Family expenditures post-welfare reform in the UK: Are low-income families starting to catch up?

In this paper, we provide evidence on the question of how the UK government's welfare reforms since 1998 have affected the material well-being of children in low-income families. We examine changes in expenditure patterns and ownership of durable goods for low- and higher-income families between the pre-reform period (1995-1998) and the post-reform period (2000-2003), using data from the Family Expenditure Survey. The methodological approach is a difference-in-difference-in-difference analysis that exploits the fact that age variation in the reforms favoured low-income families over higher income ones and families with children age under 11 over those with older children. We find that low-income families with children are catching up to more affluent families, in their expenditures and their possession of durable goods. Moreover, expenditures on child-related items are increasing faster than expenditures on other items.     

Parametric bootstrap tests for continuous and discrete distributions

Statistical procedures based on the estimated empirical process are well known for testing goodness of fit to parametric distribution families. These methods usually are not distribution free, so that the asymptotic critical values of test statistics depend on unknown parameters. This difficulty may be overcome by the utilization of parametric bootstrap procedures. The aim of this paper is to prove a weak approximation theorem for the bootstrapped estimated empirical process under very general conditions, which allow both the most important continuous and discrete distribution families, along with most parameter estimation methods. The emphasis is on families of discrete distributions, and simulation results for families of negative binomial distributions are also presented.     

A comparison of household mobility for owned manufactured,traditional owned,and rental units using the American Housing Survey

This study employs data from the national sample of the American Housing Survey to analyze the mobility decisions of families in owned manufactured housing in comparison to families in traditional owned homes and rental units. Specifically a continuous time probability model (CTM) is used to estimate the likelihood of these families moving over the period of 1993–2001. In general, the empirical work suggests that families occupying both owned manufactured housing and traditional owned housing are associated with lower probabilities of moving than comparable households in rental units. Of particular interest is the fact that, ceteris paribus, families in both traditional owned homes and owned manufactured housing exhibit negative duration dependence, or a decreasing probability of moving over time, while for those in rental units duration dependence is positive. These differences are important because of their potential implications for long-term neighborhood stability and, as such, the viability of manufactured housing as an affordable housing alternative for lower income families.     

Intra-Family Equality and Income Distribution: Emerging Conflicts in Public Policy

A bstract . Recent social and economic developments have generated opportunities that have been unevenly distributed among wives in husband-wife families. Compared to others, participation rates and incomes , in particular, have been greater for wives in high-income families or those married to high-income earning men. One consequence of these circumstances is that income inequalities between spouses in the better off families have declined. Another is that income inequalities between families are expected to grow. It is suggested that the conflict between the two-inter- and intra-family equality—is a very real one.     

The Effectiveness of Public Assistance Payments (1970–80) in Reducing Poverty Reconsidered

A bstract . The effectiveness of public assistance in reducing poverty in the U.S.A. is re-examined by estimating the extent of public assistance among all families and of families officially defined in poverty. Also studied is the extent of public assistance among families not defined as in poverty. The findings are further analyzed for their changes during the decade 1970–80. It is found that errors of commission (assisting families not in poverty) and of omission (not assisting families in poverty) were quite widespread in 1980, although significantly reduced from their high prevalence in 1970.     

When should homeless families get subsidized apartments? A theoretical inquiry

How and when should operators of homeless shelters place families from these shelters into subsidized housing? I apply the tools of contract theory to this problem, especially some approaches that have been taken to optimal unemployment insurance. The problem combines moral hazard and adverse selection. When all families are drawn from the same distribution, placement should occur immediately. When families are heterogeneous, the optimal strategy creates a separating equilibrium. Good searchers self-select into a contract with high probability of immediate placement and no probability of later placement; poorer searchers self-select into a contract with a lower probability of immediate placement but a positive probability of later placement.     

