐wing governments. Pragmatic reasons also influence local‐level purchasing.     

Educational inequality across three generations in Australia

The transfer of advantage and disadvantage across multiple generations is receiving increasing attention in the international literature; however, transfers of resources across multiple generations in Australian families are less well understood. Using a longitudinal dataset of Australian children, we have the opportunity to not only investigate the transfer of educational resources across three generations in Australia, but also investigate the gendered nature of these transfers, which has been a limitation of other studies. We find no evidence of individual grandparent education effects on numeracy and reading scores for grandchildren in Year 3, independent of parent educational attainment and other covariates. However, significant effects on numeracy and reading scores were observed for children in families where both the grandmother and grandfather in maternal and paternal grandparent sets had high educational attainment (a diploma or university qualification), and where either or both the mother and father had a university qualification. These results suggest that the contribution of grandparents to the academic achievement of grandchildren cannot be fully explained by the parent generation and that the concentration of human capital in families contributes to educational inequalities across multiple generations that can be observed by eight years of age.