Changes in the Satisfaction of Cohabitors Relative to Spouses Over Time

Family scholars have noted a gap in the subjective well‐being of cohabitors relative to spouses and have hypothesized that the size of this “cohabitation gap” varies depending on how far cohabitation has diffused in a society. For the first time we test this hypothesis across time in a single country, Italy, by analyzing 20 cross‐sectional, nationally representative surveys collected from 1993 to 2013 by the Italian Institute of Statistics (N = 279,190 partnered young adults). We find that differences in the assessments of family satisfaction between cohabitors and spouses have eroded over the years and that there has been no detectable cohabitation gap since 2011. In addition, we illustrate that the weakening of the cohabitation gap is attributable to the diffusion of cohabiting unions in Italian society.     

Daily Variation in Natural Disaster Casualties: Information Flows,Safety, and Opportunity Costs in Tornado Versus Hurricane Strikes

Casualties from natural disasters may depend on the day of the week they strike. With data from the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS), daily variation in hurricane and tornado casualties from 5,043 tornado and 2,455 hurricane time/place events is analyzed. Hurricane forecasts provide at‐risk populations with considerable lead time. Such lead time allows strategic behavior in choosing protective measures under hurricane threat; opportunity costs in terms of lost income are higher during weekdays than during weekends. On the other hand, the lead time provided by tornadoes is near zero; hence tornados generate no opportunity costs. Tornado casualties are related to risk information flows, which are higher during workdays than during leisure periods, and are related to sheltering‐in‐place opportunities, which are better in permanent buildings like businesses and schools. Consistent with theoretical expectations, random effects negative binomial regression results indicate that tornado events occurring on the workdays of Monday through Thursday are significantly less lethal than tornados that occur on weekends. In direct contrast, and also consistent with theory, the expected count of hurricane casualties increases significantly with weekday occurrences. The policy implications of observed daily variation in tornado and hurricane events are considered.     

Democracy, Nationalism and Culture: A Social Critique of Liberal Monoculturalism

Does liberal democracy provide an ideal framework for solving nationalist disputes? Or is rather democracy more conductive to nationalism and conflict? No definitive answer can be given to this broadly formulated question. However, the trend in the scholarly literature has recently pointed towards the latter direction. This article first introduces the ‘demo‐skeptical turn’, which has emerged across disciplines in the study of democratic transitions. It then relates this to an understudied area – cultural homogenization. A social history of cultural homogenization remains yet to be written, but its historical impact is so overwhelming that its key features need to be studies on its own. This is, in turn, related to mainstream concepts of majoritarian liberal democracy.     

The Gendered Relationship Between (Old and New Forms of) Employment Instability and Union Dissolution

Population Research and Policy Review - The present study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between employment instability and union dissolution. To address the...     

Correction to: Detecting economic insecurity in Italy: a latent transition modelling approach

Statistical Methods & Applications -     

Socio-material arrangements of impoverished youth in Japan: historical and critical perspectives on neoliberalization

In the past decade, in Japan, a new light has been cast on youth poverty in the context of the middle-class impoverishment caused by the advance of neoliberalization. Thus, the socio-material arrangements, that is, the configuration of people and artifacts pertaining to poor Japanese children, was explored. The authors conducted a field survey in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, where poverty and the problems it brings have become more serious, and then analyzed that data. In the analysis, we introduced a historical viewpoint to understand the changes in the socio-material arrangements of poor youth that have been brought about by neoliberalization.     

Models and Bounds for Two-Dimensional Level Packing Problems

We consider two-dimensional bin packing and strip packing problems where the items have to be packed by levels. We introduce new mathematical models involving a polynomial number of variables and constraints, and show that their LP relaxations dominate the standard area relaxations. We then propose new (combinatorial) bounds that can be computed in O(nlog n) time. We show that they dominate the other bounds, and establish their absolute worst-case behavior. The quality of models and bounds is evaluated through extensive computational experiments.     

Unveiling Research Trends for Organizational Reputation in the Nonprofit Sector

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Public scrutiny and the need for funds in a more competitive environment are pressuring nonprofits to be more consciously...     

Social assistance and inclusive growth

The expansion of social assistance in low- and middle-income countries raises important issues for inclusive growth. Labour is by far the principal asset of low-income groups. Changes in the quantity, quality, and allocation of labour associated with social assistance will impact on the productive capacity of low-income groups and therefore on inclusive growth. The article re-assesses the findings reported by impact evaluations of social assistance in low- and middle-income countries to address this issue. Most studies have tested for potentially adverse labour supply incentive effects from transfers but have failed to find supportive evidence. The article highlights findings from this literature on the effects of social assistance on human capital accumulation and labour reallocation. They point to the conclusion that well-designed and well-implemented social assistance contributes to inclusive growth.