On the Production of Cognitive Achievement and Gaps in Test Scores

Accumulation of cognitive achievement is investigated using an indirect production function, a dynamic econometric model and a rich data set. Gaps between scores of black and white children remain constant, narrow, or disappear entirely as children grow older, depending upon the measure and the family structure. Income elasticities are higher for children of black families, and there are differences in elasticities with respect to parents' educational levels. The effects of fathers' and mothers' educational levels differ. Between children of two‐parent families and mother‐only families, there is a gap that is at least as important as the racial gap.     

The transnational family: A typology and implications for work-family balance

In a growing number of families, members are dispersed across country borders, but maintain close ties. Despite their growing prevalence, an overarching theoretical framework to explain this phenomenon is absent and little is known about work-family experiences in this type of family. With this in mind, we provide a typology that can be applied to the transnational family as a theoretical lens through which diverse forms of transnational families can be understood. Next, we provide a definition of work-family balance (WFB) that considers unique aspects of transnational families while also drawing upon previous definitions of WFB developed in the domestic work-family literature. Finally, we discuss how WFB may differ depending on the characteristics of transnational families. We conclude by discussing implications and suggestions for future research.     

Efficient estimation of income distribution parameters

The parameters of several families of distributions are estimated by means of minimum χ²; use is made of random samples taken from Dutch income-earning groups in 1973. The numerical search routine used, is the Complex method due to Box. The χ² function is evaluated by standard numerical integration procedures. The lognormal and the Gamma families are rejected because of a poor fit. The log t and the log Pearson IV families are introduced. This results in a considerable improvement of χ² critical levels. The generalized Gamma and the Champernowne function describe the income distribution reasonably well in some cases.     

Income Level and Inflation Strain in the United States: 1971–1975

A bstract . Estimates of net inflationary effects in the United States from 1971 to 1975 are attempted by income level. The central concept is inflation strain , or the difference between the percentage change in prices and incomes as a percentage of change in incomes. Trends in prices are derived from United States Bureau of Labor Statistics data on lower and higher family budgets , admittedly subject to significant error, but the best we have. Equivalent income trends are estimated from data reported in the P-60 series of the United States Bureau of the Census. Two findings are indicated. The first is that both higher and lower budget families experienced inflation strain, although the strain, of course, was substantially greater for lower budget families. The second finding is that the primary source of strain for the lower budget families was food , whereas the primary source of strain for the higher budget family was taxes , both income and Social Security taxes. The richer are getting poorer more slowly than the poor. Limitations of the techniques and data are analyzed.     

Making sense of HR in family firms: Antecedents,moderators, and outcomes

Family business researchers have felt increasing distress with the lack of understanding about how families – i.e., their structure, relationships, emotions, and goals – shape how families manage family firms, leading to calls to more fully incorporate “family science” theories about the nature of family into research about family firms. It seems likely that families' first impact in family firms will be on how employees are treated and managed. Thus, this special issue brings together papers that offer an early glance at what is to be gained by leveraging theories about family to help explain how families influence human resource management within family firms, and how human resource management, in turn, impacts key family firm outcomes.     

Multivariate survival functions characterized by constant product of mean remaining lives and hazard rates

Under the assumption that the products of multivariate mean remaining lives and hazard rates are the same constant, it is shown that the corresponding multivariate survival function belongs to one of three families: (1) multivariate Gumbel exponential distribution; (2) multivariate Lomax (Pareto type II) distribution; (3) multivariate rescaled Dirichlet distribution. This result is then used to derive another characterization of the latter two families based on the residual life distribution.     

Social Capital: One or Many? Definition and Measurement

Three families of social capital concepts are discussed: (fa1) trust, (fa2) ease of cooperation, and (fa3) network. In the language of game theory, social capital is the excess propensity to play cooperative solutions in prisoners' dilemma games. The three families lead to different definitions, and thus to different measurement methods. Some measures are theory-near, while others are easy-to-use proxies. It is shown that all definitions and measures are related. The 'social capital dream' is that all definitions try to catch aspects of the same phenomenon, so that all measures tap the same latent variable. It is discussed whether this dream is likely to come true.     

