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Background: The main aim of emergency medical services (EMS) should be to provide universal emergency medical care which is EMS system available to all those who need it. Most of the developed countries have an integrated EMS system that is accessible by a single dial number in the whole country. Nepal does not have a proper EMS system. We conducted a literature review regarding methods of developing an integrated EMS system in Nepal. Result: The fragmented system, high demand–low supply, inequity with the service, and inadequately trained responders are major problems associated with EMS in Nepal. Nepal too should develop an integrated single dial number EMS system to meet the current demand of EMS. Having a paramedic in ambulances as the first responders will prevent chaos and save critical time. Funding models have to be considered while developing an EMS considering the capital as well as operational cost. Conclusion: Nepal can develop a public private partnership model of EMS where capital cost is provided by the government and operational cost by other methods. Community-based insurance system looks more feasible in a country like Nepal for generating operational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty in early life can have lasting effects on health and human capital; social protection can counter these effects to promote the development of capabilities across the life course. This paper examines how social protection can promote adolescent well-being and facilitate safe and productive transitions to adulthood in lower and middle-income countries. Focusing on governmental non-contributory programmes the paper investigates (i) whether and how current non-contributory social protection programmes are adolescent-sensitive and (ii) what the impact of non-contributory social protection programmes on adolescents is. To examine these questions, we conducted an extensive review of the literature on existing non-contributory social protection programmes and related impact evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of child labor in Ecuador, employing advanced statistical tools like logistic regression, neutrosophic Likert scales, and similarity measures to deepen the understanding of this social issue. The integration of these methodologies allows for a nuanced assessment of the various socio-economic factors contributing to child labor. By capturing the uncertainty in human responses, the research highlights the complex interplay between poverty, household income, education levels, and labor types on the incidence of child labor. Key findings suggest that rural location, the age of the child, and the informal nature of the head of the household's work are the most significant predictors of child labor. Notably, parental education appears to have a less direct influence. Despite various efforts, including government monetary transfers through programs like the BDH, child labor persists, indicating the need for more targeted interventions.The paper proposes future research to extend these models to a broader demographic and geographic data set, emphasizing the potential for these methods to be applied to a variety of social issues. The development of computational tools to automate neutrosophic analysis could greatly benefit large-scale studies, potentially aiding policymakers in designing more effective interventions for vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At any given time, 16% of the world's female population is made up of widowed women, though this figure varies by region. The loss of a spouse usually means the loss of economic and social support for the surviving partner. Understanding the experience of widowhood is essential to understanding society; the lives of widows offer insights into how societies are organised and what responses there are to those in need. This paper investigates the survival strategies of widows in Cape Town in 1938/9 using a household survey in order to understand whether their experiences differed by race in the city just before World War II and a decade before the formalisation of apartheid. The survey provides the opportunity to understand how widows in the city lived and worked, whether they cared for others or were given care from others. The paper considers the structures of households and the incomes of widows. Who did widows live with? Or did they live alone? Were they more likely to work than other women in the city? Was it common for widows to live with non-family members? One finding is that although coloured and white households seemed similar in size and nature, widowhood brought differences between them to the fore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A maternal mortality ratio is a sensitive indicator when comparing the overall maternal health between countries and its very high figure indicates the failure of maternal healthcare efforts. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam-CLMV countries are the low-income countries of the South-East Asia region where their maternal mortality ratios are disproportionately high. This systematic review aimed to summarize all possible factors influencing maternal mortality in CLMV countries. Methods: This systematic review applied "The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Checklist (2020)", Three key phrases: "Maternal Mortality and Health Outcome", "Maternal Healthcare Interventions" and "CLMV Countries" were used for the literature search. 75 full-text papers were systematically selected from three databases (PubMed, Google Scholar and Hinari). Two stages of data analysis were descriptive analysis of the general information of the included papers and qualitative analysis of key findings. Results: Poor family income, illiteracy, low education levels, living in poor households, and agricultural and unskilled manual job types of mothers contributed to insufficient antenatal care. Maternal factors like non-marital status and sex-associated work were highly associated with induced abortions while being rural women, ethnic minorities, poor maternal knowledge and attitudes, certain social and cultural beliefs and husbands' influences directly contributed to the limitations of maternal healthcare services. Maternal factors that made more contributions to poor maternal healthcare outcomes included lower quintiles of wealth index, maternal smoking and drinking behaviours, early and elderly age at marriage, over 35 years pregnancies, unfavourable birth history, gender-based violence experiences, multigravida and higher parity. Higher unmet needs and lower demands for maternal healthcare services occurred among women living far from healthcare facilities. Regarding the maternal healthcare workforce, the quality and number of healthcare providers, the development of healthcare infrastructures and human resource management policy appeared to be arguable. Concerning maternal healthcare service use, the provisions of mobile and outreach maternal healthcare services were inconvenient and limited. Conclusion: Low utilization rates were due to several supply-side constraints. The results will advance knowledge about maternal healthcare and mortality and provide a valuable summary to policymakers for developing policies and strategies promoting high-quality maternal healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study takes on the challenge of quantifying a complex causal loop diagram describing how poverty and health affect each other, and does so using longitudinal data from The Netherlands. Furthermore, this paper elaborates on its methodological approach in order to facilitate replication and methodological advancement. Methods: After adapting a causal loop diagram that was built by stakeholders, a longitudinal structural equation modelling approach was used. A cross-lagged panel model with nine endogenous variables, of which two latent variables, and three time-invariant exogenous variables was constructed. With this model, directional effects are estimated in a Granger-causal manner, using data from 2015 to 2019. Both the direct effects (with a one-year lag) and total effects over multiple (up to eight) years were calculated. Five sensitivity analyses were conducted. Two of these focus on lower-income and lower-wealth individuals. The other three each added one exogenous variable: work status, level of education, and home ownership. Results: The effects of income and financial wealth on health are present, but are relatively weak for the overall population. Sensitivity analyses show that these effects are stronger for those with lower incomes or wealth. Physical capability does seem to have strong positive effects on both income and financial wealth. There are a number of other results