Relative Economic Position and Subjective Well-Being in a Poor Society: Does Relative Position Indicator Matter?

Concern for relative income (or status in general) may have important implications for poverty and individual well-being. This paper examines the impact of relative economic position on individual’s level of well-being among poor communities in rural Ethiopia. The analysis uses a self-reported measure of overall life-evaluation as a measure of individual well-being. Despite the fact that well-being is multidimensional, the impact of non-money metric measures of relative economic position on individual well-being has not been given a lot of attention in the literature. In this study, relative economic position is measured using consumption data, asset index, and respondent’s own perception of relative wealth. The asset index captures the non-monetary dimensions of economic welfare, including education, physical assets, and social capital. We use data from the 2004 and 2009 waves of the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey and employ a multilevel modelling technique to account for individual and group level heterogeneity in our empirical analysis. We find no significant relationship between individual well-being and relative economic position measured with in consumption terms. In contrast, we do find a significant negative impact of relative position on individual well-being when we use asset indices and respondent’s own perception of relative wealth to measure relative economic position. Our findings suggest that when individuals compare themselves with others, they evaluate various aspects of their life, including their financial conditions, asset holdings, and social relations, which are hardly captured by consumption or income data in many poor countries.     

Economic inequality and child stunting in Bangladesh and Kenya: an investigation of six hypotheses

Consistent with the increasing focus on issues of equity in developing countries, I extend the literature analyzing the relationship between economic inequality and individual health to the developing world. Using survey data from Bangladesh and Kenya with economic status measured by a wealth index and with three different geographic definitions of community, I analyze six competing hypotheses for how economic inequality may be related to stunting among children younger than 5 years old. I find little support for the predominant hypothesis that economic inequality as measured by a Gini index is an important predictor of individual health. Instead, I find that the difference between a household's wealth and the mean household wealth in the community is the measure of economic inequality that is most closely related to stunting in these countries. In particular, a 1 standard deviation increase in household wealth relative to the community mean is associated with a 30–32 percent decrease in the odds of stunting in Bangladesh and a 16–21 percent decrease in the odds of stunting in Kenya.     

中国城乡弱相对贫困测算及时空演变：2012—2018

相对贫困的识别和测算是瞄准贫困人口和制定减贫政策的基础,但常用于识别相对贫困人口的比例收入法和测度相对贫困程度的FGT指数在理论基础、比例设定和贫困性质方面遭到质疑。采用基于社会融入成本理论的弱相对贫困人口识别方法,及与弱相对贫困线相适应的分层可加综合贫困指数,且考虑与现阶段我国绝对贫困线衔接性及国际标准的可比性,使用2012—2018年中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据估计了中国城乡收入(消费)弱相对贫困线,并测算分析了中国城乡收入(消费)弱相对贫困程度及时空演变特征。研究表明,基于弱相对贫困线构造的综合贫困指数兼顾绝对贫困和相对贫困,可以避免传统FGT指数分别测度绝对贫困和相对贫困时动态变化趋势出现分歧的问题,可更为直观地综合评估经济增长和扶贫政策的减贫效应。无论城乡,尽管不平等导致相对贫困始终处于高位水平,但绝对贫困更大的下降幅度使得中国收入(消费)弱相对贫困程度仍呈稳健下降趋势。从社会融入成本角度出发,建议未来考虑住房成本和子女养育成本,分家庭类型进一步细化弱相对贫困标准。本研究有助于进一步分类瞄准弱相对贫困人口,监测弱相对贫困程度演变并综合评估减贫效应。     

Economic Well-Being in U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas

In recent years there has been increased interest from economists and policy makers to measure a nation’s economic well-being. This paper extends this development to US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). An economic well-being index is constructed using indicators of income, education, crime, health and pollution. The analysis allows comparison of a MSA with another and with itself over time. The index is not highly correlated with real gross domestic product per capita and therefore adds value to the discussion of economic well-being in MSAs. However, it is shown that the index may violate social choice principles thereby reducing its usefulness.     

