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How does unconditional income for families in poverty affect parental investments for their young children? Mothers in four US metropolitan areas were randomized to receive a monthly unconditional cash transfer of either $333 per month (high) or $20 per month (low) for the first several years after childbirth. During the first 3 years, high-cash gift households spent more money on child-specific goods and more time on child-specific early learning activities than the low-cash gift group. Few changes were evident in other core household expenditures. Compared with low-cash gift families, high-cash gift families reported lower rates of public benefit receipt and fewer were residing in poverty, although mean income and wealth remain low for the majority of families by year 3. No statistically significant differences were evident in mothers' participation in paid work, children's time in childcare or mothers' subjective wellbeing., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

This article introduces the Perceived Economic Scarcity Scale (PESS), a novel instrument measuring the subjective evaluation and experience of economic scarcity (the feeling of having insufficient financial resources to meet one's needs). We conducted three high-powered preregistered studies (total N = 1900) to rigorously evaluate the PESS's psychometric properties. In Study 1, we generated a pool of items and used both Principal Component Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis to select the most appropriate items. In Study 2, we examined the PESS's construct validity, demonstrating that it measures a distinct construct from related constructs such as subjective social class. In Study 3, we examined the PESS's predictive validity, demonstrating that it is a robust predictor of both affective outcomes (e.g. anxiety-depressive symptoms) and cognitive outcomes (e.g. economic risk-taking). Critically, we found that the PESS not only has incremental validity over and above income but also has greater predictive utility than income. We also found that the PESS score varies depending on the distance-to-pay and has excellent test-retest reliability. Overall, the PESS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing perceived economic scarcity, and we encourage researchers to use it to better understand the psychological consequences of 'not having enough'., (© 2024 British Psychological Society.)

Scholars of social mobility increasingly study the role of family background in shaping attainment throughout the entire life course. However, research has yet to establish whether the family characteristics influencing early career attainment are the same as those influencing late career attainment. In this research note, I apply an extended sibling correlation approach to analyze brothers' life cycle earnings and family income, using data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. My analysis reveals a near-perfect correlation in the family characteristics that affect attainment at early, mid, and late career stages. This finding has significant implications for how mobility scholars conceptualize the impact of family background across a career. It suggests that family background forms a single, consistent dimension in determining attainment throughout the life course. Further analysis also indicates that the imperfect relationship between current and lifetime income is exclusively driven by within-family processes., (© 2024 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.)

Establishing an efficient carbon emissions trading market is a priority to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In the context of income inequality and emissions inequality, this study examined the efficiency of carbon trading in China from the perspective of resident income. First, this paper used the Cobb-Douglas (C-D) production function to incorporate carbon intensity into the production network model and obtained the expression of household income by solving the Walras equilibrium. Secondly, this study put forward a theory that Carbon trading affects the income level of individuals. Finally, in order to test the theory, the study used the differences-in-differences (DID) method, provincial panel data from 2005 to 2019, and the quasi-natural experiment of China's carbon emissions trading pilot. The results indicated that this policy could reduce the per capita disposable income level. Further heterogeneity research showed that although the emission reduction effect was significant, the pilot policy failed to save emission reduction costs and improve residents' welfare. The low efficiency of the carbon market was mainly attributed to the insufficient liquidity of the pilot carbon market. Therefore, it not only failed to achieve efficiency but also increased unnecessary costs, which had a negative impact on income. In addition, the consumption patterns of residents and the industrial-oriented economic structure exacerbated the decline in income., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study examines the unique contributions of parental wealth, class background, education, and income to different measures of educational attainment. We build on recent sibling correlation approaches to estimate, using Norwegian register data, the gross and net contribution of each social origin dimension across almost 3 decades of birth cohorts. Our findings suggest that parental education is crucial for all measures of children's educational outcomes in all models. In the descriptive analyses, we find that while broad education measures remain stable or decrease over time, attaining higher tertiary education and elite degrees is more stable or increasingly dependent on family background, especially parental financial resources. While gross sibling correlation models show somewhat decreasing trends in the contribution of education in all measures of educational outcomes, net models show that the unique contributions of financial resources have increased over time. Our results lend some support to the idea of education as a positional good and suggest that educational inequalities reflect broader patterns of inequality in society. Our results further indicate that the importance of parental education and cultural capital for children's education can be explained by within-resource transmission but that pro-educational norms tied to wealth may play an increasingly important role in educational mobility. In summary, this study sheds light on the multidimensional nature of social origins and highlights the role of different factors in shaping educational outcomes over time., (© 2024 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.)

