Fertility in China 1982–1990: Gender equality as a complement to wealth flows theory

Some scholars claim there is little variation in Chinese fertility because of coercive family planning policies. This research, however, demonstrates that other factors contribute to significant variation in fertility rates among China's 30 provinces/administrative divisions. Although family planning and socioeconomic development are found to explain significant amounts of variation in fertility for both the 1982 and 1990 census cross-sections, it was also found that gender equality in education had become significant by 1990. Path model results that lag the effects of 1982 socioeconomic development and gender equality in education also indicate that they both have sizable direct effects and moderate indirect effects through family planning behavior on 1990 fertility rates. Discussions include the possibility that the recent free market and institutional reforms, e.g., the decollectivization of agriculture, have contributed a social structure whereby many Chinese families have increased awareness of the opportunity costs associated with their reproductive decision making.     

Effects of federal programs on children: Absolute poverty, relative poverty, and income inequality

Since the 1996 welfare reform, federal spending on means-tested programs targeting the poorest children has decreased, while programs that benefit children in low-income working families have been expanded substantially. With this background, this study examined changes in the antipoverty and anti-inequality effects of children's programs between 1995 and 2007 using data from the Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The findings suggest that although the poverty-reduction effects of the federal child programs increased between 1995 and 2007, the programs' effects on the reductions of children's absolute poverty gaps, relative poverty rates, relative poverty gaps, and income inequality all decreased. More importantly, the antipoverty effects of the federal child programs were most weakened for the poorest children (i.e., those in female-headed, immigrant, and nonworking families) between 1995 and 2007.     

Constrained egalitarianism in a simple redistributive model

The paper extends a result in Dutta and Ray's (1989) theory of constrained egalitarianism initiated by relying on the concept of proportionate rather than absolute equality. We apply this framework to redistributive systems in which what the individuals get depends on what they receive or pay qua members of generally overlapping groups. We solve the constrained equalization problem for this class of models. The paper ends up comparing our solution with the alternative solution based on the Shapley value, which has been recommended in some distributive applications.     

From Separate Corners to Dialogue and Action

How can higher education programs engage students in building a shared commons to address inequalities and foster commitment to intergroup collaboration? Intergroup dialogue is one such possibility to provide forums for meaningful engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. Findings from field experiments at nine colleges and universities show that students in intergroup dialogues increased significantly more than counterparts in control groups and social science comparison groups in their critiques of inequality and their commitments to post-college action to redress inequalities. Further, students in intergroup dialogues rated the frequency of the core communication processes more highly than the social science comparison students. The communication processes help account for the greater increase in students’ critiques of inequality and commitment to post-college actions.     

农村大龄未婚男性的婚姻困境:基于性别不平等视角的认识

大龄未婚男性的婚姻困境是在中国农村普婚制社会下长期存在的现象。文章利用全国性的专项调查、主流媒体报道和实地调查数据,从婚姻市场上的性别不平等视角来研究农村大龄男性的婚姻困境。宏观数据分析显示,用性别结构失衡来解释农村大龄男性的婚姻剥夺显得原发性因果关系不强和实证性不足,而简单地以贫困概括农村大龄男性婚姻困境的主因并没有充分考虑婚姻的本质和功能。基于性别不平等的理论视角和实证研究,认为婚姻市场上性别不平等对贫困男性婚姻困境的影响远比人口性别结构失衡的影响更为直接和重要,农村大龄男性的婚姻困境具有独立于个体内因的社会经济结构性的成因。     

Racial opportunity structures and black fertility

This paper develops and tests hypotheses about the impact of opportunity structures on black fertility across local labor markets. US Vital Statistics and Census of Population data are combined and then examined with regression techniques to estimate the effect of both race-specific and relative measures of opportunity structure on black fertility in the United States. The results show that relative female opportunity structure has a negative relationship with black total fertility rates as well as with birth rates for specific points along the reproductive age structure. However, the hypothesized relationship between relative male opportunity structures and black fertility is not supported. We discuss these results as they relate to minority fertility theory and as they relate to public policy concerns.     

A Note on Sample Size Determination for the Estimation of the Mean Vector of a Multivariate Population

In this article, we present a straightforward Bonferroni approach for determining sample size for estimating the mean vector of a multivariate population under two scenarios: (1) a pre-specified overall confidence level is desired; and (2) a pre-specified confidence level needs to be guaranteed for each individual variable. It is demonstrated that correlation between variables helps reduce the sample size. The formula to calculate the reduced sample size is derived. A binormal example is presented to illustrate the effect of correlation on sample size reduction for various values of the correlation coefficient.     

Gini Index Decomposition for the Case of Two Subgroups

In the framework of inequality measures decompositions, this article introduces an immediate and straightforward simplification for the Gini index when a population is divided in two subgroups. Since one of the key points in inequality analysis is represented by the role of overlapping units, a simulation study is developed in order to analyze the effects of the overlapping component on inequality decomposition. Simple expressions for the measurement of either overlapping component and inequality between are derived, which allow to correctly evaluate and compare the effects of different factors on total inequality.     

中国城镇居民家庭收入流动性及其对收入差距的影响

本文从收入位次和收入份额两个角度分析中国城镇家庭收入流动性,重点探讨收入流动性能否缓和长期收入不平等。本文提出了流动性影响长期收入不平等的测度方法,给出了家庭等值收入的估算方法,然后利用中国家庭收入项目调查（CHIPS）的四轮城镇住户数据,实证分析了城镇家庭收入流动性。实证结果表明,1993-1995年、1997-1999年、2000-2002年和2011-2013年四个阶段的收入位次流动性逐渐下降,收入位次的固化现象愈加突出;四个阶段低收入家庭的收入份额都降低了,收入流动没有缓和长期收入不平等。