Measuring Community Economic Resilience in Australia: Estimates of Recent Levels and Trends

We measure changes in community economic resilience (CER) across geo-locations in Australia between 2006 and 2011, a time span characterised by major natural and economic shocks. We build an index of potential CER that captures communities’ stocks of human, social, natural, physical and financial capitals, levels of economic diversity and accessibility to service centres. Using Census data and the ARIA index, we resort to principal component analysis to generate CER indexes at statistical area level 1, which is our community proxy. Our analysis of index values provides a number of useful insights. First, there was a statistically significant improvement over time in the overall CER index in all states and regions. Second, our CER measures improved at a different pace across regions and states while their rank remained mostly unchanged. Third, CER improved over time in social and physical capital and accessibility terms, but declined in human, natural, financial capital and diversity terms. Fourth, communities with a high economic diversity level reported higher capital stock except for natural capital, and communities with a low accessibility level had lower capital stock except for social and natural capital. Finally, CER has a long-term positive association with household income.     

An Economic Wellbeing Index for the Spanish Provinces: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

 This article presents the estimation of a synthetic economic wellbeing index using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The DEA is a multidimensional technique that has its origins in efficiency analysis, but its usage within the social indicators context is particularly appropriate. It allows the researcher to take advantage of the inherent flexibility of DEA when assigning weights to the factors. The model itself carries out the aggregation and weighting of 8 partial indicators, which attempt to describe the four components of economic wellbeing suggested by Osberg (Royal Commision on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1985)), in order to assess the economic wellbeing of the 50 Spanish provinces. By using the index obtained in the analysis a “ranking” of the provinces is obtained. This ranking proves to be relatively similar to the one that corresponds to per capita income, although there are significant differences.     

Relative Income,Relative Assets,and Happiness in Urban China

Does more money always mean that people are happier with their lives? To test the social comparison hypothesis as applied to happiness, this study uses survey data from the 2002 Chinese Household Income Project to examine the association between household economic resources and happiness in urban China. Household economic resources are measured as both income and assets (e.g., net worth and net worth minus home equity). In addition, the analyses include measures of relative income and relative assets. Results of ordinary least square regression analysis show a positive association of absolute income with the happiness score whereas relative income is negatively associated with happiness. Although household assets are a significant and positive predictor of self-assessments of happiness, measures of relative household assets do not correlate with happiness. Study findings suggest the level of happiness among urban populations could be increased through policies that promote pro-poor growth and equal distribution of economic resources. In addition, introducing asset-building policies as supplements to other social assistance programs may promote happiness.     

Comparing relative effects of education and economic resources on infant mortality in developing countries

Research on the social determinants of health has often considered education and economic resources as separate indicators of socioeconomic status. From a policy perspective, however, it is important to understand the relative strength of the effect of these social factors on health outcomes, particularly in developing countries. It is also important to examine not only the impact of education and economic resources of individuals, but also whether community and country levels of these factors affect health outcomes. This analysis uses multilevel regression models to assess the relative effects of education and economic resources on infant mortality at the family, community, and country level using data from demographic and Health Surveys in 43 low-and lower-middle-income countries. We find strong effects for both per capita gross national income and completed secondary education at the country level, but a greater impact of education within families and communities.     

On Italian Households’ Economic Inadequacy Using Quali-Quantitative Measures

Motivated by an interest in investigating factors associated with poverty risks in Italy, our study provides insight into the relationship between various socio-economic, demographic, and behavioural variables and a new measure of the economic inadequacy of households. We propose that a household is in a condition of economic inadequacy when it simultaneously has difficulty making ends meet and is in arrears with payments of commitments for more than 90 days. To analyse the determinants of economic inadequacy, we use cross-sectional microdata collected through a structured questionnaire from a 2012 survey of household income and wealth conducted by the Bank of Italy. The results of the analysis show that the probability of economic inadequacy for Italian households is higher when the household is located in regions in southern Italy, has a low equivalent income, registers a decrease in income compared with that of a normal year, has a low liquidity ratio, pays rent for the house of residence, is over-indebted, is indebted to friends and relatives, and has an unhappy and impatient household head. We also propose constructing a composite indicator at the regional level that combines the percentage of households in relative poverty, as measured by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, and the percentage of households that we identify as existing in a condition of economic inadequacy. The composite indicator allows us to take into account some aspects of household living conditions that are not included in the measure of relative poverty.     

