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.

不平等的再生产：从社会经济地位到健康不平等--基于CFPS2010的实证分析

本文利用2010年中国家庭追踪调查（ CFPS ）数据,探索性分析了社会经济地位影响健康不平等的两个中介机制－－健康预防机制和健康恢复机制。研究结果表明,健康预防机制中,社会经济地位影响生活方式,进而影响自评健康水平的假设得到部分验证,其中营养水平的中介效应得到验证;健康恢复机制中,社会经济地位影响医疗保健能力,进而影响自评健康水平的假设得到部分验证,其中医疗保健支付能力的中介效应得到证明。最后,分析发现,＂看病贵＂比＂看病难＂更能影响民众的健康状况。     

Growth and inequality: a demographic explanation

This paper investigates the relationship between growth and inequality from a demographic point of view. In an extended model of the accidental bequest with endogenous fertility, we analyze the effects of a decrease in old-age mortality rate on the equilibrium growth rate as well as on the income distribution. We show that the relationship between growth and inequality is at first positive and then may be negative in the process of population aging. The results are consistent with the empirical evidence in some developed countries.

Party to inequality: Right party power and income inequality in affluent Western democracies

Much social science suggests that income inequality is a product of economic and demographic factors and recent work highlights the influence of Leftist politics in affluent Western democracies. But, prior research has neglected rightist politics. We examine the impact of cumulative right party power on three measures of income inequality in an unbalanced panel of 16 affluent Western democracies from 1969 to 2000. We find that cumulative right party power significantly increases inequality with effects comparable to other established causes. Left party power has less influence than the right on the Gini coefficient and the 90/50 ratio but a larger influence on the 90/10 ratio. Union density is insignificant after controlling for right party power. Right party power partly channels through and partly combines with government expenditures to affect inequality. Temporal interactions show that right parties became more influential after 1989 while left parties became less effective. Supplementary analyses suggest that a component of right party power's effects occurs through labor market inequality prior to taxes and transfers. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the results are robust to a wide variety of alternative specifications and operationalizations and do not depend on the inclusion of the U.S. in the sample. Our results inform debates about the sources of inequality and related sociological theories regarding class, politics, the state and the economy.     

孕产妇死亡健康公平性分析

文章利用2000～2005年全国卫生统计年报中孕产妇死亡情况有关资料,计算了以孕产妇死亡率为基础的一系列健康公平性指标,分析了2000～2005年间我国孕产妇死亡的健康公平性。研究结果从人群归因危险度百分比、集中指数、集中曲线等指标反映出在我国孕产妇死亡存在分布的不均衡。2000～2005年我国孕产妇死亡在地区间及省际的差距没有明显变化,即不公平现象6年间没有得到改善。     

The stratification of universities: Structural inequality in Canada and the United States

This paper conceives national systems of higher education as stratified populations of organizations. This stratification is a structural component of ‘horizontal inequality’ in higher education, and may be exacerbated by current pressures for colleges and universities to compete for resources and status. To explore this structural inequality, we compare the level of stratification in financial resources across four-year institutions in Canada and the United States over a 35-year period (1971–2006). Our analyses provide a first-look at this form of stratification, employing Gini coefficients, Lorenz curves, and boxplots. Our results provide new and compelling evidence of increasing structural stratification, even in Canada's predominantly publicly funded postsecondary system. Findings indicate that the distribution of resources is far more stratified in the American system, and that both systems have become more stratified over time. We conclude by situating structural inequality within more general processes of stratification in education.     

African-American and white inequality in the nineteenth century American South: a biological comparison

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economic history. By using a new source of nineteenth century Texas state prison records, the present study contrasts the heights of comparable blacks and whites between the Civil War and Reconstruction in the American South. White stature exceeded black stature. Between 1850 and 1870, black stature declined by more than 1 cm but recovered toward the end of the nineteenth century. Postbellum white stature declined by more than 1 1/2 cm over the same period yet never recovered.

受教育程度与城镇居民收入不平等—基于基尼系数的分解研究

基于2008年中国综合社会调查的数据,本文运用基尼系数分解的方法研究城镇居民受教育程度对收入不平等的影响。基于回归的不平等分解研究发现受教育程度是导致城镇居民职业收入不平等的最主要因素。对基尼系数的亚组分解研究发现受教育程度不同的人群之闻的收入不平等对总体收入不平等的贡献率为8.65％,城镇居民职业收入不平等主要表现为各个受教育程度人群内部的收入不平等。分地区来看,中西部地区受教育程度较低的人群其组内差距的贡献率要远高于东部地区。实证研究的结果表明,提供平等的受教育机会、缩小受教育程度的不平等、加大对中西部地区义务教育的投入可以有效缩小收入不平等。     

Changing effects of family background on transitions to secondary education in the Netherlands: Consequences of educational expansion and reform