as well, as the estimated models are extensive. Many of the estimated effects only become substantial after several years. Conclusions: Income and financial wealth appear to have limited effects on the health of the overall population of The Netherlands. However, there are indications that these effects may be stronger for individuals who are closer to the poverty threshold. Since the estimated effects of physical capability on income and financial wealth are more substantial, a broad recommendation would be that including physical capability in efforts that are aimed at improving income and financial wealth could be useful and effective. The methodological approach described in this paper could also be applied to other research settings or topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact mechanism by which an incentive-based fertility policy may reduce the labor income share. First, the specific paths through which this impact mechanism is realized are analyzed using the production function. It is found that an incentive-based fertility policy triggers high savings, which implies more, cheaper, and more readily available capital to be invested in production. A distribution system that earns income based on factor contributions results in more gains for capital than labor, i.e., a lower share of labor income and a wider income gap between labor and capital. Second, the impact mechanism includes three theoretical hypotheses. They are that an encouraging fertility policy is negatively related to labor income share; this relationship is valid provided that the study subject is in a closed economy; and that capital intensification is a mediator variable of fertility policy affecting labor income share. Finally, to further corroborate the impact mechanism in this paper, a Hansen threshold panel model is applied to verify that the effect of fertility policy on labor income share has a threshold effect. This indicates that the effect of the former on the latter changes significantly before and after the change in fertility policy, confirming the existence of an impact mechanism. The established literature has paid little attention to the impact of incentivised fertility policies on the labour income gap. Using capital intensification as the mediating variable, this paper demonstrates the existence of the former effect on the latter. In view of this, under the encouraged fertility policy, this paper proposes specific measures to enhance the labor income share in order to narrow the income gap between labor and capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community gardens are more popular than ever, yet we know little about how leadership structure and neighborhood characteristics relate to programming. Hence, this paper analyzes how the racial/ethnic backgrounds of the community garden leaders are related to the activities the garden undertakes. What types of initiatives do gardens undertake to reduce food insecurity? The paper analyzes how the location of the garden impacts what it does. The article presents novel findings on the impact of leadership and neighborhood characteristics on community garden operations and outcomes. Hence, the essay examines how the race/ethnicity of garden managers and their sex and neighborhood characteristics, such as poverty rate, household income, and racial composition, are related to garden initiatives. Finally, the paper examines how community gardens responded to increased demands for food and services during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. We studied 53 community gardens in Michigan from the summer 2020 through the winter 2021. Whites manage 66% (35) of the gardens, while People of Color manage 34% (18). Roughly half of the gardens are managed by males and the remainder by females. The gardens, which lack paid staff, rely heavily on volunteers. Almost 53% of the gardens are in low-income census tracts (with median income of $40,000 or less). During the pandemic, 31% of the gardens reduced their staff, 51.4% had fewer volunteers than in pre-pandemic times, and 51.9% had increased amounts of people seeking food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a scoping review concerning the state of knowledge with respect to the impacts of COVID-19 on daily personal travel in the Global South. Based on the available literature in the Global South, the paper aims to: (1) provide an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the personal daily travel of different socio-economic and demographic groups during COVID-19; (2) synthesise the literature to explore the needs of the different socio-economic and demographic groups; and (3) identify groups who received less attention in transportation research in the Global South so far. The paper reviewed 47 studies and found that while investigating personal travel during COVID-19, the most explored socio-economic and demographic attributes were sex, age, income, occupation and educational qualifications. Some regional differences were evident in terms of mode choice during COVID-19. Through the review, it is also noticeable that none of the studies explored LGBTQ+ communities' and individuals with disabilities' transportation needs and challenges and how COVID-19 has impacted their personal travel. Other overlooked socio-economic and demographic groups in the Global South whose personal travel during COVID-19 and the post-pandemic period needs investigation are migrant and seasonal workers, children and youths, ethnic minorities, racial minorities, religious minorities, linguistically diverse individuals, indigenous individuals, and individuals residing in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify income-poverty risk factors in urban Mexican households. Special emphasis is paid to examine differences between female- and male-headed families. To this, a dataset with 45 theoretical factors at the individual/household, community, and regional levels, integrating information from nine sources, is created. To these data, additive quantile models are estimated via the boosting algorithm. From a gender standpoint, the following main contributions come from this paper. First, educational lag is particularly relevant for female-headed households. Second, there is a gendered life cycle in the income trajectory for poor households with a head having a medium level of education. Third, some households, traditionally disregarded, are found to be even poorer: those lacking social connectedness, without credit cards, with an extended composition, in which the female head spends a large part of her time on housework, and families headed by young women with a medium level of education. Finally, communities and regions where families have a lower income-to-poverty ratio are characterized as having an unequal income distribution, lower human development, lower levels of women's economic participation, poor quality of services, and lower gender-based violence levels in the public sphere but higher gender-based violence levels in the family context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the contribution of social capital to household economic outputs was greater than that of other types of capital, whether different dimensions of social capital contribute equally to household income, and whether the role of social capital varies among different categories of house- holds. We developed a reduced-form model of the household production function, in which social capital is treated as a production factor similar to other conventional factors such as physical capital, labor, and human capital, with household income and expenditure as dependent variables. The results show that social capital has a strong and positive contribution to household income, and the positive contribution of social capital to the general (the poor) house- hold's income is greater than that of the paper-recycling (the rich) household's income. In contrast to other studies, the number of memberships in associations does not have an impact on household income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the accumulation and distribution of retirement wealth in a dynastic model with earnings risks, longevity uncertainties, and borrowing constraints. It resolves the wealth indeterminacy problem across generations in dynastic families by introducing a transaction cost for intergenerational transfers. It captures the pattern of inter vivos transfers, the relationship between wealth and earnings, and wealth inequality in the US data. Social security lowers precautionary savings by redistributing income from families with high earnings or short‐lived parents to others, thus reducing investment, the growth rate in income per capita, inequality in retirees' consumption, and the wealth‐earnings correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grandparents' retirement behavior has important support on mother's employment quality. This paper aims to estimate the influence of grandparents' retirement behavior on mother's employment quality, based on the China Family Panel Studies of 2018. The findings reveal a significant enhancement in mother's employment quality resulting from grandparents' retirement behavior. The mediating effect of grandparents' intergenerational caregiving explains approximately 68.77% of this improvement. Furthermore, the positive effect of grandparents' retirement behavior on mother's employment quality is more pronounced in families where the grandchild is older and in better health. Notably, the involvement of paternal grandparents yields more favorable outcomes compared to maternal grandparents. Findings from this study suggest that grandparent's retirement behavior play an important role in mother's employment quality through the provision of childcare assistance. Moreover, these findings highlight that the effectiveness of such support varies depending on the characteristics of both grandchildren and grandparents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unequal divisions of paid work and care among new parents contribute to increasing inequalities. One explanation for this is joint utility maximization and the benefits of partners (temporarily) specializing in paid work and care. This paper examines the (dis)advantages of specializing compared to dividing tasks more equally by studying whether differences in specialization between same-sex and different-sex couples lead to differences in household earnings after entering parenthood. Using register data from Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden and examining first-time parents, we show that female couples have a more equal within-couple income development during the transition to parenthood than different-sex couples do. However, we find no differences in household income (including or excluding social transfers) between the two types of couples. Although a more equal task division may be preferred from an individual perspective, our results show no evidence of a "best strategy" when it comes to maximizing household income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key findings from our estimation models show that although the poorest households are vulnerable to income and food price shocks, our results also reveal an anomaly: given an increase in income and in food price, the poorest households seem to indulge in non-essential food expenditure, which is counterintuitive. Being the poorest typically conjures images of needing more food, not more food choices. We explain our findings within an intertwined theoretical underpinning, providing empirical verifications to two landmark hypotheses that bridge the economic-psychological frontier. We merge two relatively recent and nationally representative Malaysian household expenditure and price datasets. Our paper is perhaps the first work examining the poorest among poor households in a developing country from an economic-psychological angle, providing insights for more nuanced policy prescriptions. We believe our findings unveil aspects of food and poverty in Malaysia that have yet to be given detailed treatment so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severity and type of morbidity largely define the health-seeking behavior of an individual, although the socioeconomic determinants also play an important role. In this paper, the health-seeking behavior of individuals from the “Below Poverty Line” is analyzed by using the individual-level data of the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS)-II (2011–12). The trend and pattern of both major and short-term morbidity among the individuals from the “Below Poverty Line” are analyzed along with the comparison with individuals from the “Above Poverty Line.” Further, The logit regression model is used to determine the prominent socioeconomic factors of health-seeking behavior among individuals from “Below Poverty Line” and the decomposition analysis is conducted to determine the factor contributing to widening or narrowing the gap in getting treatment by individuals from both income groups. The result shows that individuals from the “Below Poverty Line” have a comparatively lower burden of major morbidity but also get lower treatments. The condition of women is more concerning. Socioeconomic factors such as “place of residence,” “education,” marital status, “age,” and “caste” are significant to the health-seeking behaviors of individuals from the “Below Poverty Line.” Further, “education” and “primary activity” are two major factors for both major and short-term morbidity that widen the gap in the health-seeking behavior of individuals from both income groups. However, factors such as “place of residence” and caste increase the gap in case of only short-term morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractTourism consumption is vital in expanding domestic demand and stimulating economic growth. In China, the urban-rural dual structure is more prominent in the tourism industry, and the potential of tourism consumption in rural areas needs further release. The development of the digital economy provides a new path to promote rural residents’ tourism consumption. Based on the data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2016, 2018, and 2020, this paper explores the specific impact of the digital economy on rural tourism consumption. The results show that the digital economy is conducive to promoting rural tourism consumption, and income structure is an important influence mechanism. The digital economy can promote rural tourism consumption by increasing wage income. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the digital economy significantly promotes tourism consumption in rural households with sufficient leisure time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global rise of right‐wing populist [RWP] parties presents a major political concern. RWP parties' voters tend to be citizens who have either experienced or fear economic deprivation. Income change constitutes a viable measure of this deprivation. However, previous contributions examining effects of income change on support for RWP parties have yielded diverging conclusions. This paper challenges previous findings by incorporating considerations of gender and within‐household inequality. We hypothesise a negative relationship between, on the one hand, personal and household income change and, on the other hand, sympathy towards RWP parties. Furthermore, we expect to find a stronger association between personal income change and RWP sympathy among men. Moreover, we expect the relationship between household income change and RWP sympathy to differ between genders. Finally, we hypothesise that this gender disparity can be interpreted by considering who contributes most to the household income. All these hypotheses are grounded in gender socialisation and economic dominance theories. Analysing Dutch LISS longitudinal data spanning from 2007 to 2021 (N = 7,801, n = 43,954) through fixed‐effects multilevel linear regression models enables us to address various competing explanations. It appears that only for men, personal income change is negatively linked with sympathies towards RWP parties. However, considering who is the highest earner within households reveals that women are also affected by their personal income change if they earn the highest income. For both men and women, household income change is negatively linked with sympathies towards RWP parties. These results lend partial support to both the socialisation and economic dominance theories. