Depressive Symptoms Among Native and Immigrant Adolescents in Norway: The Role of Gender and Urbanization

The study investigates depressive symptoms among 3,431 adolescents aged 13–15 years. The sample comprises both native Norwegian and immigrant adolescents living in Norway. The main finding of the study is that the level of depressive symptoms is significantly higher among the immigrant adolescents than their Norwegian counterparts. When analysed separately for boys and girls, the difference is still significant for boys. Generally depressive symptoms are significantly higher among girls than among boys. Depressive symptoms, especially in boys, may also be related to the degree of urbanization of the area they live in. In cities, there is a significant difference between native Norwegian and immigrant boys, with immigrant boys having a higher level of depressive symptoms than native Norwegians. The implications for future research about immigrant adolescents and their psychosocial adjustment are discussed.

Avowed Happiness in Confucian Asia: Ascertaining its Distribution,Patterns, and Sources

This study reviewed three philosophical accounts of happiness, and then tested those accounts with the Asiabarometer surveys conducted in six Confucian societies during the summer of 2006. Statistical analyses of these surveys reveal that East Asians tend to experience happiness to a greater extent when they experience enjoyment together with achievement and/or satisfaction. The preponderance of such multi-dimensional conceptions in all those societies poses a direct challenge to a single dimensional account of happiness in the West. The analyses also reveal that positive assessments of interpersonal relationships matter more than the amount of knowledge or wealth in living a happy life in Confucian societies.

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Subjective Well-being Among Young People in Transition to Adulthood

This study used a nationally representative sample of young people in Germany from the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine how demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the young persons and their parents, personality traits of the young persons, quality and quantity of relationships, the parent's level of life satisfaction, and other measures of satisfaction for the young person are related to the initial assessment of life satisfaction by the individual at the critical point of transition from adolescence to adulthood. The results indicated that consistency existed across different domains of satisfaction, specifically satisfaction with life and satisfaction with grades. A strong pattern of association was also observed between the subjective well-being of the adolescents and variables that measured different dimensions of the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships, including relationships with parents.

Production and consumption externalities of human capital: an empirical study for Italy

The estimation of the effect of local human capital on wages only might not identify properly human capital spillovers. Appropriate identification requires considering the joint effect of local human capital on both wages and rents. Empirically, we study the effects of local human capital on household-level rents and individual-level wages for a sample of Italian local labour markets. Our results show a positive and robust effect of local human capital on rents, supporting the idea that human capital generates positive externalities at the local level. Our results also suggest that consumption and production externalities have a similar impact on wages.

Explaining Changing Suicide Rates in Norway 1948–2004: The Role of Social Integration

Using Norway 1948–2004 as a case, I test whether changes in variables related to social integration can explain changes in suicide rates. The method is the Box-Jenkins approach to time-series analysis. Different aspects of family integration contribute significantly to the explanation of Norwegian suicide rates in this period. The estimated effect of separations is stronger than the effect of divorces, both for men and women, probably because separations are closer in time to the “real” marital breakup. This difference has not been demonstrated in earlier time-series research. Marriages decrease the suicide rates for males. The unemployment estimate for men has a negative sign, contributing to fewer suicides. Both increasing alcohol (beer) consumption and fewer marriages seem to be implicated in the soaring suicide rate for young men since 1970.

Public Policies and Suicide Rates in the American States

We are interested in the relationship between public policies and outcomes measuring quality of life. There is no outcome more final than the ending of one’s own life. Accordingly, we test the relationship between public policy regimes and suicide rates in the American states. Controlling for other relevant factors (most notably a state’s stock of social capital), we find that states with higher per capita public assistance expenditures tend to have lower suicide rates. This relationship is of significant magnitude when translated into potential lives saved each year. We also find that general state policy liberalism and the governing ideologies of state governments are linked to suicide rates. In response to a growing literature on the importance of non-political factors such as social connectedness in determining quality of life, these findings demonstrate that government policies remain important determinates as well.

Investment in health when health is stochastic

This paper applies stochastic control theory to the Grossman model of investment in health to characterize the case of a serious illness, i.e., one that permanently reduces the individual’s stock of health capital. Health itself is modelled as a stochastic variable, whose variation over time is determined partly by a deterministic factor and partly by a random factor with a Poisson distribution. After setting out the equations for the deterministic and stochastic approaches, phase diagrams illustrate how the introduction of uncertainty alters the model. The framework is also used to consider the effect of the introduction of a vaccine.

The effect of longevity on schooling and fertility: evidence from the Brazilian Demographic and Health Survey

This paper presents microevidence on the effect of adult longevity on schooling and fertility. Higher longevity is systematically associated with higher schooling and lower fertility. The paper looks at the 1996 Brazilian Demographic and Health Survey and constructs an adult longevity variable based on the mortality history of the respondent's family. Families with histories of high adult mortality in previous generations have systematically higher fertility and lower schooling. These effects are not associated with omitted variables and remain unchanged after a large array of factors is accounted for (demographic characteristics, family-specific child mortality, regional development, socioeconomic status, etc.).

The changing nature of wage inequality

The paper reviews recent developments in the literature on wage inequality with a particular focus on why inequality growth has been particularly concentrated in the top end of the wage distribution over the last 15 years. Several possible institutional and demand-side explanations are discussed for the secular growth in wage inequality in the United States and other advanced industrialized countries.

