The labour market impact of body weight in China: a semiparametric analysis

While a positive wage effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely observed in low-income developing countries, a negative wage effect of BMI is often observed in high-income developed countries. To fill the gap between these previous findings, we investigate the relationship between body weight and wages in transition economies. We focus on China, whose rapid economic growth of the 1990s was followed by a rapid increase in overweight and obesity while still experiencing significant food insecurity and underweight. we first use several parametric regression strategies to obtain a consistent estimate of the wage effects of weight. Second, we adopt a semiparametric partially linear model that allows for endogeneity of weight. Parametric regressions provide mixed results, and the sign and magnitude of their estimates are sensitive to the choice of samples and regression strategies. Semiparametric estimates provide evidence of a wage penalty for very heavy and thin persons among both men and women. The wage penalty is more significant among men than among women. Semiparametric results also indicate that parametric estimates can overstate and misrepresent the wage effects of weight for healthy weight persons due to their restrictive functional form assumptions.     

Job insecurity,employability and health: an analysis for Germany across generations

In this article, we use 12 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to examine the relationship between job insecurity, employability and health-related well-being. Our results indicate that being unemployed has a strong negative effect on life satisfaction and health. They also, however, highlight the fact that this effect is most prominent among individuals over the age of 40. A second observation is that job insecurity is also associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and health, and this association is quite strong. This negative effect of job insecurity is, in many cases, exacerbated by poor employability.     

Physical activity and childhood obesity

More than one-third of American children and teenagers are considered overweight or obese. Unfortunately, obesity is often a persistent and dangerous health condition that is costly to manage. It is one of the leading causes of preventable death and combating the condition has become a national priority. To this end the two most common recommendations are: eat a healthier diet and increase physical activity. Using data from both the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Children and Young Adult files, this study examines the relationship between physical activity and the persistence of childhood obesity. More specifically, Cox-proportional hazard techniques are used to quantify the impact a child’s physical activity has on the likelihood that they exit an overweight or obese state. Results indicate that being physically active reduces the probability that an overweight or obese child remains overweight or obese. Strikingly, there is not a significant difference between children who are active daily and those who are active a few times per week, suggesting that being active may be more important than the frequency of activity.     

Effects of income distribution in an inverse demand system: evidence from Chinese household survey data

This study provides an empirical analysis of the impact of changes in income distribution on food demand in China using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey. A new parametric form of an inverse demand system is introduced and estimated taking into account reported zero consumption. This new form is a natural extension of recent works that accommodate the incorporation of income distribution into the system and imposition of global regularity conditions in estimation. Our results generally indicate that the distribution of households across income groups is important in determining food demand in China and that a movement towards a more equal income distribution in China will stimulate the demand for vegetable, fruit, fish and eggs.     

Food assistance programs and food insecurity: implications for Canada in light of the mixing problem

In light of concerns about high rates of food insecurity, some have suggested that it might be time for Canada to implement national food assistance programs like those provided in the US, namely the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). In this paper, we assess how adopting these types of assistance programs would change the food insecurity rate in Canada among households with children. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we first evaluate the causal impact of these programs on food insecurity rates in the US using the Canadian definition of food security. Following other recent evaluations of food assistance programs, we use partial identification methods to address the selection problem that arises because the decision to take up the program is not random. We then combine these estimated impacts for the US with data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) to predict how SNAP and NSLP would impact food insecurity rates in Canada. Partial identification methods are used to address the “mixing problem” that arises if some eligible Canadian households would participate in SNAP and others would not. The strength of the conclusions depends on the strength of the identifying assumptions. Under the weakest assumptions, we cannot determine whether food insecurity rates would rise or fall. Under our strongest nonparametric assumptions, we find that food insecurity would fall by at least 16% if SNAP were implemented and 11% if NSLP were implemented.     

Job Security,Financial Security and Worker Well‐being: New Evidence on the Effects of Flexible Employment

This paper uses panel data drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to provide new evidence of the links between unemployment, wages, job security, financial security and workers' well‐being for workers in flexible employment. Our findings indicate that workers in flexible employment encounter more unemployment and experience increased job insecurity; unemployment is associated with wage penalties. Lower wages, job insecurity and financial insecurity affect well‐being. However, these negative outcomes are mitigated by longer job tenure. Our results have implications for moves towards a flexicurity model of employment     

Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Gradient over Age: New Evidence from China

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on overweight and obesity in China and investigates how and why the SES-obesity gradient differs with age. Using a longitudinal sample drawn from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), I find that body mass index (BMI) is positively associated with SES during early childhood but becomes inversely related to childhood SES as children age into adulthood. Estimation results show that children from low SES families are less likely to be overweight or obese than their median and high SES peers. The results from subsamples stratified by living area reveal that the SES gaps of obesity are generally larger for urban residents than rural residents. Females are significantly less likely to be overweight than males in China. The SES during childhood has independent effects after controlling for respondents’ contemporaneous SES. The relationship between the contemporaneous SES of a male adult and his chance of being overweight or obese is significantly positive, while the contemporaneous SES of a female adult is negatively related to her chance of being overweight or obese.     