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether U.S./Mexico border residence in California is related to the prevalence of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder (AUD) among Whites and Hispanics. Household survey data were obtained from 1,209 adults (59.7% female) 18 to 39 years of age resident in four counties in California: Imperial on the U.S./Mexico border; and Kern, Tulare, and Madera in California's Central Valley. Households were selected using a list assisted sample, with data collected on the phone or online. Results show that AUD rates were not different between border and non-border location and between Whites and Hispanics. AUD was negatively associated with higher income ($20,000 to $60,000: AOR=.38; 95%CI=.17–.86; p<.01—more than $60,000: AOR=.27; 95%CI:.09–.81; p<.01) and poor risk perception (AOR=.86; 95%CI=.78–.94; p<.01). AUD was positively associated with continued volume of drinking (AOR = 1.05; 95%CI = 1.01–1.09; p<.01), drinking in Mexico (AOR = 4.28; 95%CI = 1.61–11.36; p<.01), marijuana use (AOR = 4.11; 95%CI = 1.73–9.77; p<.01), and impulsivity (AOR = 1.55; 95%CI = 1.23–1.94). Efforts to prevent AUD in the population in California, and especially among those who live close to the border with Mexico, should take into consideration factors such as impulsivity, marijuana use, border crossing to drink in Mexico, all of which increased risk of AUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In this paper, we investigated which socioeconomic and demographic groups first adopted digital primary care video consultations when they became accessible to the entire population in Sweden. Methods: We analysed data on all patients (378,000) who had a consultation with the largest provider of digital healthcare in Sweden – Kry – in the first years of national availability of the service, 2016–2018. We studied their income, education, demographics, and diagnosis backgrounds using matched registry data. Moreover, to compare users and non-users of digital primary care, we used data on all physical primary care users in one Swedish region: Skåne. Results: We found that this digital primary care was first used by young and higher-income adults, but not far from half of adult users had incomes below the national median. Digital care patients were more educated than the general population, reflecting that urban inhabitants were more likely than rural inhabitants to be users. First-generation immigrants were less represented among digital care users than in the population. However, second-generation immigrants with two foreign parents were slightly over-represented. The prevalence of some chronic diseases in pre-digital secondary (specialist and hospital) healthcare data among digital care users was similar to the population adjusted for age. Studying all physical primary care users in Skåne region, young digital care users had more primary care diagnoses and previous in-person primary care appointments than non-users, while the pattern was reversed for older users. Conclusions: When digital primary care became nationally available, younger, urban and more educated patients were the first to adopt the new technology. Regarding medical history, young users of digital care had a higher previous disease burden than young non-users, suggesting that these digital services were first adopted by young people with high primary care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While emotional transmission is a well‐documented phenomenon, the contagion of happiness, specifically as a positive emotion, has received limited research attention. This study utilizes data from the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS2015) to analyse the effects of happiness contagion among different individual groups in urban communities. Findings indicate that individuals with positive personalities and social attitudes are more susceptible to happiness contagion. Regarding personal and job attributes, the elderly, the highly educated, the married, or people who are religious, have high incomes, work in non‐state‐owned enterprises, or work flexibly tend to receive more happiness from their neighbours. Moreover, residents living in economically developed areas exhibit a greater receptivity to happiness contagion. The paper discusses policy implications of the results. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Systematic reviews are considered the highest level of evidence that can help guide evidence‐informed decisions in nursing practice, education, and even health policy. Systematic review publications have increased from a sporadic few in 1980s to more than 10,000 systematic reviews published every year and around 30,000 registered in prospective registries. Methods: A cross‐sectional design and a variety of data sources were triangulated to identify the journals from which systematic reviews would be evaluated for adherence to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 reporting guidelines and scope. Specifically, this study used the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines to assess the reporting of the introduction, methods, information sources and search strategy, study selection process, quality/bias assessments, and results and discussion aspects of the included systematic reviews. Results: Upon review of the 215 systematic reviews published in 10 top‐tier journals in the field of nursing in 2019 and 2020, this study identified several opportunities to improve the reporting of systematic reviews in the context of the 2020 PRISMA statement. Areas of priority for reporting include the following key areas: (1) information sources, (2) search strategies, (3) study selection process, (4) bias reporting, (5) explicit discussion of the implications to policy, and lastly, the need for (6) prospective protocol registration. Discussion: The use of the PRISMA 2020 guidelines by authors, peer reviewers, and editors can help to ensure the transparent and detailed reporting of systematic reviews published in the nursing literature. Clinical Relevance: Systematic reviews are considered strong research evidence that can guide evidence‐based practice and even clinical decision‐making. This paper addresses some common methodological and process issues among systematic reviews that can guide clinicians and practitioners to be more critical in appraising research evidence that can shape nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty exists not only in low and middle-income countries but also in high-income countries. Brunei, a rich country heavily reliant on hydrocarbon in Southeast Asia, is not an exception. Though poverty is not a topic that is politically taboo in Brunei, there are no statistics on poverty in Brunei. Yet, having such statistics would aid the government to achieve the target of zero poverty in 2035. Therefore, this technical paper provides a pioneering estimation of poverty rates in Brunei, utilising published data from 'Household Expenditure Surveys' and focusing on the basic need approach. It calculates monthly household poverty rates based on the World Bank's poverty lines and OECD median income approach. It produces poverty rates based on expenditure and income. The research employs two models: a proportional model and a refined model. The results show declining rates of poverty, regardless of the poverty lines and models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the causal effects of a set of active labor market programs for male unemployed refugees on welfare who entered Germany between, 2013 and September, 2016. Using rich administrative data, we employ covariate balancing propensity scores combined with inverse probability weighting to estimate effects up to 33 months after the start of treatment. Our results show that relatively short-term training in the form of Schemes by Providers and In-Firm Training, as well as longer-term Further Vocational Training programs have a positive impact on both the employment chances as well as labor market earnings of refugees in the medium run. So-called "One Euro Jobs", a public employment program, does not yield positive effects on employment or earnings. Sensitivity analyses confirm that our results are unlikely to be driven by unobserved confounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resurgence of inflation has been accompanied by a reversal of prospects of growth, with a prominent role assigned to the fall of households' purchasing power. Yet this real income effect of inflation surprises, independent of restrictive monetary policy, is not present in the standard New Keynesian models for monetary policy. The reason lies in the formulation of the consumption‐based "IS equation". The paper shows how the income effect can be introduced by reformulating the consumption function, with the consequence that it exerts an autonomus stabilization effect on inflation. The main monetary policy implications are examined by means of simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wellbeing is an increasingly prominent topic across academia, including analyses of the myriad factors that influence it. Of these, perhaps the most prominent is economics, with a relatively-well substantiated link, especially at lower levels of income. However, most work has been limited to select measures (usually life evaluation) and/or populations (usually Western nations). This paper offers an expansive approach, exploring associations between income and a selection of 31 items pertaining to wellbeing in the Gallup World Poll over 3 years (2020–2022), covering 386,654 people in 142 countries. Significantly, on every single variable, participants with higher incomes fare better than those with lower incomes. However, there are also many interesting nuances when filtering the results through various demographic