Recent developments in educational transitions research suggest a decomposition of qualitative dimensions within educational levels that are (nearly) universal. However, research on long-term trends of social stratification in the structurally tracked educational system of the Netherlands has not been published previously. In the Netherlands, the secondary educational level is divided into four hierarchical tracks which each lead to different options for subsequent educational decisions. A rapid increase of participation in the higher tracks over time however, may have changed the background-specific distribution of early track placement. This paper improves upon previous research on educational inequality by incorporating a long-term perspective into tracking research. The secondary level of the Dutch educational system is decomposed into its four tracks, using a time frame that covers cohorts that entered secondary education between 1946 and 1998. The application of multinomial logit regressions reveals that the choice of a secondary track is strongly depending on social background features, measured as education of the parents and occupational status of the father. We found linear downward trends of effects for fathers’ occupation in the intermediate tracks for the cohorts that entered secondary education between WWII and the 90s. The effects of parental education also decrease after WWII, but the trend is curvilinear and not enduring. Unexpectedly, the effects almost reach their previous level in the youngest cohort. Our results furthermore suggest that a controversial reform of the educational system in 1968 neither triggered nor accelerated equalization of secondary education, although it resulted in a growth of participation in senior general education (HAVO).     

Welfare states and inequality: Institutional designs and distributive outcome

Comparative studies on inequality have suffered from severe methodological problems, which mean that issues related to the causes of cross-national variation in inequality remain unresolved. In comparative welfare state research, the preoccupation with expenditure data has also meant that the welfare state itself has remained a black box. By examining new comparative data on social policy institutions and income inequality among different population groups, this study provides a more precise empirical basis for evaluating different, and divergent, theories on the welfare state and equality. Three cases will be used as illustrations: family policy and child poverty, unemployment benefits and poverty among working aged, and old-age pensions and poverty among the elderly. The results suggest that the key for understanding the effect of the welfare state lies in the institutional design—in the level and distribution of social rights. The importance of the welfare state for social stratification deserves to be given more attention by sociological research in the future.     

Fertility in China 1982–1990: Gender equality as a complement to wealth flows theory

Some scholars claim there is little variation in Chinese fertility because of coercive family planning policies. This research, however, demonstrates that other factors contribute to significant variation in fertility rates among China's 30 provinces/administrative divisions. Although family planning and socioeconomic development are found to explain significant amounts of variation in fertility for both the 1982 and 1990 census cross-sections, it was also found that gender equality in education had become significant by 1990. Path model results that lag the effects of 1982 socioeconomic development and gender equality in education also indicate that they both have sizable direct effects and moderate indirect effects through family planning behavior on 1990 fertility rates. Discussions include the possibility that the recent free market and institutional reforms, e.g., the decollectivization of agriculture, have contributed a social structure whereby many Chinese families have increased awareness of the opportunity costs associated with their reproductive decision making.     

中国居民健康不平等的实证分析

本文分析了基尼系数等传统不平等指标的局限性,并引入了研究序数数据的新方法,采用中国家庭动态跟踪微观调查数据,考察了中国居民健康水平与健康不平等。研究发现,东中西部健康水平与健康不平等存在明显差异,健康中位数为“健康”的省份只有8个,中位数为“一般”的省份有17个,健康不平等从东到西呈递增趋势,发达地区同时具有较高的健康水平和较低的健康不平等,欠发达地区则相反。     

The categorical generation of organizational inequality: A comparative test of Tilly's durable inequality

This paper develops a theoretical and methodological application of Tilly's [Tilly, C. (1998). Durable inequality. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press] assertions that inequalities are inherently relational and categorical. We focus on the specific proposition that inequalities are exaggerated when categorical social distinctions are mapped onto positional distinctions internal to organizations. Using samples of Australian and U.S. organizations we examine the influence of sex and other status distinctions upon between-class wage inequality. In both countries class inequality is exaggerated when workers are women and managers men. These between-class inequality producing processes are also present for other categorical distinctions available in the data we use (education, permanent vs. temporary worker, dominant vs. marginal linguistic group in Australia, permanent vs. temporary worker and white vs. non-white in the U.S.). In the U.S. the coefficients for relational sex composition are twice as large as in Australia, suggesting historical–institutional differences between the countries enables gender to exert a stronger influence on between-class inequality in the U.S. We further examine the institutional differences in these categorical bases for inequality by examining the extent to which they vary within the two countries as a function of two historically relevant institutional distinctions in wage setting regimes—formalization in the U.S. and centralized wage awards in Australia. As expected these institutional differences shape the extent and type of between-class wage inequality. We conclude that researchers should move methodologically towards observing relations within organizations to reflect the theoretical advances of the past two decades.     

