Measuring Well-Being and Progress

Well-being is becoming a concept which is more and more involved in any world development consideration. A large amount of work is being carried out to study measurements of well-being, including a more holistic vision on the development and welfare of a country. This paper proposes an idea of well-being and progress being in equilibrium with each other. This is distant from the two extreme positions: poor but happy, and rich then happy; too romantic the first, and reductive the second. After a short explanation on the meaning of Objective and Subjective well-being, we show some interesting relations between economic and social variables, and we propose a new index to measure the well-being and progress of the countries: the Well-being & Progress Index (WIP). It includes several aspects of well-being and progress, like human rights, economic well-being, equality, education, research, quality of urban environment, ecological behaviours, subjective well-being, longevity, and violent crime. The most frequently used indexes usually only focus on some aspects, like ecology, or economy, or policy, or education, or happiness, and so forth. On the contrary, this new WIP index allows a global and well-balanced vision, thanks to the large range of indicators used, and how representative they are.     

Demography and the environment

Demographers' interest in the environment has generally been enmeshed in broader issues of population growth and economic development. Empirical research by demographers on environmental issues other than natural-resource constraints is limited. In this paper, I briefly review past demographic thinking about population and the environment and suggest reasons for the limited scope of demographic research in this area. Next, I describe more recent demographic research on the environment and suggest several newer areas for demographic research. Finally, I consider the future of research on the environment in the field of demography.     

On the relationship between population growth and economic development]

People are producers as well as consumers. If we look at only one side and ignore the other, we will be unable to reach impartial conclusions concerning the population problem. An obvious and close relationship exists between population growth and national economic development. If the two do not match each other, there will be numerous contradictory problems. For example, if the population grows too fast, serious social and economic problems will be created, such as a rise in the demand for living resources, an oversupply of the labor force, unemployment, and an insufficient availability of arable land, a shortage of public housing, more demand for health care and public transportation, and cultural and educational enterprises. In addition, a rapid population growth may cause more problems for the natural environment. As a result of overpopulation, the pressure on natural resources will be intensified and may therefore cause damage to the environment and create an ecological imbalance. All the above may bring very serious difficulties and obstacles to the advancement of socialism and modernized constructions. To avoid this, we must try to solve the population problem thoroughly and maintain a balanced relationship between the population growth and economic development.     

Adding Sexual Orientation to New York State's Human Rights Law: Initial Information About Implementation and Effectiveness

While previous research has focused on measuring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and establishing the need for laws that protect against such discrimination, very little research has evaluated the effectiveness of current nondiscrimination laws. This exploratory research considers the addition of sexual orientation to New York State's Human Rights Law as it relates to employment. In an effort to better understand the implementation and overall effectiveness of the law, attorneys in New York who specialize in employment law were surveyed. The survey results, based on the responses of 34 attorneys, provide insights into how well the law has initially protected individuals from discrimination, and how well it has provided redress for claimants of employment discrimination. The initial results of the research suggest that employees mostly seek redress for a hostile work environment, that potential claimants are concerned with confidentiality and retaliation, and that more training for employees is needed to combat employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.     

Completing the Picture: The Challenges of Bringing “Consumption” into the Population–Environment Equation

The issue of environmentally significant consumption is closely linked to population–environment relationships, but with some exceptions the two literatures have proceeded along separate tracks. We explore three consumption–environment research agendas: household–level consumption; ecological footprints and material flow accounting; and values, attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles. In each of these we note areas of overlap with the population–environment literature, and ways in which the population–environment literature might benefit or borrow from conceptual or methodological approaches in the consumption–environment literature. We also propose ways in which consumption research might be integrated into the largest (in terms of funding) of the population–environment research agendas, land-use and land-cover change research. In the concluding section we present a conceptual framework for understanding the population–environment literature that incorporates production and consumption into the model, and we propose some population–consumption–environment (PCE) research areas to which the population-environment research community could make significant contributions.     

