FAMILY VALUES AND THE REGULATION OF LABOR

To be efficient, flexible labor markets require geographically mobile workers. Otherwise firms can take advantage of workers' immobility and extract rents at their expense. In cultures with strong family ties, moving away from home is costly. Thus, to limit the rents of firms and to avoid moving, individuals with strong family ties rationally choose regulated labor markets, even though regulation generates higher unemployment and lower incomes. Empirically, we find that individuals who inherit stronger family ties are less mobile, have lower wages and higher unemployment, and support more stringent labor market regulations. We find a positive association between labor market rigidities at the beginning of the 21st century and family values prevailing before World War II, and between family structures in the Middle Ages and current desire for labor market regulation. Both results suggest that labor market regulations have deep cultural roots.     

Bivariate beta regression models: joint modeling of the mean,dispersion and association parameters

In this paper a bivariate beta regression model with joint modeling of the mean and dispersion parameters is proposed, defining the bivariate beta distribution from Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern (FGM) copulas. This model, that can be generalized using other copulas, is a good alternative to analyze non-independent pairs of proportions and can be fitted applying standard Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Results of two applications of the proposed model in the analysis of structural and real data set are included.     

On the parameters of Zenga distribution

In 2010 Zenga introduced a new three-parameter model for distributions by size that can be used to represent income, wealth, financial and actuarial variables. This paper proposes a summary of its main properties, followed by a focus on the interpretation of the parameters in terms of inequality. The scale parameter μ is equal to the expectation, and it does not affect the inequality, while the two shape parameters α and θ are inverse and direct inequality indicators respectively. This result is obtained through stochastic orders based on inequality curves. A procedure to generate a random sample from Zenga distribution is also proposed. The second part of this article looks at the parameter estimation. Analytical solution of method of moments is obtained. This result is used as a starting point of numerical procedures to obtain maximum likelihood estimates both on ungrouped and grouped data. In the application, three empirical income distributions are considered and the aforementioned estimates are evaluated. A comparison with other well-known models is provided, by the evaluation of three goodness-of-fit indexes.     

A dependent fatigue lifetime model

An ARMA(p,q) Box-Jenkins fatigue model which allows to take into account the dependence between the strengths of neighbouring pieces of material for constant stress range is presented and the asymptotic convergence, for large lengths of materials, to a Gumbel distribution is shown. When the stress range varies, a regression model, compatible with Gumbel result, is derived. This model is based on a functional equation which is solved and a three parameter family is obtained as the only solution. Finally, an example of application with real fatigue data is included. Monte Carlo simulations give the distribution functions of the fatigue strength of wires of different lengths and allow their design. In this way, the influence of dependence is analyzed.     

It Ought to Be a Crime: Criminalizing Human Rights Violations

In this article we propose that distinctions between human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law are substantively groundless. Human beings are entitled to live their lives with dignity and security, entitled to their freedoms. There remain, however, practical problems: human rights law and humanitarian law are distinct traditions with their own separate venues for judicatory review. They are also different in the popular imagination. We suggest ways that these distinctions can be dissolved.     

Rethinking Historical Reproductive Change: Insights from Longitudinal Data for a Spanish Town

A set of linked reproductive histories taken from the Spanish town of Aranjuez between 1871 and 1950 is used to address key issues regarding reproductive change during the demographic transition. These include the role of child survival as a stimulus for reproductive change, the use of stopping and/or spacing strategies to achieve reproductive goals, and the timing of change. Straightforward demographic measures are used and robust results are achieved. Initial strategies of fertility limitation are shown to exist but are inefficient, are mostly visible during the latter part of the reproductive period, are designed mostly to protect families from the effects of increases in child survival, and are based almost entirely on stopping behavior. As mortality decline accelerates, strategies become much more efficient, are visible at the outset of married life, include spacing behavior, and eventually lead to important declines in completed family size. The results of this study have implications for our understanding of the demographic transition both in historical Europe and in other regions of the world.     

Book reviews

As we have seen, there are great differences between the three books, both in the way demography is treated and in the way the issues are raised: the thematic outline is different, as are the methods used to tackle the many topics covered and the attitudes to the problems triggered by development trends.However, despite these differences, there is a stress throughout on the need to closely follow demographical behaviour and its importance for society as a whole. Thus, while certain trends are common to each of the three countries, future prospects are not quite the same, and there is a call for policy directions which reflect these differences. The underlying motive is not to condition trends (which past experience has shown to be little open to change) but rather to tackle promptly and effectively the problems which these give rise to.