Recent ccpr_olwp items

Marshallian Localization Economies: Where Do They Come From and To Whom Do They Flow?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Dense concentrations of economic activity are generally seen as giving rise to increasing returns that may be shared by business units that cluster in particular locations. What are the sources of these increasing returns and do they benefit all businesses or only some? Theories of the firm and strategic management argue that competitive advantage originates in the development and exploitation of firm-specific assets or capabilities that may be internal or external to the firm. The extent of firm heterogeneity suggests that businesses search for profit in many different ways. We might anticipate that older, larger, foreign-owned and multi-plant firms draw upon internal resources more readily than young, small, domestic, single-plant firms. Do the benefits of agglomeration vary among business establishments according to these characteristics? We examine this question using plant-level longitudinal micro-data from the Canadian manufacturing sector. We show that most manufacturing...

Housing Crowding Effects on Children’s Wellbeing: National and Longitudinal Comparisons

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Housing Crowding Effects on Children’s Wellbeing: National and Longitudinal Comparisons

Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations

Tue, 1 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines how women’s and men’s career referents, the people they see as having similar careers, affect career expectations. We raise two questions. First, what is the relative effect of the gender composition and comparison level of career referents on such expectations? Second, what happens to career expectations when women and men identify career referents at the same comparison level? Current research suggests that women have lower career expectations than men because they compare themselves with women who hold lower-level positions than the career referents identified by men. Thus, if women and men identify with similar level career referents, their career expectations should be equal. However, this chain of reasoning has not been tested. Using data collected from a large organization, we identify both the specific individuals women and men perceive as having similar careers and these referents’ career levels, defined as their hierarchical level in the firm....

With (or Without) this Ring: Race, Ethnic, and Nativity Differences in the Demographic Significance of Cohabitation in Women’s Lives

Wed, 5 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Using pooled data from the 1995 and 2002 NSFGs, we compare the timing and type of first union, fertility behavior in cohabitation and marriage, and the duration and outcome of first cohabiting unions for White, Black, U.S.-born Mexican American, and foreign-born Mexican American women. We find that the most pronounced differences in cohabitation are between foreign-born Mexicans and women born in the United States. Although the behavior of most foreign-born Mexicans favors marriage over cohabitation, cohabitation may substitute for marriage for a small number of foreign-born Mexicans. Patterns of cohabitation among U.S.- born Mexican Americans are consistently between those of foreign-born Mexicans and U.S.- born Whites, suggesting that assimilation changes union behavior. For Whites, our results suggest that cohabitation is a stage in the courtship process leading to marriage; whereas for Blacks, cohabitation is a highly unstable union that appears to substitute for marriage....

Take Me “Home”: Determinants of Return Migration Among Germany’s Elderly Immigrants

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the determinants of return migration as foreign-born individuals approach old age in Germany. Return migration in later life engages a different set of conditions than return migration earlier on, including framing return as a possible retirement strategy. Using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, results suggest that later-life emigrants are “negatively selected” on the basis of economic resources. However, family resources such as spousal characteristics and ties to kin in “home” and “host” countries also shape decisions to return. Results from this paper highlight the broader importance of framing return migration within the processes of international migration and immigrant incorporation.

The Impact of College Education on Fertility: Evidence for Heterogeneous Effects

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Despite a substantial literature on the effects of education on women's fertility, little is known about possible variation in effects by selection into college. Women’s increasing educational attainment motivates further attention to the impact of education on fertility patterns, particularly among college‐educated women who have a low likelihood of attending and completing college. With data on U.S. women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we examine effects of timely college attendance and completion by propensity score strata using a hierarchical linear model and stratum‐specific discrete‐time event‐history models. We find evidence for significant, systematic variation in effects. The fertility‐decreasing college effect is concentrated among disadvantaged women with a low propensity for college attendance and completion, approaches zero as the propensity for college increases, and then reverses to a fertility‐increasing effect among the most advantaged...

Distinguishing Between the Effects of Residential Mobility and Neighborhood Change on Children's Well-Being: A Research Note*

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Although the quality of a child’s neighborhood can fluctuate because of either his own migration or the movement of those around him, these two processes do not necessarily influence children in the same way. Identifying the independent influence of each, if it exists, is an important step toward fully understanding how much and how characteristics of neighborhoods influence children. Using data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we develop a method for separating the effects of residential mobility and neighborhood change on children’s well-being, and report the results of an analysis using that method. Small amounts of change in a five-year window prevent the identification of potentially striking variation in the effects of different compositional changes within and across children's neighborhoods. Nonetheless, our results suggest differences in the influence of compositional change depending on whether it occurs within or across...

Dynamic Estimation of the Incentive Schemes and Signalling Costs of Grade In°ation

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Higher education is a subject of continual interest. It is marked as an area to propel growth and equality, and public monies in the many billions of dollars are spent annually for its support. Over the past half century, there is evidence of grade in°ation within these universities and colleges. However, the potential and actual costs of this grade in°ation have been understudied, as well as the feedback e®ects of changes in the labor market. This paper ¯rst examines grading, enrollment, and quality trends in UCLA from 1980-2007. The data demonstrates that there is in°ation, even likely when controlling for improvement in student quality. The data also shows that there is a lot of movement in grading patterns over the period; some departments are choosing not to in°ate. I construct a stochastic dynamic model which demonstrates the tensions that encourages and discourages grade in°ation. It also shows that grade in°ation can cause higher variance in initial wages, which might...

