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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 measurement using durable ownership data is an attempt to infer income constraints by observing consumption choices. But what drives household spending choices on durable goods? How do these choices relate to poverty and class? What does it mean to be 'relatively' poor and why should we care to measure it? In this paper, we propose an economic theory of household decision-making that links these questions using a novel wealth-begets-wealth mechanism. We show that the steady state distribution of total (accumulated) household durable expenditures in this model exhibits natural clusters (classes). Furthermore, certain households may be vulnerable to a long run 'poverty of opportunities', being unable to access any of the channels of income generation available in society. Our model shows that relative poverty can be understood as the endogenous outcome of an intergenerational process that perpetuates unequal access to opportunities. This finding has novel implications for the measurement of poverty, which has traditionally hinged on definitions that assume exogenous (often arbitrary) cutoffs. The contribution of this paper also lies in its novel methodology, viz., formulating a theoretical model as the foundation of a data-generating process for synthetic observations, using patterns observed therein to inform the process of poverty measurement. The methodology delivers a framework for generating testable hypotheses around the long-run effect of policy changes (such as income transfers or education subsidies) on relative poverty – an approach that can be applied generally to understand the observed behaviour of economic agents in complex dynamic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aims Design Methods Data Sources Results Conclusions Impact Reporting Method Patient or Public Contribution What Does This Paper Contribute to the Wider Global Clinical Community To identify the evidence of gender disparities in frailty and explore the factors contributing to male–female differences.A longitudinal study.A total of 24,429 older adults (60+) were enrolled. Frailty was assessed by frailty index and frailty risk based on Rockwood's cumulative deficit frailty index. OLS and logistic regression models were conducted, with Oaxaca–Blinder and Fairlie decomposition methods to further analyse the factors contributing to gender disparities in frailty.The paper used four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2018, a nationwide survey organised by the National Development Institute of Peking University.Women had higher frailty status than men, with more pronounced increases. Among the factors, education has the most significant association with frailty gender disparities. The contribution of individual characteristics, particularly education, to gender disparities in frailty appeared to diminish over time, while the contribution of family and regional factors remained relatively stable, and the contribution of institutions was deemed inadequate.The frailty in Chinese older adults is generally on the rise with continuously expanded gender disparities. It is crucial to consider the contributing factors to frailty in older adults for effective prevention and intervention strategies. Additional gender‐specific geriatric care policies are needed in order to address gender inequality in health.The findings of this study highlight the prevalence of increasing gender disparities in frailty and identify that the level of education, per capita annual household income as well as marital status are the most significant factors contributing to the gender gap. Those findings provide policy implications for healthcare nursing service from a gender‐specific perspective in order to achieve health equity.This study has adhered to the STROBE guideline.No Patient or Public Contribution. This study provided implications on gender‐specific geriatric care nursing services. The study highlighted the importance of focusing on frailty and its gender disparities in geriatric clinical nursing. [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]

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]

