A Discrepancy Index for the Study of Participation with an Application to the Case of Higher Education in Italy

This article proposes and applies a simple method to measure the distance from a situation of uniform participation. First, a discrepancy index based on the use of generalized Lorenz curves is presented. This index can be expressed in terms of means and Gini indices of relevant characteristics in the populations of participants and that of a control group. A multivariate extension is also illustrated. The discrepancy index is then used to analyse access into higher education in Italy during the nineties. Discrepancy between participants and non-participants is especially high in terms of parents’ wealth and education, less in terms of income. Also, discrepancy is higher during recessions. Multivariate analysis reveals that “cultural constrains” are more important than financial constraints. Hence, efforts to equalize opportunity for access into higher education should be as much focussed on motivation and social background as they are on financial constraints.

A Composite Indicator for University Quality Assesment: The Case of Spanish Higher Education System

This study presents a synthetic indicator for quality assessment in the Spanish public university system. The indicator is based on a series of components and simple indicators that were obtained from the public universities’ financial planning estimates. The paper takes a quantitative, wide-ranging approach to analyse the quality of university institutions and is intended to be complimentary to other qualitative approaches. Data Envelopment Analysis was used in order to facilitate the aggregation and weighting of the data used to construct the synthetic indicator. This technique allows the analyst to endogenously determine the weighting of the partial indicators while respecting the peculiarities intrinsic to each university. The results reveal that there are significant differences among Spanish public universities. In addition to how relatively well each of the institutions performs, other factors would seem to be influencing the results; essentially these are related to socio-economic factors and to the application of university policy in Spain over recent decades.

Young Generations' Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from a Migrant Background

Focusing on individuals aged 14–35 still living with their family of origin, we compare the political activism of Italian natives with their first and second-generation migrant peers. We based our analysis on two different national household surveys, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2011–2012: the survey 'Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini stranieri' [Condition and Social Integration of Foreign Citizens] and 'Aspetti della vita quotidiana' [Multipurpose Survey on the Aspects of Everyday Life]. Our results revealed that natives are more likely to be involved in politics compared to their migrant peers. However, the migrant background is not a factor negatively affecting youth participation or involvement in politics in itself. The gap with native is fully explained by differences in socio-economic background and family political socialisation. When these aspects are controlled, data suggest that no differences exist in participation to most time-consuming acts (such as taking part in political meetings, demonstrations, participation in a political association, etc.). More of it, young people with migrant backgrounds are more likely to be engaged in activities that reflect a general interest in politics, such as discussing politics, seeking information on Italian politics, and listening to political debates, compared to their native counterparts.

     

The Relationship Between Islam and Democracy in Turkey: Employing Political Culture as an Indicator

During the last decade the agenda of local and global politics is heavily marked by the encounter of two powerful currents, namely democracy and political Islam. On the one hand Islam as a religion itself is facing a cultural dialectic between a modern and an authentic form, producing a synthesis which is only to be criticized again by a new radical antithesis. Within that framework political Islam is perceived to be a tool for this current antithesis, attacking the states for impiety and materialism. Democracy, on the other hand, is becoming dominant as a criterion of good government, the “only game in town”, with its inherent complexity which reveals itself in each particular context. The two currents are not necessarily irreconcilable, but they produce a number of different effects on each other whenever they meet. The fundamental contention of this article is to demonstrate this relationship within the Turkish setting.     

A Brute Indicator for a NEET Case: Genesis and Evolution of a Problematic Concept and Results from an Alternative Indicator

This article analyses the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET ) concept and related indicators and its effects on both youth policies and the perception of young people. It is argued that a “weak version” of social exclusion is often used to explain the phenomenon. This leads both to defective policies (as a “victim blaming” approach tends to be developed instead of structural policies) and to the negative labelling of the NEET young people (as research and policies tend to focus on the individual’s deficits and thus associate them with negative values). An alternative indicator is proposed, aimed at reducing the heterogeneity of the situations the concept includes and focus on the core NEET group. This restricted concept centres on those individuals who do not seem to have any objective impediment to study or work. Figures are calculated for the Spanish region of Catalonia and results show a lower proportion of people in a NEET situation; that the NEET rates for young people and adults are similar; that the phenomenon is not new; and confirm that it is related to the risk of social exclusion. These results reinforce the need for an approach which is more sensitive to inequalities to improve our understanding of the NEET population and to avoid the stigmatisation of individuals, generations and countries.     

