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Felix Almaraz, Author and Teacher, "The Tragic Calvalier."(photograph)
No full textPhotograph of Felix Almaraz, Author and Teacher, "The Tragic Calvalier."
Identifying Asset Poverty Thresholds New methods with an application to Pakistan and Ethiopia
Get PDFUnderstanding how households escape poverty depends on understanding how they accumulate assets over time. Therefore, identifying the degree of linearity in household asset dynamics, and specifically any potential asset poverty thresholds, is of fundamental interest to the design of poverty reduction policies. If household asset holdings converged unconditionally to a single long run equilibrium, then all poor could be expected to escape poverty over time. In contrast, if there are critical asset thresholds that trap households below the poverty line, then households would need specific assistance to escape poverty. Similarly, the presence of asset poverty thresholds would mean that short term asset shocks could lead to long term destitution, thus highlighting the need for social safety nets. In addition to the direct policy relevance, identifying household asset dynamics and potential asset thresholds presents an interesting methodological challenge to researchers. Potential asset poverty thresholds can only be identified in a framework that allows multiple dynamic equilibria. Any unstable equilibrium points would indicate a potential poverty threshold, above which households are expected to accumulate further and below which households are on a trajectory that makes them poorer over time. The key empirical issue addressed in the paper is whether such threshold points exist in Pakistan and Ethiopia and, if so, where they are located. Methodologically, the paper explores what econometric technique is best suited for this type of analysis. The paper contributes to the small current literature on modeling nonlinear household welfare dynamics in three ways. First, it compares previously used techniques for identifying asset poverty traps by applying them to the same dataset, and examines whether, and how, the choice of estimation technique affects the result. Second, it explores whether other estimation techniques may be more suitable to locate poverty thresholds. Third, it adds the first study for a South Asian country and makes a comparison with Ethiopia. Household assets are combined into a single asset index using two techniques: factor analysis and regression. These indices are used to estimate asset dynamics and locate dynamic asset equilibria, first by nonparametric methods including LOWESS, kernel weighted local regression and spline smoothers, and then by global polynomial parametric techniques. To combine the advantages of nonparametric and parametric techniques - a flexible functional form and the ability to control for covariates, respectively - the paper adapts a mixed model representation of a penalized spline to estimate asset dynamics through a semiparametric partially linear model. This paper identifies a single dynamic asset equilibrium with a slightly concave dynamic asset accumulation path in each country. There is no evidence for multiple dynamic equilibria. This result is robust across econometric methods and across different ways of constructing the asset index. The concave accumulation path means that poorer households recover more slowly from asset shocks. Concavity also implies that greater initial equality of assets would lead to higher growth. Moreover, the dynamic asset equilibria are very low. In Pakistan it is below the average asset holdings of the poor households in the sample. In Ethiopia, the equilibrium is barely above the very low mean. This, together with the slow speed of asset accumulation for the poorest households, suggests that convergence towards the long run equilibrium may be slow and insufficient for rural households in Pakistan and Ethiopia to escape poverty.Poverty dynamics, Semiparametric Estimation, Penalized Splines, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Consumer/Household Economics, I32, C14, O12,
Parents’ assets and child marriage: are mother’s assets more protective than father’s assets?
No full textChild marriage places girls at an increased risk for dropping out of school early, sexually transmitted infections, teenage childbirth, and accompanying childbirth complications, including maternal mortality. The determinants of child marriage are not clearly understood, which hinders efforts to mount effective interventions. This study examined the link between economic resources and child marriage by investigating whether maternal and paternal asset ownership were longitudinally associated with daughters’ child marriage in Ethiopia. Drawing upon household bargaining theory, it was hypothesized that maternal assets would be more protective of daughters’ child marriage than paternal assets. Data for 4,293 girls from the nationally representative Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey, fielded in 2011 and 2014, were employed. Logistic regression and instrumental variable analyses were used to examine the relationship between transition into child marriage during the study period and maternal and paternal assets, controlling for child-, family-, and community-level characteristics. Results show that a one standard deviation increase in mother’s assets was associated with 37–53% lower odds of daughter’s child marriage whereas a one standard deviation increase in paternal asset holdings was associated with 0–37% higher odds of daughter’s child marriage. Effects were strongest in regions where the dominant mode of marriage payments is bride price. These results suggest that the link between economic resources and child marriage depends on the gender of the parent who owns the resources. This study also highlights the interconnectedness of two targets of the gender equality Sustainable Development Goal—improvement of women’s ownership of assets and the elimination of child marriage—and suggests that the realization of one gender equality target could have implications for other targets.Peer reviewe
Disability among children of immigrants from India and China: is there excess disability among girls?
