Reducing poverty and inequality through tax-benefit reform and the minimum wage: the UK as a case-study

Atkinson’s book Inequality: What Can Be Done? (Harvard University Press, 2015) sets out a range of concrete proposals aimed at reducing income inequality, which cover a very broad span but include major changes to the income tax and social transfers system and the minimum wage. These are framed with specific reference to the UK but have much broader relevance in demonstrating how substantial the impact on inequality of such measures could be. This paper assesses the first-round effects of these tax, transfer and minimum wage reforms on income inequality and poverty based on a microsimulation approach using EUROMOD. The reforms involve a significantly more progressive income tax structure, a major increase in the minimum wage to the level which is estimated to represent the ‘Living Wage’, and alternative routes to reforming social transfers – either to strengthen the social insurance element or to restructure the entire system as a Participation Income (a variant of Basic/Citizen’s Income). The results show how the first-round effects of either set of tax and transfer proposals would be to substantially reduce the extent of income inequality and relative income poverty and the paper draws out how the two approaches differ in their effects. The additional impact of raising the minimum wage to the Living Wage is modest, reflecting in particular the position of beneficiaries in the household income distribution and the offsetting effects on household income of the withdrawal of means-tested cash transfers.     

When Feminists Don't Fit The Case of Pauline Hanson

The rise of the Far Right is a global phenomenon traditionally viewed as antithetical to feminism. However, in Australia from 1996–2001 Far Right politics was dominated by a woman, Pauline Hanson, thus calling into question the dynamics between organized feminism and the Far Right. A significant problem for Australian feminists trying to understand Hanson is that her ideology, activities and life-style are internally contradictory. This article draws on American analyses of similar women and examines the contradictions in Hanson's political philosophy and activism with a view to challenging current Australian feminist analysis of this controversial political woman.     

Birth-multiple catastrophe processes

Birth-multiple catastrophe processes are analyzed where the birth transition rates are assumed to be constant while catastrophes are distinguished by having possibly different destinations and possibly different transition rates. The transient probability functions of such birth-multiple catastrophe systems are determined. The solution method uses dual processes, randomization, and sample path counting. Solutions are explicit in terms of being a finite linear combination of products of exponential functions of time, t, and nonnegative integer powers of t. The coefficients within this expansion follow a pattern of rational functions of the transition rates.     

On vertex-parity edge-colorings

A vertex signature \(\pi \) of a finite graph G is any mapping \(\pi \,{:}\,V(G)\rightarrow \{0,1\}\). An edge-coloring of G is said to be vertex-parity for the pair \((G,\pi )\) if for every vertex v each color used on the edges incident to v appears in parity accordance with \(\pi \), i.e. an even or odd number of times depending on whether \(\pi (v)\) equals 0 or 1, respectively. The minimum number of colors for which \((G,\pi )\) admits such an edge-coloring is denoted by \(\chi '_p(G,\pi )\). We characterize the existence and prove that \(\chi '_p(G,\pi )\) is at most 6. Furthermore, we give a structural characterization of the pairs \((G,\pi )\) for which \(\chi '_p(G,\pi )=5\) and \(\chi '_p(G,\pi )=6\). In the last part of the paper, we consider a weaker version of the coloring, where it suffices that at every vertex, at least one color appears in parity accordance with \(\pi \). We show that the corresponding chromatic index is at most 3 and give a complete characterization for it.     

Broadcasting multiple messages in the 1-in port model in optimal time

In the 1-in port model, every vertex of a synchronous network can receive at most one message in each time unit. We consider simultaneous broadcasting of multiple messages from the same source or from distinct sources in such networks with an additional restriction that every received message can be sent out to neighbors only in the next time unit and never to already informed vertex. We use a general concept of level-disjoint partitions developed for this scenario. Here we introduce a subgraph extension technique for efficient spreading information within this concept. Surprisingly, this approach with so called biwheels leads to simultaneous broadcasting of optimal number of messages on a wide class of graphs in optimal time. In particular, we provide tight results for bipartite tori, meshes, hypercubes, Knödel graphs, circulant graphs. We also propose several open problems and conjectures.     

Quality of Life and Leisure Activities: How do Leisure Activities Contribute to Subjective Well-Being?

The quality of life is determined with objective factors and also with subjective perception of factors which influence human life. Leisure activities play a very important role in subjective well-being because they provide opportunities to meet life values and needs. Through participation in leisure activities people build social relationships, feel positive emotions, acquire additional skills and knowledge, and therefore improve their quality of life. In this report we will explore how leisure activities improve subjective well-being. We will try to distinguish among different types of leisure activities and find those which contribute more to the subjective well-being. Particularly, we will explore which leisure activities contribute to the subjective well-being of women and men of different age. Our study is based on data from a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4,000), who estimated their subjective well-being and participation in various leisure activities. First, we will describe the subjective well-being of various groups of people who differ by gender and age. Afterward, we will identify important leisure activities which determine subjective well-being across age and gender groups. Overall, our results show that engagement in leisure activities contributes to subjective well being, while the pattern of important leisure activities somewhat varies across different age and gender groups.     

Evolution of recurrent asthma event rate over time in frailty models

Summary. To model the time evolution of the event rate in recurrent event data a crucial role is played by the timescale that is used. Depending on the timescale selected the interpretation of the time evolution will be entirely different, both in parametric and semiparametric frailty models. The gap timescale is more appropriate when studying the recurrent event rate as a function of time since the last event, whereas the calendar timescale keeps track of actual time. We show both timescales in action on data from an asthma prevention trial in young children. The frailty model is further extended to include both timescales simultaneously as this might be most relevant in practice.     

Combination of a structured aerobic and resistance exercise improves glycaemic control in pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus. A randomised controlled trial

Problem

Gestational diabetes mellitus, defined as any carbohydrate intolerance first diagnosed during pregnancy, is associated with a variety of adverse outcomes, both for the mother and her child.

Centering the voices of international students in family studies and family therapy graduate programs

In this article, we report the results of a survey that accessed the perceptions of family studies and family therapy international master's and doctoral students across the United States. Our goals included giving collective voice to the experience of international students and gathering their suggestions for improving programs. Themes that emerged from responses to open- and closed-ended questions included feeling (mis)understood and (de)valued; forming personal connections and experiencing marginalization; the importance of including international perspectives in curricula; considering the relevance/transferability of knowledge; and attending to barriers to learning. Based on the results, we share suggestions for improving family studies and family therapy graduate programs relative to program planning, curricula revision, teaching strategies, and faculty development.