Racial harassment, job satisfaction, and intentions to remain in the military

Our results indicate that two thirds of active-duty military personnel report experiencing offensive racial behaviors in the previous 12 months, whereas approximately one in ten reports threatening racial incidents or career-related discrimination. Racial harassment significantly increases job dissatisfaction irrespective of the form of harassment considered. Furthermore, threatening racial incidents and career-related discrimination heighten intentions to leave the military. Finally, our results point to the importance of accounting for unobserved individual- and job-specific heterogeneity when assessing the consequences of racial harassment. In single-equation models, the estimated effects of racial harassment on both job dissatisfaction and intentions to leave the military are understated.

Enclaves, language, and the location choice of migrants

Empirical studies in the migration literature have shown that enclaves (networks) negatively affect the language proficiency of migrants. Most of these studies do not address the choice of location as a function of language skills. Using data on Mexican migration to the US, we show that migrants choose smaller networks as their English language proficiency improves.

Public transfers and marital dissolution

In this paper, we analyze determinants of marital dissolution, focusing on the alleged influences from public transfers, child allowance, and child support awards. We use a Norwegian panel of 2,806 couples with information on public and private transfers in cases of divorce. The sample was observed over a 5-year period, with the purpose of registering marital dissolution. We find that the level of transfers has a significantly positive effect on divorce probability and that the distribution of transfers in favor of the wife increases this probability. Our findings are consistent with noncooperative family models allowing for inefficient outcomes.

Measuring Structural Gender Equality in Mexico: A State Level Analysis

The main goal of this article is to assess the level of gender equality across the 32 Mexican states. After reviewing conceptual and methodological issues related to previous measures of structural inequality I detail the logic and methodology involved in the construction of a composite and multidimensional measure of gender equality, at the social structural or macrosystem, level in Mexico: GEIMS (Gender Equality Index in Mexican States). The importance of assessing the level of gender equality among Mexican states is of theoretical and practical relevance for understanding potential sources of regional differences regarding many social phenomena. The methodology can be also used to construct gender equality indexes in other Latin American countries.

Extracting the causal component from the intergenerational correlation in unemployment

This paper examines the intergenerational correlation in unemployment in Norway and discusses and estimates two approaches for extracting the causal component: sibling differences and the use of parental unemployment occurring after the child’s outcome as control for the unobserved family heterogeneity. Confirming existing evidence, I find a substantial intergenerational correlation in unemployment. Almost half of this is due to observed family heterogeneity. The causal effect is found to be statistically insignificant by both identification strategies, but while the estimated effect is negative on the sample made for the sibling-difference approach, this finding is not replicated on a less selective sample.

Assessing the Measurement and Structure of Material Hardship in the United States

Previous attempts to measure material well-being or hardship have not made clear the relationship of individual items to the broader concept of hardship. The current study used the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), a large-scale U.S. survey with a large number of questions on the material circumstances of households to create a measurement model of hardship that takes this relationship into account. A higher-order model with five-first-order factors: consumer durables, resources available to meet needs, housing conditions, neighborhood problems and crime, and community services, and a single second-order factor hardship fit the data well, with the “Housing” and “Neighborhood” first-order factors most strongly related to the higher-order hardship construct. Despite our attempts to tie the hardship measures to objective conditions, subjective evaluations were strongly related to most of the factors.

Who benefits from paid family leave? Impact of expansions in Canadian paid family leave on maternal employment and transfer income

This paper estimates the impact of a recent expansion in Canadian paid family leave from 25 to 50 weeks on maternal employment and transfer income. It finds the expansion coincided with increases in transfers to mothers of children age zero to one relative to mothers of children age three to four, and with decreases in returns to work in the year after birth. These changes were concentrated among economically advantaged groups of women, defined by marital status, education, and non-wage income. Despite these changes, there was no evidence of a decrease in returns to work or relative employment for mothers of children age one.

Socioeconomic Indicators for Analyzing Convergence: The Case of Greece: 1960–2004

The purpose of this paper is to use socioeconomic indicators for analyzing convergence within Greece at regional (NUTS II) and prefecture levels (NUTS III) since 1960. We use two alternative approaches. The first one is based on the coefficient of variation and the second one on quality of life rankings. We confirm the decline of regional inequalities in Greece, with the exclusion of the 1980s. Regions with increased tourist and trade activity are also regions with high quality of life. Border regions are usually the laggards of social and economic development.

The new economics of education: methods,evidence and policy

In this paper (my keynote talk from the 2006 ESPE conference), I discuss the recent upsurge in research on the economics of education that has occurred, especially in Europe. I discuss the reasons for the increased interest and present some examples from my recent research in the area. The paper concludes that the increased research interest seems likely to be sustained for some time to come.

How important is homeland education for refugees’ economic position in The Netherlands?

We use data on refugees admitted to The Netherlands that include registration of education in their homeland by immigration officers. Such data are seldom available. We investigate the quality and reliability of the registrations and then use them to assess effects on refugees’ economic position during the first 5 years after arrival. The most remarkable finding is the absence of returns to higher education.

An examination of some mechanisms underlying externality benefits of girls' schooling

Evidence on the extent of low enrolment and late entry for a sample of rural households in Ethiopia is provided, and two potential sources of education externality benefits for school-age children, parental and neighbourhood education, are examined. The education of parents, most significantly mothers, is found to contribute to children's schooling, as does the education of neighbourhood women. The mechanisms by which such externalities may operate are considered by examining the effects of cognitive and non-cognitive outputs of schooling upon current school enrolment of children. Findings illustrate both the importance of girls' schooling and some challenges for education policy.