Quality of Life from the Voting Booth: The Effect of Crime Rates and Income on Recent U.S. Presidential Elections

Quality of Life (QOL) is often measured with surveys of citizen’s satisfaction. In contrast, the current research uses already-existing voting data to infer citizens’ perceptions of QOL. Under this model, citizens decide how much their QOL has improved (or declined) since the last election, and then vote to reward (or punish) the incumbent party accordingly. Analysis of the popular vote for the incumbent party then allows inference on how citizens judge their QOL and how they weight the various domains. Previous research has concluded that voters reward an incumbent who improves the economic domain prior to election. I test whether voters also reward declining crime rates, and estimate how citizens weight the relative importance of each in determining QOL. I analyze the vote shares by state from U.S. presidential elections from 1972 to 1996. Results show that changes in crime rates do influence vote share, consistent with the responsibility hypothesis, but to a smaller degree than the economic domain does. The method described provides convergent evidence that citizens weight domains differentially, and can provide the weights for a national QOL index.     

Income,deprivation and economic stress in the enlarged European Union

At risk of poverty indicators based on relative income measures suggest that within the enlarged EU societies located at quite different points on a continuum of affluence have similar levels of poverty. Substantial differences in levels of income between societies do not in themselves invalidate this approach. However, the relative income approach fails to capture the fact that, if countries are grouped in terms of level of GDP, between economic cluster differences in life-style deprivation are sharper at lower income levels. Support for the argument relating to restricted reference groups is found in relation to the contrast between the twelve most affluent EU countries and all others. The limitations of relative income poverty lines have little to do with the process of enlargement as such. Instead the major problem involves the weak association between income and deprivation in the more affluent countries. However, as a consequence of such difficulties, such indicators do not provide entirely meaningful comparisons of levels of disadvantage across economic clusters. The current analysis, rather than supporting the alternative of a focus on absolute income or an EU wide poverty line, suggests that we should take the argument for adopting a multidimensional approach to the measurement of poverty more seriously.     

中国区域间人口红利差异分解及解释——基于数据包络分析模型

劳动力资源作为经济发展的关键要素,其配置效率差异加剧了中国区域间经济发展的失衡。文章从人均经济产出公式出发,构建了一个涵盖人力资本积累和物质资本积累影响因素的人口红利实现模型,并采用数据包络分析法对2006～2010年中国各地区人口红利实现的相对效率进行测度与分解,利用Tobit模型对其技术效率和规模效率进行解释。结果发现,中国东部地区人口红利实现效率明显高于中西部地区,从人口红利实现的技术效率来看,主要受教育水平及聚集效应、劳动参与水平的影响,影响系数分别为0.0102和0.0149;从人口红利实现的规模效率来看,主要受教育水平及聚集效应、资本积累的产业环境、物质资本形成效应的影响,影响系数分别为0.1549、0.1234和0.0371。文章最后提出了相关政策建议。     

The economic measurement and determinants of diversity

This paper has a 2-fold objective: (1) To introduce a measure that would be of general applicability in measuring diversity in different institutions. (2) To identify the determinants of diversity in child-care centers and, in particular, to examine whether the for-profit sector is less diverse than the not-for-profit sector in the child-care industry as the statistics suggest. Using our measure, we isolate factors that significantly influence diversity by using an economic model that makes diversity a decision variable of a firm. Two measures of diversity are suggested: absolute diversity and relative diversity (diversity relative to the surrounding community). To select a suitable index, the Herfindahl measure of concentration is considered relative to several suitable ecological indices measuring species diversity, and found to be virtually identical to such indices. Thus theH-index is used in both absolute and relative measures. Empirical estimation of both absolute and relative diversity equations use probability models and isolate factors that significantly influence both absolute diversity of child-care centers as well as their diversity relative to their respective counties. The data used is the recently released Profile of Child-Care Settings collected by the Mathematica Policy Research.     