The Impact of Adequate Prenatal Care in a Developing Country: testing the WHO recommendations

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Deficient birth outcomes entail greater mortality risks, and higher probabilities of poor future health. This study is the first statistical examination of the effect of the World Health Organization’s recommended number of prenatal care visits for developing countries on birth outcomes. This study accounts for the endogenous nature of prenatal care decisions by using an instrumental variables approach based on the accessibility of prenatal services. Using the CLHN Survey I construct a measure of prenatal care which involves both timing and intensity and that shows positive impacts for the combination of both. The results are highly robust to changes in measures of birth outcome but are only significant for urban areas. The lack of impact on rural areas could be due to the inferior quality of prenatal care services received there. This theory is corroborated when controlling directly for care quality.

Show me the money! The geography of contributions to California's Proposition 8

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This paper provides an overview of disclosure with regard to contributions in favor of and against California's Proposition 8 measure that banned same-sex marriage. Using publicly available data, out-of-state and in-state contributions are mapped, and the geography of California state politics and the consequences of disclosure are discussed.

I’d Like to Thank the Academy, Team Spillovers, and Network Centrality

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In this article we use Academy Award nominations for acting to explore how artistic achievement is situated within collaborative context. The context of individual effort is particularly important in film since quality is not transparent and the project-based nature of the field allows us to observe individuals in multiple contexts. Controlling for the actor’s personal history and basic traits of the film we explore two basic predictions. First, we find that status, as measured by asymmetric centrality in the network of screen credits, is an efficient measure of star power and mediates the relationship between experience and formal artistic consecration. Second, we find that actors are most likely to be consecrated when working with elite collaborators. We conclude by arguing that selection into privileged work teams is a locus of cumulative advantage.

Assistance to the Family and the College Achievement of Young Adults

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This investigation examined the assistance that approximately 630 college—bound young adults from Asian, Latin American, and European backgrounds provided to their families and the implications of that assistance for their postsecondary educational progress. Students from Filipino and Latin American backgrounds spent more hours helping their parents and siblings on a daily basis as compared to their peers from East Asian and European backgrounds. Those from Latin American backgrounds provided financial support to their families at a higher rate than those from East Asian and European backgrounds, and males provided more financial support than females. Young adults who provided daily and financial assistance to their families were less likely to pursue or obtain bachelor’s degrees and more likely to pursue or obtain an associate’s degrees. This association did not vary across subgroups of adolescents and group differences in family assistance did not account for group differences...

Research Design for the Study of Mixed-Income Housing

Wed, 6 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Research Design for the Study of Mixed-Income Housing

Census 2010 LGBT Basics

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This brief provides information for the LGBT community about the upcoming Census 2010.

Mathematics Instruction in Kindergarten and First Grade in the United States at the Start of the 21st Century

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding how mathematics is taught in the classroom is an important first step in connecting mathematics instruction to student learning. This study sheds light on mathematics teaching in kindergarten and first grade—the grades at which initial understandings, as well as obstacles to later progress, begin to emerge. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) survey, we consider (i) how much time teachers spend on mathematics on days when they teach this subject, (ii) the content of mathematics instruction, and (iii) the pedagogical techniques used. We find that time spent on mathematics instruction, content coverage, and pedagogical techniques varies between teachers as a function of school location and type, classroom composition, and a range of teacher attributes that includes demographics, preparation, level of effort, and professional development activities.

Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This report undertakes the first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay, and bisexual population. We find clear evidence that poverty is at least as common in the LGB population as among heterosexual people and their families.

Migracion, trabajo y salud en momentos de crisis economica: Transicion en las estrategias de la salud en Hermosillo y Los Angeles

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Migracion, trabajo y salud en momentos de crisis economica: Transicion en las estrategias de la salud en Hermosillo y Los Angeles

The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention: Changing the Currents of Trade

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines how criminalizing the act of bribing a foreign public official affects international trade flows using a watershed global anti-corruption initiative – the 1997 OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. This multilateral agreement criminalized foreign bribery (previously illegal only for U.S. firms) in countries that represent over 75% of world exports. I exploit temporal variation in the implementation of the Convention along with variation in the level of corruption of importing countries to quantify the effects of the Convention on bilateral exports. In contrast to previous work on U.S. efforts to criminalize foreign bribery, I use a large panel of exporters and importers to control for a broad range of confounding global and national trends and shocks. I find that, on average, the Convention caused a reduction in bilateral exports from signatory countries to high corruption importing countries relative to low corruption importing countries. In particular, we observe...

Education Differences in Intended and Unintended Fertility

Sun, 1 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Using a hazards framework and panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2004), we analyze the fertility patterns of a recent cohort of U.S. white and African American women. We examine how completed fertility varies by women’s education, differentiating between intended and unintended births. We find that the education gradient on fertility comes largely from unintended childbearing, and it is not explained by childbearing desires or opportunity cost, the two common explanations in past literature. Less educated women want no more children than the more educated, so this factor explains none of their higher completed fertility. Less educated women have lower wages, but wages have little of the negative effect on fertility predicted by economic theories of opportunity cost. We propose three other potential mechanisms linking low education and unintended childbearing, focusing on access to contraception and abortion, relational and economic uncertainty,...

