Moving Beyond Salmon Bias: Mexican Return Migration and Health Selection

Despite having lower levels of education and limited access to health care services, Mexican immigrants report better health outcomes than U.S.-born individuals. Research suggests that the Mexican health advantage may be partially attributable to selective return migration among less healthy migrants—often referred to as “salmon bias.” Our study takes advantage of a rare opportunity to observe the health status of Mexican-origin males as they cross the Mexican border. To assess whether unhealthy migrants are disproportionately represented among those who return, we use data from two California-based studies: the California Health Interview Survey; and the Migrante Study, a survey that samples Mexican migrants entering and leaving the United States through Tijuana. We pool these data sources to look for evidence of health-related return migration. Results provide mixed support for salmon bias. Although migrants who report health limitations and frequent stress are more likely to return, we find little evidence that chronic conditions and self-reported health are associated with higher probabilities of return. Results also provide some indication that limited health care access increases the likelihood of return among the least healthy. This study provides new theoretical considerations of return migration and further elucidates the relationship between health and migration decisions.     

生育率的经济学分析

本文在前人研究的基础上,从经济学角度分析了家庭收入对生育决策的影响,并尝试进一步推导出“收入-生育率”曲线。与以往研究不同的是,本文认为生育率与家庭收入并不总是呈反向关系,而是收入到了一定水平以后,生育率水平又会随之上升,即“收入-生育率”曲线基本呈扁平“U”形曲线形态。     

Moving and union dissolution

This paper examines the effect of migration and residential mobility on union dissolution among married and cohabiting couples. Moving is a stressful life event, and a large, multidisciplinary literature has shown that family migration often benefits one partner (usually the man) more than the other Even so, no study to date has examined the possible impact of within-nation geographical mobility on union dissolution. We base our longitudinal analysis on retrospective event-history data from Austria. Our results show that couples who move frequently have a significantly higher risk of union dissolution, and we suggest a variety of mechanisms that may explain this.     

The Construct of Content Validity

Many behavioral scientists argue that assessments used in social indicators research must be content-valid. However, the concept of content validity has been controversial since its inception. The current unitary conceptualization of validity argues against use of the term content validity, but stresses the importance of content representation in the instrument construction and evaluation processes. However, by arguing against use of this term, the importance of demonstrating content representativeness has been severely undermined. This paper reviews the history of content validity theory to underscore its importance in evaluating construct validity. It is concluded that although measures cannot be “validated” based on content validity evidence alone, demonstration of content validity is a fundamental requirement of all assessment instruments.     

Validity of centenarian data in the 1960 Census

This paper examines the question of how many genuine centenarians there actually are in the United States as compared with those reported in the census. It is concluded that the numbers of centenarians shown in various United States censuses are definite overstatements of the number of true centenarians. It seems likely that instead of the 10,326 centenarians reported in the 1960 census there were at most only about 3,700. Overstatement of ages seems to be particularly the case among those who claim to be aged 110 or over, and it is believed that there probably are no persons who are actually this old.The analysis has been made by projecting, through the me of population life table survival factors, the populations reported cit carious advanced age groups in one census to the next census and then comparing the results with the corresponding number reported in the latter census for the same age cohort. In general, the enumerated populations at ages below 95 are reasonably close to the projected populations, especially for white persons. On the other hand, at ages 95 and over-especially for centenarians-the enumerated populations significantly exceed the projected ones.As a subsidiary part of the analysis, the paper points out the significant differences at the older ages between the "full count" age distribution in the 1960 census and the corresponding "inflated 25 per cent sample" one. This is a subject that bears further investigation and explanation.The paper also discusses centenarians on the social security benefit rolls and concludes that the present data cannot be considered of substantial accuracy with regard to genuine centenarians, particularly the oldest ones. In a number of years, however, this program will provide excellent data, became the individuals involved will have been on the benefit rolls for many years and will have had their ages proved with reasonable accuracy.     

人口老龄化的经济学再审视

人口学所界定的老年人口和人口老龄化不利于研究人口老龄化对经济发展的影响。通过对人口老龄化的经济学再审视,我们发现人口老龄化并不一定可怕。从经济老年人的标准出发,改革现行的以日历年龄为唯一标准的退休制度,实行灵活的退休制度,并采取加快发展老年科学教育事业、加大公共医疗卫生事业建设的力度、合理开发老年人才资源等措施,延长老年人转变为经济老年人的时间间隔,发挥老年人口在生产中的作用,是可以缓解并防止人口老龄化带来的经济冲击。     

江苏省农村劳动力转移问题的研究

江苏省农村劳动力转移已形成了新的趋势,分析总结这些现状对当前全国农村劳动力的转移和就业具有一定的借鏊和指导。本文着重研究了当前江苏省农村劳动力转移过程中的现状和存在问题,并提出了一些相应的对策建议。     

Validity of Domain Satisfaction Across Cohorts in the US

Domain satisfaction, a relatively under-researched topic in subjective well-being research, is designed to capture satisfaction in multiple aspects of life (e.g., family, health). In view of the life course perspective, perceptions toward such different domains of life are most likely influenced by the historical and social climate that individuals uniquely experience over their life span. However, little is known about whether domain satisfaction is a valid measure across cohorts, which reflect differing life experiences at each life stage. This study examines the psychometric properties (e.g., validity and reliability) of a domain satisfaction measure across seven theoretically meaningful cohorts (e.g., Baby Boomers) using a nationally representative sample of American adults from multiple waves of the General Social Survey (n = 15,302). Results from confirmatory factor analysis showed that the validity of the domain satisfaction measure was not consistent across cohorts; unlike when all samples (e.g., cohorts were not considered) were analyzed together. A series of follow-up analyses also revealed that temporally proximate cohorts that were born around the same time were more likely to be psychometrically comparable, while temporally distant cohorts were not. In summary, this study provides empirical evidence suggesting that the validity of domain satisfaction is sensitive to cohort effects, and researchers need careful consideration when comparing cohorts chronologically further apart.     

Francine Blau receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics

News

Francine Blau receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics     

The Predictive Validity Of Reproductive Intentions

On the basis of data collected in the 1975 National Fertility Study (NFS) in which continuously married white women interviewed in the 1970 NFS were reinterviewed five years later, the aggregate and individual validity of reported fertility intentions is evaluated. The main finding about aggregate prediction is that 1970 intentions overestimated 1971–1975 fertility to the same extent as the conventional 1970 total fertility rate. The conclusion is that intentions suffer all of the same vulnerabilities as other period measures. At the individual level, the validity of intentions is considerable in comparison with most other indicators.     

Richard Easterlin receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics

News

Richard Easterlin receives IZA Prize in Labor Economics     

Chinese Mobile Phones Go Beyond Copycats

Essential Mobile Phones Yesterday,several friends dated to have dinner together.All of us came on time,except Zhang,who was late for 30 minutes.When he,sweating profusely,walked into the restaurant and encountered the unsatisfactory gazes,he