Relations between demographic parameters

The mean life-expectancy e describes the average prospective life-time of an individual aged zero. This parameter can be explicitly described in terms of the survivorship distribution of the population. The Malthusian parameter r represents the asymptotic growth rate of a population. This parameter can be implicitly expressed in terms of the net-maternity distribution. The parameters e and r incompletely incorporate the age-specific fertility and mortality pattern of a population; distinct populations may have the same growth rate but different net-maternity functions; distinct populations may be characterized by the same mean life expectation but may have different survivorship distributions. This article analyzes a class of parameters called the entropy of a population (Demetrius, 1974a) which distinguishes between net-maternity functions with the same growth rate and also mortality distributions with the same mean life expectation. This class of parameters measures the convexity of the fertility and mortality distributions. This paper analyzes the relations between the entropy parameter and the standard demographic parameters.     

Nexus Between Globalization,Income Inequality and Human Development in Indonesian Economy: Evidence from Application of Partial and Multiple Wavelet Coherence

Social Indicators Research - This paper aims at understanding the vigorous connection between globalization, income inequality and human development in Indonesian economy. This study employs...     

The Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Are Transmission Channels Effective?

Social Indicators Research - This study aims to determine whether the effect of income inequality on economic growth is realised through transmission channels theoretically expressed. This...     

对我国当前人口老龄化问题研究的概念和理论探析

目前国内关于人口老龄化研究的文献中对人口老龄化的概念理解有明显的误区,并由此导致对人口老龄化问题、特点的认识不科学;人口老龄化的社会经济影响问题的研究方法论存在明显的不足,并就此提出自己的见解。     

Valuation of Air Quality in Chile: The Life Satisfaction Approach

Social Indicators Research - Chile is one of the worst countries in Latin America in terms of urban air pollution. This situation negatively affects the health and well-being of Chileans. This...     

三元劳动力市场分割与“新失业群体”失业——基于辽宁的调查

本文主要从辽宁省基本社会特质入手,从制度的角度展开“新失业群体”存在的根源分析。主要是从东北老工业基地特有的三元劳动力市场分割的视角来分析“新失业群体”何以在辽宁省特别突出。即由于劳动力市场三元分割,使得“新失业群体”在不同劳动力市场之间的职业流动发生障碍,导致了“新失业群体”的失业。     

The Relationship between Economic Development and Social Welfare: A New Adjusted GDP Measure of Welfare

Existing literature focuses on the issue ofpreparation of social welfare measurements onthe basis of an unadjusted Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). This paper extends this methodto incorporate cost-benefit analysis ofeconomic growth in a growing economy incalculating the adjusted GDP, termed as thecost-benefit (CB)-adjusted GDP. This approachis empirically applied to Thailand. There arestark differences between GDP per capita and CBadjusted GDP per capita rates for this period.This paper concludes that GDP can be used as anindicator of social welfare if the GDPestimates are undertaken within a cost-benefitanalysis framework.     

A note on measuring the independent impact of family planning programs on fertility Declines

This note critically evaluates recent cross-national studies that estimate the independent effect of family planning programs on the fertility of the developing world. The evaluation demonstrates that past research is biased to produce overestimates of net program impact. A new estimate is derived to account more completely for the effects of the social context and socioeconomic development on fertility. This estimate indicates that 5 percent of the variation in crude birth rate decline for 89 developing countries is due to family planning programs. This is substantially less than past estimates.     

The Use of Different Happiness Rating Scales: Bias and Comparison Problem?

This paper uses data of reported happiness which is measured at 4, 5, 7 and 11 likert-scale points. A group of 137 respondents was selected to study the comparison problem on the estimated mean happiness using direct rescaling. It is found that the 11-point scale’s estimated mean happiness is significantly higher than the 4 and 7-point scale. This paper also proposes an alternate method of rescaling using transition probabilities as weights. This adjusted rescaling resembles the calculation of expected value and provides better mean comparison.     

On A Symmetric Measure of Occupational Segregation

Occupational segregation according to sex iswidely prevalent in almost allcountries. This paper suggests and characterizes a symmetric measure ofsegregation. This measure was originallyproposed in a different situation byJeffreys (1946). We also provide twonumerical illustrations of changein segregation over time.     

Fertility and women's employment reconsidered: A macro-level time-series analysis for developed countries, 1960–2000

This paper examines causality and parameter instability in the long-run relationship between fertility and women's employment. This is done by a cross-national comparison of macro-level time-series data from 1960 to 2000 for France, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. By applying vector error correction models (a combination of Granger-causality tests with recent econometric time-series techniques) we find causality in both directions. This finding is consistent with simultaneous movements of both variables brought about by common exogenous factors such as social norms, social institutions, financial incentives, and the availability and acceptability of contraception. We find a negative and significant correlation until about the mid-1970s and an insignificant or weaker negative correlation afterwards. This result is consistent with a recent hypothesis in the demographic literature according to which changes in the institutional context, such as changes in childcare availability and attitudes towards working mothers, might have reduced the incompatibility between child-rearing and the employment of women.     