Environmental quality and the well-being of children

There are many reasons for believing that the environment exerts an influence (directly or indirectly) on the wellbeing of children and families. However, while clear evidence is available that low socioeconomic status is associated with lower than average levels of wellbeing, especially among adults, the evidence linking the social and emotional adjustment of children with the quality of the environment is patchy and equivocal. In this paper we focus on three levels of the family environment: the street, the home and the neighborhood. Neighborhood quality was measured by the Vinson-Homel social problems index, street-type as residential or commercial/retail, and housing quality in terms of upkeep, floor occupied, availability of playspace and occupancy type. The research hypothesis was that after allowing for community selection processes children living in lower quality environments would be less satisfied with various areas of their lives, would experience more negative emotions, and would have more restricted and less positive friendship patterns. The sample comprised 321 families which included a 9–11 year old child, drawn from 18 neighborhoods of Sydney. Neighborhood social problem score and street-type, and some aspects of housing, predicted emotional and social adjustment. Before and after controls for family composition, social class and culture, children living in commercial streets, particularly in inner-city areas, stood out from all others in their feelings of loneliness, dislike of other children and feelings of rejection, worry, fear, anger and unhappiness. Children living in high social problems areas showed a pattern of social constriction rather than maladjustment. These results suggest not simply the influence of social class but genuine community socialization effects. Possible sources of, and mechanisms for, these effects are suggested.     

Remarks on the analysis of causal relationships in population research

The problem of determining cause and effect is one of the oldest in the social sciences, where laboratory experimentation is generally not possible. This article provides a perspective on the analysis of causal relationships in population research that draws upon recent discussions of this issue in the field of economics. Within economics, thinking about causal estimation has shifted dramatically in the past decade toward a more pessimistic reading of what is possible and a retreat in the ambitiousness of claims of causal determination. In this article, the framework that underlies this conclusion is presented, the central identification problem is discussed in detail, and examples from the field of population research are given. Some of the more important aspects of this framework are related to the problem of the variability of causal effects for different individuals; the relationships among structural forms, reduced forms, and knowledge of mechanisms; the problem of internal versus external validity and the related issue of extrapolation; and the importance of theory and outside evidence.     

高校大学生就业的现状及对策

随着金融危机对全球经济影响的加深,我国经济增长开始放慢,就业岗位需求相对减少。与此同时,高校毕业生将越来越多。面对这些情况,理性看待大学生就业难题,调节好大学毕业生的供求;塑造全面的市场就业环境;改革高校教育模式;研究"新政",拓宽毕业生就业渠道;帮助大学生树立正确择业观念十分重要。     

论人口战略研究的重要性和迫切性

在新的历史时期,我们面临的人口问题依然严峻,人口问题已经不仅是数量的压力,而且其复杂性日益显现。人口问题已经不是我们过去单纯的人口数量控制和计划生育政策所能够解决的,必须对人口发展战略进行研究。而一个专门的协调和研究机构,一定的经费支持是开展这项研究的基本条件;目前需要重点研究问题包括:人口数量、人口素质、城市化与劳动就业、人口分布与资源环境的承载力以及人口老龄化等问题。     

新疆老年人口结构差异及其问题研究--基于新疆第四次、五次和六次人口普查数据的分析

中国社会已然进入老龄化社会,老龄问题成为中国未来经济社会发展的重大社会问题之一。新疆作为多民族地区和经济欠发达地区,其老龄化问题有其自身特征,进行区域性的老龄化结构问题研究能够了解新疆老龄化的现状和具体问题,为解决区域性的老龄化问题提供科学依据,促进新疆地方性社会的长治久安。基于新疆第四、五和六三次人口普查资料的统计分析,研究发现,新疆老年人口结构存在区域性不平衡、汉族老龄化进程快于少数民族、老龄人社会经济地位较低、老龄妇女问题较为突出和老年公共文化需求等方面的问题。文章提出推进区域老年经济产业发展、对汉族老龄化进行政策干预、推进地方产业结构升级、发展老龄妇女养老服务事业和老年社会公共文化建设的对策建议。     