Peer Effects and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Peer Effects and the Impact of Tracking: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya

Was There a Revolution? Kinship and Inequality over the Very Long Term in Liaoning, China, 1749-2005

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Was There a Revolution? Kinship and Inequality over the Very Long Term in Liaoning, China, 1749-2005

Baghdad Nights: Evaluating the US Military 'Surge' Using Nighttime Light Signatures

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Baghdad Nights: Evaluating the US Military 'Surge' Using Nighttime Light Signatures

Measuring and Modelling Biodiversity from Space

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The Earth is undergoing an accelerated rate of native ecosystem conversion and degradation and there is increased interest in measuring and modelling biodiversity from space. Biogeographers have a long-standing interest in measuring patterns of species occurrence and distributional movements and an interest in modelling species distributions and patterns of diversity. Much progress has been made in identifying plant species from space using high-resolution satellites (QuickBird, IKONOS), while the measurement of species movements has become commonplace with the ARGOS satellite tracking system which has been used to track the movements of thousands of individual animals. There have been signifi cant advances in land-cover classifi cations by combining data from multi-passive and active sensors, and new classifi cation techniques. Species distribution modelling has been growing at a striking rate and the incorporation of spaceborne data on climate, topography, land cover, and...

Do Mexican Immigrants “Import” Social Gradients in Health Behaviors to the US?

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Greater educational attainment is consistently associated with lower mortality rates and better health behaviors in the US, a pattern known as the social gradient in health. However, recent research suggests that Mexican-origin adults in the US have weak or flat gradients, in contrast to steep gradients for non-Hispanic whites. In this study we evaluate one possible explanation for this finding: that the relative weakness of education gradients in health behaviors observed among Mexican-origin adults in the US is due to weak gradients in the sending population. We test this “imported gradients” hypothesis with data from two large nationally-representative datasets: the US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Mexican National Health Survey (ENSA 2000). We compare the education gradients in smoking and obesity for recentlyarrived Mexican immigrants in the US to the corresponding gradients in high-migration regions of Mexico. Results partially support the imported gradients...

Institutional, Household, and Individual Influences on Male and Female Marriage and Remarriage in Northeast China, 1749-1912

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Institutional, Household, and Individual Influences on Male and Female Marriage and Remarriage in Northeast China, 1749-1912

Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing? Evidence from a Randomized Malaria Prevention Experiment

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It is often argued that cost-sharing—charging a subsidized, positive price—for a health product is necessary to avoid wasting resources on those who will not use or do not need the product. We explore this argument through a field experiment in Kenya, in which we randomized the price at which prenatal clinics could sell long lasting anti-malarial insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to pregnant women. We find no evidence that costsharing reduces wastage on those that will not use the product: women who received free ITNs are not less likely to use them than those who paid subsidized positive prices. We also find no evidence that costsharing induces selection of women who need the net more: those who pay higher prices appear no sicker than the average prenatal client in the area in terms of measured anemia (an important indicator of malaria). Cost-sharing does, however, considerably dampen demand. We find that uptake drops by 75 percent when the price of ITNs increases from zero...

Assessment of Natural Hazard Damage and Reconstruction: A Case Study from Band Aceh, Indonesia

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

There is an increasing interest in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of remote sensing imagery and geographic information system products as they relate to estimating populations at risk before, during, and after natural hazards. This research examines the spatial and temporal effectiveness of satellites and extent of damage products that were created for Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the 26 December 2004 tsunami. SPOT, FORMOSAT, MODIS and Landsat ETM+ imagery provides high temporal resolution data within three days of the tsunami. However, high-resolution commercial satellites (Quickbird, IKONOS) provide the most accurate data that can be used to assess infrastructure damage in cities like Banda Aceh before and after natural disasters. Of the six extent of damage products (USAID, USGS, Dartmouth Flood Observatory, DLR, SERTIT, DPRC) created after the tsunami, DLR provided the most accurate data on the extent of damage in Banda Aceh (94% agreement with Quickbird imagery)....

Neighborhood as a Social Context of the Stress Process

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Neighborhood as a Social Context of the Stress Process

Lessons from Empirical Network Analyses on Matters of Life and Death in East Africa

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Network-based strategies and competencies are probably even more important in poor societies with limited means of communication and less effective formal structures than in developed economies. And they often deal with life and death matters. This paper presents lessons from and insights about the nature of and the impacts of informal social networks in reducing fertility and coping with HIV/AIDS in Kenya and Malawi based on analyses of quantitative longitudinal data and qualitative data that the authors and their collaborators have been collecting and analyzing for over a decade. Specific lessons include the relevance of social networks and informal interactions for many different domains related to health – and thus life and death – in developing countries, the importance of accounting for the endogeneity of network partners in analyzing network effects, that networks are important even with control for endogeneity, that network effects may be nonlinear, that there may be...

Finding Osama Bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

One of the most important political questions of our time is: Where is Osama bin Laden? He is alleged to be responsible for inspiring and financing, if not exactly organizing, the September 11, 2001 attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon that resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 people. We use biogeographic theories associated with the distribution of life and extinction (distance-decay theory, island biogeography theory, and life history characteristics) and remote sensing data (Landsat ETM+, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Linescan System, QuickBird) over three spatial scales (global, regional, local) to identify where bin Laden is most probably currently located. There is a 98% probability that he is in Kurram within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Northwest Pakistan based on distance-decay theory. Island biogeography theory based on “city islands” further predicts that he is in the largest...

Savings Constraints and Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents results from a field experiment designed to test whether savings constraints prevent the self-employed from increasing the size of their businesses. We opened interest-free savings accounts in a local village bank in rural Kenya for a randomly selected sample of poor daily income earners (such as market vendors), and collected a unique dataset constructed from selfreported logbooks that respondents filled on a daily basis. Despite the fact that the savings accounts paid no interest and featured substantial withdrawal fees, take-up and usage was high among women. In addition, we find that the savings accounts had substantial, positive impacts on productive investment levels and expenditures for women, but had no effect for men. These results imply that a substantial fraction of daily income earners face important savings constraints and have a demand for formal saving devices (even for those that offer negative de facto interest rates). We also find some...

