Running hard and falling behind: a welfare analysis of two-earner families

This paper investigates the commonly asserted proposition that long term economic changes have put the family in a financial bind. Structural parameters of a family utility model are obtained by estimating simultaneous labor supply functions for a two-earner household. We find evidence indicating that the average 1990‘s two-earner family would prefer to receive the 1980‘s real wage package (were it available) instead of the real wage package it actually faces. The degree to which the 1990‘s family is worse off (in terms of the changes in the real wage package) is roughly equivalent to an hour of leisure per week. Received September 25, 1995 / Accepted February 5, 1997     

A tale of two decades: Relative intra-family earning capacity and changes in family welfare over time

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of economic changes in the 1990s and 2000s on the welfare of married households, taking into account the relative earnings structure of husband and wife. Modeling the household members’ joint labor supply, we find that families in which the wife is the higher wage earner experienced as much welfare gain in the 1990s and significantly higher welfare gains in the 2000s as families in which the husband is the higher wage earner.     

The effect of inbreeding on early childhood mortality: Twelve generations of an amish settlement

An unresolved issue in research on child survival is the extent to which familial mortality risk in infancy is due to biological influences net of sociodemographic and economic factors. We examine the effect of consanguinity on early childhood mortality in an Old Order Amish settlement by using the inbreeding coefficient, an explicit measure of the degree of relatedness in one's ancestry. Inbreeding has a net positive effect on neonatal and postneonatal deaths. We find social, demographic, and population-based sociocultural explanations for this effect among the Amish population which is known to experience certain genetically transmitted defects associated with mortality.     

Normative collective behavior in the Station building fire

Objective. This article offers a test of the normative explanation of collective behavior by examining the fire at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island that killed 100 and injured nearly 200 persons.Methods. Information on all persons at the club comes from content analysis of documents from the Rhode Island Police Department, the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General, and The Providence Journal. We use negative binomial regression to test hypotheses about the effects of group-level predictors of the counts of dead and injured in 179 groups at the nightclub.Results. Results indicate that group-level factors such as distance of group members at the start of the fire, the number of intimate relations among them, the extent to which they had visited the nightclub prior to the incident, and the average length of the evacuation route they used predict counts of injured and dead. The research also looks at what behavioral differences exist between survivors and victims, ascertains the existence of role extension among employees of the nightclub, and provides support for the affirmation that dangerous contexts negate the protective influence of intimate relations in groups.Conclusion. We argue for the abandonment of current emphasis on irrationality and herd-like imitative behavior in studies of evacuation from structural fires in buildings and for the inclusion of group-level processes in social psychological explanations of these incidents.     

Assessing the effects of monetized food aid on: reproductive behavior in rural Honduras

This article describes the methodology and findings of a study undertaken to assess whether the monetization of non-emergency food aid has adversely influenced national family planning program efforts in Honduras. Due to time constraints, an ex-post, non-equivalent group design was the strongest feasible study design. In the study, women receiving food aid in the form of cash coupons were compared with women receiving food rations and a third group of comparable women who were not food aid recipients on three types of outcomes: recent fertility, fertility preferences, and contraceptive use (both current and intended). A ‘sample selection’ model was used in the analysis to control for unobserved differences between comparison groups. No compelling evidence for either adverse demand- or supply-side effects was observed.     

The effects of monetized food aid on reproductive behavior in rural Honduras

This article presents research findings on the question of whether the monetization of non-emergency food aid has adversely influenced national family planning program efforts in Honduras. Women receiving food aid in the form of cash coupons are compared in the study with women receiving food rations and a third group of women with similar characteristics who were not food aid recipients on three types of outcomes: recent fertility, fertility preferences, and contraceptive use. The health facilities where study subjects received health/family planning services and food aid benefits were also compared to assess possible adverse cross-program effects on family planning service delivery. A sample selection model was used in the analysis to control for unobserved differences between comparison groups. No compelling evidence for adverse demand- or supply-side effects of monetized food aid on family planning efforts was observed. The most striking study finding was the extremely high level of unmet need for family planning.     

Consanguineous Marriage and Early Childhood Mortality in an Amish Settlement

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of inbreeding as a direct measure of consanguinity on early childhood mortality. Data are from a church directory of the Old Order Amish of the Lancaster, PA, settlement. The sample includes all infant deaths and a probability sample of survivors (total N = 1,823).

We find that inbreeding has a net positive effect on neonatal and infant deaths and on the instantaneous hazard rate. However, we also find socioeconomic and other explanations, even in this population, likely to experience certain genetically transmitted defects associated with infant mortality.     

Labor force exit decisions of new mothers

Using unique administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper investigates women’s decisions to exit the labor market upon the birth of a child. Exits rates and their changes over time varies dramatically between married and single women giving birth. Only the pattern among single, less educated women can be considered consistent with changing labor force participation rates of women over the period of analysis. Potential policy implications of these changes are discussed.     

The Child as Fetish: Theoretical Considerations on the Etiology of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome

A popular explanation of the behavior of the Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome (MBPS) mother, who induces or fabricates illness in her child, is that such a mother uses her child as a fetish in a compulsive relationship with the pediatrician. This explanation seems to suggest that genital issues related to penis envy motivate MBPS behavior. An alternative is proposed that places the MBPS mother's ego development at a pre-oedipal level, where infantile aggression, splitting of the ego, and the need for a transitional object to manage separation from the mother dominate the clinical picture.     

Family planning program effects on contraceptive use in Morocco, 1992–1995

This study illustrates the use of panel data and a fixed-effects estimator to investigate the impact of family planning program inputs on contraceptive utilization in Morocco during the 1992–1995 period. By controlling the potential bias resulting from common unobserved determinants of program resource allocation decisions and program outcomes, the methodology helps overcome an important constraint to the use of non-experimental study designs in undertaking meaningful impact assessments. Data from a panel of women interviewed in both the 1992 and 1995 Morocco Demographic and Health Surveys were used in the study, along with program data from Service Availability Modules undertaken in conjunction with each survey round. The results indicate that changes in the family planning supply environment, in particular increased presence of nurses trained in family planning and the level of infrastructure at public clinics, played a significant role in the increased use of modern contraceptives during the study period.