A Stock-Take of Green National Accounting Initiatives

Green national accounting has existed in a variety of forms for just over thirty years. Having essentially begun as environmental cost adjustments to Gross Domestic Product, green national accounting now includes such indicators as the Genuine Progress Indicator, Genuine Savings, and the Ecological Footprint. This paper serves as an overview or stock-take of green national accounting initiatives and as a means of assessing the major developments since the early 1970s. It is concluded that a suite of indicators is required to convey a complete picture of a nation’s sustainable development performance. In addition, economic indicators need to be supplemented by biophysical indicators, although the latter should never be incorporated directly into national income accounts since they serve as indicators of ecological sustainability, not of economic performance. Finally, the fact that a number of recently established indicators are still in the embryonic stage of development means that considerable refinement is necessary before they are likely to be broadly accepted by the policy-making community.     

利用小普查数据对“随机婚配”假定的再检验--兼论Logistic回归系数的可比性问题

使用2005年人口小普查数据研究了独生子女之间的婚配选择问题,发现独生子女更可能与独生子女结婚,且非独生子女也更可能与非独生子女结婚,所以认为独生子女与非独生子女之间“随机婚配”的假定并不符合实际。然而,以往有关生育政策调整的人口预测大都基于这一假定之上,这导致预测结果一方面低估了“双独”和“双非”夫妇的数量,另一方面高估了“单独”夫妇的数量。同时,本文还以独生子女的婚配选择问题为例讨论了嵌套模型中Logistic回归系数的可比性问题。直接比较Logistic回归系数可能导致错误的结论,借助“y?标准化”法和“KHB分解法”可以在一定程度上解决Logistic回归系数不可比的问题。     

Testing the Comparability of Different Types of Social Indicators Across Groups

The social indicator movement has realized a considerable increase in importance during the last 50 years. This happened not the least by the publications in the journal Social Indicators Research. Social indicators have been developed for many aspects of life. The scores on these indicators often are compared through time and across groups. An essential requirement for such research is that the measures used are comparable through time and across groups. The comparability through time is not such a big problem but the comparability of measures across groups is not so obvious. This requires harmonization of indicators based on objective variables and invariance testing for indicators based on subjective and objective variables. In this paper we discuss how the comparability of different types of social indicators based on subjective and objective variables can be tested using invariance testing. This is a relevant issue because the existing testing procedure is designed for only one type of social indicators and this test is not directly applicable on the other types of social indicators.     

Conversion of Verbal Response Scales: Robustness Across Demographic Categories

Happiness and life satisfaction have traditionally been measured using verbal response scales, however, these verbal scales have not kept up with the present trend to use numerical response scales. A switch from a verbal scale to a numerical scale, however, causes a severe problem for trend analyses, due to the incomparability of the old and new measurements. The Reference Distribution Method is a method that has been developed recently to deal with this comparison problem. In this method use is made of a reference distribution based on responses to a numerical scale which is used to decide at which point verbally labelled response options transit from one state to another, for example from ‘happy’ to ‘very happy’. Next, for each wave of the time series in which the verbal scale is used, a population mean is estimated for the beta distribution that fits best to these transition points and the responses in this wave. These estimates are on a level that is comparable to that of the mean of the reference distribution and are appropriate for use in an extended time series based on the responses measured using a verbal and a numerical scale. In this paper we address the question of whether the transition points derived for the general population can be used for demographic categories to produce reliable, extended time series to monitor differences in trends among these categories. We conclude that this is possible and that it is not necessary to derive transition points for each demographic category separately.     

Measures of Social Isolation

Social isolation is a deprivation of social connectedness. It is a crucial aspect that continues to be named by people as a core impediment for achieving well-being and as a relevant factor for understanding poverty. However it is not routinely included in surveys that provide data on multidimensional poverty measurement. Although the challenge of measuring social connectedness is daunting, this paper argues that existing research in several fields provides solid ground for the construction of basic internationally comparable indicators that measure specific aspects of social isolation. In particular, this paper synthesises the relevant literature on the measurement of social isolation and related phenomena, and on the basis of this synthetic review, proposes a module of indicators to measure social connectedness that could be feasibly incorporated into an internationally comparable multi-topic household survey.     

