Land Use and Marriage Timing in Nepal

I examine the relationship between patterns of land use and marriage timing in the Chitwan Valley, a rural area in south-central Nepal. In this setting, I conceptualize a relevant dimension of land use as the portion of land in each neighborhood devoted to agriculture. Using discrete-time event history models, I examine the relationship between the proportion of land devoted to agriculture and the rate of marriage among 811 never-married individuals aged 15–20 years. Agricultural land has a positive association with marriage rates. As potential intervening mechanisms between agricultural land and marriage rates, I propose nonfamily organizations, school and work activities, and local marriage markets. A portion of the relationship between land and marriage rates appears to be mediated through the accessibility of nonfamily employers. Respondents’ actual employment activities, however, fail to mediate the effects of agricultural land or nonfamily employers. The precise mechanisms linking land use to marriage remain unclear.     

Smallpox and Its Eradication in Finland: Implications for Disease Control

Cause-specific mortality studies are vital for a full understanding of the determinants of mortality and epidemiological transitions. The exceptional detail and accuracy of archival materials in Finland, as well as the length of the period covered, offer an ideal opportunity for such analyses. Focussing upon the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the history, decline, and eventual eradication of smallpox is detailed. It has often been argued that primary vaccination in childhood was the major factor responsible for the decline and subsequent elimination of the disease in Finland. This perspective is probably correct for the initial decrease in smallpox mortality. To interpret the final phases of smallpox history in Finland, however, several factors must be taken into consideration. These include revaccination, virulence of the virus, containment (quarantine) of infected individuals, vaccination of contacts, and importation of the virus from surrounding countries. While these factors were not of equal causal importance, they exerted a synergistic effect on the course of Finnish smallpox history. This in-depth historical case study demonstrates that multiple factors must be taken into account when disease control policies in developing countries are formulated to-day.     

Mixed Hitting‐Time Models

We study mixed hitting‐time models that specify durations as the first time a Lévy process—a continuous‐time process with stationary and independent increments—crosses a heterogeneous threshold. Such models are of substantial interest because they can be deduced from optimal‐stopping models with heterogeneous agents that do not naturally produce a mixed proportional hazards structure. We show how strategies for analyzing the identifiability of the mixed proportional hazards model can be adapted to prove identifiability of a hitting‐time model with observed covariates and unobserved heterogeneity. We discuss inference from censored data and give examples of structural applications. We conclude by discussing the relative merits of both models as complementary frameworks for econometric duration analysis.     

Gender preference,biased sex ratio,and parental investments in single-child households

This article investigates parental investments in single-child households. It shows that son preference triggers more parental investments in children and its effects are stronger on investments in sons. A rise in the sex ratio creates a marriage market squeeze. It, however, has ambiguous effects on investments in children, which depends on how strong these investments are as measures for influencing children’s marriage probability. A rise in the sex ratio may particularly raise investments in daughters and lower investments in sons, or vice versa, or it may induce more or less parental investments in both sons and daughters. If the sex ratio and preference of sons are correlated, then the effect of the preference for sons on investments in children is generally ambiguous. If the sex ratio is influenced by parental health investments, then son preference induces a higher sex ratio. However, the higher sex ratio has ambiguous effects on the subsequent parental investments before a child’s marriage. We also show that parental preference of child services over a child’s marital status may explain parental investments.

Marriage,partnership and sexual orientation: a study of British university academics and administrators

Using a unique data source on marital status, partnership and sexual orientation of academics and administrators at British universities, we estimate the impact of personal relationships upon earnings for men and women. While university data cover a relatively homogeneous group of workers, the two sides of the university are very different, with administrative jobs being more like the general job market in the economy. We find a large and significant married male premium, but only on the administrative side of the university. There is no female marriage premium, and no partnership return to gay men or to either heterosexual or homosexual women.

宁夏生态移民区回族妇女婚姻质量调查分析——基于永宁县闽宁镇的调查

在宁夏城镇化进程中,生态移民是一项重要的社会发展战略。伴随着移民生产方式、经济活动的转型,交往方式也呈现出多元化,从而引发了家庭结构的变化,回族妇女传统婚姻观念与现代婚姻观念出现了不协调。基于宁夏生态移民区永宁县闽宁镇回族妇女婚姻质量问题的调查,对影响回族妇女婚姻质量的主要问题进行分析,期望有效开展生态移民区回族妇女社会工作,就提高回族妇女家庭生活质量提出相关对策建议。     

婚姻支付实践中的妇女地位——对青藏高原东南地区几个民族的历史考察

青藏高原东南地区地形地貌复杂,文化多样性显著,不同的社会制度产生出形态各异的婚姻相态与支付方式,同时使身处其中的妇女因此具有了差异明显的社会地位与家庭地位。文章通过对这一地区四个世居民族的历史比较,分析了妇女群体在社会结构与文化变迁中的能动反应,同时揭示了婚姻与支付实践中的深层文化动因。     

论我国未成年子女财产权益的保护

我国未成年子女财产权益真正得到保护是在建国后才有的,目前对未成年子女财产权益的保护,已有了比较完善的法律规定,但具体在婚姻法及生活实践中,对我国未成年子女财产权益的保护仍显不足,因此有必要对婚姻家庭立法中未成年子女财产权益的保护制度加以完善,以改变当前立法对未成年子女财产权益保护不力的现状。     

北朝门阀制度之影响

门阀制度肇始于曹魏的九品中正制,形成于魏晋,东晋南朝达于极盛。北朝在其发展中亦学习吸收了汉族之门阀制度,其发展虽不如南朝之盛,对北朝亦产生一定影响。门阀制度给北朝社会带来的弊端,在当时即受到有识之士和下层寒门庶族的非议反对。但门阀制度毕竟是特定历史条件下所产生的封建社会选拔任用人才的一种方式,它维持了封建社会政治体制统治秩序的正常运转和确立,在推动历史发展和社会进程中发挥了一定的作用。     

谦抑语境下家庭财产关系的物权法适用——以《物权法》与《婚姻法》的对接为切入点

从《物权法》作为"强行法"不断弱化的趋势来看,物权法具有谦抑性。基于家庭财产关系的特殊性,《物权法》既要发挥财产基本法应有的规范和指导作用,同时又应当保持一定的谦抑和理性,对《婚姻法》在调整家庭财产关系过程中应有的地位和作用给予尊重和谦让,这不仅体现在物权立法中,也体现在《物权法》的适用过程中。当然《婚姻法》需要在《物权法》的指导下进行完善。