The Estimation of Food Expenditures From Household Budget Data in the Presence of Bulk Purchases

The aim of this article is the estimation of annual food expenditures with limited information about bulk purchases with data from a Spanish household-budget survey for 1990—1991. Three alternatives are compared. The first, currently used for official purposes, does not use all the information. The second uses all the available information in a rough way. The third assumes a formal model for the unknown frequency of purchases. The three alternatives are compared by a regression model that should be homogeneous with respect to the dummy variables that represent the partial information of the groups and should show a distinct pattern of outliers under each alternative. Finally, we study the effect of the official and the best alternative on food inflation and inequality measures. We find that they lead to similar inflation rates but to different inequality estimates.     

Adapting to Unknown Disturbance Autocorrelation in Regression with Long Memory

We show that it is possible to adapt to nonparametric disturbance autocorrelation in time series regression in the presence of long memory in both regressors and disturbances by using a smoothed nonparametric spectrum estimate in frequency–domain generalized least squares. When the collective memory in regressors and disturbances is sufficiently strong, ordinary least squares is not only asymptotically inefficient but asymptotically non–normal and has a slow rate of convergence, whereas generalized least squares is asymptotically normal and Gauss–Markov efficient with standard convergence rate. Despite the anomalous behavior of nonparametric spectrum estimates near a spectral pole, we are able to justify a standard construction of frequency–domain generalized least squares, earlier considered in case of short memory disturbances. A small Monte Carlo study of finite sample performance is included.     

Fear of small numbers? Immigrant population size and electoral support for the populist radical right in Switzerland

In this paper, we examine the association between contact with migrant populations and support for the populist radical right (PRR) in Switzerland. Building on group threat and intergroup contact theories, which offer opposing predictions, and drawing on Appadurai’s thesis of the ‘fear of small numbers’, we propose a new theoretical framework to explain this association. We predict that the relationship between the size of the migrant populations and PRR voting is nonlinear: a small but noticeable minority triggers the formation of anti-immigrant attitudes, which soften as the minority grows and people start having meaningful interactions with foreigners. To test these theories, we combine individual-level data with municipality-level information. Mixed-effects multilevel models confirm that individuals in municipalities with a moderate proportion of foreigners are more likely than those with fewer or a greater number of migrants to cast their vote in support of PRR parties; this is particularly so for certain stigmatised minorities. We further explore the effect of perceived immigrant threat in moderating these relationships.     

Urban poverty,ethnicity, and personality development

There are multiple factors which contribute to the development of the individual's personality. Many of these factors have been amply discussed in traditional theories of personality formation. An area that has been neglected in these discussions has been the role that poverty and ethnic and cultural factors may have in this regard. This paper offers a discussion of these issues with special emphasis on cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors which tend to characterize the lives of Latino and Black individuals. Recommendations are made for a re-evaluation of the traditional theories of personality when applied to poor and minority individuals.     

How Do the Urban Poor Survive? A Comparative Ethnography of Subsistence Strategies in Argentina,Ecuador, and Mexico

Qualitative Sociology - Drawing on ethnographic data collected in three informal communities, one in Argentina, one in México, and one in Ecuador, we address the long-standing question posed...