The ‘Downside’ of Women Empowerment in India: An Experimental Inquiry into the Role of Expectations

The paper reports on a field experiment conducted among poor women organized in self-help groups in the north-east of India. The experiment tests in a simple game whether overly optimistic expectations with respect to the benefits of exercising agency reduces one’s appreciation of remaining with agency in the future. If so, unrealistic expectations may trigger behaviour that jeopardizes empowerment processes. It is hypothesized that negative emotions, such as disappointment, bring about such risks. We find that overstretched expectations may indeed work against empowerment if the gap between achieved and expected outcomes following increased agency is sufficiently wide. However, modest expectation gaps have the opposite effect and tend to promote attitudes conducive to empowerment. A tentative explanation for this result is offered by combining insights from recent work on the role of aspirations.     

Lattice and Schröder paths with periodic boundaries

We consider paths in the plane with (1,0$1,0$), (0,1$0,1$), and (a,b$a,b$)-steps that start at the origin, end at height n$n$, and stay strictly to the left of a given non-decreasing right boundary. We show that if the boundary is periodic and has slope at most b/a$b/a$, then the ordinary generating function for the number of such paths ending at height n   is algebraic. Our argument is in two parts. We use a simple combinatorial decomposition to obtain an Appell relation or “umbral” generating function, in which the power zⁿ$z^n$ is replaced by a power series of the form zⁿ_φn(z),$z^n{\phi }_n(z),$ where _φn(0)=1.${\phi }_n(0)=1.$ Then we convert (in an explicit way) the umbral generating function to an ordinary generating function by solving a system of linear equations and a polynomial equation. This conversion implies that the ordinary generating function is algebraic. We give several concrete examples, including an alternative way to solve the tennis ball problem.     

Changes in immigrants’ social integration during the stay in the host country: The case of non-western immigrants in the Netherlands

Previous studies on social integration of immigrants were predominantly of static nature. This article provides a dynamic account by distinguishing differences in social integration that develop shortly after immigrants’ arrival in the host country from changes with length of stay. We examine contacts in leisure time between natives and non-western immigrants in the Netherlands. Theories from research on ethnic intermarriage are applied to these more common forms of contact. We use pooled cross-sectional survey data from 1988–2002. The results show that on average social integration increases with length of stay. Ethnicity, migration motive and home country education account for differences in integration that develop shortly after arrival and are maintained or even increased with length of stay, while the size of the immigrant group matters mainly at entry and then loses its influence over time. Age at migration exclusively explains differences in social integration that develop with length of stay.     

Women and poverty: A gender-sensitive approach

Poverty is not a gender neutral condition as the number of poor women exceeds that concerning men and women and men experience poverty in distinctive ways. This paper discusses the relevance of incorporating a gender perspective in poverty studies and provides a portrait of poverty among women in Portugal. Following a multidimensional concept of poverty, the methodology used comprises a cross-sectional and a dynamic analysis of poverty, using data from ECHP (1995–2001). The results point to the importance of various factors contributing to women's vulnerability to poverty, such as issues related to labor market, lone motherhood, ageing and education.     

Do spending comparisons affect spending and satisfaction?

We investigate the effect of spending comparisons with a new survey approach that asks respondents about satisfaction and expenditure decisions, both before and after they receive hypothetical information about what others in their communities are spending. We ask about four goods which vary in observability—wine served at a dinner party, an uncle's funeral, life insurance, and a donation to a non-profit organization. Compared to respondents who were told that others in their community were spending more than they, respondents told that others were spending less tended both to reduce their spending and increase their satisfaction.     