Fertility and women's employment reconsidered: a macro-level time-series analysis for developed countries, 1960-2000

This paper examines causality and parameter instability in the long-run relationship between fertility and women's employment. This is done by a cross-national comparison of macro-level time-series data from 1960 to 2000 for France, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. By applying vector error correction models (a combination of Granger-causality tests with recent econometric time-series techniques) we find causality in both directions. This finding is consistent with simultaneous movements of both variables brought about by common exogenous factors such as social norms, social institutions, financial incentives, and the availability and acceptability of contraception. We find a negative and significant correlation until about the mid-1970s and an insignificant or weaker negative correlation afterwards. This result is consistent with a recent hypothesis in the demographic literature according to which changes in the institutional context, such as changes in childcare availability and attitudes towards working mothers, might have reduced the incompatibility between child-rearing and the employment of women.     

企业短视行为对知识失业的影响——基于北京市用人市场的调查分析

本文从市场经济的角度探求知识失业的深层次原因,通过对北京市用人市场进行问卷调查分析,发现市场经济条件下企业的短视行为是导致知识失业的重要原因之一,并提出意见和建议。     

Television and Postfeminist Housekeeping: No Time for Mother

This feminist, qualitative study sheds light on how young Arab women used cyberactivism to participate in the wave of political and social transformations widely known as the Arab Spring. It argues that these activists leveraged social media to enact new forms of leadership, agency, and empowerment, since these online platforms enabled them to express themselves freely and their voices to be heard by the rest of the world, particularly the global media. This resulted in a multidimensional personal, social, political, and communicative revolution. This study is based on in-depth, personal interviews with more than twenty young Arab women citizen journalists, bloggers, and activists from Arab countries that witnessed political upheaval.     

Political tolerance among adolescents towards homosexuals in Spain

This paper studies the willingness that an adolescent has to extend human rights to homosexuals. This willingness defines the concept of political tolerance towards homosexuals. Results of this study show that the rights that adolescents are less willing to extend to homosexuals are those more related to the activities that homosexuals do to recover their rights, as the right of demonstrating on the street. This study also pretends to find those variables more related to political tolerance towards homosexuals. Self-esteem, political experience, support for democratic norms and identification with a group of friends are positively related to political tolerance towards homosexuals, whereas support for violent groups or the identification with a religious group are negatively related.     

Collective action for the development of national standards for midwifery education in Australia

This article describes a sequence of events that led to the development of national standards for the accreditation of Australian midwifery education programmes for initial registration. This process occurred within a climate of polarised opinions about the value of the introduction of three-year degree programmes for midwives who are not nurses (known as the BMid in Australia) and concerns about the invisibility of midwifery within nursing regulation, education, policy and nomenclature.Concerted efforts to develop standards to inform the introduction of BMid programmes through a process of collective action are described. This involved arguing successfully for the positioning of midwifery as a separate profession from nursing, with a need for its own discreet regulation.     

Quality-of-Life in Individualistic Society

In the process of modernization, western societies became more individualistic. Ever since there have been claims that this development will create an unlivable society. Humans would need a Gemeinschaft and would wither in Gesellschaft. This classic idea lives in present day 'communitarism' and inspires pleas for the strengthening of moral bonds and preserving the welfare state. This paper reports an empirical test of the claim that quality-of-life is poor in individualized society. It compares 43 nations in the early 1990's. Individualization is measured by three aspects: 1) moral appreciation of individualism, 2) opportunity to choose, and 3) capability to choose. Next overall individualization is measured by means of an expert-estimate. Quality-of-life in nations is measured by the citizen's subjective appreciation of life as assessed in representative surveys.The data show a clear positive relationship, the more individualized the nation, the more citizens enjoy their life. This suggests that the benefits of individualization are greater than its costs. Inspection of the scattergrams shows a linear relationship. There is no pattern of diminishing returns. This indicates that individualization has not yet passed its optimum. The relationship appears to be contingent to level of education and economic prosperity. Positive correlations appear only among the most knowledgeable and prosperous nations. This suggests that the misgivings about individualization apply more to the past than to the future.     

中美两国城市贫困区位化比较研究

通过对中美两国城市贫困区位化的原因、发展趋势和影响的比较研究,可以发现,影响两国城市贫困异同的主要因素是产业结构,文化传统和制度体系。这一研究将为中国城市的反贫困工作起到参考作用。     

The psychosocial meaning of menopause: women's experiences

This paper reports on a qualitative study of womens' experiences with menopause from a psychosocial perspective. Women give voice to the impact of menopause upon their sense of self and significant relationships in their lives. This study raises questions about the meaning of the reluctance of women and others to discuss menopause in a helpful, meaningful way.