Forced Migration and Mortality in the Very Long Term: Did Perestroika Affect Death Rates Also in Finland?

In this article, we analyze mortality rates of Finns born in areas that were ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II and from which the entire population was evacuated. These internally displaced persons are observed during the period 1971-2004 and compared with people born in the same region but on the adjacent side of the new border. We find that in the 1970s and 1980s, the forced migrants had mortality rates that were on par with those of people in the comparison group. In the late 1980s, the mortality risk of internally displaced men increased by 20% in relation to the expected time trend. This deviation, which manifests particularly in cardiovascular mortality, coincides with perestroika and the demise of the Soviet Union, which were events that resulted in an intense debate in civil society about restitution of the ceded areas. Because state actors were reluctant to engage, the debate declined after some few years, and after the mid-1990s, the death risk again approached the long-term trend. Our findings indicate that when internally displaced persons must adjust to situations for which appropriate coping behaviors are unknown, psychosocial stress might arise several decades after their evacuation.     

Individual-level sterility: A new method of estimation with application to sub-saharan Africa

This paper extends work on measures of population proportions sterile to propose a new estimator of an individual woman's age at sterility and consequently her sterility status at given ages. Accuracy and reliability, examined in a simulation study, appear satisfactory. From World Fertility Survey data for five African countries, the proportions sterile by age estimated by the individual measure and by the population estimator are almost identical. Cameroon and Kenya show substantial variation in prevalence and incidence of sterility across ethnic groups and by number of marriages. Unexpectedly, the evidence suggests that sterility increased from 1960 on in Kenya and remained unchanged in Cameroon.     

Community development in a Mexican squatter settlement: A program evaluation

This paper critically examines various approaches to community development in Mexican squatter settlements. Using a quasi-experimental design, the authors show systematic differences between government-sponsored and spontaneous squatter communities. Results suggest that residents in the non-government squatter settlement are not disadvantaged in their ability to construct adequate housing or to obtain resources similar to those living in government-sponsored communities. Government-sponsored settlements, however, showed significantly higher levels of collective action and community building than those that were spontaneously formed. The authors conclude with suggestions for improving the social and physical conditions of squatters.     

The demographic effect of mixed marriages

This paper gives a formal expression for the demographic effect of mixed marriages; i.e., the effect on the number of children, and thereafter illustrates the long-term effects of these marriages with a simple simulation model     

The organizational design of offshoring: Taking stock and moving forward

Offshoring can be defined as the relocation of organizational tasks and services to foreign locations. At the same time as the scale and scope of offshoring have reached unprecedented levels in recent years, firms have increasingly been exposed to the challenges relating to managing an organization consisting of a number of offshored activities. In this special issue introduction paper, we argue that an organizational design perspective on offshoring can benefit research and practice in understanding how firms can coordinate and integrate offshoring activities. Specifically, we argue that offshoring implies an organizational reconfiguration consisting of three stages: disintegration, relocation and reintegration. We discuss the implications of this perspective and outline a research agenda.     

Mortality inequality in two native population groups

A sample of people aged 40–67 years, taken from a longitudinal register compiled by Statistics Finland, is used to analyse mortality differences between Swedish speakers and Finnish speakers in Finland. Finnish speakers are known to have higher death rates than Swedish speakers. The purpose is to explore whether labour-market experience and partnership status, treated as proxies for measures of variation in health-related characteristics, are related to the mortality differential. Persons who are single, disability pensioners, and those having experienced unemployment are found to have substantially higher death rates than those with a partner and employed persons. Swedish speakers have a more favourable distribution on both variables, which thus notably helps to reduce the Finnish–Swedish mortality gradient. A conclusion from this study is that future analyses on the topic should focus on mechanisms that bring a greater proportion of Finnish speakers into the groups with poor health or supposed unhealthy behaviour.     

A non‐linear model of fecundability,postpartum amenorrhea,and sterility*

This paper proposes a convolution model of fecundability, controling for the effects of postpartum amenorrhea and unobserved heterogeneity in fecundability. Simulation analysis was used to assess the validity and reliability of estimates derived from the model. Analysis showed that the model captured the mean and standard deviation of age at the onset of sterility in simulated populations where sterility followed either a Gompertz, a gamma, or a lognormal distribution. The model performed well when sterility was specified by either a lognormal or a gamma distribution. The model also accurately estimated fecundability and postpartum amenorrhea. Next, the model was found to fit data from 17th and 18th century French Canadian birth histories. In this French Canadian sample the mean age at sterility was found to be 46.3 years using a gamma model. The decline in fecundability was almost linear after age 30. Thus, fecundability at age 40 had declined to about one‐third of that observed at age 30. Variability in individual fecundability was quite high. For example, women with fecundability one standard deviation above the mean had about 2.3 times as high fecundability as women one standard deviation below the mean.     

No woman’s land? Revisiting border zone denizens

Abstract

This article presents empirical data from survey research into lesbian and queer masculinities in the United Kingdom, conducted in 2017, which garnered over two hundred responses. Dominant themes emerged which addressed the differences between the sexed body and gender identity; the contradictions of identifying with masculinities while critiquing hegemonic masculinity; a sense of anxiety or loss around a perceived decline of lesbian community and identities within it, particularly the identity of butch lesbian; and, finally, the variety of trans identities and how they are defined and distinct. The focus in this article is on the latter theme, the variety of trans identities, and particularly the shared experiences of individuals across different identifications. Namely, I consider how butch, non-binary, and queer individuals reported possible areas of resonance and recognition with transgender or transmasculine experiences or the experiences of trans men. I argue that rumors of “border wars” have been exaggerated, as these territories are often overlapping. In addition, some individuals inhabit multiple sites of identity or shift between and across shared sites. Degrees of sex and gender dysphoria were not only reported by trans-identified individuals, and while not all such individuals adopted a trans identity, this was not necessarily because these border zone denizens felt a strong connection to femaleness or womanhood; often far from it.     

Strategic leadership in super-growth companies—a re-appraisal

This article reports on a research project to identify the attributes of high and super growth medium-size companies, the strategies they employ to maintain growth and the critical success factors they consider vital to achieve rapid growth.

Pronounced differences were found in the preferences between both groups when ranking seven critical success factors: (1) Flexibility; (2) Product diversification; (3) Attracting and holding quality staff; (4) Niche marketing; (5) Early entry into growth markets; (6) Quality; (7) and Frequent innovation. There were also differences in their strategic objectives, as well as, in the ages of the growth companies.