Evaluating social science and humanities knowledge production: an exploratory analysis of dynamics in science systems

Knowledge is gaining increasing importance in modern-day society as a factor of production and, ultimately, growth. This article explores the dynamics in university knowledge production and its effect on the state of university–industry–policy exchange in the Netherlands. Science systems are said to be in transformation. The university has evolved from performing conventional research and educational functions to serving as an innovation-promoting knowledge hub; dynamics that have received mixed reactions. The social sciences and humanities (SSH) take a special position, insofar as their focus seems primarily to be placed on conventional research and educational functions, and not directly on (commercial) valorization. Societal changes are, however, pressing for a reconsideration of the role of SSH. In our article, we distinguish between three important new movements that seem to be affecting SSH. It is believed that these movements, which are already having an impact today, will considerably influence SSH in the future. These developments are further differentiation, synthesis between the various subdisciplines of SSH and the natural sciences, and shifts in paradigms. The aims of this article are twofold: (1) to assess what is believed to be the most likely development of SSH by means of discovering relevant subsets of factors influencing university knowledge production; and (2) to discover whether the knowledge production factors show characteristics of a general development similar to the “Mode 2” concept. A systematic qualitative database was created by means of 22 semi-structured personal interviews with key representatives from business, university and the policy sector. Our explanatory framework employs an artificial intelligence method, i.e. rough set analysis. On the basis of these results, we find that a small minority of the respondents prefers a closer relationship of SSH to society, government and industry, and other institutional centers of authority, whilst interdisciplinarity in particular is regarded as having an overall positive influence on the future of SSH in the Netherlands. Consequently, the idea of a clear distinction between Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge production, i.e. traditional knowledge and knowledge carried out in the context of application, is not supported by our data.     

An international meta-analysis of values of travel time savings

Values of travel time savings are often used in cost–benefit analysis of transport projects and policies, and also to compute generalised travel costs. There has been considerable debate as to whether different research methods (e.g. stated versus revealed preference) will lead to different values of travel time savings, and which segmentations (e.g. by income or mode) are most important to capture the heterogeneity in these values. In addition there are many countries where no specific valuation studies have been done. In this paper new equations are estimated on the outcomes of value of travel time savings studies from various countries. In the data set, several countries appear more than once, which is taken into account by estimating random effects panel models. The meta-analysis sheds some new light on the variation of the value of travel time savings by income, country, travel purpose, mode, distance and by survey method. Furthermore, the resulting meta-models are applied to produce new values of travel time savings for business travel, commuting and for other purposes in passenger transport, for 25 European Union Member states. Similar methods could be used to statistically analyse studies carried out on other non-monetary effects, both for transport and non-transport projects, and for inclusion in cost–benefit analysis.     

The economic importance of air travel in high-amenity rural areas

The western United States offers a case study on the importance of access to large population centers and their markets, via road and air travel, for economic development. The vast distances between towns and cities in the American West can be a detriment to business, yet they also serve to attract technology and knowledge-based workers seeking to live in a picturesque setting. In spite of the increasing importance of amenities to migration and business location, also needed is access to markets, particularly via commercial air service. We test a new county classification system for the western United States to reflect differing degrees of access to population centers and account for the increasing importance of airports. Past classifications are based on population size and cross-county commuting. We examine the validity of this new classification and test for differences in economic performance among the three county types. Our findings show that there are three distinct Wests that can be classified using economic performance measures and socioeconomic characteristics. The results show that “metro” and “isolated” counties are clearly distinct, but “connected” counties, those that are rural in nature but have ready access to metropolitan areas via air travel, can be difficult to distinguish from “metro” and “isolated” counties. Much of the variation is explained by travel distance to airports. The findings illustrate the importance of airports in rural development, and the limitations facing those communities that are isolated from markets and population centers. The results apply to other parts of the world with similar characteristics that include large expanses of open space, natural amenities that attract migrants and stimulate new business, and different degrees of access to large population centers via road or air travel, and therefore different rates of economic growth.     

Visual transparency: Looking behind thick walls

Organizations send a lot of visual information to their stakeholders, via advertisements, PR-releases, etc. The question is whether they are ready to fulfill the need for visual information, when asked. In order to analyze this question we firstly specify the meaning of the visual code, compared to literacy and orality. The distinction made by Peirce, between iconic, indexical and symbolic signs serves as our starting point. The easy availability and the sense of authenticity of visual material are considered as crucial characteristics of the visual code. Next we construct our concept visual information need, indicating what kind of messages are then to be delivered. We hypothesize that the more the visual information need is vague or ill-defined, the more the symbolic code plays a role. And – vice versa – the more precise a question is the more iconic/indexical the presentation should be. Practical examples illustrate this thesis.