No full textWe investigate whether there is excess morbidity among daughters of Indian or Chinese immigrants in the US by studying the prevalence of disability among children. We use data from the 2012–14 American Community Surveys on approximately 20,000 US-born children of Indian and Chinese immigrants. Children of US natives are used as a comparison group to account for innate differences in disability between the sexes. Results indicate that there is excess disability among daughters compared with sons among children of Chinese immigrants and children of immigrants from northern or western Indian states; this excess disability declines with younger age at arrival or longer exposure to the host country. Analysis using children of Filipino immigrants as an alternative comparison group yields similar excess disability rates for females.Peer reviewe
Effect of Food Subsidies on Micronutrient Consumption
No full textIn this article, we study the effect of an exogenous increase in wheat and rice price subsidy to poor families resulting from a targeted food price subsidy program in India called the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) on micronutrient intake in low-income families. Descriptive results show that wheat and rice have one of the lowest micronutrient density scores, suggesting that these are poor suppliers of micronutrients. Empirical analysis suggests that the increase in subsidy amount of Rs. 15-18 resulting from the TPDS expansion lowered calcium intake by 12-14 percent and had negligible to small (often negative) effects on the consumption of most micronutrients.Peer reviewe
Sex composition of children and spousal sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textObjective
In societies with a cultural preference for sons over daughters, women who do not bear sons may be at increased risk for spousal violence. This study examined whether women with daughters only are at an elevated risk for spousal sexual violence compared to women with sons only in sub-Saharan Africa. The study tested the hypothesis that the association between sex composition of children and spousal sexual violence would be observed only in large families.
Methods
Data were from the most recent (as at February, 2016) Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 22 sub-Saharan African countries for 37,915 women. Odds ratios comparing experience of spousal sexual violence of women with sons only to those with daughters only were estimated, separately for women with three or fewer children and those with four or more children, controlling for age, age at first cohabitation, age at first birth, educational attainment, urban residence, and household wealth.
Results
Having daughters only was associated with a greater likelihood of spousal sexual violence among women with many children (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.02–2.30) but not among those with few children (AOR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.82–1.04).
Conclusions for practice
A higher risk of sexual violence for women without sons suggests that son preference may have implications on women’s health and wellbeing. Efforts to further understand and address increased risk of sexual violence for women without sons should consider son preference and intra-couple conflict concerning fertility intentions.Peer reviewe
Culture, labor supply, and fertility across immigrant generations in the United States
No full textRecent immigration to the United States and other developed nations has increasingly been from countries that have relatively traditional gender norms. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey for 2000–14 to investigate how source-country gender norms influence the labor supply and fertility of married women across immigrant generations in the US. It finds that immigrants’ and descendants’ labor supply and fertility are associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio and total fertility rate in the source country; importantly, the association declines across successive generations. Husbands’ source-country characteristics are also associated with the labor supply and fertility of immigrant women. These findings indicate evolution and assimilation of traditional gender norms in the long run.Peer reviewe
Recital Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Lisan Wang
Get PDFIn this paper, I discuss the works that I performed on my Master of Music degree solo piano recital. The program consisted of works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) French Suite in C Major, BWV 816; Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Sonata in D Minor, Op. 31, No. 2; Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Fantasie in F-sharp Minor, Op. 28; Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Etudes-Tableaux in C Major, Op. 33, No. 2 and A Minor, Op. 39 No. 2; and Lisan Wang (1933-2013) Sonatina. The purpose of this project is to give the historical background of each piece, analyze the form, and discuss other representative musical characteristics. Music examples from the pieces are included to illustrate selected point
The genome and proteome of a virulent Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteriophage closely resembling Salmonella phage Felix O1
No full textBased upon whole genome and proteome analysis, Escherichia coli O157:H7-specific bacteriophage (phage) wV8 belongs to the new myoviral genus, "the Felix O1-like viruses" along with Salmonella phage Felix O1 and Erwinia amylovora phage φEa21-4. The genome characteristics of phage wV8 (size 88.49 kb, mol%G+C 38.9, 138 ORFs, 23 tRNAs) are very similar to those of phage Felix O1 (86.16 kb, 39.0 mol%G+C, 131 ORFs and 22 tRNAs) and, indeed most of the proteins have their closest homologs within Felix O1. Approximately one-half of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 mutants resistant to phage wV8 still serotype as O157:H7 indicating that this phage may recognize, like coliphage T4, two different surface receptors: lipopolysaccharide and, perhaps, an outer membrane protein
Felix Grant and Peter Ustinov
No full textFelix Grant and internationally renowned actor, author and playwright Peter Ustinov converse.Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-09T17:40:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4
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Previous issue date: 2002-11-04Handwritten on back: "Felix Grant and / Peter Ustinof [sic]
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