“Family planning and population programs” a book review article

RESUMEN: El volumen Planeamiento Familiar y Programas de Poblacion es un libro indispensable tanto para demógrafos como para otras personas interesadas en el control de población. Tiene sus limitaciones dodo su caracter heterogéneo, su falta de autocrítica, el no tratar sobre la validez y confiabilidad de las encuestas de conocimientos, attitudes y prácticas (KAP), su injustificado tono optimista, y su fracaso al no explorar y considerar alternativas para las presunciones y premisas sobre las cuales se basan los actuates programas de planeamiento familiar. Es sin embargo un importante hito que resume las contribuciones de las ciencias sociales y biomédicas al campo de la demografía.SummaryThe volume Family Planning and Population Programs is an indispensable book to demographers as well as to others concerned with population control. It is not without limitations because of its heterogeneous character, its lack of self-criticism, its failure to deal with the reliability and validity of KAP surveys, its unwarranted optimistic aura, and its failure to explore and consider alternatives to the basic assumptions and premises on which present family planning programs are based. It is, nevertheless, a landmark in its summarization of the contribution of the social and biomedical sciences to demographic engineering.     

Participation without Negotiating: Influence of Stakeholder Power Imbalances and Engagement Models on Agricultural Policy Development in Uganda

Although the political context in Uganda exhibits democratic deficit and patronage, research and development actors have given little attention to the possible negative impact these may have on agricultural policymaking and implementation processes. This article examines the influence of power in perpetuating prevailing narratives around public participation in agricultural policymaking processes. The analysis is based on qualitative data collected between September 2014 and May 2015 using 86 in‐depth interviews, 18 focus group discussions, and recorded observations in stakeholder consultations. Results indicate that while the political setting provides space for uncensored debates, the policymaking process remains under close control of political leaders, technical personnel, and high‐level officers in the government. Policy negotiation remains limited to actors who are knowledgeable about the technical issues and those who have the financial resources and political power to influence decisions, such as international donors. There is limited space for negotiation of competing claims and interests in the processes by public and private actors actively engaged in agricultural development, production, processing, and trade. Thus, efforts to achieve good governance in policy processes fall short due to lack of approaches that promote co‐design and co‐ownership of the policies.     

Maximum likelihood estimators for ARMA and ARFIMA models: a Monte Carlo study

We analyze by simulation the properties of two time domain and two frequency domain estimators for low-order autoregressive fractionally integrated moving-average Gaussian models, ARFIMA (p,d,q). The estimators considered are the exact maximum likelihood for demeaned data (EML) the associated modified profile likelihood (MPL) and the Whittle estimator with (WLT) and without tapered data (WL). Length of the series is 100. The estimators are compared in terms of pile-up effect, mean square error, bias, and empirical confidence level. The tapered version of the Whittle likelihood turns out to be a reliable estimator for ARMA and ARFIMA models. Its small losses in performance in case of ‘well-behaved’ models are compensated sufficiently in more ‘difficult’ models. The modified profile likelihood is an alternative to the WLT but is computationally more demanding. It is either equivalent to the EML or more favorable than the EML. For fractionally integrated models, particularly, it dominates clearly the EML. The WL has serious deficiencies for large ranges of parameters, and so cannot be recommended in general. The EML, on the other hand, should only be used with care for fractionally integrated models due to its potential large negative bias of the fractional integration parameter. In general, one should proceed with caution for ARMA(1,1) models with almost canceling roots, and, in particular, in case of the EML and the MPL for inference in the vicinity of a moving-average root of +1.     

Adequacy and Poverty Among Retired People

This paper compares the well-being of the elderly populations in 14 highly industrialized countries. It is based on empirical data gathered by the Luxembourg Income Study referring to years around 1990. It shows that the positions of persons in pensioner households compared with persons in non-pensioner households differ widely. In some countries there are also great differences between male and female pensioners, between age cohorts, and between the poverty ratios of the elderly population.     

Education, Ability, and Civic Engagement in the Contemporary United States

Participation in civic activities is widely recognized as the necessary foundation for any democratic government. Education has long been identified as a key determining factor of such civic engagement. Occasionally, this traditional finding has been called into question. Some scholars have hypothesized, while others firmly asserted, that cognitive ability fills the role usually attributed to education. This hypothesis implies that intelligence determines participation and, consequently, good citizenship. Thus, an inquiry into the relationships among education, cognitive ability, and civic participation raises important questions about citizenship in a democracy. By examining data from the 1976 American National Election Study (ANES), the 1974–1990 General Social Surveys (GSS), and the 1957–1975 Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), I test the hypothesis that education is only a proxy for cognitive ability. I find that analysis using the ANES, which includes a very poor ability measure, produces inconclusive evidence. Yet analysis of data that include better measures of ability, the GSS and the WLS, rejects this hypothesis. In conclusion, the assertion of ability's dominance in determining civic participation is empirically untenable.     

The personal distribution of economic welfare in Germany – how the welfare state works

Social Indicators Research -     

An assessment of the construct validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Method, mode, and measurement effects

This study assesses the measurement properties of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being (RPWB)—a widely used instrument designed to measure six dimensions of psychological well-being. Analyses of self-administered RPWB data from three major surveys—Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), National Survey of Families and Households II, and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS)—yielded very high overlap among the dimensions. These large correlations persisted even after eliminating several methodological sources of confounding, including question wording, question order, and negative item-wording. However, in MIDUS pretest and WLS telephone administrations, correlations among the dimensions were much lower. Past research demonstrates that self-administered instruments provide more valid psychological measurements than telephone surveys, and we therefore place more weight on the consistent results from the self-administered items. In sum, there is strong evidence that RPWB does not have as many as six distinct dimensions, and researchers should be cautious in interpreting its subscales.     

White-nonwhite differentials in occupational mobility among men in the United States, 1962–1972

Intercohort shifts between 1962 and 1972 in the occupation distributions of white and nonwhite men are analyzed and compared at ages 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64. Both white and nonwhite occupation distributions were upgraded over the decade, but among nonwhites the shifts away from the lowest-status occupations were expressed partly in increasing rates of absence from the labor force. There are indications of especially rapid shifts in the occupation distributions of nonwhite men at ages 35-44. Among whites and nonwhites intercohort shifts in the occupation distribution can be attributed primarily to changing patterns of movement from first full-time civilian jobs to current occupations, rather than to changing occupational origin distributions or patterns of movement to first jobs. The white and nonwhite occupation distributions did not show a clear pattern of convergence over the decade. They became less similar at ages 35-44 and more similar at older ages. White and nonwhite distributions were most likely to converge in those occupation groups where the share of whites was stable or declining, rather than in groups whose share of the occupation distribution was increasing. Later cohorts of nonwhites would have a much more favorable occupational distribution if they had enjoyed the mobility patterns of whites in earlier cohorts. In 1972, as in 1962, the inferior occupational chances of nonwhites are due primarily to their disadvantageous patterns of occupational mobility, rather than to impoverished social origins.