Naturally designed for masculinity vs. femininity? Prenatal testosterone predicts male consumers' choices of gender-imaged products

In this paper, we find that a proxy of prenatal testosterone exposure (i.e., digit ratio) is a significant predictor of preferences for products that differ in perceived masculinity vs. femininity. A more masculine (feminine) digit ratio predicts choice of products that have an increasingly masculine (feminine) image. This relationship is statistically significant for male consumers, but not for females.     

Economic well-being and poverty among the elderly: An analysis based on a collective consumption model

We apply the collective consumption model of Browning et al. (2010) to analyse economic well-being and poverty among the elderly. The model focuses on individual preferences, a consumption technology that captures the economies of scale of living in a couple, and a sharing rule that governs the intra-household allocation of resources. The model is applied to a time series of Dutch consumption expenditure surveys. Our empirical results indicate substantial economies of scale and a wife's share that is increasing in total expenditures. We further calculated two sets of poverty rates: one based on the collective consumption model and one based on the traditional approach with a standard equivalence scale. Poverty among widowers is underestimated by the traditional approach. The same is true for women (men) in elderly couples for the first (later) time periods in our analysis. Finally, we analysed the impact of becoming a widow(er). Based on cross-sectional evidence, we find that the drop in material well-being following the husband's death is rather substantial for women. For men, the picture is reversed.     

The role of health,experience, and educational attainment in agricultural production: Evidence from smallholders in Burkina Faso

We apply parametric and nonparametric methods to data from smallholders in Burkina Faso and assess the role that human capital characteristics play in the agricultural production process. Our results point to the technology‐changing nature of health, education, and experience. However, effects are rather heterogeneous. The productivity elasticity of health is much larger for households in the lowest landholding quintiles, while returns to experience are larger for households in the upper quintile. In terms of policy implications, our results suggest that productivity can be stimulated through the allocation of expenditure to social services that enhance certain types of human capital. Interventions aimed at improving the health status of households with smaller landholdings could have particularly strong welfare effects.     

Migration and technical efficiency in cereal production: evidence from Burkina Faso

This article uses a double bootstrap procedure and survey data from Burkina Faso in a two‐stage estimation to explore ways in which continental and intercontinental migration determine efficiency in cereal production of rural households. Findings suggest that continental migration has a positive relation and intercontinental migration no relation with technical efficiency. For continental migrant households, migration has removed surplus male labor, a cause for inefficiency in production. Intercontinental migration leads to a gender imbalance in the household, which cannot be compensated for by investments in farm equipment. The failure of intercontinental migration to transform cereal production from traditional to modern is attributed to an imperfect market environment.     

Private versus public consumption within groups: testing the nature of goods from aggregate data

We study the testability implications of public versus private consumption in collective models of group consumption. The distinguishing feature of our approach is that we start from a revealed preference characterization of collectively rational behavior. Remarkably, we find that assumptions regarding the public or private nature of specific goods do have testability implications, even if one only observes the aggregate group consumption. In fact, these testability implications apply as soon as the analysis includes three goods and four observations. This stands in sharp contrast with existing results that start from a differential characterization of collectively rational behavior.     

留守儿童更信任他人吗?来自实验经济学的证据

文章采用经典的信任博弈框架,用实验经济学方法比较城市儿童、农村留守儿童和农村非留守儿童的信任行为。实验结果发现,农村留守儿童对他人的信任水平显著高于城市儿童,而农村留守儿童和非留守儿童的信任水平没有显著差异。在控制了性别、民族、兄弟姐妹数量等人口学特征后,农村身份对儿童的信任水平有显著正向影响,父母双方外出务工、一方外出务工对信任水平均无显著影响。从被信任度来看,三组儿童中,城市儿童被信任度最低,农村留守儿童被信任度最高,但考虑人口学特征后,农村身份、留守身份均不影响被信任度。结合儿童在利他实验中的表现,文章还发现在利他行为中表现为无私型的儿童比平等型和恶意型有更高的信任水平。研究结果表明与同年龄城市儿童相比,农村儿童而不仅是农村留守儿童更信任他人。     

Design and evaluation of a DIY construction system for educational robot kits

Building a robot from scratch in an educational context can be a challenging prospect. While a multitude of projects exist that simplify the electronics and software aspects of a robot, the same cannot be said for construction systems for robotics. In this paper, we present our efforts to create a low-cost do-it-yourself construction system for small robots. We have created three different construction systems (laser-cut screw connectors, printed friction-fit connectors, and printed hybrid connectors) using small aluminium T-slot extrusions, based on prior work done by Industrial Design college students. Eighty-six secondary school students and 35 teachers tested these three systems during a five-day robotics contest where they had to build firefighting robots. Follow-up questionnaires and an expert evaluation were used to measure the usability, affective appraisal and functionality of the three systems in order to determine which system should serve as a basis for further design iterations. Overall, a clear preference was shown for the hybrid system, which relies on its interlocking shape as well as on a screw connection to create robot frames that are both quick to construct and very rigid once assembled. We believe our work represents a solid first step toward an inexpensive, “hackable” construction system for educational robotics.     

Giving young people a well-rounded education: a study of the educational goals parents attach to the leisure activities of their children

Policymakers strongly stimulate young people’s participation in organised leisure activities because it is believed to provide young people with important ‘work’ skills and attitudes. Special attention is paid to the underrepresented working-class youth. To stimulate (especially working-class) parents to play an active ‘guiding’ role, policymakers often assume that they have to be made aware of the educational benefits of engagement in leisure activities. The empirical basis of this assumption is, however, thin. Therefore, this study examined the educational goals middle- and working-class parents attach to their adolescents’ leisure activities on the basis of 32 interviews conducted in a small city in Belgium. Although there were subtle socio-economic differences in some goals parents pursued through their children’s leisure activities (i.e. teaching skills and societal values and norms, belonging to a peer group, independent thinking and relaxation), these were not of a magnitude that they could contribute to our understanding of socio-economic differences in parents’ role and in turn, in young people’s leisure use. We argue that further research needs to focus on socio-economic differences in available resources from which parents construct particular strategies to shape their young people’s leisure spending.