Private Pensions — a Viable Alternative? Their Distributive Effects in a Comparative Perspective

Pension reforms have been on the political agenda of governments and international organizations like the OECD and the World Bank for some time. The strengthening of private elements in pension systems is often believed to intensify existing inequalities in the distribution of pensions among the population and to contribute to the marginalization of large groups of older people. This paper explores the distributive effects of private pensions on the basis of Luxembourg Income Study microdata for 12 industrialized welfare states. While confirming that private pensions indeed tend to produce specific inequalities, its results also emphasize the importance of policy factors in mitigating the distributive effects.     

If all you have is a hammer,everything looks like a nail: Operationalization matters

Operationalization has been the focus of less research than many other methodological topics. In this article, we argue that considering operational decisions is particularly critical for those who study stratification, because measures of inequality often involve multiple layers of operationalization: researchers first decide how to assign individuals to social groups (e.g., race), which are then themselves used to construct measures of group‐level differences and inequality (e.g., racial segregation). We provide examples of this by drawing on contemporary debates about how to operationalize social groups based on class, race, gender, and religion. Then we discuss three examples (religion, racial segregation, and family type) of second layer operationalization decisions, focusing on the consequences of operational decisions for research findings. We conclude by discussing the broader implications of operational decisions, focusing particularly on issues of power and applications for policy makers.     

Semiparametric sieve maximum likelihood estimation under cure model with partly interval censored and left truncated data for application to spontaneous abortion

Lifetime Data Analysis - This work was motivated by observational studies in pregnancy with spontaneous abortion (SAB) as outcome. Clearly some women experience the SAB event but the rest do not....     

Reinvigorating the social contract and strengthening social cohesion: Social protection responses to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of those who are inadequately covered by social protection in more and less developed countries alike, and has exacerbated the fragility of a social contract that was already under strain in many countries. A weak social contract in the context of an exceptional crisis poses a very real risk to social cohesion. Nevertheless, many States have reasserted themselves as the guarantor of rights by protecting public health and incomes. By sustaining these measures, economic recovery will be supported which will help minimize risks that may weaken social cohesion. However, this is a fast-moving, inherently unstable and protracted crisis. Social protection stands at a critical juncture. Decisive policy action will be required to strengthen social protection systems, including floors, as one of the cornerstones of a reinvigorated social contract.     

Preregistration in infant research—A primer

Preregistration, the act of specifying a research plan in advance, is becoming more common in scientific research. Infant researchers contend with unique problems that might make preregistration particularly challenging. Infants are a hard‐to‐reach population, usually yielding small sample sizes, they can only complete a limited number of trials, and they can be excluded based on hard‐to‐predict complications (e.g., parental interference, fussiness). In addition, as effects themselves potentially change with age and population, it is hard to calculate an a priori effect size. At the same time, these very factors make preregistration in infant studies a valuable tool. A priori examination of the planned study, including the hypotheses, sample size, and resulting statistical power, increases the credibility of single studies and adds value to the field. Preregistration might also improve explicit decision making to create better studies. We present an in‐depth discussion of the issues uniquely relevant to infant researchers, and ways to contend with them in preregistration and study planning. We provide recommendations to researchers interested in following current best practices.     

Doing gender in the ‘new office’

This paper investigates how gender is performed in the context of an office setting designed to promote intensive, fluid networking. We draw on an ethnographically oriented study of the move of staff into a new office building constructed primarily from glass, and incorporating open plan offices, diverse collective areas and walking routes. Although the designers aimed to invoke changes in the behaviour of all staff, they conceptualized these changes in masculine terms. We therefore analyse the gender norms materialized by the workspaces of the ‘new office’ and how women responded to these. We suggest that the new office encourages an image of the ideal worker which brings together ways of acting and interacting that have been characterized as both masculine and feminine — active movement and spontaneous encounters, but also intensive face‐to‐face interaction and deep relationship‐building. Women are driven into this mode of working in an uncompromising, almost aggressive way, but a straightforward gender‐based dynamic does not emerge in their responses, with conventional gender characteristics being reshuffled and recombined.     

Causes and consequences of early-life health

We examine the consequences of child health for economic and health outcomes in adulthood, using height as a marker of childhood health. After reviewing previous evidence, we present a conceptual framework that highlights data limitations and methodological problems that complicate the study of this topic. We then present estimates of the associations between height and a range of outcomes—including schooling, employment, earnings, health, and cognitive ability—measured in five data sets from early to late adulthood. These results indicate that, on average, taller individuals attain higher levels of education. Height is also positively associated with better economic, health, and cognitive outcomes. These associations are only partially explained by the higher average educational attainment of taller individuals. We then use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children and Young Adults survey to document the associations between health, cognitive development, and growth in childhood. Even among children with the same mother, taller siblings score better on cognitive tests and progress through school more quickly. Part of the differences found between siblings arises from differences in their birth weights and lengths attributable to mother’s behaviors while pregnant. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that childhood health influences health and economic status throughout adulthood.     

Univariate and multivariate models of positive and negative networks: Liking,disliking, and bully–victim relationships

Three relations between elementary school children were investigated: networks of general dislike and bullying were related to networks of general like. These were modeled using multivariate cross-sectional (statistical) network models. Exponential random graph models for a sample of 18 classrooms, numbering 393 students, were summarized using meta-analyses. Results showed (balanced) network structures with positive ties between those who were structurally equivalent in the negative network. Moreover, essential structural parameters for the univariate network structure of positive (general like) and negative (general dislike and bullying) tie networks were identified. Different structures emerged in positive and negative networks. The results provide a starting point for further theoretical and (multiplex) empirical research about negative ties and their interplay with positive ties.     

Research initiation based on idea-circles: from research object to co-actor

This article details an evaluation of a research project based on participatory research methods organized by the Swedish Disability Federation from 2008 to 2011. In Sweden there has been a lack of productive dialogue with the traditional academic world and the question was raised whether proposals for future research would be different if disabled people formulated them. Nine idea-circles with disabled participants and invited researchers from fields of interest close to the participants produced ideas, developed out of the life experience of being a disabled person. These ideas were developed into 72 research drafts that often reflected key advocacy areas, rather than operationalized research issues. The adjustment from the familiar discourse of political struggle to discussion of research was a complicated process for many. When asked to prioritize among areas for research, the representatives from the disability movement chose areas that are not stressed in mainstream disability research in Sweden.