区域人才竞争力评价指标体系构建的几点思考

选择和构建区域人才竞争力评价指标体系,将为实现区域国民经济和社会发展总体目标,发挥人才在社会、经济发展中的支撑和核心作用,合理制定人才竞争和发展战略,发挥积极的指导作用。本文从科学的人才观与人才评价、区域人才竞争力指标化研究的意义、区域人才竞争力评价指标体系的应用、人才竞争力评价指标体系研究中存在的主要问题等几个方面,对区域人才竞争力评价指标体系的构建进行了初步的探讨。     

Mixed motivations for migration in the urban prairies: A comparative approach

Two Canadian Prairie cities, with populations of about 600 000 each, have experienced dramatically different growth patterns in the last twenty years because of quite different economic bases. Edmonton has been a fast growth city based on the gas and oil boom. Winnipeg has experienced very slow growth with a very diversified economy. Through the vehicles of the Edmonton and Winnipeg Area Studies, an analysis of migration to the two cities is possible. It is a study of mixed motivation. Not only are single motives rarely expressed by respondents, but the relative strength of economic and family motives in particular is somewhat unexpected in the two cities. Finally, while return migration accounts for 50 percent of migrants to the slow growth city, it is not as detached from economic motives as appears to be the case in other Canadian research on return migration.Revised version of a paper presented at the Canadian Population Society Meeting, Hamilton, Ontario, June, 1987     

The formal dynamics of controlled populations and the echo,the boom and the bust

This paper analyzes the pattern of fluctuations of births in an age-structured population whose growth is subject to environmental or economic constraint. It synthesizes the traditional demographic analysis of age-structured renewal with constant vital rates and the economic analysis which treats population change endogenously. When cohort fertility depends on relative cohort size, or when period fertility depends on labor force size, fluctuations of forty or more years replace the traditional "echo" or generation-length cycle. Twentieth-century U. S. fertility change agrees well with the theory, as the "Easterlin Hypothesis" suggests; but the period model fits better than the cohort model.     

Prosperity-Enhancing Institutions: Towards a Comprehensive Composite Index

Institutions that potentially have a positive impact on economic performance rarely exist outside of a system of institutions; rather they are embedded in the institutional order of a country. It is thus imperative to investigate the composition of such prosperity-enhancing institutional orders. This paper proposes a measurement of bundles of institutions that channel the positive effect of democratic institutions on economic prosperity. We construct composite sub-indices measuring the political, economic and societal institutional quality as well as an overall index combining these bundles of institutions. Index data is available for 148 countries between 1995 and 2010. We obtain scores summarizing the level of prosperity-enhancing institutions that the respective countries exhibit with regard to their overall institutional setting and to the three bundles of institutions, and we grade the countries accordingly. Since the indices allow for inter-temporal comparisons, we can highlight a country’s achievements in institutional development, amongst other aspects of country comparisons, and we show their value as a tool in the analysis of determinants of economic prosperity. The proposed indices are a step towards a more systematic international comparison of democratic institutional settings.     

What Does Really Drive Consumer Confidence?

We construct a novel index of households’ macroeconomic environment (HOME) based on the data from 22 high-income European countries between 2002 Q1 and 2018 Q4. The resulting index is in line with the broad features of the countries’ business and financial cycles and captures well households’ perception of their underlying economic situation. We discuss joint properties of the HOME index and the widely employed survey-based consumer confidence indicator. We show that households’ expectations are tightly linked to current macroeconomic conditions. This finding echoes the literature linking consumer attitudes and actual economic developments. The HOME index also reflects the importance of asset prices and lending conditions for households’ behavior. In a single-country case study, we provide empirical evidence that links the proposed index to new credit extended to households. The evidence suggests that households need a longer period of good macroeconomic conditions to decide to take on a mortgage than they do in the case of a consumer loan.

     

出生缺陷疾病经济负担估算的人口学模型构建

在分析出生缺陷疾病的经济负担时,由于疾病的特殊性(如发病早、可能持续终身、早期死亡比较常见、二胎补偿等),需要注意与以往估算一般疾病经济负担模型不同的几个问题。主要有:相对经济负担和绝对经济负担的区别、估算起始点的确定、参照人群的选择。综合特点和问题,构建出生缺陷疾病经济负担估算的人口学模型,利用生命表原理,考虑了相对一般人群的经济负担、估算起始点提前至胚胎期、考虑人生中家庭的投入和产出等因素,为出生缺陷疾病的终身经济负担估算提供思路。     

甘肃省就业人口文化素质的现状特点及其对经济增长的影响

以相关历史数据为基础,本文拟就甘肃省劳动就业人口文化素质构成的现状特点及其对经济增长的影响作用做一大概分析。