In order to socialize, get rid of stress and the routine of daily life, relax, and return to work more efficiently, people plan their vacation time in advance, work for this plan, save money and even go into debt. In this regard, this study aims to examine the relationship between the planned behavior levels of university students who tend to tourism activities as a leisure behavior and their motivation to participate in tourism activities and to examine which independent variables affect these two variables and how. Within the scope of the study, a face-to-face survey was conducted with 603 university students studying at state universities in Ankara, Eskisehir, and Izmir. In the first part of the study, the theory of planned behavior is introduced and explained with its sub-dimensions. In the second part, the concepts of motivation and satisfaction in tourism are discussed. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that planned behavior in tourism is affected by gender and income variables, especially in terms of perceived behavior control, and also, planned behavior positively affects the motivation for participation in tourism. As a result of the research, the fact that we have to plan and design every activity we will do in advance, due to both Turkey's socio-economic situation and the fact that the working population is in the majority, directs us to more accessible and cheaper activities. Since recreational activities are more easily accessible in this regard, participation of both university students and their parents in such activities will cause both the budget and more activities to be intertwined, not only tourism-oriented but also every month of the year, they will be able to relax, develop and rest with a certain quality and inexpensive activities. In this regard, certain stereotypes of our society should be helped to break down, and their participation in recreational activities should be provided more intensely. [Paper presented at the Future Trends in Leisure and Recreation (FTLRC22) Congress (Online, January 20-21, 2022). Note: The publication year (2022) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year for this article is 2023.]

International accounting is taught in the curriculum of about one-third of the largest institutions in the US. Within the context of this course, many instructors will attempt to cover a diverse array of business topics while integrating financial reporting standards worldwide. This breadth of topics is frequently challenging in obtaining a cohesive set of knowledge for the enrolled students. The use of a research paper documenting the business practices within a particular country and the subsequent presentation to either the international accounting class or preferably a larger audience can serve as a tool for organizing students' understanding of the breadth of the material and having individual students present a deeper depth of understanding within the selected country.

The landscape of medical specialty choice is dynamic, undergoing significant changes as students' progress through undergraduate and graduate medical training. These shifts are influenced by various factors, with financial considerations becoming increasingly relevant among medical students' preferences. This study conducts a retrospective analysis of specialty match rates and physician compensation, suggesting a potential trend where primary care fields, though fundamental to healthcare, appear less competitive and often associated with less financial reward compared to other specialties. The existence of this disparity is not without consequences. It contributes significantly to the ongoing and anticipated primary care physician shortages. This situation requires a comprehensive approach to tackle the complex factors influencing medical students' career choices. Understanding these dynamics is critical for healthcare policy and planning. This paper investigates how financial considerations sway medical students' specialty choices, emphasizing the economic disparities between primary care and other specialties.

