Immigration and learning: the vulnerable age*

Cet article poursuit la discussion d'un effet originellement rapporté par Inbar et Adler (1976a). Cet effet suggére que les jeunes agés de six à onze ans sont probablement plus vulnérables à certaines crises dans leur environement que ne le sont les enfants qui sont ou bien plus jeunes ou plus agés. En particulier, il a été documenté que les enfants qui immigrent durant cette periode de leur enfance ont une nette tendence a faire plus tard moins d'études universitaires que leurs congènéres. Cet effet a été maintenant repliqué pour le Canada. Dans leur communication originelle traitant de l'existence d'un age vulnérable, les auteurs de la communication ont montré que le phénomène n'est pas affecté par l'ordre de géniture. Les analyses presentées dans cet article suggérent que l'effet est independant de la cohorte d'age, du niveau socio-economique des parents, et de la culture d'origine. Il appert, toutefois, que pour l'échantillon Canadien l'effet n'est répliquable que pour les garçons. Les implications qu'a l'existence d'un age critique, tel que l'effet est prisentement documenté, sant discutées. The present paper is a follow-up of the serendipitous finding reported by Inbar and Adler (1976a). This finding suggests that children from about six to eleven years old may be more vulnerable to crises in their environment than are either younger or older youths. In particular, children who immigrate during this period have been shown to exhibit later a significantly smaller rate of college attendance. This finding is shown to be replicated for Canada. In the original report on the Vulnerable Age phenomenon the authors have presented evidence to the effect that the finding is independent of birth-order. The present analysis suggests that it is independent of age cohort, parental ses, and culture of origin. At the same time it would appear that in the Canadian sample the finding holds essentially for males only. The implications of the Vulnerable Age Phenomenon as it presently stands are discussed.     

General Practice, Social Work, and Mental Health Sections: The Social Control of Women

Michael Sheppard, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Polytechnic South West, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA. Summary A survey was undertaken of all referrals for compulsory admissionreceived by a city mental health centre over a one year period.The centre receives the overwhelming majority of all these referralsin the city. Referrals from GPs were compared with other referralsfocusing particularly on women. The results indicate GPs discriminatedagainst women, referring considerably more women than men withless emphasis on major (psychotic) mental illness. The involvementof approved social workers (ASWs) in the assessment processwas associated with diversion of many of the women away fromcompulsory admission, although even they appeared affected bypatriarchal assumptions. GPs' behaviour with regard to sectionsis consistent with reports about sexist practice in other areasof work. This, however, is particularly grave with sectionsbecause of civil liberties implications. The article concludesthat ASWs need be aware of potential sexist GP practice, thattheir psychosocial perspective is critical to assessment andthat ASW training should include gender issues.     

Echoes of the present?: The politics and policy of child support 1945–70

SUMMARY. Child poverty has been an emotive and political issue for many years. This article sets out to look at the concepts of poverty—both absolute and relative. It then analyses government and political party attitudes to poverty from 1945–70, concluding that little has been achieved, particularly for the poorer and larger. families. In drawing out lessons for the present day, the paper argues that assumptions about the causes of poverty and ways of tackling it need to be questioned before progress can be made. This article is based on material contained in Michael McCarthy's 1986 book Campaigning for the Poor: CPAG and the Politics of Welfare. It appears here by permission of the publishers, Croom Helm.     

THE DEMISE OF HOSPITAL PHILANTHROPY

We develop a one-period model of hospital and donor behavior to analyze how insurance for hospital care, various public subsidies, and other factors affect donations to hospitals. Theoretically, increased insurance coverage has an ambiguous effect on private giving. Empirical tests using time series and cross-sectional data show that the growth of private insurance and especially the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid substantially reduces private giving to hospitals. Effects of public subsidies for construction depend on whether the subsidy more closely resembles a matching or lumpsum grant.     

ANALYZING RENT CONTROL: THE CASE OF LOS ANGELES

An accurate assessment of the economic effects of a rent control law requires that both the specific provisions of the ordinance and the characteristics of the local housing market be considered. Examining the case of Los Angeles we conclude: First, most of the transfers from landlords to tenants were realized early in the law's life, while most of the economic cost of rent control was incurred later. Second, ordinance provisions aimed at increasing landlords' incentives to maintain rent-controlled dwellings also markedly reduce the size of the transfers to tenants. These results, we think, will apply to other jurisdictions.     

DETERMINANTS OF REGIONAL MIGRATION BY MANUFACTURING FIRMS

Economists have produced a sizable literature examining the role of labor migration in restoring wage and price equilibria among dispersed markets. A much smaller literature addresses another dimension of mobility, regional migration of entrepreneurs and firms. In this study we examine a model of the firm's decision to migrate, utilizing the Duns Market Identifiers data file. The model consists in part of an equation describing the decision to migrate, in order to determine the extent to which measured characteristics of the firm's environment explain firm migration. Additional equations in the model explain particular outcomes of migration: the growth in sales during a fixed interval after a move and the corresponding growth of employment.