The destination decision of political migrants

This paper deals with the destination decision of political migrants who, in spite of having strong cultural, ideological and religious ties to a particular potential destination, choose to emigrate elsewhere. The model presented characterizes the migrants, who have a choice of two possible destinations, by two properties, skill level and financial resources, and identifies those that move to each destination. The paper examines various immigration-encouraging policies and shows that although all of them will increase immigration, in some cases the economic quality of the new immigrants will rise and in some it will fall. This paper includes general evidence on the present immigration to Israel and some suggestions for empirical tests.Supported by the Schnitzer Foundation for Research on the Israeli Society and Economy.We would like to thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments which simplified the presentation.     

The potential of the SSI program to reduce poverty among the elderly

Is it more effective to reduce poverty among the elderly by increasing the benefits paid by the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program or by increasing eligibility for the program? This paper answers that question from a policymaker's perspective. At given program cost levels, we compare the potential reduction in poverty from increasing benefit levels to the potential reduction associated with a variety of policy proposals that would increase eligibility for the program. This paper employs a microsimulation model containing an eligibility and benefits calculator, a participation model, and an optimization algorithm. The data are from the Survey of Income and Program Participation supplemented by the administrative records of the SSI program. The results show that increasing eligibility by relaxing the restrictions of the means tests can be more effective in reducing poverty than raising benefit levels.     

Young Male Street Workers: Life Histories and Current Experiences

The current study aims to reveal the experiences of young malestreet prostitutes in Israel, providing a stage for the voiceof this marginal group to be heard, as we believe youth workersneed to know more about these young people’s lives beforewe can offer meaningful responses. The study was guided by twomain questions: (1) What accounts do young men who work as prostitutesprovide for their involvement in the sex industry? and (2) Whatare their experiences as young males engaged in prostitution?Using the life story interview and thematic analysis, four mainthemes were revealed: (a) a life-long path to prostitution;(b) entering prostitution; (c) interpersonal encounters whileengaging in prostitution; and (d) the consequences of workingin prostitution. The results highlight the lack of meaningfulinterpersonal relationships in the lives of these young men.Practical recommendations are made to better inform youth workersassisting this high-risk population.     

Divorced mothers' self‐perception of their divorce‐related communication with their children

This is a qualitative study of divorce‐related communication between mothers and children, as recounted by 20 Jewish Israeli mothers. We adopt the communication privacy management theory, focusing on mothers' subjective experiences of communication, their management of dialectic tension between concealment and disclosure – namely, not only what mothers choose to disclose to and hide from their children, but also the feelings, concerns and perceptions that drove their communication. The mothers' reports convey the challenges and dilemmas they faced when communicating with their children about their divorce and its repercussions; the main one being their obligation to maintain a good father image and their wish to preserve a strong maternal figure. The ‘child's well‐being’ was the dominant criterion in the mothers' decision to reveal or conceal divorce‐related information. Clinical suggestions are made.     

Does valuing androgyny and femininity lead to a female advantage? The relationship between gender-role,transformational leadership and identification

The notion of ‘think manager–think male’ has been demonstrated in many studies. The current study examines whether leaders are perceived as more effective when they have ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’ or ‘androgynous’ characteristics, and how this relates to the leader's and followers' sex. Using carefully matched samples of 930 employees of 76 bank managers, we studied the relationship between managers' gender-role identity (perceived ‘femininity’, ‘masculinity’ and ‘androgyny’) and how this relates to leadership effectiveness in terms of transformational leadership and personal identification with the leader. Our findings show that among both male and female leaders, ‘androgyny’ was more strongly related to transformational leadership and followers' identification than ‘non-androgyny’, and that leaders' ‘femininity’ was more strongly related to leadership effectiveness than ‘masculinity’. Furthermore, the results show that women paid a higher penalty for not being perceived as ‘androgynous’ (mixing ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’), in comparison to men with regard to personal identification. When examining same- versus cross-sex relationships, we found that ‘non-androgynous’ male managers were rated higher by their male employees than by their female employees. Our findings suggest that women and men who are interested in being perceived as effective leaders may be well advised to blend ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ behaviors, and even more so when they are in situations of non-congruency (i.e., women in leadership roles and leading in cross-sex relationships). We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.