Big Data and Social Indicators: Actual Trends and New Perspectives

Big Data are a top subject in international research articles and a vast debate is taking place on their actual capability of being used to complement or even substitute official statistics surveys and social indicators in particular. In this paper we analyse the metadata of the Scopus database of academic articles on Big Data and we show that most of the existing and intensively growing literature is focused on software and computational issues whilst articles that are specifically focused on statistical issues and on the procedures to build social indicators from Big Data are a much smaller share of this vast production. Nevertheless the works that focus on these topics show promising results because in developed countries Big Data seem to be a good information base to create reliable proxies of social indicators, whereas in developing countries their use (for instance using satellite images) may be a viable alternative to traditional surveys. However, Big Data based social indicators deeply suffer of a number of open issues that affect their actual use: they do not correspond to any sampling scheme and they are often representative of particular segments of the population; they generally are private process-produced data whose access by national statistical offices is rarely possible although the intrinsic value of the information contained in Big Data has a social importance that should be shared with the whole community; Big Data lack the socio-economic background on which social indicators have been founded and their help to policy makers in their decision process is a fully open point. Therefore Big Data may be a big opportunity for the definition of traditional or new social indicators but their statistical reliability should be further investigated and their availability and use should be internationally coordinated.     

吉林省2000-2005年生育情况分析

吉林省2005年人口出生率7.89‰,低于全国平均水平,人口和计划生育工作形式总体是好的。但通过对吉林省2000-2005年生育情况的调查发现,全省低生育水平面临反弹的现实风险。我们必须清醒地看到,违法生育数量相对增加,一胎违法生育所占比例较大,再婚违法生育占违法多胎生育比例较大。在详细分析产生问题原因的基础上结合工作实际提出解决违法生育增多问题的建议。     

Measuring Quality of Life

This paper considers quality of life (QOL) to be a global, yet unidimensional, subjective assessment of one's satisfaction with life. This conceptualization is consistent with viewing QOL assessments as resulting from the interaction of multiple causal dimensions, but it is inconsistent with proposals to limit QOL to health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We test the unidimensional yet global conceptualization of QOL using data from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients. The Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (SASS) and four other indicators derived from the literature, all seemed to function as indicators of a single concept (QOL) that was repeatedly drawn upon as the patients determined their responses to these indicators. However, only about half the variance in each indicator was attributable to that common QOL source. Several structural equation models are used to assess whether the superior performance of the Life 3 indicator is an artifact of the repetition of an item within this indicator. The data convincingly indicate that the superior performance is not a memory artifact, and that even the repetition of an identically worded item prodded the patients into drawing yet again upon the same QOL factor that grounded all the other measures.     

Preaching to the Choir: Are the Commission’s Recommendations Already Applied?

As we have seen, the Commission’s final report outlines a comprehensive framework by defining some guidelines by: (a) identifying the limits of GDP as an indicator of economic performance and social progress, including measurement problems; (b) considering what additional information might be required for the production of more relevant social progress indicators; and (c) assessing the feasibility of alternative measurement and presentation tools. The report argues that GDP should not be completely eliminated by the options for measuring progress, but must be integrated with other information. In particular, the Committee defines three major areas in which indicators should be developed: economic conditions, quality of life and sustainability. In the European scene, but not only, there are many initiatives that aim at measuring the progress of countries and well-being through different conceptual frameworks and by using several indicators. This work intends to analyze some of those relevant initiatives by comparing and confronting them to the Commission’s recommendations, in order to check what already fits the commission recommendations and what still needs to be defined in that perspective.     

Objective and subjective social indicators of the quality of life in American SMSA'S: A reanalysis

The paper examines and critiques Schneider's work that related the subjective and objective indicators of quality of life in American cities. The work then employs data collected by Liu in 1973, and the Institute for Survey Research in 1972 as part of their national election study for 41 large and medium-sized Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) to re-examine the question of the relationship between the objective and subjective factors. Although the results of this paper are in general comparable with those obtained by Schneider, there are individual cases where they differ. The paper then concludes with a discussion of the reasons why objective and subjective indicators may coincide.     

