Rehabilitation and welfare restructuring in East Asia: deciphering an assessment tool for people with disabilities in Hong Kong

While many East Asian economies have in the past witnessed the coexistence of economic growth and modern welfare provisions, this has no longer been the case since the Asian Financial Crisis. This article is an attempt to unravel the latent policy objectives behind an assessment tool for residential services ostensibly aimed at rationalizing residential services for people with physical and/or mental disabilities in Hong Kong. The central argument is that such a policy instrument, whilst appearing technocratic and professional in policy discourse, nonetheless fails to hide its true purpose of implementation - the rationalization of welfare resources within a cutback environment. Moreover, in screening out people with disabilities, the new Assessment Tool further perpetuates a rehabilitation service rooted in paternalism and traditionalism, a service which sees those affected by disabilities as dependent and helpless, and which moves ever further away from the ideals of inclusion, dignity and independent living.     

Twenty-five years before the masthead: Confessions of a journal editor

After two-and-a-half decades as Editor of the Journal of Labor Research, I share some of my thinking about academic research in general and about journal editing, the review process, and the publishing game, in particular. This irreverent (and sometimes irrelevant) personal perspective should not be taken too seriously — indeed, journal editors should never take themselves too seriously.     

A hierarchical model for extreme wind speeds

Summary.  A typical extreme value analysis is often carried out on the basis of simplistic inferential procedures, though the data being analysed may be structurally complex. Here we develop a hierarchical model for hourly gust maximum wind speed data, which attempts to identify site and seasonal effects for the marginal densities of hourly maxima, as well as for the serial dependence at each location. A Gaussian model for the random effects exploits the meteorological structure in the data, enabling increased precision for inferences at individual sites and in individual seasons. The Bayesian framework that is adopted is also exploited to obtain predictive return level estimates at each site, which incorporate uncertainty due to model estimation, as well as the randomness that is inherent in the processes that are involved.     

Minority employment in the construction trades

This paper examines employment in the construction trades by race and skill level across 162 large U.S. metropolitan areas. The results reveal significant negative wage and positive scale effects on construction employment, especially for minorities and laborers, and thus imply that repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires “prevailing wages ” to be paid on federally funded construction projects, would yield substantial efficiency and equity gains. Conservative estimates suggest that Davis-Bacon repeal would increase construction employment by at least 36,000, including jobs for 27,000 minorities and 10,000 laborers. I am grateful to Burt Barnow, Barry Hirsch, and the anonymous referee for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper; Barry Hirsch and David Macpherson for preparing and thoroughly answering questions regarding their database provided to me through the Bureau of National Affairs; and Mindy Berry for careful research assistance.     

On some data oriented robust estimation procedures for means

Data oriented to estimate means is very important for large data sets. Since outliers usually occur, the trimmed mean is a robust estimator of locations. After building a reasonable linear model to explain the relationship between the suitably transformed symmetric data and the approximately standardized normal statistics, we find the trimmed proportion based on the smallest variance of trimmed means. The related statistical inference is also discussed. An empirical study based on an annual survey about inbound visitors in the Taiwan area is used to achieve our goal in deciding the trimmed proportion. In this study, we propose a complete procedure to attain the goal.     

The Timing of Entry Into Fatherhood in Young, At-Risk Men

Timing of first fatherhood was examined in a sample of 206 at-risk, predominantly White men, followed prospectively for 17 years. An event history analysis was used to test a model wherein antisocial behavior, the contextual and familial factors that may contribute to the development of antisocial behavior, and common correlates of such behavior, including academic failure, substance use, and early initiation of sexual behaviors, lead both directly and indirectly to an early transition to fatherhood. Having a mother who was younger at first birth, low family SES, poor academic skills, failure to use condoms, and being in a cohabitating or marital relationship predicted entry into fatherhood. Implications of the findings for prevention of and intervention with early fathering are discussed.     

Introduction Private and Public: Gender,Generation and Family Life in Flux

In the past four decades, Hong Kong has seen a dramatic transformation of the social location of women in the public sphere, with deep and far-reaching ramifications for courtship, marriage, fertility, conceptions of parenthood, familial power, and equality and freedom. A sociology of the family is thus by necessity a sociology of women in particular, and of gender relations in general. Indeed, recent developments in research on marriage and the family in Hong Kong reflect this new awareness. Using rigorous sociological frameworks, this new line of research has begun to meet with some success in analyzing contemporary social issues that are prominent in the public consciousness. This essay reviews studies of four topical areas: determinants of the postponement of first marriage among women, the effect of live-in foreign domestic workers on family dynamics, violence against women and children in the family, and the livelihood strategies of cross-border families. These studies have attempted to integrate the interplay of the impact of a changing economy and society on the family and the role played by women in the family. The resulting dynamic interactions amongst the members within the family and the changes they bring about become propellants for change in the economy and society and pose new challenges. The family is indeed a troubled institution. It is so because myriad public issues are being taken on, confronted, worked through, and acted out within the family. The agony, and indeed the ecstasy, of the family is a reflection of the success, and failure, of society.