Cohort Succession in the US Housing Market: New Houses, the Baby Boom, and Income Stratification

Federal housing policy in the US across the postwar period supported the construction of new houses more than public provision or renovation of older structures as a means of ensuring a sufficient supply of quality dwellings. Understanding trends in new housing in particular is thus crucial to understanding the housing regime. Following Myers (Housing demography: Linking demographic structure and housing markets. University of Wisconsin Press, 1990; Housing Studies, 14, 473–490,1999), this paper conceptualizes historical change in the housing stock within a demographic framework as the movement of cohorts of households through cohorts of housing stock. Recent evidence suggests that a new cohort of houses arose in the 1980s and 1990s (larger with more amenities than past vintages), and that buyers of those new houses were increasingly affluent. In this paper, I link the succession to a new cohort of houses to household cohort succession and examine the increasing affluence of new house buyers by age and cohort, focusing especially on the entry of the Baby Boom generation exactly when the new cohort of houses arrived. I use US Census microdata for 1960–2000 to develop a cohort longitudinal dataset, and analyze historical change in stratification in new house ownership. I find significant shifts between cohorts in income inequality among new house buyers, with implications for the capacity of the housing regime to meet the future needs of an increasingly diverse population.

Profile of the Present Slovak Society and its Regional Differences

The article is the first attempt in assessment of the development and the present situation of social structure and stratification in Slovakia. Its principal aim is to develop the profile of the present society in Slovakia, which reflects the pace and complexity of the transformation process and its impact on society. Processing of Micro census data from 2003 led to creation of the profile of society in Slovakia at the national level based on income distribution but also knowledge on regional societies and differences between them were obtained. It was found out that the present profile of the society in Slovakia is pear-shaped which means strong representation of lower strata and weaker representation of higher middle and high strata. The profile disclosed some specific features and inconsistencies in the present society of Slovakia, which were, and still are determined by many non standard past and present phenomena and processes often disguised by reforms. The information drawn in regions has facilitated identification of the basic nature and structure of regional societies, some of their specific features and negative elements and to demonstrate their highly differentiated character.

读《史记·五帝本纪》论黄河中游早期国家形成的时间

司马迁《史记·五帝本纪》以五帝时代作为中国早期国家的开端,此观点并未得到近现代学界的足够重视。近年来随着早期国家理论的提出和考古学的新进展,我们有足够的理由相信五帝时代是中国早期国家确立的时期。     

中世纪英格兰医院制度论略

诺曼征服后,英格兰的医院主要是由修道院建立的。12、13世纪由于城市、贸易发展等原因,世俗人士也开始大量地建立医院,但这些医院的医务人员仍以修士或修女为多。中世纪末期,随着封建经济的衰落,这种宗教式医院也随之衰落。中世纪英格兰的医院中真正的医疗很少,主要是为病人、穷人提供生活上的照顾和心灵的"救治",但在组织和文化观念上为现代医院的发展奠定了基础。     

收入分配、技术进步与经济的持续增长——来自中国的经验

支撑中国经济近30年高增长的主要是要素投入而非技术进步,这种粗放型的增长方式以及这种方式下的经济增长都是不可持续的。中国经济发展正在进入"刘易斯转折区间",这可能为经济增长方式转变为主要依靠技术进步提供条件,也可能使经济进入均衡陷阱。技术进步本身有着内在的逻辑,它源于分工,而分工又具有自发演进的正反馈机制。建设"创新型国家"(或者说大范围的技术进步)难以依靠由政府动员全社会力量集中攻关的"举国体制"来实现,分工的深化才是技术进步,进而是经济持续增长的决定性因素。     

中国城乡发展动力结构调整的思考——收入分配视角的分析

近三十年来,中国经济实现了持续高速增长,但增长动力结构失衡。在投资、消费、净出口三大需求对国民经济发展的拉动中,消费率偏低是一个不争的事实。消费率,即消费需求在支出法国内生产总值中所占的比重,反映的是从长期考察的一个国家在其发展过程中所处的历史阶段,而不是短期内国家宏观和微观的经济运行情况。它的高低适中不能用宏观和微观经济运行情况来判定,而是要看其是否与国家或地方的经济发展方式和路径相适应。中国经济发展正处于消费率由低转高的历史阶段,中国消费率的上升是一个渐进的过程,需要从宏观上实现一系列的国民收入分配机理运行工程,即劳动收入的国家干预工程、要素收入的二次分配工程、扩大公共消费工程和加大财政转移支付工程。     

医疗保险对农村居民家庭消费的影响分析--基于不同收入层级的跨地区比较

利用2009、2010农村固定观察点数据,分析了医疗保险对不同地区、不同收入层级的农村居民家庭医疗消费支出和非医疗消费支出的影响。实证结果表明：医疗保险对农村居民家庭的医疗类消费不存在显著影响,对非医疗类消费支出则存在显著的正向促进作用。分地区来看,医疗保险对东西部地区农村居民家庭医疗类消费的影响差异显著,对东中部地区农村居民家庭非医疗类消费支出的影响同样差异显著;分收入层级来看,医疗保险对家庭医疗类消费的影响在不同收入层级的农村居民家庭之间不存在显著差异,但对非医疗类消费支出的影响在不同收入层级之间差异显著。此外,商业医疗保险作为医疗保险体系的重要组成部分,对促进农村消费起到带动作用。最后,本文从加大政府补贴和完善保障机制两个方面提出政策建议以期有效降低农村居民家庭超常的预防性储蓄,促进农村居民家庭消费。     

从伊斯兰法到二元法——巴林法律体系的变迁轨迹

法律体系是衡量文明社会的重要标志。巴林作为中东民族国家建构体系中地缘、社会与文明实体的重要一环,尽管面积不大,人口较少,但其法律体系却在海湾地区具有历史悠久、体系完备以及内容丰富等特点。巴林法律体系历经四个时期：教法学家主导下的伊斯兰法时期、酋长管理下的部族法时期、英国控制下的混合法时期以及世俗和伊斯兰共生下的二元法时期。巴林法律体系的现代化呈现出多元化的理论形态与文化取向。     

冷战后美国中东战略的调整与伊朗核问题

新一届美国政府成立后,其对伊朗核问题的立场成为国际社会广泛关注的热点问题。伊朗核问题解决的方式,主要取决于美伊双方,但在全球化的今天,美国和伊朗走向直接对抗甚至爆发战争的可能性越来越小,双方更可能以全方位外交谈判的方式来解决美伊之间的矛盾。     

中美中东石油关系解析

作为居世界前两位的石油进口和消费大国,中美都离不开中东石油。中美在中东必然因石油而发生关系,这种关系具有双重性——事实上的竞争与合作关系。在中东石油领域,如果两国展开过度竞争甚至恶性竞争,双方可能走向“零和”或两败俱伤的“负数”结局;如果两国开展对话、合作或实现竞争下的合作,则完全可以在中东石油甚至其他能源领域实现互利双赢。