ASSIMILATION IN A NEW CONTEXT: THE ROLE OF ORIGIN AND NATIONALITY ON SECOND GENERATION EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN GERMANY

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

ASSIMILATION IN A NEW CONTEXT: THE ROLE OF ORIGIN AND NATIONALITY ON SECOND GENERATION EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN GERMANY

Modern Medicine and the 20th Century Decline in Mortality: New Evidence on the Impact of Sulfa Drugs

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Previous research suggests that medical advances played a negligible role in the large decline in mortality rates during the first half of the twentieth century. This paper, in contrast, presents evidence that sulfa drugs―the first pharmaceuticals effective at treating infectious diseases― were an important cause of U.S. mortality declines after their discovery in the 1930s. Using timeseries and difference-in-difference methods (with infectious diseases unaffected by sulfa drugs as a comparison group), we present evidence on the effects of sulfa drugs on mortality. We find that sulfa drugs led to a 25% decline in maternal mortality, a 13% decline in pneumonia and influenza mortality, and a 52% decline in scarlet fever mortality between 1937 and 1943. Sulfa drugs also widened racial disparities in mortality, suggesting that new medical technology diffuses more rapidly among whites than blacks and consistent with the hypothesis that innovation initially increases inequality across...

The Association Between Retirement and Emotional Well-Being: Does Prior Work-Family Conflict Matter?

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives. This study investigates whether the association between retirement and emotional well-being depends on prior experience of work-family conflict. Methods. We use data from the 1993 and 2004 waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to estimate linear regression models of emotional well-being, including symptoms of depression and positive psychological functioning. We also use fixed effects models to investigate whether key findings persist after controlling for stable but unobserved characteristics of individuals. Results. Retirement is associated with a relatively greater reduction in depressive symptoms among individuals previously experiencing high levels of work stress interfering with family life. We find suggestive evidence of a similar improvement in well-being with respect to positive psychological functioning after accounting for unobserved characteristics of individuals such as personality or coping style. Among those previously exposed to high levels of...

Acceptance of repeat population-based voluntary counseling and testing for HIV in rural Malawi

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: To examine the acceptance of repeat population-based voluntary counseling

and testing (VCT) for HIV in rural Malawi.

Methods: Behavioral and biomarker data were collected in 2004 and 2006 from

approximately 3,000 adult respondents. In 2004, oral swab specimens were collected and

analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmatory Western

blot tests while finger-prick rapid testing was done in 2006. We use cross-tabulations

with chi-square tests and significance tests of proportions to determine the statistical

significance of differences in acceptance of VCT by year, individual characteristics and

HIV risk.

Results: First, over 90% of respondents in each round accepted HIV test, despite

variations in testing protocols. Second, the percentage of individuals who obtained their

test results significantly increased from 67% in 2004 when the results were provided in

randomly...

Immigration, Health & Work: The Facts Behind the Myths

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Immigration, Health & Work: The Facts Behind the Myths

Asking God About the Date You Will Die: HIV Testing as a Zone of Uncertainty in Rural Malawi

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Asking God About the Date You Will Die: HIV Testing as a Zone of Uncertainty in Rural Malawi

HEARSAY ETHNOGRAPHY: A METHOD FOR LEARNING ABOUT RESPONSES TO HEALTH INTERVENTIONS

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

HEARSAY ETHNOGRAPHY: A METHOD FOR LEARNING ABOUT RESPONSES TO HEALTH INTERVENTIONS

Diversity and Change in Cambodian Households (1998-2006)

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Diversity and Change in Cambodian Households (1998-2006)

Schooling Location and Economic, Occupational and Cognitive Success among Immigrants and Their Children: the Case of Los Angeles

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Large numbers of foreign-born residents in the United States mean that many people receive at least part of their education abroad. Despite this fact, our understanding of nativity differences in the success of adults and their children is based on research that does not empirically consider variation in the benefits to schooling depending on where it is received. We use data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A. FANS) to examine: a) whether the socioeconomic and cognitive returns to education depend on whether it is received in the U.S. or abroad; and b) whether schooling location partially accounts for nativity differences in these returns. We find that the returns to schooling are generally largest for adults who receive at least some of their highest level of education in the U.S. The beneficial effects of U.S. schooling are generally more pronounced at higher levels of educational attainment. Schooling location accounts for a sizeable fraction of the...

Too Young to Leave the Nest? The Effects of School Starting Age

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Does it matter when a child starts school? While the popular press seems to suggest it does, there is limited evidence of a long-run effect of school starting age on student outcomes. This paper uses data on the population of Norway to examine the role of school starting age on longer-run outcomes such as IQ scores at age 18, educational attainment, teenage pregnancy, and earnings. Unlike much of the recent literature, we are able to separate school starting age from test age effects using scores from IQ tests taken outside of school, at the time of military enrolment, and measured when students are around age 18. Importantly, there is variation in the mapping between year and month of birth and the year the test is taken, allowing us to distinguish the effects of school starting age from pure age effects. We find evidence for a small positive effect of starting school younger on IQ scores measured at age 18. In contrast, we find evidence of much larger positive effects of...

