计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

A Treatise on the Family. G. S. Becker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1981. Gary Becker is one of the most famous and influential economists of the second half of the 20th century, a fervent contributor to and expounder of the University of Chicago free-market philosophy, and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in economics. Although any book with the word "treatise" in its title is clearly intended to have an impact, one coming from someone as brilliant and controversial as Becker certainly had such a lofty goal. It has received many article-length reviews in several disciplines (Ben-Porath, 1982; Bergmann, 1995; Foster, 1993; Hannan, 1982), which is one measure of its scholarly importance, and yet its impact is, I think, less than it may have initially appeared, especially for scholars with substantive interests in the family. This book is, its title notwithstanding, more about economics and the economic approach to behavior than about the family. In the first sentence of the preface, Becker writes "In this book, I develop an economic or rational choice approach to the family." Lest anyone accuse him of focusing on traditional (i.e., material) economics topics, such as family income, poverty, and labor supply, he immediately emphasizes that those topics are not his focus. "My intent is more ambitious: to analyze marriage, births, divorce, division of labor in households, prestige, and other non-material behavior with the tools and framework developed for material behavior." Indeed, the book includes chapters on many of these issues. One chapter examines the principles of the efficient division of labor in households, three analyze marriage and divorce, three analyze various child-related issues (fertility and intergenerational mobility), and others focus on broader family issues, such as intrafamily resource allocation. His analysis is not, he believes, constrained by time or place. His intention is "to present a comprehensive analysis that is applicable, at least in part, to families in the past as well as the present, in primitive as well as modern societies, and in Eastern as well as Western cultures." His tone is profoundly conservative and utterly skeptical of any constructive role for government programs. There is a clear sense of how much better things were in the old days of a genderbased division of labor and low market-work rates for married women. Indeed, Becker is ready and able to show in Chapter 2 that such a state of affairs was efficient and induced not by market or societal discrimination (although he allows that it might exist) but by small underlying household productivity differences that arise primarily from what he refers to as "complementarities" between caring for young children while carrying another to term. Most family scholars would probably find that an unconvincingly simple explanation for a profound and complex phenomenon. What, then, is the salient contribution of Treatise on the Family? It is not literally the idea that economics could be applied to the nonmarket sector and to family life because Becker had already established that with considerable success and influence. At its core, microeconomics is simple, characterized by a belief in the importance of prices and markets, the role of self-interested or rational behavior, and, somewhat less centrally, the stability of preferences. It was Becker's singular and invaluable contribution to appreciate that the behaviors potentially amenable to the economic approach were not limited to phenomenon with explicit monetary prices and formal markets. Indeed, during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he did undeniably important and pioneering work extending the domain of economics to such topics as labor market discrimination, fertility, crime, human capital, household production, and the allocation of time. Nor is Becker's contribution the detailed analyses themselves. Many of them are, frankly, odd, idiosyncratic, and off-putting. …

A Treatise on the Family

Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network

Landscape change and the urbanization process in Europe

Meta-analysis is used to synthesize findings from 286 empirical studies on the association of socioeconomic status (SES), social network, and competence with subjective well-being (SWB) in the elderly. All three aspects of life circumstances are positively associated with SWB. Income is correlated more strongly with well-being than is education. The quality of social contacts shows stronger associations with SWB than does the quantity of social contacts. Whereas having contact with friends is more strongly related to SWB than having contact with adult children, there are higher associations between life satisfaction and quality of contact with adult children when compared with quality of friendships. Moderating influences of gender and age on the effects of SES, social network, and competence on SWB are also investigated.

Influences of socioeconomic status, social network, and competence on subjective well-being in later life : A meta-analysis

Change in China’s age structure is creating concerns about whether reductions in family size undermine traditional support mechanisms for older adults. Future generations may expect less support as the availability of children declines. In this article, the association between number of children and the receipt of instrumental and financial support is examined for rural and urban populations. Probabilities are modeled as bivariate probits. Coefficients are used to conduct simulations in which support is examined across hypothetical distributions of number of children. The results show that the number of children is an important determinant of support, but future reductions in support may not be as dramatic as anticipated.

Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China: Current effects and future implications

This study focuses on discerning the differences between older adults who travel and those who do not, and also on distinguishing between destination choices. Data show that several variables account for differences among older adults, and consideration is given to the role of continuity theory as one possible explanation of the outcomes.

Whether to Go and Where to Go: Identification of Important Influences on Seniors' Decisions to Travel:

Objectives. This study examines living arrangements of older adults across 43 developing countries and compares patterns by gender, world regions, and macro-level indicators of socioeconomic development. Methods. Data are from Demographic and Health Surveys. The country is the unit of analysis. Indicators include household size, headship, relationship to head, and coresidence with spouse, children, and others. Unweighted regional averages and ordinary least-squares regressions determine whether variations exist. Results. Average household sizes are large, but a substantially greater proportion of older adults live alone than do individuals in other age groups. Females are more likely than males to live alone and are less likely to live with a spouse or head of a household. Heading a household and living in a large household and with young children is more prevalent in Africa than elsewhere. Coresidence with adult children is most common in Asia and least in Africa. Coresidence is more frequent with sons than with daughters in both Asia and Africa, but not in Latin America. As a country’s level of schooling rises, most living arrangement indicators change with families becoming more nuclear. Urbanization and gross national product have no significant effects. Discussion. Although living arrangements differ across world regions and genders, within-region variations exist and are explained in part by associations between countrywide levels of education and household structure. These associations may be caused by a variety of intermediating factors, such as migration of children and preferences for privacy.

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Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World An Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Household Surveys

Persistent population aging worldwide is focusing attention on modifiable factors that can improve later life health. There is evidence that religiosity and spirituality are among such factors. Older people tend to have high rates of involvement in religious and/or spiritual endeavors and it is possible that population aging will be associated with increasing prevalence of religious and spiritual activity worldwide. Despite increasing research on religiosity, spirituality and health among older persons, population aging worldwide suggests the need for a globally integrated approach. As a step toward this, we review a subset of the literature on the impact of religiosity and spirituality on health in later life. We find that much of this has looked at the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and longevity as well as physical and mental health. Mechanisms include social support, health behaviors, stress and psychosocial factors. We identify a number of gaps in current knowledge. Many previous studies have taken place in the U.S. and Europe. Much data is cross-sectional, limiting ability to make causal inference. Religiosity and spirituality can be difficult to define and distinguish and the two concepts are often considered together, though on balance religiosity has received more attention than spirituality. The latter may however be equally important. Although there is evidence that religiosity is associated with longer life and better physical and mental health, these outcomes have been investigated separately rather than together such as in measures of health expectancy. In conclusion, there is a need for a unified and nuanced approach to understanding how religiosity and spirituality impact on health and longevity within a context of global aging, in particular whether they result in longer healthy life rather than just longer life.

/pdf/spirituality-religiosity-aging-and-health-in-global-41f4uoreha.pdf

Spirituality, religiosity, aging and health in global perspective: A review

Objective: The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, which has proven to be quite robust, is rarely tested in societies where levels of economic development and systems of stratification differ from those in Western developed countries. This article examines associations in rural and urban China. Method: Techniques include logit equation estimates of separate and pooled samples. The latter employ interaction terms to test rural and urban effects. Socioeconomic indicators include those more customarily used in these types of studies (e.g., education) and several that are less traditional (e.g., pension eligibility). Results: Results indicate associations exist in China. Bank savings is the strongest predictor. Some unexpected results are also found, including a positive association between socioeconomic status and chronic conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease) among older adults in urban China. Discussion: Use and access to a health care professional might explain part of this anomaly.

Zachary Zimmer

Papers

Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China: Current effects and future implications

Whether to Go and Where to Go: Identification of Important Influences on Seniors' Decisions to Travel:

Living Arrangements of Older Adults in the Developing World An Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Household Surveys

Spirituality, religiosity, aging and health in global perspective: A review

Socioeconomic status and health among older adults in rural and urban China.