This study offers insights into lifetime earnings growth differences between individuals with and without childhood-onset disabilities (COD) defined as disabilities whose onset occurred before an individual's 16th birthday. We use a newly available database linking data from the 2017 Canadian Survey of Disability with individual income tax records covering a period of over 3 decades. We estimate the average earnings growth profiles of individuals with COD from the age when individuals generally enter the labor market to the age when most retire. The main finding of our study is that individuals with COD experience very little earnings growth when they are in their mid-30 and 40s while the earnings of those without COD grow steadily until they reach their late 40s and early 50s. The largest earnings growth differences between individuals with and without COD are observed for male university graduates., (© 2023 His Majesty the King in Right of Canada. Health Economics © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This paper assesses whether Brazilian primary health care is worth it in the long-run by estimating the accumulated costs and benefits of its flagship, the Family Health Strategy program (ESF). We employ an alternative strategy centered on years of exposure to the program to incorporate its dynamics. We also account for the program's heterogeneity with respect to the remuneration of ESF health teams and the intensity of coverage across Brazilian municipalities, measure by the number of people assisted by each ESF team, on average. To address heterogeneity in professional earnings, this paper employs, for the first time, a dataset containing the remuneration of professionals allocated to all ESF teams nationwide. The benefits are measured by the avoided deaths and hospitalizations due to causes sensitive to primary care. Results suggest that the net monetary benefit of the program is positive on average, with an optimum time of exposure of approximately 16 years. Significant heterogeneities in cost-benefit results were found since costs outweigh benefits in localities where the coverage is low intensive. On the other hand, the benefits outweigh the costs by 22.5% on average in municipalities with high intensive coverage., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Geography may influence mental health by inducing changes to social and physical environmental and health-related factors. This understanding is largely based on older studies from Western Europe. We sought to quantify contemporary relationships between urbanicity and self-reported poor mental health days in US counties. We performed regression on US counties (n = 3142) using data from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. Controlling for state, age, income, education, and race/ethnicity, large central metro counties reported 0.24 fewer average poor mental health days than small metro counties (t = - 5.78, df = 423, p < .001). Noncore counties had 0.07 more average poor mental health days than small metro counties (t = 3.06, df = 1690, p = 0.002). Better mental health in large central metro counties was partly mediated by differences in the built environment, such as better food environments. Poorer mental health in noncore counties was not mediated by considered mediators., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Status anxiety theory posits that higher income inequality leads people to attribute more importance to their socioeconomic status and to worry about the position they occupy on the social ladder. We investigated through two experimental studies (N = 1117) the causal effect of economic inequality on status anxiety and whether expected upward and downward mobility mediates this effect. In Study 1, perceived economic inequality indirectly increased status anxiety through lesser expected upward mobility. In Study 2, perceived economic inequality decreased both expected upward and downward mobility, with opposite indirect effects on status anxiety. This suggests that the relationship between inequality and status anxiety is not straightforward, and could implicate the presence of multiple processes working at the same time-whereas lower expected downward mobility could suppress the effect of inequality, lower expected upward mobility could exacerbate it., (© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Assessments are the fundamental media between students and educators. This paper aims to evaluate how to create assessments, how students learn from them, and how to link them to the industry and entrepreneurism. The implementation plan postulates how students can generate income from income-generation assessments or business innovation assessments. In this paper, we discuss the involvement of modern industry in assessment. We examine evidence from approximately 100 assessments detailed in 32 subject outlines. We employ a descriptive, pragmatic research methodology to consider whether they can be aligned more with industry expectations and expected duties. We propose a framework to connect with industry and create student income-generating projects. This proposed income-generating assessments framework recommended industry-based assessments with which students can not only earn marks towards a subject but potentially earn an income based on it. This paper extends the idea of peer learning to expert or industry learning: an approach that did not employ in higher education. Our approach supports educators in keeping the assessment up-to-date, enabling students to add more value to their learning of industry products and procedures. Students can directly contribute to the product and procedures and learn from the strategies actively employed in the workplace.