The Replacement Rate: An Imperfect Indicator of Pension Adequacy in Cross-Country Analyses

Pension systems are usually evaluated from the perspective of two basic criteria: pension adequacy and financial sustainability. The first criterion concerns the level of pension benefits and protection of the elderly from poverty. The second criterion applies to financial liquidity. This paper is primarily of methodological nature. We discuss the problem of measuring pension adequacy, focusing mainly on the replacement rate, which, defined in a number of ways, is the most common measure of pension adequacy. However, as we argue in this paper, it covers only one of its dimensions, namely consumption smoothing. Meanwhile, an equally important dimension, often discussed in the literature and included in most definitions of pension adequacy, is protection of old-age pensioners from poverty. Accordingly, we have proved the thesis that the replacement rate is not a sufficient measure of broadly understood pension adequacy in cross-country studies. Consequently, we have proposed alternative (or possibly complementary) measures called the synthetic pension adequacy indicators (SPAI1-3), defined in basic form as a quotient of relative median income and the at-risk-of-poverty rate. These indicators provide for both the above-mentioned dimensions of adequacy and, according to statistical analysis, also represent them very well. Moreover, the indicators, calculated separately for men and for women, enables evaluation of the third dimension of pension adequacy, namely gender-related differences in pension adequacy.     

Data Gap Analysis,Indicator Selection and Index Development: A Case for Developing Economies

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and its measurement is a key policy focus across the globe. Despite existence of several indices and reporting agencies, it is a challenging task to identify progress, specifically in the case of developing economies. These economies are predominantly in Asia and Africa and have a great bearing on global performance. These countries have diverse geographical and cultural elements with an active sub-national institutional framework. Data gap coupled with poor data quality and limited financial support does not help their case. Without appropriate indicator selection and index measurement it is not possible to judge the actual current situation or compare the SDG situation around the world. This paper attempts a practical and simpler approach to overcome the constraints, provide direction and facilitate measurement of SDG position in such countries using the case of India. This is done by identifying gaps, suggesting a tailored approach to indicator selection and measurement and further, developing a suitable index for SDG measurement at the sub-national level. The results and findings should be of great interest for policy making and implementing agencies.

     

The Case of the Disappearing Mexican Americans: An Ethnic-Identity Mystery

We examine the issue of identification stability for U.S.-born Mexican Americans, by far the largest of the ethnic groups growing as a result of contemporary immigration. We demonstrate a significant exodus from the group as identified by the census. Although changes in the wording of the census question may have contributed to this loss, a major portion, as revealed by comparisons of birth cohorts across the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses, occurs because individuals who identified themselves as Mexican American at an earlier point in time do not do so at a later point. In addition, there are exits that occur between generations because of past intermarriage, evident in the number of non-Hispanics who claim Mexican ancestry. The losses appear to be accounted for by two kinds of identity shifts: toward identities that have a mainstream character and thus appear reflect conventional assimilation; and toward identities that have a pan-ethnic character, i.e., with Hispanics or Latinos. These exits are selective, but in complex and partially off-setting ways. Nevertheless, the comparison of the characteristics of U.S.-born members of the Mexican–American group over time is likely to be affected by changing patterns of identification.

Income Inequality and Political Participation: A District-Level Analysis of Hong Kong Elections

Social Indicators Research - Income inequality has long been suggested as a crucial factor in determining political participation. This study focuses on the case of Hong Kong, a city with...     

The Link Between Political Participation and Life Satisfaction: A Three Wave Causal Analysis of the German SOEP Household Panel

Is there a relationship between political participation and individual life satisfaction? The idea that political participation makes people more satisfied with their lives has long been debated. However, the existing empirical research has not been very successful in demonstrating that such a relationship exists while some studies show that instead it is individual life satisfaction that impacts political participation. This paper aims to shed some light on the issue of causality between political participation and individual life satisfaction. Unlike former studies, we resort to panel data and apply a three wave model which allows us great flexibility to test several hypotheses. Also unlike previous studies, after correcting for measurement error, our analysis shows no compelling evidence of a causal relationship between political participation and life satisfaction.     

(Re)Constructing the European Economic Sentiment Indicator: An Optimization Approach

Social Indicators Research - The last recession in Europe has shown us that econometric models that factor in the qualitative perceptions and expectations of businesses and consumers—along...     

Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in the Measurement of Rural Poverty: The Case of Iran

Poverty reduction is one of the major challenges confronting mankind and a principal obstacle to well-being for a large proportion of the world’s population. New paradigms of development as advocated by Chambers and others focus strongly on poverty reduction. Poverty is increasingly recognised as a multifaceted concept that can be elucidated through both qualitative and quantitative analysis. In researching poverty it is desirable to recognise both the value position of researchers and the values of local people. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data and considers both outsiders’ and insiders’ views through the use of participatory approaches in selected rural areas of Iran. A poverty index is constructed and validated in a six-stage process. On the basis of the findings, a number of recommendations are made about appropriate approaches to the investigation of poverty.     

An Indicator Framework for Linking Historic Preservation and Community Economic Development

This paper contributes to the immigration literature by generating two unique non-economic quality of life (QOL) indices and testing their role on recent migration patterns. Applying the generated QOL indices in conjunction with four independent welfare measures to an augmented gravity model of immigration, this paper finds an insignificant relationship between the six non-economic QOL measures and immigration flows for a panel of 16 OECD countries from 1991 to 2000. However, the results suggest that other factors such as the stock of immigrants from the source country already living in the OECD destination country, population size, relative incomes, and geographic factors all significantly drive the flow of immigration for the sample tested.     

农村家庭参与非农业活动的"推力"与"拉力"分析——湖北省西部山区的一项个案研究

文章利用一项对湖北省西部山区农户调查的数据,研究农户参与非农业活动的决定因素。计量经济学分析的结果表明:(1)产业间的收入差距构成了农户参与非农业活动的“拉力”;(2)较高的文化水平、邻近城镇和较发达的商品农业能促进农户参与非农业经营;(3)土地的短缺对非农业活动的参与构成了一种“推力”;(4)较好的土地质量能促使农户专注于农业经营,抑制其参与非农业的倾向;(5)非农户和纯农户之间的收入差距主要由非农业经营和农业经营的收益率的差异决定。     

Democracy and Female Labor Force Participation: An Empirical Examination

This paper empirically examines associations between female labor force participation (FLFP) and democracy. Using a cross-country, time series (1980–2005) data set, we find evidence that FLFP is lower in democracies. One possible explanation is that dictators promote FLFP above what traditional norms would dictate and so a greater freedom to follow custom lowers FLFP. However, we also find that the ratio of FLFP to male labor force participation (MLFP) is similar under both types of regimes and that MLFP is also lower in democracies. This outcome casts doubt on the aforementioned explanation. Instead, one possibility is that both men and women voluntarily withdraw from the labor force with greater freedoms.     

Life Satisfaction as a Buffer of the Relationship Between Corruption Perception and Political Participation

The present article aimed at exploring the effect of corruption perception on political participation and the moderating role of life satisfaction on this relationship. To accomplish these objectives, we collected both survey and experimental data. In Study 1, corruption perception, life satisfaction, and political participation were all measured using self-report scales. The results indicated that corruption perception was negatively associated with political participation, and that life satisfaction moderated the relationship between corruption perception and political participation. In Study 2, corruption perception was manipulated by placing respondents in either a high-corruption or a low-corruption condition with subliminal priming. Compared with the high-corruption condition, the respondents primed by the low-corruption condition reported greater political participation. Furthermore, corruption perception hampered political participation only when life satisfaction was low. The results of the two studies confirmed that corruption perception attenuated political participation and that life satisfaction served as an appraisal buffer to alleviate this effect. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Food Insecurity Measurement: Stakeholder Comparisons of the EU-SILC and HFSSM Indicators and Considerations Towards the Usefulness of a Headline Indicator

Social Indicators Research - Prior to the February 2019 announcement that the Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) will be used to estimate household food insecurity, there has not been a...     

An Imperfect Contraceptive Society: Fertility and Contraception in Italy

Italy represents an unexpected and in some ways paradoxical outcome in terms of fertility control: a drop to one of the lowest birth rates in the world has been accompanied by continuing extensive use of traditional methods despite the availability of modern contraception. Using data from 349 interviews conducted in 2005–06 in four Italian cities, we argue that Italian women commonly achieve “unplanned” and desired conceptions through the use of withdrawal and natural methods. While data from other countries reveal similar notions of ambivalence surrounding pregnancy intentions and contraceptive use, Italy stands out for the surprising correlation between highly “managing” the conditions under which children are born and the socially commended approach of “letting births happen.” Such results suggest the need to rethink theoretical understandings of low fertility. Through the use of non‐technological methods, individuals manipulate culturally produced norms and beliefs about the appropriate time to have a child; simultaneously, their actions are embedded in larger cultural, economic, and political processes.     

A Well-Being Indicator for the Italian Provinces

Social Indicators Research - In recent years, a significant number of papers has been published providing alternative measures of progress and well-being to Gross Domestic Product. Most of these...