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 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 tries to investigate the question of whether the poverty ratio across Indian states is converging in the post-2000s. We addressed this question of spatial convergence of the poverty ratio using unconditional convergence over the period 2004–05 to 2018–19 for 18 major states of India, considering both rural and urban regions. We used the unit-level data of NSSO’s Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES) for the 61st, 68th and PLFS 2018–19 rounds for the analysis. Besides, we try to assess the driving factors of poverty through a panel regression model. The results reveal that in the first period from 2004–05 to 2011–12, Indian states experienced a divergence in the overall poverty ratio and rural poverty. However, the second period, 2011–12 to 2018–19, witnessed no specific trend of convergence or divergence across states. Again, in the case of urban poverty, there is no particular pattern of poverty convergence or divergence during both periods. The study shows that the Gini coefficient, educational expenditure, household size, infant mortality, literacy rate, MPCE, primary-sector income and per capita power availability are the significant determinants of poverty in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of technology and the rising digital divide among the older adult population, predominantly in lower-middle income countries such as Bangladesh, have posed a precarious challenge. Hence, the time has come to navigate this upcoming challenge. Thus, the current research aims to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PE), and perceived risk (PR) on the behavioral intention to adopt mHealth (BI). Furthermore, multigroup analysis (MGA) is used to examine BI regarding gender and income groups. Data from 140 older adults in Bangladesh were gathered and later analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to estimate the measurement and structural model parameters and produce concurrent bootstrap evaluations. The findings revealed that PE and PU substantially affect the intention to adopt mHealth, whereas PR has small effect on mHealth adoption. Furthermore, the MGA depicts that the effect of PR is statistically significant for older adult males and females. Additionally, the effect of PE on behavioral intention to adopt mHealth between income groups (lower income vs. higher income) is significant. Therefore, this research advances our theoretical and empirical understanding by yielding new scholarly evidence in the domain of mHealth adoption by older adults. Finally, the paper concludes with augmented practical considerations concerning the adoption of mHealth as a technology by older adults, which will assist in alleviating the digital divide for any such lower-middle income country across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motives behind transfers from adult children to parents hold significance in the well-being of the elderly. In the context of China's land titling program, we utilize a dominant child model to study the trade-off between altruism and exchange motives. Based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper employs the endogenous switching model to investigate the effects of land titling on children's pecuniary and time transfers. The results of the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) indicate that for children whose parents receive land titling, land titling has significantly increased their pecuniary transfers while decreasing their time transfers. Mechanism analysis reveals that the land titling program results in higher parental income by incentivizing parents to rent out their land and engage in off-farm employment. These findings reveal the exchange motive, suggesting that children provide transfers out of concern about their parents' wealth. Heterogeneous analysis demonstrates that both sons and daughters lean towards exchange motives. Land titling effects are pronounced among children without siblings, those from parental households with lower land per capita, and those with higher income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand pathways into volunteering in the encore life stage and contribute to policy interventions. There is a need for more clarity regarding the delineation of formal volunteering from informal volunteering and from adult kin-caring. A sample of 4,464 respondents from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey was analysed using a set of logistic regressions, to explore three frames of volunteering —substitution (of former work time), complementary focus (gradual adjustment to less paid work or other change in personal circumstance), and obligation (compulsion to provide care or unpaid labour). Results indicate that formal volunteering was largely discretionary and a result of substitution, that informal volunteering, particularly caring for children, was complementary and partly obligatory, and the area of greatest potential policy intervention, adult kin caring was found to be largely obligatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of the accumulation of tangible capital, ICT and intangible capital assets like software and databases or R&D on employment growth and the changes in labour income shares at the country-industry level. The econometric analysis is derived from a Cobb–Douglas production function taking into account the stylised fact that the capital–output ratios are rather constant or increasing over time with the latter being the case particularly for ICT and intangible assets. The accumulation of tangible assets like machinery and transport equipment then has a relatively strong positive relation to employment growth. Further in line with the theoretical outline, the accumulation of ICT assets or intangible assets are less strongly related to employment growth. Both these conjectures are confirmed econometrically. The impact on labour income shares is mixed, but generally small. • Capital–output ratios are increasing with capital accumulation of ICT and intangible asset types. • Accumulation of tangible capital is positively related to employment growth. • ICT and intangible capital accumulation is also positively but only weakly linked to employment growth. • Impact on labour income shares is mixed and small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractKyrgyzstan experienced a remarkable boom in potato production over the past thirty years, driven almost entirely by small farms. Today, potatoes are at once the backbone of national food security, a central source of income for many Kyrgyz households, and a non-trivial source of export earnings. This paper documents the central characteristics of the Kyrgyz potato economy and explains the conditions of its emergence and resilience. We show that Kyrgyzstan’s potato economy is driven by three main features: land reforms that dispersed ownership of land early in the post-Soviet transition, dense social networks that connect producers to input suppliers and markets, and a match between the potato and the country’s mountainous terrain and continental climate. Together, these features have given rise to a food security model that leverages the potato’s well-known nutritional qualities, its cultural status as a food staple across the region, and Kyrgyzstan’s geography and climate. We term this the Kyrgyz Potato Model (KPM). Unlike critics that stress the inefficiencies of Kyrgyz potato production, we highlight the model’s strengths: it is extremely effective in feeding citizens, generates much-needed household incomes, and has been remarkably resilient in the face of recent global economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty (EP) is a crucial socio-economic problem in current society, as it deprives people of a basic standard of living and quality of life. In general, EP is linked to various factors, but it is primarily associated with high energy costs, low household income, and inefficient building structures. Due to the recent energy crisis in Europe, the importance of these factors has escalated. Bearing in mind the above remarks, the REVERTER EU-funded LIFE project will develop and test nine roadmaps in four European countries (Brezovo—Bulgaria; Athens Urban area—Greece; Riga—Latvia; and Coimbra—Portugal) to alleviate EP by addressing the poor energy efficiency of dwellings. To directly observe real-life scenarios in designated pilot regions, questionnaire surveys were conducted, involving approximately 300 households in each pilot area. This paper presents and evaluates the outcomes of the survey conducted in the central region of Portugal. The findings allow for a deeper comprehension of the factors that impact energy poverty in Portugal, spanning socio-economic aspects, housing characteristics, mechanical systems, energy expenses, and behaviors, as well as the awareness of available support initiatives. Drawing from the survey's insights, novel strategies are suggested to alleviate energy poverty, with a primary emphasis on crafting tailored, efficient policies that address the genuine requirements of households and individuals. [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 significance of absolute income has consistently been highlighted in the literature as an important factor shaping individuals' propensity to engage in political participation. However, considerably less research has been done on the relationship between relative income and individuals' propensity to engage in both conventional and unconventional forms of political participation. Using relative income to quantify relative standing, this paper explores the relationship between relative standing and political participation in South Africa. Results show that individuals' relative standing had a divergent relationship with their propensity to engage in voting and protest. More specifically, the results showed that South Africans with a higher relative standing, i.e., those who experienced relative privilege were more likely to engage in voting, while those with a lower relative standing, i.e., those who experienced relative deprivation, were more likely to engage in protest participation. [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]

Caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication can reduce sexual risk attitudes and behaviors, but less is known about caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication in Uganda. Using a risk-focused approach, this paper seeks to characterize caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication and associated individual and family-based attributes, and associations with adolescents' sexual risk attitudes. We used latent class analyses to derive typologies (classes) of sexual health communication and assess their relationships with respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and sexual risk-taking attitudes. We derived three latent classes of sexual risk communication characterized as avoidant (class 1; 48%), functional (class 2; 22.2%) and comprehensive (class 3; 29.8%), each representing varying levels of frequency and type of content covered in the caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication. Primary caregiver's sex and respondents' comfort talking to their caregiver were significantly associated with membership in the functional class (RRR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.05–2.19; p < 0.05) and comprehensive class (RRR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.13–2.49; p < 0.05). Caregivers and their adolescents are attempting to engage in conversations related to sexual health, but many caregivers tend to shy away from potentially embarrassing topics such as sex. The wide variations in type and content of covered in caregiver-adolescent sexual health communications may compromise adolescents' sexual health knowledge, putting them at risk for poor sexual health outcomes. Given the cultural taboos around caregiver-adolescent communications on sex related topics, family interventions to address to strengthen caregiver-adolescent communication on sexual health are required. Highlights: Study findings revealed three latent caregiver-adolescent sexual health classes, dominated by avoidant communication. Caregiver gender and adolescents' comfort enhanced caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication. Interventions must tackle cultural norms and taboos for better caregiver-adolescent sexual health communication. [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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

This paper uses the Mincerian approach in an experimental way to examine the impact of education on household incomes (not labor earnings) of all workers (not just employees) across 162 countries. Our results are broadly similar to the conventionally estimated rates of return to education after allowing for the fact that earnings are only a part of total household incomes. We then apply the results to the case of Arab countries and find that our experimental approach can promisingly be used for the study of the impact of education not just on individual earnings of employees but also on total household incomes of all workers and more broadly on the economy and the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Promise of Digital Out-of-School Programs for Supporting Youth in Under-Resourced Communities: Participatory Principles for Human Rights-based Virtual Youth Group Programming This study reports insights from a six-year phase ("Law Under Curious Minds") of a 17-year project (Empowering Counseling Program Participatory Science Initiative) with youth experiencing low income residing in disinvested communities segregated by race in a metropolitan US city. The project offered over Zoom employed a semi-structured emergent curriculum to afford youth maximal self-determination in the intervention experiences. A human rights framework informed by critical pedagogy supported youths' efforts to separate their identities and experiences in social systems from deficit-based social narratives. This paper provides guidelines for groupwork interventions including individually focused care, developing group identity to create a positive social space, and encouraging participation while respecting youths' capacities for online self-revelation. The challenges and opportunities of digital out-of-school programs are described, with a focus on the potential for supporting youth excluded from mainstream opportunities by geographic distance, disability, or income. [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]

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]

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]

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]

• 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]