Objectives: Disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening uptake by socioeconomic status have been observed in Canada. We used the OncoSim-Colorectal model to evaluate the health and economic outcomes associated with increasing the participation rates of CRC screening programs to 60% among Canadians in different income quintiles., Methods: Baseline CRC screening participation rates were obtained from the 2017 Canadian Community Health Survey. The survey participants were categorized into income quintiles using their reported household income and 2016 Canadian Census income quintile thresholds. Within each quintile, the participation rate was the proportion of respondents aged 50-74 who reported having had a fecal test in the past two years. Using the OncoSim-Colorectal model, we simulated an increase in CRC screening uptake to 60% across income quintiles to assess the effects on CRC incidence, mortality, and associated economic costs from 2024 to 2073., Results: Increasing CRC screening participation rates to 60% across all income quintiles would prevent 69,100 CRC cases and 36,600 CRC deaths over 50 years. The improvement of clinical outcomes would also translate to increased person-years and health-adjusted person-years. The largest impact was observed in the lowest income group, with 22,200 cases and 11,700 deaths prevented over 50 years. Increased participation could lead to higher screening costs ($121 million CAD more per year) and lower treatments costs ($95 million CAD less per year), averaged over the period 2024-2073., Conclusion: Increased screening participation will improve clinical outcomes across all income groups while alleviating associated treatment costs. The benefits of increased participation will be strongest among the lowest income quintile., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Research on the influence of family background on college graduates' earnings has not considered the importance of the match between parents' and children's field of study. Using a novel design based on within-family comparisons, I examine long-term earnings returns to reproducing parents' field of study in Denmark. I find that individuals whose field of study matches that of a parent have earnings that are 2 percent higher than those of their siblings with college degrees in different fields, on average. Earnings returns to field inheritance are highest in the fields of law (9 percent), medicine (6 percent), and engineering (4 percent) and are driven mainly by income from self-employment. I find no direct evidence of nepotism as the earnings advantage does not arise from inheritance of parents' firms or employment in parents' occupational network. My findings indicate that, although a college degree generally equalizes family background differences in economic outcomes, there are additional payoffs to field inheritance, particularly in traditional fields characterized by a high degree of social closure and self-employment., (© 2024 The Authors. The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science.)

Narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas is the key to achieving common prosperity in China. On the basis of analyzing the mechanism of climate change's impact on urban-rural income gap, this article empirically analyzes the impact of climate change on urban-rural income gap using provincial-level panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020. Research indicates that climate change significantly impacts the urban-rural income gap at the 1% significance level, implying that climate change exacerbates the urban-rural income gap. This widening effect varies significantly across different regions, particularly in the western regions and areas with lower fiscal support for agriculture. Further analysis reveals that there is a mediating role between the total agricultural output value and resource mismatch in the impact of climate change on urban-rural income inequality; the digital rural construction plays a regulatory role in the impact of climate change on the urban-rural income gap. On this basis, policy recommendations are proposed to promote the development of climate-resilient agriculture, improve the meteorological forecast and early warning system, increase financial support, and optimize the allocation of agricultural resources., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Aim: To examine the experiences of internationally qualified nurses, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, transitioning to and working in the aged care sector of high-income countries., Design: A scoping review., Data Sources: CINAHL, MEDLINE and PSychINFO databases were searched to find eligible literature published from January 2010 onwards., Review Methods: This scoping review was based on the framework by Arksey and O'Malley and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The literature search was conducted by the first author, and all three authors reviewed the retrieved studies for eligibility and inclusion., Results: Fourteen articles were eligible. Data was categorized into three broad themes: stress of migration and transition; miscommunication, racism and discrimination; and aged care specific challenges which included two sub-themes 'shock of aged care' and 'bottom care'., Conclusion: Internationally qualified nurses, particularly if they are culturally and linguistically diverse, face unique stresses and challenges in aged care and face barriers in the recognition of skills and qualifications. The under-utilization of skills is not only a loss in terms of patient care but is linked to fears of de-skilling, losing professional development and opportunities for career progression., Impact: Internationally qualified nurses are positioned as a solution to aged care shortages in high-income countries; however, there is a scarcity of research exploring their experiences. In the context of the global aged care staffing crisis, an understanding of the stresses and challenges faced by internationally qualified nurses will further strengthen efforts to recruit, support and retain skilled nurses in aged care., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This paper analyses potential links between extreme optimism and student loan debt. Prior work finds extreme optimism to be associated with imprudent household savings and investment decisions. This paper explores whether these findings are relevant to student loan decisions. Using the most recent administration of the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), we present evidence that extreme optimists tend to be over-indebted with higher student loan balances, in absolute terms and relative to income. They are less likely to make payments on their student loan debt or reduce their loan balance. Extreme optimists are also more likely to take out loans for a degree they do not obtain and to enroll in income-based repayment plans. [This paper was presented virtually on September 27, 2022 at the 2022 Academy of Financial Services (AFS) Annual Meeting.]