considerations, including comparing participants in terms of global regions, sex, age, and level of education. Together, these nuances paint a complex picture of the impact of economics on wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation of the factors influencing the decision to purchase processed food based on traffic-light labeling (TLL). To achieve this, we use data from the official National Survey of Health and Nutrition, which gathered information on 26,532 individuals aged between 19 and 59 between 2011 and 2013. Employing a probit regression to assess the likelihood of buying food based on TLL, we identify a positive association between income level and the probability of buying food based on TLL; indeed, our model suggests that a 1% increase in monthly income increases by 0.008 the probability of buying food based on TLL. We infer that people with higher levels of income are more aware of the benefits of TLL and healthy food habits. Our results also suggest that the probability of basing purchasing decisions on TLL is higher for overweight people compared to those of normal weight, that is, overweight people buy their processed food paying more attention to TLL compared to normal weight people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined gender (N = 1406;77.7% women) patterns of religious coping and psychological impact following the devastating 2023 Syrian earthquakes. Measures in this nation-wide convenience sample study included positive religious coping (PRC) and negative religious coping (NRC) using the Brief Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE), and probable PTSD, depression, and anxiety, using the PCL-5, PHQ-9, and GAD-7, respectively. Women reported higher endorsement of PRC items while men higher endorsement of NRC items. Within the women only sample, lower education and lower income, education and younger age predicted PRC and NRC, respectively. NRC was strongly positively associated with PTSD, depression and anxiety; while, PRC was positively associated only with PTSD. These vulnerable women require targeted support to adopt more adaptive religious coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Unveiling insights into the Chinese low consumption puzzle by emphasizing the impact of monopolistic and strategic land supply on the final consumption rate. • Monopolistic land supply suppresses the final consumption rate by expanding government income share and widening urban-rural income gaps. • Strategic land supply suppresses the final consumption rate by driving up the share of capital income and housing prices. • Reducing land transaction monopolies and optimizing supply structures can yield substantial benefits for economic rebalancing. The challenge of low consumption presents a complex development issue in China, one that has been insufficiently analyzed through the lens of land supply. This paper introduces a fresh perspective to the Chinese low consumption puzzle by shedding light on the constraints imposed by monopolistic/strategic land supply on the final consumption rate. Our findings reveal that China's distinctive land supply patterns systematically restrict consumption, as monopolistic land supply hinders total consumption by widening the share of government sector income and the urban-rural income gap. Additionally, strategic land supply curtails consumption by increasing the share of capital income and driving up housing prices. This study underscores the significance of land supply-side reforms in bolstering consumption, offering valuable policy insights for China and other transitioning economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economies and livelihoods in the Caribbean strongly depend on the terrestrial and marine natural resource base. There are critical gaps in quantitative data and the contextual and compositional factors affecting perceptions of changes in ecosystems and natural resources. This paper used interview data from 441 households in Belize, Dominican Republic, and Suriname to explore the contextual and compositional determinants of perceptions of change in the quality of the terrestrial, coastal/marine environment and natural resources as a composite variable. The outcome variable comprised changes in fishing effort, marine and coastal environment, forest cover, agricultural land area, and soil fertility, and relationships with predictor variables were explored using univariate, bivariate, and three multivariate models. At the univariate level, most respondents in Belize and Suriname reported perceiving a significant increase in fishing effort (i.e. days and fuel spent at sea) and a decrease in forest cover, quality of the coastal/marine environment, area of agricultural land, and fertility and productivity of soils. Sex, marital status, household size, and years of experience were not significantly associated with the terrestrial variables and fishing effort. Sex was only significantly associated with the quality of the marine environment. At the multivariate level, the elderly, high school education, and household incomes were associated with a lower perception of the outcome variable. It is concluded that policy and interventions should strongly consider ethnicity and community, and improve education and household incomes to enhance perceptions of changes in the quality of the terrestrial and coastal/marine environment in the studied countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making a living from a small farm is difficult in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we quantify how difficult, using a simple, robust, relation between per capita daily income from farming (FPDI), land per capita and whole-farm net profitability per hectare. This relation allows the calculation of the land area required to generate various levels of household income as a function of farm performance. We use nationally representative household data for Tanzania to investigate the range of whole-farm profitability and to estimate an upper limit for it. For 6818 cases where households with land reported figures for gross crop and livestock revenues and for costs in any of the three years 2009, 2011 or 2013, actual median whole-farm net profitability was only $454/ha/y even without including the opportunity cost of family labour. When those were considered, median net profitability was negative $238/ha/y, i.e. a net loss. The maximum whole-farm profitability achieved was $4485/ha/y without family labour costs and $2742/ha/y with it. We evaluated actual and potential farm performance for their ability to generate a range of values of FPDI up to $10 per person per day. Most farms are not very profitable, particularly when household labour costs are considered, and few would be considered economically prosperous. Our analysis underscores the fact that improving their operations or adopting new technologies alone is unlikely to lift many smallholder farmers out of poverty in developing countries, given typical farm size distributions and reasonable assumptions about the realized economic returns to adoption of currently available agricultural technologies. While continued agricultural R&D investments are certainly worthwhile, such efforts alone will be insufficient to meaningfully address welfare needs of the world's rural poor. This suggests that agricultural development programs should expand their attention to incorporate off-farm and non-farm components of the rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lives of rural households are predominantly based on agriculture and its allied activities. However, there are signs of an agricultural crisis resulting in dependence on alternative sources of income. This paper analyzes the factors that influence the decision of farm households to participate in non-farm activities for alternative income. The official data for two years on the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households are explored and a pooled probit regression model is run to examine the determinants of income diversification. Our findings reveal that farm income and irrigated land negatively influence diversification. However, diversification of those having lower access to farm holdings, socioeconomic deprivation, and improved access to education, informal credit, and crop insurance point out positive participation in non-farm enterprises. In addition, the population belonging to hilly and coastal plain regions and the age group 30–64 years are more likely to diversify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by existing gaps in the research of elder abuse and neglect (EAN) outcomes and very limited knowledge from Central-European cultural contexts, this paper analyzes the link between domestic-based EAN and three measures of well-being, namely