Feeding (On) Geopolitical Anxieties: Asian Appetites,News Media Framing and the 2007–2008 Food Crisis

This paper analyses the role of news media in (re)producing geopolitical narratives of food insecurity in relation to the 2007–2008 global food price spike. News content and textual analysis suggests that the media’s representation of the food price spike is partly framed by Western geopolitical anxieties of the ‘threatening rise of Asia’, and features ‘fast growing’ Asian appetites among the main culprits of the crisis. Seeking to explain the widespread circulation of such representation, this paper analyses media-source relationship within the context of market-driven journalism, and suggests that the changing role of news media has in turn contributed to a rapid and uncritical circulation of elite-based interpretation of, and neoliberal geopolitical approach to, food security. The paper points at the importance of critical enquiries into geopolitical representations of food insecurity and of opening media space for a ‘counter-geopolitics of food security’.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on horizontal export diversification: empirical evidence

Using data on stocks of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from 131 countries spanning the years 1984 to 2004 and the number of products exported by each country, we examine the effect of FDI on horizontal export diversification. To quantify the effects, we utilize parametric (quantile) and semi-parametric econometric methods. Results from both approaches indicate that, in general, an increase in the stock of FDI enhances the horizontal diversification of exports. The actual magnitude of the effect however, varies greatly across countries depending on the existing stock of FDI and stage of diversification, giving rise to an almost inverted U-shaped relationship. A further look at our results provides useful insights on the circumstances under which FDI may aid or inhibit the horizontal expansion of exports.     

TELEVISION VIEWING, FAST-FOOD CONSUMPTION, AND CHILDREN'S OBESITY

Childhood obesity is rising in Taiwan and is becoming a major public health issue. This article examines the effect of children's TV viewing and fast-food consumption on childhood obesity. Using a nationwide survey data in Taiwan and a two-step estimation procedure, our results show that TV viewing hours and fast-food consumption are correlated. After controlling for the endogeneity, we find these two activities positively contribute to children's body weight and the increased risk of being overweight. Results suggest that public health/childhood obesity programs should educate parents of the critical influence of TV viewing and fast-food consumption on childhood obesity. The government can also encourage the fast-food industry to develop and sell healthier foods for children and provide point of sale nutritional information of these products . ( JEL I12, I18)     

Taxes,Risk Aversion,and the Size of the Underground Economy

Non‐parametric regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the effective tax rate and the relative size of the underground economy, using New Zealand data. The underlying theoretical framework is established, and it suggests an ambiguous prediction regarding the sign of the relationship we are studying. However, our non‐parametric empirical analysis, which also allows for the non‐stationarity of the time‐series data, produces a positive and ‘S‐shaped’ relationship, and this supports earlier empirical studies that imposed such functional forms. The estimated model is used to simulate the effects of hypothetical tax changes on the size of the New Zealand underground economy, and to draw policy conclusions.     

上市公司资本结构、管理者利益侵占与公司业绩

文章认为上市公司资本结构、管理者利益侵占与公司业绩三者之间存在相互影响关系。我们选取1997~2004年深沪两市610家上市公司,组成平衡面板数据作为研究对象,建立联立方程,扩展了以往的研究成果。实证结果表明,资本结构、管理者利益侵占与公司业绩三者之间存在相互影响关系。资本结构对管理者利益侵占行为产生显著的正向影响,这表明负债融资不能抑制管理者的利益侵占行为;资本结构对公司业绩的影响是非线性的,存在“倒U型”的相关关系,这一结果支持动态权衡理论,证实了目标资本结构的存在,同时,管理者利益侵占会对公司业绩产生显著的负向影响。     

Nonlinearity in medical expenditures: a new semiparametric approach

Research in empirical health economics has found that the relationship between medical expenditures and age, income and other variables can be highly nonlinear. Moreover, men and women can have quite different medical expenditure patterns due to their differences in life expectancy. Thus it may be difficult to find an appropriate parametric model to capture the highly complicated nonlinearity in medical expenditures, and introducing a simple gender dummy variable in a parametric model may not reveal all the medical expenditure differences between men and women. This study takes a semiparametric approach. In particular, an additive partially linear specification is employed to study the relationship between medical expenditures and age, income, gender and other individual characteristics. Using data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey, the results indicate that the semiparametric approach taken in this study is very promising. They confirm that medical expenditures are nonlinear in income and age, and that men and women have quite different medical expenditure patterns.     

A refinement of the relationship between economic growth and income inequality

There is mixed evidence in the literature of a clear relationship between income inequality and economic growth. Most of that work has focused almost exclusively on developed economies. In what we believe to be a first effort, our emphasis is solely on developing economics, which we classify as high-income and low-income developing countries (HIDC and LIDC). We make such distinction on theoretical and empirical grounds. Empirically, the World Bank has classified developing economies in this manner since 1978. The data in our sample are also supportive of such classifications. We provide theoretical scaffolding that uses asymmetric credit constraints as a premise for separating developing economies in such a way. We find strong evidence of a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth in LIDC to be in stark contrast with a positive inequality–growth relationship for HIDC. Both correlations are statistically significant across multiple econometric specifications. Using international data from 1960 to 2010, this article explores the effect of income inequality on economic growth using dynamic panel technique, such as system generalized method of moments (GMM) that is believed to mitigate endogenous problem. These results are strikingly contrasting to the previous estimation results of Forbes (2000) displaying significant positive correlation between two variables in the short to medium term.     

