THE GENDER GAP IN PRIVATE PENSIONS

In many western countries, older women receive considerably less private pension income than older men on average. We analyse this differential in Britain, examining differences between the sexes both in private pension coverage and in pension income conditional on receipt. Using regression‐based decompositions, we show that both gender gaps are associated mainly with differences in returns to personal characteristics rather than with differences in personal characteristics per se.     

A NEW INSIGHT INTO THE GENDER GAP IN MATH

In the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, I find that the gender gap is not uniform across the distribution of math skills and that these quantile‐specific gaps vary with age. Specifically, girls at the top of the distribution initially fall behind boys but manage to catch up later. At the same time, girls in the lower parts of the distribution lose ground. In fifth grade, a gender gap of 0.2 standard deviation, about 2.5 months of schooling, is observed across the entire distribution. Overall, these patterns indicate the possibility that low performing girls become worse and vice versa. These results demonstrate important dynamics of the gap that are relevant for policy, but that the mean gap fails to show.     

ABORTION AND HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENDER GAP IN EDUCATION

This article analyzes the relationship between abortion and female education. It provides new empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa to show that more liberal abortion policies are associated with a higher female secondary school enrollment. It is assumed in the model that easier access to abortion decreases probability of dropping out of school for a female child in the case of an occasional pregnancy. As a consequence, it enhances parental investment in human capital of their female offspring and helps to reduce the gender gap in education.     

GENDER AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL CHOICE: THE ROLE OF SITUATED AGENCY

Amartya Sen defends a rich conception of social choice theory against tendencies to limit social choice theory to the formal investigation of rules of collective decision-making. His understanding of social choice theory makes the field a natural candidate for exploring gender issues in the evaluation of democratic policy. Not surprisingly, Sen has applied the insights he developed from his study of social choice to the evaluation of gender inequality, in particular to women's well-being in the context of the family. I focus on Sen's distinction between well-being and agency, and argue that from the perspective of women's movements and related social movements, the role of agency has so far been unduly neglected in social choice theory.     

THE MINIMUM WAGE, WAGE SUBSIDIES, AND POVERTY

In an attempt to augment the lowest wages, the United States and several other countries utilize legal minimum wages. However, the minimum wage has potentially adverse employment effects. The analysis here suggests that an alternative policy that combines a minimum wage and a wage subsidy is superior to either by itself. Such a combination can assist the low wage worker, avoid disemployment effects, and maximize market efficiency.     

略论县域规划的中心镇战略与选择：以南京市江宁县为例

本文在分析中心镇概念、特征及重要性基础上,提出了县域规划中中心镇战略对策及中心镇选择方法,并以江宁县为例作了实证应用与检验,旨在为我国县域规划提供借鉴。     

THE GENDER PAY GAP UNDER DUOPSONY: JOAN ROBINSON MEETS HAROLD HOTELLING

This paper presents an alternative explanation of the gender pay gap resting on a simple Hotelling-style duopsony model of the labour market. Since there are only two employers, equally productive women and men have to commute and face travel cost to do so. We assume that some women have higher travel cost, e.g., due to more domestic responsibilities. Employers exploit that women on average are less inclined to commute and offer lower wages to all women. Since women's firm-level labour supply is for this reason less wage-elastic, this model is in line with Robinson's explanation of wage discrimination.     

苏锡常地区的产业选择与空间组织

在经济全球化与上海经济一体化背景下,苏锡常地区作为制造业大规模投资涌入地区,制造业功能得到极大强化,但技术创新体系和现代服务业弱,产业集中度低,分布分散,导致地区就业岗位减少,区域创新能力降低,地方经济网络薄弱,对区域和城市的发质量和前景都产生很大的不利影响。在本区寻求与上海发展实现一体化分工的进程中,其区域产业发展功能定位为：（1）从产业升级和区域竞争要求出发,要优化制造业结构,集约经营第一产业。（2）从苏锡常面临与上海既竞争又联合的关系,自身比较优势以及国际二级城市发展经验教训看,在保有苏锡常制造业基地的位置同时,要加速高新技术创新体系,现代服务体系以及市场体系的建设。（3）为保证新产业经济的发展,应该改变目前分散型,低协作的产业空间分布形式,向枢纽与响应型（Hub-and-spoke)的空间模式发展,使优势资源和生产要素向产业密集带集聚。     

河北省中心镇选择与评价

选择和培育中心镇是我国目前实施有重点地发展小城镇的重要途径。文章选取9项社会经济指标建立了河北省中心镇选择评价体系,继而借助SPSS软件应用因子分析法对全省建制镇的综合实力进行计算,求出综合实力得分,优选出全省200个中心镇;对其进行聚类分析,将其综合实力划分为4类并做出相应评价。     

略论县域规划的中心镇战略与选择—以南京市江宁县为例

本文在分析中心镇概念,特征及重要性基础上,提出了县域规划中中心镇战略对策及中心镇选择方法,并以江宁县为例作了实证应用与检验,旨在我国县域规划提供借鉴。     

TRADITION AND FASHION IN CONSUMER CHOICE: BAGGING THE SCOTTISH MUNROS

Evidence is growing that in many markets consumers select not simply on the basis of the perceived attributes of products, but their preferences are modified by the behaviour of others. Economists have paid relatively little attention to such markets. We consider evidence from the activity of hill-walking. The Munros are a list of Scottish hills over 3000 feet in height. We analyse completions of both the Munros themselves, and the Munro Tops, a difficult and time-consuming extension of the Munros. The classic Bass diffusion model incorporates the imitation of others as a part of the behavioural rules used by consumers in making choice. We extend the Bass model to be able to apply it to long-term case studies where substantial changes over time in the population making choices at any given point have to be taken into account. The Munros are a particular illustration of this, but the extension can be used in other situations where such population changes are important. Our results show that Top completions are dominated by the 'fashion' component, suggesting there was a cohort among which Tops completions became fashionable, but which has not been sustained. Both our extended model and the standard model can account for this. In contrast, our extension is needed to explain why Munro completions have remained close to their peak level for a decade now, a fact for which the standard Bass model is unable to account.     

MAJOR CHANGES PROPOSED FOR THE NEXT SNA: AN OVERVIEW

The first draft of the new manual for the System of National Accounts will be circulated during 1990. The major changes to be incorporated in it are highlighted in this article. A full list of all changes is available from the United Nations Statistical Office and will be included as an annex to the final manual.     

MAQUILADORA RESPONSE TO U.S. AND ASIAN RELATIVE WAGE RATE CHANGES

ThiS paper investigates whether the output of the Mexican maquiladoras is an alternative to production in the Pacific Rim. The analysis involves estimating supply functions for Mexican maquiladora output using relative wage data for Mexico, Singapore, and the United States. It also involves estimating the impact of relative wage rates on maquiladora output in five industries as well as on more aggregated levels. Results indicate that production in Mexico and in the Pacific Rim are substitutes, although this relationship is stronger for some industries than for others.