Rent Subsidy and Housing Satisfaction The Case of Urban Renewal In Lubbock, Texas

—Governmental programs proposing rental supplements for low-income families assume that social and economic conditions of these families may be improved by such subsidy. However, this assumption has not been adequately tested by social science research. Data presented here were gathered at an urban renewal relocation housing project in Lubbock, Texas, and suggest that when families who, before urban renewal, were self-sufficient in slum housing are forced into welfare situations because of rent subsidy programs, dissatisfaction with relocation facilities results. The data also indicate that dissatisfaction is correlated positively with the number of persons in the household, the age of residents, and socioeconomic status.     

关于取消我国经济适用房政策的思考

经济适用房自上世纪90年代提出特别是1998年房改政策实施以来,得到了较大程度的发展,成为中低收入家庭的首选。但是从近些年的发展来看,经济适用房政策虽然解决了部分中低收入家庭的住房问题,但围绕经济适用房的出现的问题也屡见不鲜。因执行政策的偏差和固有的局限性没能完全发挥其社会保障功能,并孕育了潜在的风险、滋生了一些社会问题。文中认为在当前严厉打击房地产泡沫以及我国十二五规划严格控制房价的前提下,是时机取消经济适用房政策,这将更有利于社会的发展。     

Fewer subsidized exits and a recession: How New York City’s family homeless shelter population became immense

Between December 1997 and May 2003, the number of families in New York City homeless shelters rose from 4315 to 9303. The 1997–2003 rise in family shelter population in this single city was greater than the combined total shelter populations of Texas and Florida in 2000. Why did this happen? From 1997 through 2000, New York was booming. Shelter population rose during the boom because the city slowed the rate at which it moved families into subsidized housing and it continued to rise after the boom because there was a recession. The population fell when the city stepped up placements into subsidized housing and the recession ended. The relationships are fairly complex. Macroeconomic conditions affect shelter population only with a lag. Placements into subsidized housing do not lure any considerable number of families into the system, but they keep those who are there longer, possibly by affecting the housing market.     

Latent Demand for Urban Housing in the People's Republic of China

A new micro-data set demonstrates that, in urban China, own-built dwellings are 75% larger than state-owned dwellings. A switching regression with endogenous switching demonstrates that families with less privileged positions in the Chinese economy are more likely to inhabit own-built housing. The relationships between family characteristics and dwelling sizes in the own-built and state-owned sectors differ dramatically. However, unobserved characteristics, probably includingguanxi, play crucial roles in both. Depending on these characteristics, families in state-owned dwellings might have two-thirds more living space were they to choose own-built dwellings.     

社区土地信托制度及其与经济适用房制度的比较

美国社区土地信托制度是解决低收入家庭住房问题的一种模式.在社区土地信托制度下,社区土地信托公司或组织持有土地所有权,低收入买房人得到的只是房屋所有权和一定年限的土地使用权.因住房价格中不包含土地价格部分,从而保证了低收入家庭对住房价格的可负担性.社区土地信托的住房保障资源的可循环利用、非营利组织运作、促进社区发展的视角等优点,对完善经济适用房制度具有借鉴意义.     

A nonparametric multiple comparison test for differences in scale parameters

A nonparametric multiple comparison test for differences in scale parameters is suggested The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is derived. A modification of the test when the location parameters are unknown and unequal is suggested. This modified test is not asymptotically distribution free for all underlying location-scale families; however, we give sufficient conditions on the families under which the test is asymptotically distribution free.     

EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION: THE WORMS IN THE APPLE

Expansion of higher education can undermine rather than enhance the value of education for low income families. Less well qualified children of higher income families are the main beneficiaries of the expansion and the value of the qualifications of those who do not participate in higher education can be undermined. The most obvious practical policy that would expand educational opportunity for all would be to treat all adult students equally and give further education institutions and universities comparable, as well as greater, freedom from government control.