Empirical research into the relationship between economic well-being and child outcomes has been limited by its cross-sectional nature, or its narrow focus on predominantly financial aspects of economic well-being. This article attempts to overcome these shortcomings by using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort98 (age: 9-17; N = 5,748; female: 51.4%) and Cohort08 studies (age: 3-9 years; N = 7,208; female: 49.8%), which cover a period of large macroeconomic fluctuation (2007-2017). This fluctuation makes a robust fixed effects analysis feasible, allowing for economic well-being effects to be isolated by controlling for all time-invariant confounders. The article uses three different measures of economic well-being (subjective financial strain, material deprivation, income) to explore how distinct forms of economic well-being affect child behavior. The results suggest that household income is not related to behavioral difficulties, whereas subjective financial strain is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys. Material deprivation is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys and internalized behavioral difficulties in younger boys, but has no effect on girls' behavioral outcomes. The findings indicate that the relationship between economic well-being and child behavioral outcomes is complex, and requires multi-dimensional measures of economic well-being to accurately ascertain the different effects., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

We provide a comprehensive cross-country analysis on the impact of national incapacity to cope with natural hazards (i.e., social shocks, political stability, health care, infrastructure, and material security needed to reduce the harmful effects of natural disasters) on financial development. The panel quantile regression analyses on a global sample of 130 countries generally confirm that the financial development of countries with lower capacity to cope is indeed significantly hampered compared to their peers, especially in countries with low financial development levels. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analyses, which acknowledge the dynamic co-existence between both financial institutions and financial market sectors in a given economy simultaneously, offer notable finer details. For example, the handicapping effect on both sectors tends to apply to only countries with higher climate risks. Lack of coping capacity also exert negative effects on the development of financial institutions in countries of all levels of income but only affect financial markets of high-income group. The more detailed look into different dimensions (financial efficiency, financial access, and financial depth) of financial development is also given in our study. Overall, our findings highlight the vital and complex role of "coping capacity" aspect of climate risk on the sustainable development of financial sectors., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Achieving food-system sustainability is a multidimensional challenge. In China, a doubling of crop production since 1990 has compromised other dimensions of sustainability 1,2 . Although the country is promoting various interventions to enhance production efficiency and reduce environmental impacts 3 , there is little understanding of whether crop switching can achieve more sustainable cropping systems and whether coordinated action is needed to avoid tradeoffs. Here we combine high-resolution data on crop-specific yields, harvested areas, environmental footprints and farmer incomes to first quantify the current state of crop-production sustainability. Under varying levels of inter-ministerial and central coordination, we perform spatial optimizations that redistribute crops to meet a suite of agricultural sustainable development targets. With a siloed approach-in which each government ministry seeks to improve a single sustainability outcome in isolation-crop switching could realize large individual benefits but produce tradeoffs for other dimensions and between regions. In cases of central coordination-in which tradeoffs are prevented-we find marked co-benefits for environmental-impact reductions (blue water (-4.5% to -18.5%), green water (-4.4% to -9.5%), greenhouse gases (GHGs) (-1.7% to -7.7%), fertilizers (-5.2% to -10.9%), pesticides (-4.3% to -10.8%)) and increased farmer incomes (+2.9% to +7.5%). These outcomes of centrally coordinated crop switching can contribute substantially (23-40% across dimensions) towards China's 2030 agricultural sustainable development targets and potentially produce global resource savings. This integrated approach can inform feasible targeted agricultural interventions that achieve sustainability co-benefits across several dimensions., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Graduate education is among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. higher educational system. This paper estimates the returns to Master's degrees and examines heterogeneity in the returns by field area, student demographics and initial labor market conditions. We use rich administrative data from Ohio and an individual fixed effects model that compares students' earnings trajectories before and after earning a Master's degree. Findings show that obtaining a Master's degree increased quarterly earnings by about 14% on average, but the returns vary largely across graduate fields. We also find gender and racial disparities in the returns, with higher average returns for women than for men, and for White than for Black graduates. In addition, by comparing returns among students who graduated before and under the Great Recession, we show that economic downturns appear to reduce but not eliminate the positive returns to Master's degrees. There are important variations in the returns to Master's degrees during the recession across field area and race/ethnicity.