subjective loneliness, sense of control over one's life, and a broader outlook on life. To do this, we used recently (2022) collected EAN survey fielded among home-dwelling residents of the Czech Republic aged 65 +. The results show that there is a clear relationship between EAN and these selected outcomes. Controlling for several sets of potential modifying or confounding factors further indicates that this relationship is substantial and direct, rather than weak and indirect. Among controls, only variables related to disadvantage (health, income, dependency, history of abuse) partly account for the link between EAN and its outcomes due to their relation to both heightened risk of EAN and lower well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcome of economic growth is visualised as the well-being of citizens or human well-being (HWB). However, it has been a great challenge to measure HWB. Though there are known reasons for considering GDP and its growth as a measure of overall development and progress of nations, yet mostly it is being used as a gospel indicator to compare nations and design appropriate policies. This paper is an effort to develop a comprehensive adjusted GDP to measure HWB through secondary data for thirty years (1990–91 to 2019–20) in India. We make thirty-five adjustments to net national income (NNI) to compute the adjusted national income (ANI) index based on the system analysis approach. The empirical findings show that the gap between NNI and ANI has been growing over time, and the ANI index shows an increasing trend. Through the analysis it is suggested that economic growth should be focused only if it improves HWB (full or partial). The paper attempts to make intervention into policy shift for improving HWB vis-à-vis happiness of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aims to examine the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and identify predictors of anxiety among pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners and explore the mediating role of marital satisfaction between maternal and paternal anxiety. Design: A cross‐sectional study was conducted in Guangzhou, China, from July 2021 to May 2022. Methods: A total of 306 dyads of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners completed the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, Locke–Wallace Marital Adjustment Test and the socio‐demographic and clinical data sheet. Results: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was 32.4% and 36.6% in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners, respectively. The predictors of maternal anxiety were paternal anxiety, maternal marital satisfaction, maternal monthly salary, fasting glucose value and 1‐h glucose value. By contrast, the predictors of paternal anxiety were maternal anxiety, paternal marital satisfaction and paternal monthly salary. Moreover, the relationship between maternal and paternal anxiety was mediated by marital satisfaction. Conclusions: The anxiety symptoms of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners influence each other, and this relationship was mediated by marital satisfaction. Every couple should be screened for anxiety symptoms and treated as a team rather than focusing solely on the pregnant woman. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Gestational diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with various short‐ and long‐term adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.The diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus is stressful for pregnant women and their partners.No studies have been conducted to examine and compare the anxiety symptoms among pregnant women with GDM and their partners in mainland China. What this paper adds? The anxiety symptoms of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners influence each other.The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was high in both pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners.Marital satisfaction played a mediating role between maternal and paternal anxiety. The implications of this paper: Study findings provide important information to guide future practice for nurses and other health‐care professionals.For the future, routine screening for anxiety symptoms is necessary for both pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners; mental health support should be delivered in a timely fashion for couples.Pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and their partners should be treated as a team rather than focusing solely on pregnant women, with couples given training on enhancing marital satisfaction skills to prevent and reduce their anxiety symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to develop a model to help parents cope with decisional conflict. Background: Parents of children with congenital heart defect experience decisional conflict when they are uncertain about treatment decisions for their child, which may lead to delay in seeking care or distress over the decision made. Design: Correlational design with model building and data triangulation was used. Methods: Data were collected through surveys and interviews with a consecutive sample of 221 parent respondents from June to December 2018. Structural equation modelling and qualitative data analysis were used. Results: Lower decisional conflict was seen in parents with higher income, more nurse support and physician risk communication. Time delay for surgery was correlated with the child's age, social service coverage, and social support. Decisional conflict mediated the influence of income, nurse support and physician risk communication on satisfaction with decision. Based on model fit parameters, the emerging model is a good and parsimonious model of decisional conflict. The overall theme, 'Deciding for Surgery: What Matters Most', described the processes parents went through in making treatment decisions. Conclusion: Nurses may help parents feel more certain, less conflicted, and more satisfied with their decision by addressing factors including knowledge gaps, personal values, available support, and resource access. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Decisional conflict occurs when parents are uncertain of the best action for their child because treatment options entail risks for undesirable outcomes, value compromise, unclear prognosis, or anticipated regret over the decision.Professional support, information, and communication are vital to parents' decision‐making process.Child, parent, and support factors may influence parent treatment decisions in varied paediatric conditions. What this paper adds? Child's age at the time of decision‐making had an effect on the delay in surgery. However, assisting parents to weigh their options and focus on personal values allowed them to make their treatment decision.Low income, costly health services, and bureaucratic processes impeded the timely availment of surgery. Healthcare reforms that provide a system of government funding, streamlined health structure, and social insurance may be looked into.Family support weighed in on the parents' decision to delay surgery for fear of blame or guilt. Providing relevant information enabled parents to make a choice and stand by their decision regardless of the outcome. The implications of this paper: Modelling provides a framework to identify which factors are more important and how they interact to affect decision‐making. It may be used as an approach to find solutions to clinical problems for groups with different diagnoses.Though nursing support, information, and communication are essential, a more holistic family nursing care approach may be considered to assist parents to make appropriate treatment decisions for their child.Familiarity with the healthcare system may equip nurses to aid parents in processing available healthcare funding and dealing with financial uncertainty affecting decisions for their child's treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women who sell sex (WSS) are vulnerable to violence. We present a scoping review of the last decade of research on the prevalence and incidence of, factors associated with, and services regarding violence against WSS in Eastern and Southern African (ESA). A systematic search of various databases resulted in 20 papers being reviewed. Inclusion criteria, applied by the first two authors, were as follows: empirical papers, key research problem is violence against WSS, and conducted in ESA countries. The lifetime prevalence of violence revealed in the studies ranged from 21% to 82%. A pattern of generalized violence against WSS from paying clients, male partners, strangers, family members, friends/acquaintances, and the authorities emerged. Factors associated with violence