从“三种生产理论”到“多种生产理论”——科学发展观的一种新启示

随着生态环境问题的出现并严重化,“两种生产理论”的局限性逐渐暴露,将生态环境生产纳入其中的“三种生产理论”应运而生。但在当今知识经济时代,文化和制度等社会环境因素的力量逐渐突显并日趋强大,我们发现“三种生产理论”还有待于进一步丰富和发展。文章通过举例指出了“三种生产理论”的一些不足之处,并将文化生产和制度生产融入其中,提出“多种生产理论,”以期对科学发展观的形成有所启示。     

Men at sport: gay men's experiences in the sport workplace

Research on sexual identity and sport has revealed a shifting narrative about the experiences of gay men. While some suggest the atmosphere is hostile, others posit that homophobia and sexual prejudice are playing less of a role in gay men's experiences. This research focuses on the experiences of 10 gay men working in professional, collegiate, and club sport, as part of a larger dataset of 37 male and female employees. Five of the men were overtly and publicly out at work, while five were closeted (to varying degrees). This article focuses on three themes for gay men working in sport: 1) the importance of coming out in the workplace; 2) the role of the locker room as a contested terrain, and 3) the disconnect between their experiences at work and their perceptions of the workplace environment as negative or positive. Men in this study were basing their impressions on their total experience in sport (as current and former players, as employees, and as fans). It also suggests that the public "story" of gay men working in sport represents one of two extremes-either the proverbial "horror story," or the extremely positive representation of gay men's experiences. This research suggests that gay men's experiences in sport are more complex and nuanced than the public narrative implies.     

Redefining Neighborhoods Using Common Destinations: Social Characteristics of Activity Spaces and Home Census Tracts Compared

Research on neighborhood effects has focused largely on residential neighborhoods, but people are exposed to many other places in the course of their daily lives—at school, at work, when shopping, and so on. Thus, studies of residential neighborhoods consider only a subset of the social-spatial environment affecting individuals. In this article, we examine the characteristics of adults’ “activity spaces”—spaces defined by locations that individuals visit regularly—in Los Angeles County, California. Using geographic information system (GIS) methods, we define activity spaces in two ways and estimate their socioeconomic characteristics. Our research has two goals. First, we determine whether residential neighborhoods represent the social conditions to which adults are exposed in the course of their regular activities. Second, we evaluate whether particular groups are exposed to a broader or narrower range of social contexts in the course of their daily activities. We find that activity spaces are substantially more heterogeneous in terms of key social characteristics, compared to residential neighborhoods. However, the characteristics of both home neighborhoods and activity spaces are closely associated with individual characteristics. Our results suggest that most people experience substantial segregation across the range of spaces in their daily lives, not just at home.     

‘The shops were only made for people who could walk’: impairment,barriers and autonomy in the mobility of adults with Cerebral Palsy in urban England

ABSTRACT

Based on research carried out with a group of adults with Cerebral Palsy in Birmingham, UK, we consider the complex inter-relationship between the accessibility of the urban environment for those with impaired gross motor skills, and the ability of these people to lead full and independent lives. Drawing on a framework that considers mobility as movement, meaning-making and political, we demonstrate the reality of differentiated mobility. For those with bodies that function outside the presumed operating parameters of the model subjects of urban design, mobility may be possible, but is often uncomfortable and even dangerous, with significant associated effects for impaired people’s autonomy. Our study details social and structural, or design, barriers to people’s mobility, demonstrating the inter-connection between individuals’ behaviour and urban design in a manner that questions a clear distinction between the two. We draw upon the notions of emotional work and a commoning approach to mobility in suggesting that further investment in urban accessibility is squarely an issue of social justice.     