The impact of intermarriage on ethnic stratification: Jews in Israel

We investigate macro-level implications of ethnic/racial intermarriage in one generation on ethnic/racial inequality in the subsequent generation. In our theoretical model, ethnic intermarriage affects ethnic stratification through intergenerational transmissions of socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The effects of ethnic intermarriage depend on the association between ethnic intermarriage and socioeconomic status in the parents’ generation, as well as the association between ethnic (self-)identification and socioeconomic status in the offspring generation. The model suggests that under plausible scenarios, intermarriage may increase socioeconomic gaps across ethnic groups. Thus, the model's predictions temper those of assimilation and melting pot theories, which suggest that ethnic intermarriage unequivocally reduces ethnic inequality.     

Income and inequality as determinants of mortality: An international cross-section analysis

This paper analyses the effects of income and income distribution on mortality. The likely relation between income and mortality for individuals is discussed, and implications for the determinants of mortality at the community level inferred. Measures of income inequality are likely to be related to mortality on aggregate data because of the non-linearity of income effects. An international cross-section analysis is then undertaken in which different measures of income and income distribution are investigated as determinants of mortality, with life expectancy at birth and age five, and infant mortality taken as measures of the dependent variable. It is found that income distribution is consistently and strongly related to mortality; in a relatively inegalitarian country life expectancy may be between five and ten years lower than in a more egalitarian country.     

高龄老人受教育程度与健康长寿关系研究

受教育程度是影响高龄老人健康长寿众多因素的一种。本文利用 1998年中国高龄老人健康长寿调查数据 ,对受教育程度与健康长寿关系进行了实证分析。指出受教育程度对高龄老人的健康长寿有着广泛而深远的影响。     

“生殖健康与安全性行为”同伴教育基线调查报告

N学院学生发展服务中心拟开展生殖健康与安全性行为的“同伴教育”活动,为了解大学生有关生殖健康知识和性观念、性行为的现状．设计了一份有关生殖健康与安全性行为的知识、态度和行为的基础调查问卷。对问卷分析有助更好地开展此项活动。也为项目干预前后的对比提供了依据。     

Reconsidering the Rural–Urban Continuum in Rural Health Research: A Test of Stable Relationships Using Mortality as a Health Measure

Health researchers commonly use existing rural–urban continua based on population size and adjacency to metro areas to categorize counties. When these continua are collapsed into simple rural-versus-urban aggregations, significant differences within the categories are masked. We show that when the entire range of the 10-category Rural–Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC) is used, the direction of the coefficients may differ and the fit of the model varies substantially across contiguous categories. However, collapsing contiguous categories masks variations within the continuum. To the extent that health policy decisions are made based on such aggregations, inappropriate policy choices may result (e.g., low payments to counties with relatively high needs). Given Congressional calls to address rural health, and the new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statistical area classification system, debate over appropriate categorizations schemes is timely. We regress age-adjusted all-causes of death on various socioeconomic factors to assess the appropriate use of variants of the rural–urban continuum for health research. Our findings support two main conclusions. First, researchers collapsing urban–rural categorization schemes may be masking important categorical differences, inadvertently influencing policymaking predicated on their work. Second, finer classification of settlements yields uneven results. That is, coefficients shift signs across the continuum, indicating that collapsed models may be inappropriate. Results derived using collapsed variants of the RUCC may be too unstable to use as health research and funding categorization schemes. We suggest that a health status or outcomes categorization scheme is likely to be a more appropriate metric for rural health research. Reavis was at the SSRC, MSU while drafting this article.     

Breaking through the silence in antenatal care: Fetal movement and stillbirth education

BackgroundFetal movements are a key indicator of fetal health. Research has established significant correlations between altered fetal activity and stillbirth. However, women are generally unaware of this relationship. Providing pregnant women with information about the importance of fetal movements could improve stillbirth rates. However, there are no consistent fetal movements awareness messages globally for pregnant women.AimsThis study aimed to explore the antenatal care experiences of Australian mothers who had recently had a live birth to determine their knowledge of fetal movements, the nature and source of that information.MethodsAn online survey method was used for 428 women who had a live birth and received antenatal care in Australia. Women’s knowledge of fetal movements, stillbirth risk, and the sources of this knowledge was explored.FindingsA large proportion of participants (84.6%; n = 362) stated they had been informed by health care professionals of the importance of fetal movements during pregnancy. Open-ended responses indicate that fetal movements messages are often myth based. Awareness that stillbirth occurs was high (95.2%; n = 398), although, 65% (n = 272) were unable to identify the current incidence of stillbirth in Australia.ConclusionWomen who received antenatal care have high-awareness of fetal movements, but the information they received was inconsistent. Participants knew stillbirth occurred but did not generally indicate they had obtained that knowledge from health care professionals. We recommend a consistent approach to fetal movements messaging throughout pregnancy which focuses on stillbirth prevention.     

人口院校学生生殖健康暨艾滋病问题的KAP研究

本文利用现代统计分析方法,对人口院校学生所进行的生殖健康暨艾滋病问题的问卷调查结果进行了KAP研究,揭示了学校生殖健康教育对于大学生掌握艾滋病的全面知识具有极其重要的意义.