Levels of Support from Children in Taiwan: Expectations versus Reality, 1965–99

Both population aging and the socioeconomic changes that often accompany it have effects on intergenerational arrangements. As a result, assessing the evolving social contract among family members is a key part of the research agenda. Studies monitoring these effects and other consequences are relatively new. Another way to gain insight is through a historical analysis that (a) traces how expectations for old‐age support have changed over recent decades for cohorts advancing through their life cycle, and (b) measures how well expectations accord with actual patterns. This article uses a series of fertility surveys in Taiwan from 1965 to the 1990s to trace expectations for coresidence among cohorts of young married women and to compare these expectations with the actual living arrangements observed in surveys of the elderly in the 1990s. The results indicate sharp shifts in expectations for each of the cohorts as they aged. These shifts reflect a response to respondents' own life course events and the changing socioeconomic environment and show large and persistent differentials by education throughout the period. These factors tend to bring expectations into fairly close concordance with the actual living arrangements observed some years later.     

Longitudinal variation in domain indicators of happiness

This paper examines changes in the mean levels of domain indicators of happiness, as well as happiness itself, using a longitudinal design. Results show that for a large sample of the elderly, mean levels of subjective domain indicators of happiness (excluding subjective health), as well as happiness itself, did not change over the 18-month period of the study. Physically related objective domain indicators, on the other hand, did change during the same time period.     

Measuring irregular migration and population flows – what available data can tell

Wild assumptions, estimates and number games are made in regard to irregular migration flows. While the numbers cited are, in fact, often dated and of unclear origin, reports use such numbers to suggest a rise in irregular migration; they also usually assume that irregular entry and, to some extent, overstaying are the only significant pathways into irregularity. To properly account for irregular migration flows, however, both in- and outflows, as well as the complex ways of becoming (or ceasing to be) an “irregular migrant”, have to be included. Thus, apart from irregular migration flows in the narrow sense, like unlawful entry and emigration of persons (unrecorded returns, registered voluntary returns and deportations), other flows – notably status-related inflows (overstaying, withdrawal of residence status, rejection of asylum claims), status-related outflows (regularisation, ex lege changes of the legal status of irregular migrants, etc.) and flows related to vital events (births and deaths), must be considered. The article provides a critical appraisal of available data sources, indicators, estimates and methods to estimate irregular migration flows. In the context of a case study, we then analyse statistics of apprehensions at the EUROPEAN UNION’s external borders in Eastern Europe as indicators of geographical flows -- migration flows in the narrow sense -- arguing that despite the many limitations of the available data, the data can nevertheless be used as indicators of certain trends.     

Adolescents Prefer More Immediate Rewards When in the Presence of their Peers

Adolescents take more risks in the presence of their peers, but the mechanism through which peer presence affects risky decision‐making is unknown. We propose that the presence of peers increases the salience of the immediate rewards of a risky choice. The current study examined the effect of peer presence on reward sensitivity in a sample of 100 late adolescents ages 18 through 20 (M=18.5) using a delay discounting task, which assesses an individual's preference for immediate versus delayed rewards. Participants were randomly assigned to complete the task alone or with 2 same‐age, same‐sex peers observing. Consistent with our prediction, adolescents demonstrated a greater preference for immediate rewards when with their peers than when alone. Heightened risk taking by adolescents in the company of their friends may be due in part to the effect that being with one's peers has on reward sensitivity.     

PROXYING FOR UNOBSERVABLE VARIABLES WITH INTERNET DOCUMENT‐FREQUENCY

The internet contains billions of documents. We show that document frequencies in large decentralized textual databases can capture the cross‐sectional variation in the occurrence frequencies of social phenomena. We characterize the econometric conditions under which such proxying is likely. We also propose using recently‐introduced internet search volume indexes as proxies for fundamental locational traits, and discuss their advantages and limitations. We then successfully proxy for a number of economic and demographic variables in US cities and states. We further obtain document‐frequency measures of corruption by country and US state and replicate the econometric results of previous research studying its covariates. Finally, we provide the first measure of corruption in American cities. Poverty, population size, service‐sector orientation, and ethnic fragmentation are shown to predict higher levels of corruption in urban America.     

EXTERNAL AIDS FOR SOCIAL MEMORY

Collective or social memories are not just a way for accumulating and preserving but also for sharing and developing knowledge. Indeed, as knowledge is made explicit and elaborated by a community, it enriches the local culture and the current practices, becoming a basis for communication and learning. This paper addresses the concept of 'social memory' in a specific 'community of practice': teachers and students of primary schools. The work is developed within HIPS1 (Hyper Interaction within Physical Space), a three-year (1997-2000) research project funded by the European Commission within the I 3 (I-Cube) Programme. HIPS is a hand-held location-aware tourist guide that delivers information related to the surrounding space mainly reacting to the physical movements of visitors (Benelli et al . 1999). The guide is designed to minimize the boundary between the physical space and the related information through a number of situated and contextual-aware interaction mechanisms. In the paper we present a specific application of HIPS as tool to support the creation of a social memory. First, we illustrate the theoretical framework, the cultural psychology (Vygotsky 1978), which we adopted to design the tool as an external aid for social memory. Afterwards we describe the user study and the design process that resulted in the development of an early prototype. The conclusions are a reflection about the use of new technology to open new learning opportunities for students.     

The measurement of diversity: Ethnic and socioeconomic mixing in residential areas

Units of observation such as census tracts continue to be analyzed according to various modal characteristics while the variation or diversity existent in such units is often ignored. The qualitative or nominal-level indicators of diversity are examined which (1) are operative in the polytomous situation, and (2) measure within-unit diversity rather than divergences among units. Six qualitative indicators are explained and compared both theoretically and by example, with the Index of Qualitative Variation suggested as the most appropriate measure of diversity when variables representing a nominal scale are used. Quantitative or interval-level diversity also was examined with six measures analyzed, representing three operational situations. Because of the susceptibilities of five of the quantitative measures to skewness and variable sample sizes, the coefficient of variation was recommended for interval-level variables to evaluate within-unit diversity.     

A STRATEGY FOR INTEGRATING QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUES INTO THE BUSINESS CURRICULUM*

Quantitative methods courses play an increasingly significant role in the programs of Schools of Business. However, maximum utilization of the concepts can occur only when these quantitative techniques have been integrated into the various functional areas via a faculty knowledgeable with such techniques and their applications. Lacking sufficient stimuli, this integrative process is observed to be one of an evolutionary nature. This article presents a strategy for stimulation of this process.