国际劳工组织体面劳动衡量指标探要

本文通过考察体面劳动的11类衡量指标与6大基本理念的关系,展示了体面劳动衡量指标及其基本理念的结构与相互关系的特点,检验了国际劳工组织体面劳动理念对于其政策目标的整合性特点。本文的研究对正确理解体面劳动概念及其衡量指标体系,指导体面劳动实践与相关学术研究等,均具有一定的参考价值。     

Different Reasons,Different Results: Implications of Migration by Gender and Family Status

Previous research on migration and gendered career outcomes centers on couples and rarely examines the reason for the move. The implicit assumption is usually that households migrate in response to job opportunities. Based on a two-year panel from the Current Population Survey, this article uses stated reasons for geographic mobility to compare earnings outcomes among job migrants, family migrants, and quality-of-life migrants by gender and family status. We further assess the impact of migration on couples’ internal household economy. The effects of job-related moves that we find are reduced substantially in the fixed-effects models, indicating strong selection effects. Married women who moved for family reasons experience significant and substantial earnings declines. Consistent with conventional models of migration, we find that household earnings and income and gender specialization increase following job migration. Married women who are secondary earners have increased odds of reducing their labor supply following migration for job or family reasons. However, we also find that migrating women who contributed as equals to the household economy before the move are no more likely than nonmigrant women to exit work or to work part-time. Equal breadwinner status may protect women from becoming tied movers.     

中国新企业年金替代率测算及其敏感性分析

企业年金在多支柱养老保险体系中发挥着越来越重要的作用。企业年金替代率是企业养老保险的一个重要指标。本文构建了一个测算企业年金替代率的现金流平衡模型。基于现金流平衡模型,我们对影响企业年金替代率的诸因素进行了敏感性分析。不同于大多数的以往研究方法,我们应用三状态Markov转换模型分析了年金基金投资收益率的长期走势。研究表明,逐步延长退休年龄或提供投资收益可以提高企业年金替代率。因此,应通过实施弹性退休制,改善企业年金资产的投资环境,实施更多的税收优惠政策,以及其他配套措施,以促进我国企业年金的可持续发展。     

Social Problem Solving as a Predictor of Well-being in Adolescents and Young Adults

Social problem solving is the cognitive-affective-behavioral process by which people attempt to resolve real-life problems in a social environment, and is of key importance in the management of emotions and well-being. This paper reviews a series of studies on social problem solving conducted by the authors. First, we developed and validated the Chinese version of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory Revised (C-SPSI-R) which demonstrated very good psychometric properties. Second, we identified the scope of stressful social situations faced by young adults and their self-efficacy in facing such situations (N = 179). Young adults were generally confident about their basic social skills but found it much more stressful to relate to family members, handle conflicts, handle negative behaviors from others, self-disclose to others, and to express love. Third, in two separate studies, we found that social problem solving was closely linked to measures of depression (n = 200), anxiety (n = 235), and family well-being (N = 1462). Measures of anxiety and depression were found to be significantly related to aspects of social problem solving in expected directions and expected strength. In another study, higher parental social problem solving behavior and lower avoidance behavior were found to be related to indicators of family well-being, including better overall family functioning, and fewer parent–adolescent conflicts.     

Population and sustainable development: Distinguishing fact and preference concerning the future human population and environment

The relation of population, environment and economic growth is controversial, with some considering that growth comes at an intolerable expense to the environment, others that the damage to the environment is slight and in any case so far in the future that it does not matter. Scientific evidence on the subject is not the only basis on which people choose sides; major factors are preference for present enjoyment and welfare as against the welfare of children and grandchildren, and the life of cities as against the countryside. The visibility of damage to the environment will sooner or later convince everyone that something must be done. For we can picture a declining marginal enjoyment of goods, and a rising marginal visible damage, two curves that are sure to meet sooner or later, and when they do the public will insist on drastic measures for repair being financed and undertaken. The greater the delay the more expensive the repairs. Beyond cost, the question is whether adequate measures of repair and prevention of further damage will be undertaken before it is too late.