Intergenerational Transmission of Women’s Educational Attainment in South Korea: An Application of Multi-group Population Projection Model

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Using a multi-group population projection model, I study the implications of educational mobility and differential demographic rates on the intergenerational transmission of women’s educational attainment in South Korea. Departing from the conventional approach in social stratification, I examine how socioeconomically differentiated groups reproduce themselves. The followings are my main findings. First, I find that differential demographic rates do not have a substantial influence on the educational distribution under conditions of substantial educational mobility. Second, both intergenerational association and structural change matter for the educational distribution in the long run: stronger intergenerational association and more structural change imply rising women’s education. Finally, social mobility and differential fertility are found to be interdependent processes that jointly influence differential population replacement. Broad sociological implications and policy...

Segregation Processes

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Segregation Processes

Neighborhoods and Individual Preferences: A Markovian Model

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Neighborhoods and Individual Preferences: A Markovian Model

An Offer You Can't Refuse: Provider-Initiated HIV Testing in Antenatal Clinics in Rural Malawi

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Provider-initiated, ‘routine’ HIV testing of pregnant women seeking antenatal care-- wherein women are tested unless they explicitly refuse-- is promoted by international organizations as an effort to curb mother-to-child transmission. Utilizing qualitative data from Malawi, we offer an account of the perceptions that surround-- and surely impact-- a pregnant woman’s decision to take an HIV test. We argue that idealized social relations, characterized by equality, rationality, and non-coercion between clients and providers, are presumed to be disseminated with routine testing programs. We find, however, that these stylized relations do not fit neatly in Malawi, and consequently, may lead to paradoxical outcomes for public health. We show that rural Malawians do not perceive HIV testing as a choice, but rather as compulsory and the only way by which to receive antenatal care. This study illustrates considerable dissonance between global expectations and local realities of the...

International Trade in Used Durable Goods: The Environmental Consequences of NAFTA

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Previous studies of trade and the environment overwhelmingly focus on how trade affects where goods are produced. However, trade also affects where goods are consumed. In this paper we describe a model of trade with durable goods and non‐homothetic preferences. In autarky, lowquality (used) goods are relatively inexpensive in high‐income countries and free trade causes these goods to be exported to low‐income countries. We then evaluate the environmental consequences of this pattern of trade using evidence from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since trade restrictions were eliminated for used cars in 2005, over 2.5 million used cars have been exported from the United States to Mexico. Using a unique, vehicle‐level dataset, we find that traded vehicles are dirtier than the stock of vehicles in the United States and cleaner than the stock in Mexico, so trade leads average vehicle emissions to decrease in both countries. Total greenhouse gas emissions increase, primarily...

Health Selectivity of Internal Migrants in Mexico: Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The present paper examines health selectivity of migrants using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey; a panel ideally suited for this as it allows a comparison of migrants with non-migrants, with measures taken prior to migration. The analysis consists of logistic regressions of whether respondents, from urban/rural origins, migrated to another locality within Mexico between 2002 and 2005. Covariates include physical assessments of health and self-reported measures. The analytical sample is comprised of 8,567 individuals aged 15-49 years. Overall I found evidence of varying selectivity depending on the age group: positive health selection is associated with migrants age 20 or older while negative health selection is associated with younger migrants. In rural areas particularly, I found positive health selection on the basis of perceived health, and negative selection on the basis of chronic conditions.

Measuring the Impacts of the HIV Epidemic on Household Structure and Gender Relations

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Measuring the Impacts of the HIV Epidemic on Household Structure and Gender Relations

Urban Growth and Climate Change

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Between 1950 and the year 2030, the share of the world’s population who lives in cities is predicted to grow from 30% to 60%. This urbanization has consequences for the likelihood of climate change and for the social costs that climate change will impose on the world’s quality of life. This paper examines how urbanization affects greenhouse gas production and it studies how urbanites in the developed and developing world will adapt to the challenges posed by climate change.

Recent Trends in Internal and International Mexican Migration: Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Recent Trends in Internal and International Mexican Migration: Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey

The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Carbon dioxide emissions may create significant social harm because of global warming, yet American urban development tends to be in low density areas with very hot summers. In this paper, we attempt to quantify the carbon dioxide emissions associated with new construction in different locations across the country. We look at emissions from driving, public transit, home heating, and household electricity usage. We find that the lowest emissions areas are generally in California and that the highest emissions areas are in Texas and Oklahoma. There is a strong negative association between emissions and land use regulations. By restricting new development, the cleanest areas of the country would seem to be pushing new development towards places with higher emissions. Cities generally have significantly lower emissions than suburban areas, and the city-suburb gap is particularly large in older areas, like New York.

Delay in First Marriage and First Childbearing in Korea: Trends in Educational Differentials

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Stimulated by socioeconomic development, Korea has experienced rapid fertility decline since the 1960s. I study this social and demographic transformation by examining educational differentials in the timing of first marriage and first childbearing. To do this, I estimate multistate life tables and Cox proportional hazard models using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS). The analyses show that both educational expansion and growing educational differentials contribute to the delay of first marriage and first birth. Simulation and decomposition analysis shows that growing educational differentials are more important than compositional change in explaining delays in first marriage and childbearing. This implies that growing opportunity costs of marriage and childbearing, as well as lack of institutional adjustments to women’s labor market participation are responsible for the delay in marriage and childbearing in Korea.

Urban Neighborhood Context and Change in Depressive Symptoms in Late Life

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives. This study examines associations between urban neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and change over time in late life depressive symptoms. Methods. Survey data are from three waves (1993, 1995, and 1998) of the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons aged 70 or older in 1993. Neighborhoods are 1990 U.S. Census tracts. Hierarchical linear regression is used to estimate multilevel models. Results. The average change over time in depressive symptoms varies significantly across urban neighborhoods. Change in depressive symptoms is significantly associated with neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage and ethnic composition in unadjusted models, but not in models that control for individual-level characteristics. Discussion. Findings indicate that apparent neighborhood-level effects on change in depressive symptoms over time among urban-dwelling older adults reflect,...

