Supplemental Security Income Among Older Immigrants From Central and South America: The Impact of Welfare Reform

This article explores the impact of federal welfare policy changes on older immigrants born in Central and South America. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census 5% Public-Use Microdata Samples, the study examines (1) the change in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) uptake rate after welfare reform for noncitizens from Latin America, naturalized Latin Americans, and U.S.-born Hispanics and (2) how much of the change can be attributed to a change in behavior rather than to a change in eligibility rates. Findings show that the decline in SSI receipt after welfare reform was greater for Latin American noncitizens compared to naturalized citizens and Hispanic U.S.-born citizens. Decomposition analyses show that among eligible elderly noncitizens, the decline in recipiency rate was due mostly to a change in behavior rather than a change in eligibility. This pattern is not found for U.S.-born and naturalized citizens, where changes were mostly due to a decline in the proportion of persons eligible for SSI. This suggests that as a result of legislative changes, older immigrants may not be applying for benefits for which they may be legally entitled. Policy implications are discussed.     

1988—2010年间珠江三角洲农民工就业结构的变化分析

本文利用四次珠江三角洲农民工调查数据,主要分析了1988年至2010年间,珠三角农民工人口结构与就业特征的变化.发现女性农民工和未使用亲友网络找工的农民工比例逐年增加,普工从业者和在私营企业工作的农民工仍占多数,但比例逐年下降,而在1000人以上规模企业工作的农民工数量逐年增加.性别和工种之间存在工资差异,总体上,男性工资一直略高于女性,且差距有扩大的趋势,历年管理人员工资增幅波动较大,其月均工资水平高于技术工人和普工.     

The Role of Temporary Help Agency Employment on Temp-to-Perm Transitions

This paper evaluates the impact of agency work on temporary workers’ posterior likelihood of being hired on a permanent basis. We use administrative data on two groups of temporary workers for whom we have complete work histories since they are first observed in 1998 until the year 2004. One group consists of workers employed through a temporary help agency (THA) at some point during the 7 year period under examination (treated group). The other group is composed of individuals employed as direct-hire temps at some point between 1998 and the year 2004, but never via a THA (control group). Using propensity score matching methods, we find that agency workers endure a lower likelihood of being hired on a permanent basis following their temporary assignment than their direct-hire counterparts. However, there are relevant differences for some groups of workers.

Spousal Income and Sick Leave: What do Twins Tell us About Causality?

Theoretical arguments suggest that a higher socioeconomic status can improve health and as a consequence reduce the need for sick leave. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate causal effects between spousal income and absence from the workplace due to sickness. To control for unobserved heterogeneity a Swedish sample of female twins and a semiparametric censored fixed-effects model was used. Results for dizygotic (fraternal) twins indicated that male spousal income, i.e., a non-shared environmental influence, reduced the share of income that was government-paid sickness benefits. Data on monozygotic twins, who have identical genes, provide a more complete control for unobserved heterogeneity. No causal effect was found in this case.

Does International Economic Integration Lead to a Cleaner Production in China?

In contrast to the Pollution Haven Hypothesis, the Trade‐Up Hypothesis holds that international integration helps improve firms' environmental performance in developing countries. Using firm‐level data from Shanghai, this article examines how international linkages, in the form of foreign direct investment or international trade, affect firms' environmental compliance and performance. We find that firms with international linkage via ownership exhibit better compliance with environmental regulation and emit less pollution than firms with no international linkage. We also find that firms with international linkage via market exposure are more likely to exhibit better compliance with environmental regulation than firms with no international linkage, but find no evidence that the former emit less pollution than the latter. This provides a piece of empirical evidence for the Trade‐Up Hypothesis.     

Remittances and the income distribution in Tonga

Receipt of remittances from migrants decreased the inequality of income in Tonga. Policies that attempt to affect migration or remittance flows, such as policies to improve the administration and collection of taxes, should take into account any undesirable effects on the distribution of income.     

Social programs and household size: evidence from New York city

What determines how many adults live in a house? How do people divide themselves up among households? Average household sizes vary substantially, both over time and in the cross-section. In this paper, we describe how a variety of government policies affect living arrangements, intentionally or not. Using data from a survey of households in New York City, we find that these incentives appear to have an impact. Specifically, households receiving these housing and income subsidies are smaller on average (measured by number of adults). The impacts appear to be considerably larger than those that would occur if the programs were lump-sum transfers. Small average household size can be extremely expensive in terms of physical and environmental resources, higher rents, and possibly homelessness. Thus, we encourage policymakers to pay greater heed to the provisions built into various social policies that favor smaller households.     

Ranking Income Distributions by Deprivation Orderings

This paper has examined the problem of ranking income distributions using absolute deprivation ordering. It appears that the ranking of distributions by this ordering may be more unambiguous than that generated by the relative deprivation ordering. The class of average deprivation indices consistent with the absolute deprivation criterion is also identified.     

我国农村居民消费需求收入弹性分析及趋势预测

调整收入分配结构、扩大内需成为我国政府当今和未来一段时间经济工作的重中之重。消费需求收入弹性是反映居民消费需求和收入关系的一项重要指标,对其现状及未来趋势的研究具有重要意义。运用ELES模型和GM(1,1)模型对我国农村居民消费需求收入弹性进行分析和预测。研究结果表明,当前该指标整体较高,但未来几年多数子类指标有下降趋势。