Suchergebnisse

AbstractTo improve the well‐being of individuals, development policies not only have to take into account how resources are allocated within the family or household but also look at the impact of this resource allocation on individuals. The objective of this article is to understand how intrahousehold dynamics (e.g., variations in household bargaining behaviors) lead to differences in outcomes of specific interest (e.g., food and non‐food expenditure). The household bargaining model is used to study the effects of credit, both formal and informal, on consumption choices. The focus is on the household expenditure patterns and participation in the credit market is taken as the measure of bargaining between the head and the spouse. This article uses the International Food Policy Research Institute's Food Management and Research Support Project (IFPRI‐FMRSP) household survey of Bangladesh for the years 1998–99. OLS is used to estimate the food share and personal care share equations, and Tobit models are used to estimate the 10 other non‐food budget shares. Our results indicated that more men compared to women participate in the credit market. Amount of credit taken by the male household head negatively affects food expenditure and positively affects the share spent on adult goods. The negative effect on food expenditure has policy implications related to nutritional intake and educational attainment of children in the household. Women's use of credit has a positive impact on the expense of children's goods, durable goods, education, and housing. The results show that resources in the hands of women have implications for improvement in child outcomes, especially educational outcomes.

AbstractUsing Current Population Survey (CPS) data, off‐farm labor participation models are developed for U.S. farm operators and spouses for 1978 and 1984. Actual data for a sample of low income farm households are used in conjunction with the estimated models to determine if these families possess characteristics conducive to off‐farm work. Members of low income farm families are less likely to work off‐farm. Participation in off‐farm work among older farm families is constrained by the farm operator's education and the ages of both spouses. Among younger farm families, the presence of young children and regional location represent important constraints.

Abstract It is well recognized that the informal economy—unregulated economic activities that generate real or in‐kind income—features prominently in the day‐to‐day lives of many in the developing world. Researchers have begun to explore the informal economy in developed countries but this work has focussed primarily on urban areas to the neglect of rural areas. In this paper the nature and correlates of informal work in nonmetropolitan Pennsylvania are described through an analysis of survey data on 505 families. Results indicate that participation in informal activities is widespread, is not more typical of the poor, does not contribute greatly to family income on average but does help many poor families weather difficult economic times, is both economically and noneconomically motivated, and, net of other sociodemographic variables, is positively related to rurality of residence and formal labor supply.

ABSTRACTLabor market areas (LMAs) have long been a staple of regional and urban analysis. As commuting patterns have expanded over time, these areas have become larger and more complex, and the dichotomous designation of a county either belonging to an LMA or not may no longer be adequate. We apply recent advances in network science to conduct a more refined analysis of U.S. commuting patterns, and examine their effects on local economic growth. Results show that network degree and entropy measures explain variations in county per capita income growth patterns. Higher in‐ and out‐commuting entropies are associated with lower per capita income growth, but their interaction enhances economic growth in places simultaneously open to both in‐ and out‐commuters. Using these results, common ground may be found for creating new forms of regional governance that better reflect local realities of cross‐county border flows of workers and economic activity.

Abstract  Underemployment, which goes beyond unemployment to include the working poor, discouraged workers, and involuntary part‐time workers, is a useful measure of employment hardship. We argue that underemployment should be included with other conventional indicators of the disadvantaged circumstances of nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) labor, in terms not only of prevalence, but also of the likelihood of transitions into and out of underemployment. We take advantage of the quasi‐longitudinal nature of the U.S. Current Population Surveys to estimate models of year‐to‐year employment transitions for the quarter century 1968 to 1993. We find that (1) adequately employed nonmetro workers are more likely than their more urban counterparts to become underemployed; (2) the nonmetro underemployed are less likely to become adequately employed; (3) statistical controls only strengthen these nonmetro disadvantages; (4) the employment transitions of nonmetro workers are less affected by shifts in the direction of the national economy than are those of metro workers; and (5) nonmetro women are more disadvantaged than women residing elsewhere.

The farm workforce--trends, ajustments, and technical change: Hired farm labour adjustments and constraints / Jill L. Findeis; Examining farm worker images / Susan Gabbard, Alicia Fernandez-Mott and Daniel Carroll; Changes in the labour intensity of agriculture : a comparison of California, Florida, and the USA / Wallace Huffman; Family settlement and technological change in labour-intensive US agriculture / Richard Mines -- Hired farm labour, employers and community response: Demographics, income and choices : seasonal farm workers in southwest Florida / Fritz Roka and Robert D. Emerson; Management of Hispanic employees on New York dairy farms : a survey of farm managers / Thomas R. Maloney; The dynamics of the Washington farm labour market / Dawn Thilmany and Mike Miller; The economic impact of migrant farmworkers on southeastern Michigan / Rene P. Rosenbaum; Community response to the introduction of Hispanic migrant agricultural workers into central Kentucky / Beckie Mullin Denton; Does experience as a US farmworker provide returns in the Mexican labour market? / Steven S. Zahniser and Michael J. Greenwood; Income distribution and farm labour markets / Robert D. Emerson and Fritz Roka; Rural deprivation and farm worker deprivation : who's at 'the sharp end' of rural inequalities in Australia? / Jim McAllister; The role of the state in Manitoba farm labour force formation / Avis Mysyk; Cycles of deepening poverty in rural California : the San Joaquin Valley towns of McFarland and Farmersville / Fred Krissman; Farm worker health and safety -- Safety and health attitudes and practices in migrant farm labour families / Robert Seiz and Eleanor Pepi Downey; Hired farm labour and health insurance coverage / Paul McNamara and Christine Ranney; Seasonal migration : farm workers in the Alaska fishing and seafood industry and the impact on health care systems in communities where they work / Patricia Hennessy -- Data comparisons: A comparison of data sources for hired farm labor research : the NAWS and the CPS /Janelle M. Larson ... [et al.]