Changing Cities and Directions: New York and Los Angeles

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Changing Cities and Directions: New York and Los Angeles

A Measure of Adolescents’ Attitudes toward Family Obligation

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A self-report, multiple-item measure developed to assess adolescents’ sense of obligation to support, assist, and respect the family is described. The measure was designed to be a simple, straightforward, and meaningful way to the importance of family obligation in adolescents’ daily lives. The development of the measure is described along with a summary of results from a set of studies that have employed it among adolescents from different ethnic and cultural groups. Findings suggest that the measure succeeds at capturing an aspect of family processes that although differentially endorsed across different groups of adolescents, has important consequences for fundamental aspects of adolescent development in a variety of social and cultural groups.

Academic Identification among Adolescents with Latin American Backgrounds

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Disidentification with academics is sometimes cited as a factor in the underperformance of ethnic minority students, and the current study examined whether this would be evident among adolescents from Latin American backgrounds. The associations of adolescents’ grade point average (GPA) and academic self-concept with their global self-esteem were examined in a longitudinal sample of 552 adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds. Correlational and longitudinal within-person analyses indicated that adolescents from Latin American backgrounds demonstrated levels of academic identification similar to their more highly achieving peers from other backgrounds. These findings contribute to the emerging body of evidence suggesting a strong level of motivation among students from Latin American backgrounds despite the significant challenges to their academic success.

Health, Wartime Stress, and Unit Cohesion: Evidence from Union Army Veterans

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We find that veterans of the Union Army who faced greater wartime stress (as measured by higher battlefield mortality rates) experienced higher mortality rates at older ages, but that men who were from more cohesive companies were statistically significantly less likely to be affected by wartime stress. Our results hold for overall mortality, mortality from ischemic heart disease and stroke, and new diagnoses of arteriosclerosis. Our findings represent one of the first long-run health follow-ups of the interaction between stress and social networks in a human population in which both stress and social networks are arguably exogenous.

Are Both Parents Always Better Than One? Parental Conflict and Young Adult Well-Being

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Using new data from three waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N=1,963), we examine associations between adolescent family experiences and young adult well-being across a range of indicators, including schooling, substance use, and family-related transitions. We investigate how children living in biological two-parent families characterized by frequent marital conflict fare compared to those living in stepfather and singlemother families, and we assess whether differences can be understood in terms of family income and parenting practices. Findings suggest that exposure to parental conflict in adolescence is associated with poorer academic achievement, increased substance use, and early family formation and dissolution, often in ways indistinguishable from living in a stepfather or singlemother family. Income and parenting largely do not account for these associations. While children tend to do better living with two biological married parents, the advantages...

Change in Ethnic Identity across the High

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Changes in adolescents’ ethnic exploration, belonging, and committed identity statuses (e.g., foreclosure, achievement) were examined over the four years of high school. Results from 541 adolescents with Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds suggest that, as a group, adolescents do not report developmental changes in their ethnic exploration and belonging over time. Normative changes toward more committed identity statuses also were not found. Yet, within-person analyses of change reveal that individual adolescents exhibited substantial fluctuation in exploration, belonging, and identity status across the years, and this fluctuation was associated with concurrent changes in family cohesion, proportion of sameethnic peers, and ethnic centrality. Discussion focuses on the value of examining intraindividual change over several years in order to more fully understand processes of ethnic identity development during adolescence.

Urban Neighborhood Context and Mortality in Late Life

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: To examine the contextual effects of urban neighborhood characteristics on all-cause mortality among adults aged 70 years and older. Methods: Survey data are from the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), a 1993 U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons born in 1923 or earlier. Death is assessed between the baseline assessment (1993) and the first follow-up interview (1995). Neighborhood data are from the 1990 Census. Hierarchical logistic regression is used to estimate multilevel models. Results: In multilevel models, the effects of neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage were not significantly associated with 2-year all-cause mortality, net of individuallevel variables. The log odds of dying between the two time points are higher in high proportion Hispanic neighborhoods, net of individual-level socio-demographic variables, but this effect is partly mediated by individual-level health variables. The log odds...

Spillover between Family and Peer

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This study used a daily diary method to examine a bidirectional spillover of conflict between the family and peer domains among 578 adolescents in the ninth grade from Chinese, Mexican, and European backgrounds. Overall, we found support for the bidirectional nature of the daily spillover between family and peer conflict across gender, ethnicity, and generation. Adolescents’ emotional distress partially explained the short term spillover between family and peer conflict. In addition, a longitudinal spillover was observed across the four years of high school across domains. Significance of these findings and suggestions for future research are presented. Keywords: family conflict, peer conflict, adolescents, emotional distress, daily diary

Purpose and Meaning, Ethnic Identity, and

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose and meaning are primary facets of eudaimonic well-being, yet are understudied in adolescent development. Using data from 579 adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds, demographic differences in purpose and meaning, links with psychological and academic adjustment, links with ethnic identity, and the mediating role of purpose and meaning in associations between ethnic identity and adjustment were examined. Although no generational or gender differences in purpose and meaning were found, Asians reported higher search for meaning than did Latin Americans and Europeans. Presence of meaning was positively associated with self-esteem, academic attitudes and motivation, daily well-being, and ethnic affirmation and exploration, whereas search for meaning was related to lower self-esteem and less stability in daily well-being. Presence of meaning mediated associations between ethnic identity and adjustment, explaining 28-52% of the initial effect of ethnic...