School absences can negatively impact a child's schooling, including the loss of teacher-led lessons, peer interactions, and, ultimately, academic achievement. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of school absences for overall educational attainment and labour market outcomes. In this paper, we used data from the 1970 British Cohort Study to examine long-term associations between school absences in late childhood and individuals' educational attainment, social class, unemployment and earnings at age 42 while adjusting for a comprehensive set of confounders. Our findings show that school absences are associated with lower educational attainment but are not associated with social class destination except for increasing the likelihood of being out of the labour force after adjusting for confounders. Individuals who missed five days of school at age 10 were 5.2% more likely to have obtained no qualifications and 4.1% more likely to be out of the labour force. However, we did not find a significant association between school absences and individuals' earnings or duration of unemployment. Our findings suggest that the detrimental consequences of school absences persist beyond schooling into adulthood. Overall, this study highlights the importance of addressing school absenteeism to promote educational and labour market participation over the life course.

Clarifying the impact of nature reserves on rural residents' income is of great significance to the organic integration of environmental protection and rural residents' income improvement. Based on the panel data of 600 counties from nine provinces in China, ranging from 2010 to 2019, this study employs the quasi-experimental method of Difference in Difference and Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) to examine how rural resident's income is influenced by the establishment of nature reserves. It is found that (1) Nature reserves, with a positive impact on rural resident's income, bring more earnings to the rural residents. (2) The impact varies with the heterogeneity of natural reserve types. That is, national and natural parks can increase rural residents' income, while the ones with wildlife or remote desert ecosystem play a limited role. (3) The increased income is mainly originated from the development of tourism, the improvement of facilities and the enhancement of ecosystem services. On this basis, multiple methods are proposed to promote rural residents' income and livelihood security of local communities. Policy recommendations are brought forth as well, including the focus on guaranteeing the livelihood security of rural residents nearby nature reserves where wildlife and remote desert ecosystem are protected., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Green production is one of the major debates as environmental degradation poses threats globally. The paper attempts to explore the relationship between green production and environmental quality by using Economic Fitness approach. We develop a Green Complexity Index (GCI) dataset consisting of 290 traded green-labeled products and Economic Fitness Index (EFI) for the US states between 2002 and 2018. We analyze the environmental performance of green production using the GCI and EFI data at the sub-national level. Findings indicate that exporting more complex green products has insignificant effects on local (i.e., sulfur dioxide, particulate Matter 10) and global polluters such as carbon dioxide, even accounting for per capita income. Yet, economic fitness has a significant negative impact on the emission levels implying that sophisticated production significantly improves environmental quality in the USA. The insignificant impact of GCI on environmental degradation suggests that green product classifications should incorporate the production and end-use stages of goods to limit the adverse environmental effects of green-labeled products., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Sustainable livelihoods in less developed countries are threatened by human, natural, physical, social and financial factors. Pakistan is also facing severe negative impacts of these factors in the form of climate shocks, market imperfections and insufficient formal credit availability on rural livelihoods. This study explores rural Pakistani's adaptation to these threats by diversifying income sources and explores the determining factors for adopting specific livelihood diversification strategies. The study is based on a quantitative survey of 295 households in three districts of rain-fed rural regions of Pakistan's Punjab with differing annual rainfall. Results showed that households mitigated against threats to their livelihood by having a diversity of income sources (Simpson Diversity Index = 0.61). Moreover, fractional multinomial regression modelling revealed that greater education was associated with a more diversified livelihood strategy, where income was predominantly derived from off-farm and non-farm livelihood activities. On the other hand, households with older members, more livestock and larger farm size focused their livelihoods on their own farms, or primarily diversified into an off-farm strategy by working on other farms. These findings underscore the importance of improved access to education and infrastructure for livelihood diversification. A policy that focuses on reducing low literacy rates in rural Pakistan may also provide new avenues of livelihood diversifications with enhancement of rural literacy rate to mitigate the risks associated with livelihood strategies of smallholders., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Despite making significant progress in reducing poverty over the last several decades, the world has witnessed persistent surge in global inequality. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between natural resource, environmental vulnerability, monetary-fiscal stability, and inequality in a global perspective during 2005 to 2019 for 61 countries. We distinguish between consumption and income inequality to see whether the variables under study have different implications for different measurement of inequality. The study employs Driscoll-Kraay standard error method which can account for the cross-sectional dependence between the countries. The study divides 61 countries according to the World Bank income classifications to provide evidence of heterogeneity in the sample economies. The main finding highlights that natural resources induce both consumption and income inequality whereas greenhouse gas emissions have been found to reduce the inequality of both types. Quality of government and access to electricity decrease consumption and income inequality while technological innovation and monetary-fiscal stability have incremental impacts on inequality. The coefficient of natural disaster has been shown to be positive for consumption inequality but negative and insignificant for income inequality. When analyzing moderating impacts, we find that quality of government cannot moderate the positive impact of natural resources on consumption inequality, but it can exacerbate the resources' impact on income inequality. The result for sub-sample group also differs for consumption and income inequality. The study recommends management of natural resources in a sustainable way with the help of good governance., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