Understanding and implementing the Party's policies on family planning accurately in an all-around way]

Recently, the Party's Central Committee held numerous meetings to study the problem of family planning. The main goal of these meetings was to find a correct family planning policy, which should be based on common sense, support from the people, and reasonable work from the cadres. Family planning policies and regulations should be realistic and creative. In the implementation of policies, different methods should be adopted for varied situations, and there should also be appropriate guiding principles for different categories. To cope with a new situation, creative methods and approaches should be chosen in order to implement the family planning policy. The correct method will ensure complete implementation of the policy. In family planning work, the first step is the improvement of ideological education, so that the people may have a correct understanding of the need for family planning. In the technical management work of family planning, a constant improvement in the quality of service should be the goal. Through practical working experience in family planning, some rules and regulations will be found, and they should be used to promote the management level and the level of family planning work in general.     

韩国人口结构变化对储蓄的影响

目前在韩国,随着人口年龄结构的不断老化,必然对经济增长产生负面影响。但通过仔细分析人口年龄结构变化可以预测,即使在人口老龄化的背景下,今后10年间的经济增长潜力将会类似于现在的增长潜力或趋于更高的增长,目前正处于对应未来长期性低增长的准备时期。因此,企业、政府及国民都应充分利用此时期,积极解决因青年人口减少导致的技能人力不足的问题;积极解决人口老龄化背景下的老龄劳动力利用问题;积极解决个人寿命延长导致的养老问题等。     

Initially analyzing the characteristics and evaluated indexes in rural areas and making relative policies]

20% of rural family planning (FP) programs in China have an unsatisfactory performance. A study was conducted in four townships with poor FP program performance in Pengxi County, Sichuan Province. Some common characteristics of these townships are as follows. Lack of concern about the FP program on the part of the local leadership. 2) Resistance of local people to FP communication and education; 96% of 426 families interviewed wanted to have 2 children, and only 3.7% wanted 1 child. 3) Lack of enforcement of the incentives and disincentives stipulated in the FP policy. 4) Lack of service delivery back-up in FP programs with a shortage of trained professional staff to provide clinical services and a shortage of the necessary medical facilities or equipment to meet the needs of FP service delivery. 5) The large number of early marriages, early child-births, extra-marital child-births without quota. At the present time, there is not specific quantitative standard to evaluate the FP program performance in a particular district. 3 indicators are appropriate for comparison of program performance. 1) Has the annual birth control target for the district been met? 2) The percentage of births with in the FP quota. Under 60% of births within the quota should be considered poor performance. 3) Over 20% of unplanned pregnancies reflect poor performance in the areas of birth control education, and contraceptive service delivery. The following are suggestions for solving the problems of poor program performance. 1) Community leaders should be evaluated on a per capita production output value rather than on total value. Their achievements should also be linked with their salary increases, promotions and bonuses. 2) One-child families should have a priority in receiving financial aids for development. 3) Governmental and non-government organizations should work together to promote the implementation of FP policies. 4) Service delivery systems should be strengthened by promoting population and FP education to families and in schools. Funding should be made available to increase the capability of birth control service delivery in terms of staff training, provision of equipment and housing and improvement in the quality of services. 5. Full use should be made of the potential of village leaders to take personal responsibility for every aspect of the FP.     

A new study of China's population control during the past ten years

This paper summarizes the control of population in China in the past 10 years and the changes that are occurring. Recently, an increase in the number of family members has directly influenced socioeconomic status by increasing family income and improving living conditions. Rural families have no incentives to control the number of children born. The cyclic effect of the 1962-73 baby boom is also causing a recent surge in population. China has studied these problems and has taken the following measures: new family planning systems have been established; population has been controlled macroscopically and flexibility is allowed at an individual level; governmental family planning organizations have been set up and financed; family planning education has been increased; family planning services have been enforced; incentives and restrictions have been implemented. China must work as a whole to enact and enforce these policies. Families must show restraint in childbearing. The only way for this to be accomplished is by decreasing the socioeconomic incentives to have children. Finally, reforms should be in tune with changing situations.     