The Rise of Retirement Among African Americans: Evidence From Union Army Records

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I document trends in black and white retirement rates and in living arrangements among retirees. I show that the retirement rates of both blacks and whites rose between 1900 and 1930 but that convergence in black and white rates and in living arrangements only occurred between 1930 and 1950. I examine whether rising income explains the rise in black retirement rates prior to 1930 and whether rising income and the institution of Social Security in 1935 led to convergence by looking at the impact of the first pension program available to both blacks and whites, that serving Union Army veterans. I find that blacks were 2 to 5 times as responsive as whites to income transfers in their retirement decisions and 6 to 8 times as responsive in their choice of independent living arrangements. The results suggest that income effects from the institution of Social Security explain up to half of the convergence in black-white retirement rates and in living arrangements.

Daily Family Interactions among Young Adults from Latino, Asian, and European Backgrounds

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A total of 220 young adults (Mage=25.5 years) from Latin American, East Asian, Filipino, and European backgrounds reported their family interactions, daily activities, and psychological well being for fourteen days. Although young adults reported a lower frequency of family interactions than what has been observed during adolescence, leisure time and conflict with parents and siblings continued to have significance for psychological well being. Time spent in work, school, and other relationships made it difficult for young adults to spend time being with or helping family members. Other findings suggested a potentially higher level of family importance and connectedness among young adults from Filipino backgrounds as compared to their peers.

Mortality Consequences of the 1959-1961 Great Leap Forward Famine

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Using individual retrospective mortality records for three cohorts of newborns (1956- 1958, 1959-1961, and 1962-1964) drawn from a large national fertility survey conducted in 1988 in China, I examined cohort differences in mortality up to age 22, aiming to identify debilitation and selection effects of the 1959-1961 Great Leap Forward Famine. The results revealed the presence of a mortality crossover between ages 11 and 12, when the mortality level of the non-famine cohort caught up to and exceeded the level of the famine cohort. The presence and timing of the mortality crossover suggests that both debilitation and selection effects influenced the post-famine cohort mortality pattern. In addition, the multilevel multiprocess models established a direct connection between frailties for infant mortality and mortality at subsequent ages, thus demonstrating the theoretical inevitability of mortality crossover after famine as the result of the convergence process caused by selection...

Measuring Primary and Secondary School Characteristics: A Group-Based Modeling

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper we introduce a new way to conceptualize and measure the educational resources that young people encounter as they make their way from kindergarten to high school graduation. Using recent methodological advances in group-based modeling and a unique data set, we empirically test for and identify a series of categorically distinct school quality trajectories. We find that these trajectories vary significantly in terms of their intercept and slope, their prevalence within the sampled population, and in the sociodemographic makeup of their constituent members. We then present an extended empirical example illustrating relationships between school quality trajectories and important post-secondary educational outcomes, both before and after controlling for static, single-year measures of primary and secondary school characteristics. Our results suggest that the chronology of students’ exposures to different educational resources is significantly associated with college...

Social Conditions and Infant Mortality in China: A Test of the Fundamental Cause

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The fundamental cause argument represents a distinctively sociological approach to explaining persistent social disparities in health across a range of sociohistorical contexts. We elaborate and test this U.S.-based argument using nationally representative survey data from China covering births from 1970 to 2001, and focusing on social disparities in infant mortality over a period of dramatic social, political, and macroeconomic change. Our results show that despite the massive changes during the last several decades, the increasing use of medical pregnancy care, and the steady decline in the overall risk of infant mortality, disparities in infant mortality by mother’s education and urban/rural place of residence remained largely unchanged. During this period, more educated women were increasingly likely to take advantage of the newly-available prenatal care and delivery assistance facilities, while urban women maintained a stable advantage over rural women in use of these...

Competition in the Promised Land: Black Migration and Racial Wage Convergence in the North, 1940-1970

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In the mid-twentieth century, relative black wage growth in the North lagged behind the Jim Crow South. Inter-regional migration may explain this trend. Four million black southerners moved North from 1940 to 1970, more than doubling the northern black population. Black migrants will exert more competitive pressure on black wages if blacks and whites are imperfect substitutes. I use variation in the relative black-white migrant flows across skill groups to estimate the elasticity of substitution by race in the northern economy. I then calculate a counterfactual rate of black-white wage convergence in the North in the absence of southern migration. Migration slowed the pace of northern convergence by 50 percent, more than accounting for the regional gap. Ongoing migration appears to have been an impediment to black economic assimilation in the urban North.

Mother and Daughter Reports about Upward Transfers

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Using 619 mother-daughter dyads interviewed in the 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature Women and Young Women, this study examines the assistance that adult daughters provide to their mothers and its covariates. Mothers and daughters have low levels of agreement on transfers. Using mothers? reports identifies different covariates of transfers than using daughters? reports. After discrepancies between mother and daughter reports are controlled for, only 3 out of 17 covariates examined are related to transfers, including mothers? widowhood status, the number of mothers? difficulties with activities of daily living, and the distance between mother and daughter residences. These findings suggest that without controlling for discrepancies between mother and daughter reports, the covariates of upward transfers may be inaccurately identified.

Into the Mainstream? Labor Market Outcomes of Mexican Origin Workers

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We evaluate recent revisions of assimilation theory by comparing the labor market performance of Mexican immigrants and their descendents to those of native white and African Americans. Using unique data from the CPS Contingent Worker Series, we assess evidence of assimilation across employment sector distribution, fringe benefits, and earnings of four Mexican foreign born cohorts, second generation, and third generation Mexican Americans. Although we find improvement amongst older cohorts and the second and third generation, Mexican origin workers never converge with native whites on any measure except earnings. Instead, Mexican origin workers mirror African Americans by their high probability of public sector employment and under representation in self-employment, as well as their lower likelihood of fringe benefits within the private sector and in self- employment.