Job insecurity and mental health in Canada

Using six cycles of Canada’s longitudinal National Population Health Survey data (2000–2001 to 2010–2011), this article examines the relationship between job insecurity and mental health. Job insecurity is evaluated in both subjective (perception of job insecurity) and objective (probability of joblessness) terms while mental health is measured using a standardized psychological distress index. Applying a person-specific fixed-effects estimator, results indicate that for males and females age 25–64, job insecurity, regardless of how it is measured, is associated with an increase in psychological distress. Results regarding unemployment are not as conclusive, suggesting that it is not so much the actual occurrence of job loss but the threat of unemployment that is associated with higher psychological distress. Estimates of the relationship between job insecurity and psychological distress using pooled ordinary least squares are much larger, implying that much of the psychological distress/job insecurity correlation may be due to unobservable fixed characteristics. All results are robust to the inclusion and exclusion of a host of other potential determinants including income-related variables, education, and various health measures.     

The relationship between Turkey’s foreign debt and economic growth: an asymmetric causality analysis

Tackling foreign debt that arises as a result of limited and ineffective use of resources is an item that remains on the agenda particularly for developing countries. In this study, we examine the foreign debt debates to date in terms of economic growth and using the time series for the period 2003Q1 to 2017Q1. We used unit root tests to determine the maximum integration degree of series, and we conducted causality analysis. We found a causality relationship between net foreign debt stock and economic growth in causality analyses performed for Turkey. The empirical results of this study indicate that there is a causality relationship, including both positive and negative aspects, between net foreign debt stock and economic growth. The results of our testing showed a significant causal relationship between the variables.     

The second Engel law: Is it a paradox?

The second Engel law says that the Engel curve for food moves out as family size increases, thus showing a decrease in welfare. What is puzzling, though, is that this regularity does not hold for equivalent income functions expressed in per capita terms. Deaton and Paxon [1998. Economies of scale, household size, and the demand for food. Journal of Political Economy 106 (5), 897-930] show that holding per capita total household expenditure constant, per capita expenditure on food falls with the number of heads. Deaton and Paxson's empirical evidence from developed and less developed countries seems to invalidate the claim of the second Engel's law. The main objective of this paper is to understand such paradoxical relationship between food consumption and household size. Our nonparametric empirical evidence, drawn from the Colombian 1985 urban survey, shows that the food share is negatively related to total household per capita expenditure in line with Deaton and Paxson's claim, but equivalent incomes shift to the right as theory predicts. The regularity of our nonparametric results is an indication of a problem in the parametric specification of the Engel curve modified by family size. In fact, using also the surveys of Italy, Nepal, Djibouti, and Bangladesh we show that a theoretically plausible modified Engel curve is coherent with the claim of the second Engel law and explains Deaton and Paxson's paradox.     

Adult Outcomes for Children of Teenage Mothers

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, this study examines the relationship between several outcomes in early adulthood (e.g. education, inactivity, earnings and health) and being born to a teenage mother. Besides standard cross‐sectional multivariate regression estimates, we also present evidence from non‐parametric estimates and from estimates that account for unmeasured family background heterogeneity by comparing siblings born to the same mother who timed their births at different ages. Regardless of the econometric technique, being born to a teenage mother is usually associated with worse outcomes. An important channel of transmission of this adverse effect is childhood family structure, which plays a more powerful role than childhood family poverty. Albeit smaller, some of the detrimental effects are also found for children of mothers who gave birth in their early 20s.     

Food Insecurity and Hunger in the Kindergarten Classroom: Its Effect on Learning and Growth

This study investigates the correlation between food insecurity, educational achievement, and health among kindergarten children in the United States. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort are used to analyze educational achievement and physical growth of kindergartners faced with food insecurity. The results demonstrate that children begin to experience the effects of food insecurity even at the most marginal level of household food deprivation. Children in households with any signs of food insecurity score lower and learn less during the school year.     

助推力还是绊脚石？工作不安全感对个体创新行为的“双刃剑”影响

根据压力交互理论和调节焦点理论,构建工作不安全感对个体创新行为的“双刃剑”影响理论模型,探讨挑战性压力和阻碍性压力的中介作用、促进型焦点和防御型焦点的调节作用。选取12家高新技术企业60个团队414份领导和员工的两时间点配对调查问卷进行实证检验。研究发现：一方面,工作不安全感会通过挑战性压力认知和促进型焦点的调节导向对个体创新行为产生积极影响,成为个体创新行为的“动力”和“助推力”;另一方面,工作不安全感会通过阻碍性压力认知和防御型焦点的调节导向对个体创新行为产生消极影响,成为个体创新行为的“负担”和“绊脚石”。