The study of intergenerational intimacy in North America: beyond politics and pedophilia

Intergenerational intimacy, social as well as sexual, has been studied in the United States and abroad for some time. In recent years the general trend has been to label such behavior "child sexual abuse." Interest in this type of abuse has generated a considerable amount of more or less scientific literature, some of which seems to have been produced in a "rush to judgment" attempt to build a "professional" literature that supports popular beliefs. This tradition of child-abuse-defined literature, along with the work of investigative and helping agencies which some refer to as a "child abuse industry," has fostered a one-sided, simplistic picture of intergenerational intimacy. A close look at the empirical studies in this tradition reveals flaws associated with two problems: the studies nearly always (1) maintain a narrow focus on sexual contact, and (2) proceed from the related basic assumption that sexual contact in intergenerational relationships by definition constitutes abuse. While sexual abuse certainly occurs, those who apply this assumption to all situations are ignoring empirical findings that show otherwise. Research outside the "child sexual abuse" tradition reveals a broader range of intergenerational relationships outside the family, including a number of aspects which typically are not seen when the focus is on the sexual. Some studies show clearly that even when sexual contact is involved, negative outcomes are not inevitable. This indicates the need for a much broader approach. Further research in North American society and in other cultures would help us to understand more accurately the diversity and possible benefits of intergenerational intimacy.     

The Social Indicators Movement at 50: Onwards in Unity or Divided?

Before we can move forward with new topics in quality of life research, it would be useful to settle a number of issues that have been a source of debate over the last 50 years. Broadly speaking, this leads to seven principles for measuring and describing quality of life: the central focus is on people; quality of life is about more than just economics; a full measurement must incorporate both objective and subjective indicators; quality of life incorporates several dimensions; the outcome must be viewed separately from the determinants; there must be attention for distribution and difference; the domains can be combined into an index (though this is not essential). The main debate is perhaps about whether or not there should be an index. An index is necessary if we wish to give social indicators the same status as economic indicators have through GDP. In my view, that is desirable. Once these principles are established, the agenda for future social indicators research can be shaped using a model-based approach incorporating several recommendations from Land and Michalos.     

Data Envelopment Analysis for Composite Indicators: A Multiple Layer Model

The development of a composite indicator (CI) over a set of individual indicators is worthwhile in case the methodological aggregation process is sound and the results are clear. It can then be used as a powerful tool for performance evaluation, benchmarking, and decision making. In this respect, data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a self appraisal technique, has recently received considerable attention in the construction of CIs for policy analysis and public communication. However, due to the ever increasing complexity of numerous performance evaluation problems, more and more potential indicators might be developed to represent an evaluation activity in a more comprehensive way. These indicators might also belong to different categories and further be linked to one another constituting a multilayer hierarchical structure. Simply treating all the indicators to be in the same layer as is the case in the basic DEA model thereby ignores the information on their hierarchical structure, and further leads up to weak discriminating power and unrealistic weight allocations. To overcome this limitation, a multiple layer DEA-based CI model is developed in this study to embody a hierarchical structure of indicators in the DEA framework, and both its primal and dual form are realized. The proposed model is illustrated by constructing a composite road safety performance index for a set of European countries.     

Absent and Problematic Men: Demographic Accounts of Male Reproductive Roles

Both men and women are important actors in bringing children into life, yet demographic studies on reproduction have tended to focus on women alone. The aims of this article are: 1) to describe why men have attracted limited interest as subjects of such research; 2) to evaluate existing research on men's roles in developing countries; and 3) to suggest directions for future research on male reproductive roles. Men, once neglected, are now included in research on fertility but from a narrow, overly problem‐oriented perspective. A review of the literature, however, raises questions about the adequacy of a problem oriented approach. The authors argue that demography should focus on men not only as women's partners, but also as individuals with distinct reproductive histories. In situations, now increasingly common, where the links between marriage and childbearing erode, the differences in men's and women's reproductive experiences and the costs and benefits of parenting will become more salient for future research.     

Investigating Longitudinal and Cross Cultural Measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s Short Post-materialism Scale

Inglehart applies a four item ranking scale to measure post-materialism which is used for cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparative purposes. The aim of this research is to test measurement invariance of the scale to establish to what extent the scale produces comparable results in time and between countries. We use Eurobarometer data to test longitudinal comparability for ten countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, West-Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain and North Ireland) over a period of 20 years (1976–1997). With the exception of Denmark the within-country longitudinal comparisons indicate that measurement invariance is a tenable assumption. However, the findings of the cross-cultural analyses indicate that the meaning assigned to the four items differs slightly between countries, indicating a lack of comparability of the average level of post-materialism between countries. Findings also suggest that a lack of unidimensionality of the scale might cause this incomparability.