Semiautomatic robust regression clustering of international trade data

The purpose of this paper is to show in regression clustering how to choose the most relevant solutions, analyze their stability, and provide information about best combinations of optimal number of groups, restriction factor among the error variance across groups and level of trimming. The procedure is based on two steps. First we generalize the information criteria of constrained robust multivariate clustering to the case of clustering weighted models. Differently from the traditional approaches which are based on the choice of the best solution found minimizing an information criterion (i.e. BIC), we concentrate our attention on the so called optimal stable solutions. In the second step, using the monitoring approach, we select the best value of the trimming factor. Finally, we validate the solution using a confirmatory forward search approach. A motivating example based on a novel dataset concerning the European Union trade of face masks shows the limitations of the current existing procedures. The suggested approach is initially applied to a set of well known datasets in the literature of robust regression clustering. Then, we focus our attention on a set of international trade datasets and we provide a novel informative way of updating the subset in the random start approach. The Supplementary material, in the spirit of the Special Issue, deepens the analysis of trade data and compares the suggested approach with the existing ones available in the literature.

     

Combining Achievement and Well-Being in the Assessment of Education Systems

Countries’ education systems are often compared using academic achievement measures from large-scale assessments like PISA. These exercises are criticized because achievement is but one of the aims of education and comparisons don’t take into account each country’s socio-demographic composition, cultural and historical background and organizational features. We use data from OECD countries to assess countries that can serve as models for education policy to promote both high mathematics achievement and student well-being. We adopt a novel methodological approach based on imputation methods to simultaneously estimate mathematics achievement and students’ sense of belonging while taking into account countries’ socio-demographic and organizational features. Results indicate that, in general, education systems have been able to organize and use their resources to promote either mathematics performance or student well-being, but not both simultaneously. The East Asian approach to education is successful in promoting student achievement in mathematics while Austria, Norway and Spain have greater success in promoting students’ sense of belonging.     

Parametric Versus Nonparametric Inference on Zenga Index of Inequality: Issues and Evidence From Survey Data

Recent growing disparities suggests to move from inequality measures based on comparing the incomes of the less fortunate with the overall mean, as the Gini, to the new Zenga index, which instead contrasts the means of the less and the more wealthy subpopulations. After providing a thorough analysis of the theoretical and practical aspects of obtaining parametric and non-parametric confidence intervals for the Zenga inequality measure, we develop a cross-regional study based on the Swiss Income and Consumption Survey, wave 2005. Results show that coverage accuracy and average length of confidence intervals improve when the parametric model offers a good fit to the data.     

A comparison between VAR processes jointly modeling GDP and Unemployment rate in France and Germany

Statistical Methods & Applications - Investigating the relationship between Gross Domestic Product and unemployment is one of the most important challenges in macroeconomics. In this paper, we...     

Transition to Parenthood: The Role of Social Interaction and Endogenous Networks

Empirical studies indicate that the transition to parenthood is influenced by an individual’s peer group. To study the mechanisms creating interdependencies across individuals’ transition to parenthood and its timing, we apply an agent-based simulation model. We build a one-sex model and provide agents with three different characteristics: age, intended education, and parity. Agents endogenously form their network based on social closeness. Network members may then influence the agents’ transition to higher parity levels. Our numerical simulations indicate that accounting for social interactions can explain the shift of first-birth probabilities in Austria during the period 1984 to 2004. Moreover, we apply our model to forecast age-specific fertility rates up to 2016.     

A Fuzzy Index and Severity Scale to Measure Violence Against Women

Social Indicators Research - Measuring and comparing levels of violence against women across individuals or countries are controversial exercises, and yet they remain essential to understanding the...     

Date Rape After the Afterschool Special: Narrative Trends in the Televised Depiction of Social Problems

Social problems scholars have pointed to sensitive depictions of social problems like smoking, rape, and spousal abuse on television as evidence of the success of movements devoted to those causes. Media scholars have countered that the pressure on television producers to hew to formula inevitably leads to stereotypical depictions of social problems. We appraise these two perspectives by way of an analysis of the portrayal of date rape on teen television dramas over the course of 2 decades. We show that, for a period, advocates did secure portrayals of date rape that were in line with a feminist antirape agenda. However, that depiction yielded to one in which date rape figured as a narrative device, used to tell audiences something about the show's characters or their situation, not to tell them something about rape. Developments in teen serials' content and especially their form led eventually to antifeminist portrayals, in which rapes were portrayed as unjust but routine events. Behind these developments, however, were demands on television writers to produce not formula, but novelty. We conclude by theorizing more generally the effects of the demand for novelty on the depiction of social problems on television.     

The social capital of obese persons: implication for self-help/mutual aid groups and social work practice

This study investigates the amount of social capital possessed by obese persons. This is an interesting issue for social work because the relational attitude of users and their social capital are crucial for the efficacy and sustainability of helping actions. The study found that the social capital of a sample of obese persons undergoing obesity treatment in an Italian hospital ward did not differ from that of the general Italian population and no association between the BMI of the obese patients and the characteristics of their social capital was found. Overall the social capital of the obese patients was similar to that of the general population. This can be considered a useful prerequisite for the launching of recovery projects based on the involvement and reinforcement of interpersonal relations, using the social capital of the obese people to communicate and support a course of treatment structured according to the methodology of relational social work, particularly through self-help/mutual aid groups.