Household food insecurity and children's school engagement

Data on 11,614 children (ages 6–11) from the 1999 National Survey of American Families were used to examine a model linking household food insecurity, child health, and emotional well-being to school engagement. The results, using path analyses revealed that (i) the proposed model fit the data quite well; (ii) food insecurity predicted health status, emotional well-being, and negatively predicted school engagement; (iii) health status predicted emotional well-being, and negatively predicted school engagement. Finally, emotional well-being negatively predicted school engagement. Results of mediation analyses showed that food insecurity had a significant indirect effect on emotional well-being via its effect on health status, and a significant indirect effect on school engagement via its effects on health status and emotional well-being.     

Are they Surgeons? or are they Plumbers? Assessing the Role of Private Sector Consultants in Place Branding and Other Place-Based Economic Development Strategies

Public Organization Review - This study takes an in-depth look at the roles and utility of consultants in local economic development, focusing on whether there is ultimately a need for this...     

Winning,Westminster-style: Tamil diaspora interest group mobilisation in Canada and the UK

ABSTRACT

Migration scholars are becoming increasingly interested in diasporas and in their ‘host state’ activities. In a separate body of literature, foreign policy analysts have been considering domestic sources of foreign policy and increasingly the impact of diaspora interest groups on host state foreign policy. The convergence of these two strands offers fertile ground to explore the efforts of diaspora interest groups on host state foreign policy. This illustrative, comparative case study adds additional rigour to existing analyses of mobilised diaspora host state lobbying by further conceptualising policy outcome through the application of the literature on interest groups. Theoretically, it further situates diaspora lobbying into the foreign policy literature by introducing Role Theory, which aids in demonstrating the impact of structural differences when considering similar actors. Via this theoretically informed template, the paper argues that slight contextual variation in two seemingly analogous contexts can discernibly impact outcomes, in this case on whether or not Tamil diaspora interest groups influenced British and Canadian foreign policy in 2009 toward the civil war in Sri Lanka.     

Probabilistic population projections for countries with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued probabilistic population projections for all countries up to 2100, by simulating future levels of total fertility and life expectancy and combining the results using a standard cohort component projection method. For the 40 countries with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics, the mortality projections used the Spectrum/Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) model, a complex, multistate model designed for short-term projections of policy-relevant quantities for the epidemic. We propose a simpler approach that is more compatible with existing UN projection methods for other countries. Changes in life expectancy are projected probabilistically using a simple time series regression and then converted to age- and sex-specific mortality rates using model life tables designed for countries with HIV/AIDS epidemics. These are then input to the cohort component method, as for other countries. The method performed well in an out-of-sample cross-validation experiment. It gives similar short-run projections to Spectrum/EPP, while being simpler and avoiding multistate modelling.     

Use of time and preferences for time allocation among urban,employed, married women

This study examines the relationship between employed wives' preferences for household production time, employment time, leisure, and their actual time use. A random sample of 235 employed, married women estimate their time use on an average weekday and weekend day in 13 activities and indicate their preferences for time in those activities. Hierarchical multiple regression procedures are used to examine the relationships between actual and preferred time use. Weekday employment time is not related to preferences for more or less time in household production but wives allocating more time to employment want to spend less time at that employment and more time in leisure. Weekend employment time is related to preferences for more time in leisure, child care, and other household work. Time spent performing household work is not related to preferences for more or less time in any activity except the desire for more leisure time on weekends.Ann Renigar Hiatt is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Services, College of Education and Allied Professions at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223. Her research interests include employed women's time allocation, time pressures, and use of time management strategies. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.Deborah D. Godwin is Associate Professor in the Department of Housing and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Her research has focused on husbands' and wives' time allocation to household production, the effects of women's employment on family economic functioning, and family financial management. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensbore.     

On the Bias of the Maximum Likelihood Estimator for the Two-Parameter Lomax Distribution

The Lomax (Pareto II) distribution has found wide application in a variety of fields. We analyze the second-order bias of the maximum likelihood estimators of its parameters for finite sample sizes, and show that this bias is positive. We derive an analytic bias correction which reduces the percentage bias of these estimators by one or two orders of magnitude, while simultaneously reducing relative mean squared error. Our simulations show that this performance is very similar to that of a parametric bootstrap correction based on a linear bias function. Three examples with actual data illustrate the application of our bias correction.     

Bias reduction for the maximum likelihood estimator of the doubly-truncated Poisson distribution

ABSTRACT

We derive an analytic expression for the bias of the maximum likelihood estimator of the parameter in a doubly-truncated Poisson distribution, which proves highly effective as a means of bias correction. For smaller sample sizes, our method outperforms the alternative of bias correction via the parametric bootstrap. Bias is of little concern in the positive Poisson distribution, the most common form of truncation in the applied literature. Bias appears to be the most severe in the doubly-truncated Poisson distribution, when the mean of the distribution is close to the right (upper) truncation.     

Family Support and Health Status of the Elderly in Imo State of Nigeria

This article highlights ageing issues in a community in a developing African nation. This exploratory study uses quantitative and qualitative methods. Seventy–five elders were sampled from Imo State, Nigeria. Results indicate that family support is potentially available at a ratio of 3 to 1 with most of the elderly depending on their children, wives, in–laws,and God. The elderly express satisfaction with family care and they rarely live alone. The elders attach greater value to non–material (physical presence/emotional) support. The most prevalent acute and chronic illnesses of the elderly are respectively malaria, followed by severe headache, flu, sleeping problems; and rheumatism/arthritis, followed by failing vision, general weakness and hip problems. The implications of these findings for policy are considered.     

Compliance costs — The cost of paying tax

Compliance costs are the costs which taxpayers and others incur in meeting obligations imposed under tax legislation. The following paper reviews the existing body of research into these costs, considers the methodological problems revealed by research, and assesses the significance of compliance costs to public policy.