How do people estimate the income that is needed to be rich? Two correlative survey studies (Study 1 and 2, N = 568) and one registered experimental study (Study 3, N = 500) examined the cognitive mechanisms that are used to derive an answer to this question. We tested whether individuals use their personal income (PI) as a self-generated anchor to derive an estimate of the income needed to be rich (= income wealth threshold estimation, IWTE). On a bivariate level, we found the expected positive relationship between one's PI and IWTE and, in line with previous findings, we found that people do not consider themselves rich. Furthermore, we predicted that individuals additionally use information about their social status within their social circles to make an IWTE. The findings from study 2 support this notion and show that only self-reported high-income individuals show different IWTEs depending on relative social status: Individuals in this group who self-reported a high status produced higher IWTEs than individuals who self-reported low status. The registered experimental study could not replicate this pattern robustly, although the results trended non-significantly in the same direction. Together, the findings revealed that the income of individuals as well as the social environment are used as sources of information to make IWTE judgements, although they are likely not the only important predictors., (© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Consistent evidence documents powerful effects of social inequality on health, well-being and academic achievement. Yet research on whether social inequality may also be linked to brain structure and function has, until recently, been rare. Here we describe three methodological approaches that can be used to study this question-single site, single study; multi-site, single study; and spatial meta-analysis. We review empirical work that, using these approaches, has observed associations between neural outcomes and structural measures of social inequality-including structural stigma, community-level prejudice, gender inequality, neighbourhood disadvantage and the generosity of the social safety net for low-income families. We evaluate the relative strengths and limitations of these approaches, discuss ethical considerations and outline directions for future research. In doing so, we advocate for a paradigm shift in cognitive neuroscience that explicitly incorporates upstream structural and contextual factors, which we argue holds promise for uncovering the neural correlates of social inequality., (© 2024. Springer Nature Limited.)