included the context within which the sex work occurs, alcohol use, type of sex exchange interactions, and personal factors (low education, low income, marriage, youth, high client volume, time in sex work, forced sexual debut, and internalized sex work stigma). WSS seldom access services after violence. Evaluations of two programs, a woman-focused HIV intervention, and the Diagonal Interventions to Fast-Forward Reproductive Health project, showed improvements in gender-based violence services. Findings suggest that targeted programmes should be paired with improving general health services and focus on promoting collective agency among WSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses micro-level data from the 2013 official Kuwait Household expenditure survey covering 2961 households; and three 2020 COVID-19 shock-related CEO, labor force and household surveys to juxtapose the consumption profiles of foreign workers in Kuwait. The paper contributes to a growing literature on foreign workers by focusing on foreign workers' employment and earnings and consumption profiles following the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper compares differential consumption responses of 250 foreign and Kuwaiti households during the COVID-19 shock with profiles that existed during 2013, which was a shock-free year. Moreover, since foreigners represent nearly 70% of the population, OLS regressions were applied to the 2013 microdata and the 2020 household survey to inquire if standard consumption functions deployed in the economic literature hold in the case of foreign households in Kuwait and vets how their consumption responded to income shocks. Our data and empirical analysis corroborate that Kuwait's foreign community bore the brunt of COVID-19 in terms of employment, earnings and living conditions. Moreover, our results broadly indicate congruence with Friedman's permanent income hypothesis, and that for given income levels, consumption heterogeneity holds for foreign workers according to age cohorts, giving support to the life cycle hypothesis. The findings carry significant implications to Kuwait's dichotomous labor markets, and to households' income and consumption policies especially to Kuwait's transformative policy to realize sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on microdata from the Chinese Social Survey (CSS2019) describing 6097 rural households, this paper uses the weighted average method to measure the level of internet use and describe common prosperity in terms of "comprehensive" prosperity (measured with per capita income level) and "universal" affluence (measured with income inequality). Subsequently, the ordinary least squares method is used to estimate the common prosperity effect of internet use. The research draws the following conclusions. (1) Internet use significantly raises the per capita income level of rural households, reduces income inequality between households, contributes to "comprehensive" prosperity and "universal" affluence, and realizes the goal of common prosperity. Furthermore, this paper uses two-stage least squares, limited information maximum likelihood, propensity score matching, replacement and combination of variables, simultaneous quantile regression, and exclusion of outliers to test the robustness of the baseline regression results, which remains robust after a series of tests. (2) Enhancing the use of the Internet can promote non-agricultural employment, cause a reallocation of labor time and income, and increase the proportion of non-agricultural work time and income, which in turn can affect the level of per capita income of rural households and the degree of income inequality between households, contributing overall to achieving the goal of common prosperity. Non-agricultural employment is a major mechanism by which internet use influences common prosperity. (3) The common prosperity effect of internet use in rural households is affected by the level of regional innovation development, the degree of digital economy development, and the natural geographical location, showing a clear heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I foreground the view that, as human agents initiating and participating in developmental projects that are both economically and educationally oriented, the possession of social consciousness of what development in society in the twenty-first century fully entails is an indispensable attribute. This paper, therefore, interrogates the narrower views of development, which tend to focus on identifying development with the growth of a gross national product with the rise in personal incomes, with industrialisation, or with technological advance (Sen, 1999:3). Thus, I argue that social consciousness on the part of human subjects, who are in turn agents of social developmental change, is critical since development ...requires partnerships within a framework of common values and goals (Badat, 2009:11). It is against this backdrop, therefore, that Coppedge’s (1999:465) averment to the effect that “development is more than just average wealth”. Arguably, it is rendered intelligible since “development is a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy”, which ‘contrasts with the narrower views of development’ (Sen, 1999:3). Thus, societies that are bedevilled by social illsresulting from a lack of development must continue to ‘search for human agency and for the means through which inequality can be undone (Hammami, 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the association between children's difficulty in moving to secondary school and their family background. School transition difficulty is associated with a range of poor outcomes in young people, but studies have rarely taken a fully longitudinal perspective or looked in detail at inequalities in transition processes. This perspective can unpack the long-term processes behind any inequalities in such difficulties. We use longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Scotland survey to model school transition difficulty at age 12 using ordinary least squares regression models. We adopt a multidimensional approach to social background, taking account of social class, parental education, and household income. All three dimensions, especially income, are associated with school transition difficulty. This social gradient is not explained by differences in the home learning environment, school engagement at primary level or cognitive development in early to middle childhood. Results show the limits of agency-based measures, like school engagement and home learning, in explaining inequality and children's disadvantage in school. Results also show the importance of adopting a multidimensional approach to family background when analysing inequality in education, regardless of the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts the multinomial endogenous treatment effect approach to analyze the impact of innovation choices on the income of 230 fish workers in the Greater Accra and Central regions of Ghana, while the Kendall's ranking technique is applied to analyze the constraints to innovation. Findings show that technological and non-technological innovations available to fish workers have positive impacts on their income. Specifically, savings, credit access, and support service are identified to have positive impacts on income while gender and membership of a fish workers' association have negative impacts on income. The most pressing constraints to innovation faced by female fish workers are cultural/ethnic restrictions, social exclusion, and time constraints. On the other hand, a high dependency ratio and discrimination in access to resources are the most pressing constraints faced by male fish workers. The paper recommends that stakeholders should continue to offer support services to fish workers. In addition, lending institutions should make credit accessible at lower interest rates. Interventions by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and development agencies that aim to solve constraints of fish workers should be approached from a gender dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Improving social circumstances (eg, an increase in income, finding a job or moving into a good neighbourhood) may reduce tobacco use, but robust evidence on the effects of such improvements is scarce. Accordingly we investigated the link between changing social circumstances and changing tobacco smoking using repeated measures data. METHODS: 15 000 adults with at least two observations over three waves (each 2 years apart) of a panel study had data on smoking status, family, labour force, income and deprivation (both neighbourhood and individual). Fixed effects regression modelling was used. FINDINGS: The odds of