Re-Examining the Moving to Opportunity Study and its contribution to changing the distribution of poverty and ethnic concentration

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

For the past decade and a half there has been a concerted effort to determine if policy interventions in residential location can solve the problems of inner city poverty and racial concentration. Studies based on data from the Gautreaux litigation and the HUD sponsored Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program have provided an overall optimistic interpretation of the possibilities of improving inner city lives with mobility vouchers and counseling. A re-analysis of the data from the MTO program focusing specifically on African American households suggests greater caution in the interpretation of the findings from either Gautreaux or the MTO program. There is no statistically significant difference between the percent of poor or the percent of black in the current neighborhoods between MTO and Section 8 experimental groups. In some cases there is no statistically significant difference between moves with vouchers and those who move without any assistance at all. Although there is...

Understanding the social context of the Schelling Segregation model

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A recent article [Vinkovic D, Kirman A (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:19261?19265] showing that the Schelling model has a physical analogue extends our understanding of the model. However, prior research has already outlined a mathematical basis for the Schelling model and simulations based on it have already enhanced our understanding of the social dynamics that underlie the model, something that the physical analogue does not address. Research in social science has provided a formal basis for the segregative outcomes resulting from the residential selection process and simulations have replicated relevant spatial outcomes under different specifications of the residential dynamics. New and increasingly detailed survey data on preferences demonstrates the embeddedness of the Schelling selection process in the social behaviors of choosing alternative residential compositions. It also demonstrates that, in the multicultural context, seemingly mild preferences for living with...

International Migration and Educational Assortative Mating in Mexico and the United States

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Using data from the 2000 U.S. and Mexican Censuses, this paper examines the relationship between migration and marriage patterns by describing how the distributions of marital statuses and assortative mating patterns vary by individual and community experiences of migration. In Mexico, migrants and those living in areas with high levels of migration are less likely to marry a spouse with the same level of education. Return migrants from the U.S. to Mexico may use their improved economic position to marry up. In the U.S., Mexican migrants are also less likely to enter into homogamous unions; however, the odds of homogamy do not vary by couple level of migration. Migrants may expand their pool of potential spouses to include non-migrants and nonmigrants tend to be better educated than Mexican migrants. With individual migration experiences, the odds of marrying outside of one’s education group increase the most among the least educated. With community level of migration in Mexico,...

Glutathione S-transferase mu, omega, pi, and theta class variants and smoking in Parkinson's disease

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

GSTs are a family of inducible phase II enzymes that may play a neuroprotective role in Parkinson’s disease (PD). GSTs may also modify PD risk by metabolizing compounds in cigarettes, as cigarette smoking is generally found to be associated with a decrease in PD risk. Using a population-based case control study design, we examined polymorphisms of the mu, omega, pi, and theta classes of GST to elucidate the main effects and smoking-GST interactions on PD risk. From three rural California counties, we recruited 289 incident idiopathic PD cases, clinically confirmed by our study neurologist, and 270 population controls, marginally matched by age, gender, and race. We assessed main gene polymorphism associations and evaluated interactions between smoking and GST polymorphisms as departures from a multiplicative scale adjusting for age, gender, and race. We also restricted analyses to Caucasian subjects to address the potential for population stratification (n=235 cases, 220 controls)....

Fixed and Random Effects in Panel Data Using Structural Equations Models

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Applications of classic fixed and random effects models for panel data are common in sociology and in ASR. A primary advantage of these models is the ability to control for time-invariant omitted variables that may bias observed relationships. This paper shows how to incorporate fixed and random effects models into structural equation models(SEMs)and how to extend the standard models to a wide variety of more flexible models. For instance, a researcher can test whether a covariate's impact on the repeated measure stays the same across all waves of data; test whether the error variances should be allowed to vary over time; include lagged covariates or lagged dependent variables; estimate the covariance of the latent time-invariant variables with the observed time varying covariates; and include observed time-invariant variables in a fixed effects model. The paper explains how to take advantage of the estimation, testing, and fit assessment capabilities that are readily available...

The Effect of Internal Migration on Local Labor Markets: American Cities During the Great Depression

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

During the Great Depression, as today, migrants were accused of taking jobs and crowding relief rolls. At the time, protest concerned internal migrants rather than the foreign born. We investigate the effect of net migration on local labor markets, instrumenting for migrant flows to a destination with extreme weather events and variation in New Deal programs in typical sending areas. Migration had little effect on the hourly earnings of existing residents. Instead, migration prompted some residents to move away and others to lose weeks of work and/or access to relief jobs. Given the period?s high unemployment, these lost work opportunities were costly to existing residents.

Kinship, Employment and Marriage: The Importance of Kin Networks for Young Adult Males in Qing Liaoning

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

To assess claims about the role of the extended family in late imperial Chinese society, we examine the influence of kin network characteristics on marriage, reproduction, and attainment in Liaoning Province in Northeast China in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We compare the influences on outcomes of the number and status of different types of kin, as well as the seniority of the individual within each type of kin group. We find that the characteristics of kin outside the household did matter for individual outcomes, but that patterns of effects were nuanced. While based on our results we concur that kin networks were important units of social and economic organization in late imperial China, we conclude that their role was complex.

Assimilation, Multiculturalism and the Challenge of Marginalized Groups