smoking increased 1.42-fold (95% CI 1.16 to 1.74) for a one log-unit increase in personal income among 15-24-year-olds, but there was no association of increased smoking with an increase in income among 25+ year olds. Moving out of a family nucleus, increasing neighbourhood deprivation (eg, 1.83-fold (95% CI 1.18 to 2.83) increased odds of smoking for moving from least to most deprived quintile of neighbourhoods), increasing personal deprivation and moving into employment were all associated with increased odds of smoking. The number of cigarettes smoked a day changed little with changing social circumstances. INTERPRETATION: Worsening social circumstances over the short run are generally associated with higher smoking risk. However, there were counter examples: for instance, decreasing personal income among young people was associated with decreased odds of smoking, a finding consistent with income elasticity of demand (the less one's income, the less one can consume). This paper suggests that improving social circumstances is not always pro-health over the short run; a more nuanced approach to the social determinants of health is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noting limited attention by international development agencies to inequalities compared to global poverty, we ask how these two challenges have been framed in agencies’ policy publications during the past several decades. Following a recent application of algorithmic analysis to health policy narratives in the UK, we use text-mining software to compare the frequency of two alternative conceptualisations of poverty and inequality in three different document categories: the World Bank's World Development Reports, the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Reports and a set of white papers by bilateral donor agencies. In a second step, we visualise each document's degree of contextual similarity in using the two conceptualisations of poverty and inequality with all documents in the same source category. We find that while references to poverty have, on average, been twice as prominent as references to inequality, conceptualisations of poverty and inequality as well as the textual contexts in which they appear differ both temporally and substantively between agencies included in our sample. We show how such agency-specific framing patterns can be leveraged politically to forge more effective social policy coalitions. We also outline follow-up research capable of capturing the politics of language underpinning our observations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective To estimate the long-term and short-term effects on cigarette demand in Argentina based on changes in cigarette price and income per person >14 years old. Method Public data from the Ministry of Economics and Production were analysed based on monthly time series data between 1994 and 2010. The econometric analysis used cigarette consumption per person >14 years of age as the dependent variable and the real income per person >14 years old and the real average price of cigarettes as independent variables. Empirical analyses were done to verify the order of integration of the variables, to test for cointegration to capture the long-term effects and to capture the short-term dynamics of the variables. Results The demand for cigarettes in Argentina was affected by changes in real income and the real average price of cigarettes. The long-term income elasticity was equal to 0.43, while the own-price elasticity was equal to −0.31, indicating a 10% increase in the growth of real income led to an increase in cigarette consumption of 4.3% and a 10% increase in the price produced a fall of 3.1% in cigarette consumption. The vector error correction model estimated that the short-term income elasticity was 0.25 and the short-term own-price elasticity of cigarette demand was −0.15. A simulation exercise showed that increasing the price of cigarettes by 110% would maximise revenues and result in a potentially large decrease in total cigarette consumption. Conclusion Econometric analyses of cigarette consumption and their relationship with cigarette price and income can provide valuable information for developing cigarette price policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family income questions in general purpose surveys are usually collected with either a single-question summary design or a multiple-question disaggregation design. It is unclear how estimates from the two approaches agree with each other. The current paper takes advantage of a large-scale survey that has collected family income with both methods. With data from 14,222 urban and rural families in the 2018 wave of the nationally representative China Family Panel Studies, we compare the two estimates, and further evaluate factors that might contribute to the discrepancy. We find that the two estimates are loosely matched in only a third of all families, and most of the matched families have a simple income structure. Although the mean of the multiple-question estimate is larger than that of the single-question estimate, the pattern is not monotonic. At lower percentiles up till the median, the single-question estimate is larger, whereas the multiple-question estimate is larger at higher percentiles. Larger family sizes and more income sources contribute to higher likelihood of inconsistent estimates from the two designs. Families with wage income as the main income source have the highest likelihood of giving consistent estimates compared with all other families. In contrast, families with agricultural income or property income as the main source tend to have very high probability of larger single-question estimates. Omission of certain income components and rounding can explain over half of the inconsistencies with higher multiple-question estimates and a quarter of the inconsistencies with higher single-question estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the impacts of ranked choice voting (RCV) on voter efficacy is important as more areas consider adoption. The greater number of choices provided by longer RCV ballots may introduce opportunities for voters to misunderstand the ballot, make errant marks, or accidentally mark two or more candidates for one ranking, resulting in voidable ballots due to "overvoting." Using ballot data from the 2013 general election, the 2017, and 2021 New York City democratic mayoral primaries, this paper asks whether voidable overvote ballots are more concentrated in constituencies with lower levels of educational attainment, average household incomes, and differing racial make-ups, and if this relationship is more pronounced under RCV than traditional elections. In the first RCV election in 2021, voters in locations with lower levels of educational attainment and median household incomes had higher shares of overvote voidable ballots than those in locations with higher educational attainment and incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age gap between spouses has important implications for a range of outcomes—from fertility and longevity, to gender relationships, marital quality, and stability. This paper examines the age gap between spouses in 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia. The average age difference (husband's minus wife's age) is positive in all countries and ranges from 2.7 in Myanmar to 8.4 in Bangladesh. Age homogamous marriages accounted for 5% of all marriages in Bangladesh to close to half of all marriages in Thailand. The proportion of age hypogamous marriages was uniformly low in all the countries except for Myanmar where it reaches close to 10%. Men's marriage age has a stronger effect in determining the age gap. In general, the age gap for women with lower education was larger than for those with higher education. However, much of this effect was explained by the difference in marriage timing across educational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the perceived importance of family background affects distributional preferences using two large-scale survey experiments. In the first experiment, we randomly inform respondents about the relationship between parental income and economic success later in life, making their social mobility perceptions more pessimistic. However, this changes neither revealed distributional preferences nor pro-social behavior toward the rich and poor. The second experiment shows that respondents do not account for parental influence on economic success when making (re-)distribution decisions, suggesting that people view parental influence as a legitimate reason to justify some inequality. This can explain why distributional preferences are immune to changes in perceptions of social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]