Childhood behavior problems are associated with reduced labor market participation and lower earnings in adulthood, but little is known about the pathways and mechanisms that explain these associations. Drawing on a 33-year prospective birth cohort of White males from low-income backgrounds (n = 1040), we conducted a path analysis linking participants' teacher-rated behavior problems at age 6 years-that is, inattention, hyperactivity, aggression-opposition, and low prosociality-to employment earnings at age 35-39 years obtained from tax records. We examined three psychosocial mediators at age 11-12 years (academic, behavioral, social) and two mediators at age 25 years (non-high school graduation, criminal convictions). Our findings support the notion that multiple psychosocial pathways-especially low education attainment-link kindergarten behavior problems to lower employment earnings decades later., (© 2023 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.)

Objective: To examine income-related inequalities in access to dental services from 1975 to 2018. In Norway, dental care services for adults are privately financed. This may lead to income-related inequalities in access. In the early 1970s, that is, at the beginning of the study period, there were marked inequalities in access to dental services according to personal income. However, from the beginning of the 1970s, there has been a large increase in gross national income per capita in Norway as a result of the growth of the oil and gas industry. This increase in income also meant that people with a low income in 1975 had a rise in their level of income. According to the law of diminishing utility, an increase in income leads to higher consumption of dental services for people with a low level of income compared to people with a high level of income. The study hypothesis is that the inequalities in access to dental services that existed in 1975 became less over time., Methods: Statistics Norway collected samples of cross-sectional health survey data for the following years: 1975, 1985, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2012 and 2018. For each sample, individuals 21 years and older were drawn randomly from the non-institutionalized adult population using a two-stage stratified cluster sample technique. Inequalities were measured using the concentration index. The dependent variable was the use of dental services during the last year, and the key independent variable was equivalized household income., Results: The concentration index for inequalities in use of dental services according to income decreased from 0.10 (95% CI = 0.09, 0.11) in 1975 to 0.04 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.05) in 2018. The decrease was particularly large from 2002 to 2012. This was a period with a large growth in gross national income., Conclusion: People with a low income had a marked increase in their purchasing power from 1975 to 2018. This coincided with an increase in demand for dental care for this low-income group., (© 2021 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Quantile regression (QR) provides an alternative to linear regression (LR) that allows for the estimation of relationships across the distribution of an outcome. However, as highlighted in recent research on the motherhood penalty across the wage distribution, different procedures for conditional and unconditional quantile regression (CQR, UQR) often result in divergent findings that are not always well understood. In light of such discrepancies, this paper reviews how to implement and interpret a range of LR, CQR, and UQR models with fixed effects. It also discusses the use of Quantile Treatment Effect (QTE) models as an alternative to overcome some of the limitations of CQR and UQR models. We then review how to interpret results in the presence of fixed effects based on a replication of Budig and Hodges's work on the motherhood penalty using NLSY79 data.

This article aims to understand how access, equity and redress challenges are addressed at South Africa's public universities based on their current funding frameworks. Relying on a pragmatic research approach combining desk-research literature review and secondary data analysis, government funding and tuition fees were found to be the primary sources of funding in most universities, while third stream income from universities' own commercial activities lagged far behind. Secondary data from the public universities' audited annual financial statements for the period 2015 to 2020 further revealed that investment source income superseded third-stream income in most universities. There is consensus in literature on the pivotal role of equity-based funding mechanisms such as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in providing tuition cover and living expenses for students from poor households. Based on the agency theory, government funding is used to influence public universities to pursue transformation goals. The general trends observed in various countries is the inclusion of equity-based indicators in a funding model to ensure that students are not denied the opportunity for university education solely based on their poor backgrounds. It is argued in this paper that the NSFAS remains an appropriate vehicle to achieve South Africa's transformational goals in its public universities.

Research on the timing of events during the transition to adulthood, such as first union, sex, and birth in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), focused predominantly on measures of central tendency, notably median or mean ages. In this report, we adopt a different perspective on this topic by examining disparities in the timing of these events in 46 LMICs spanning four decades. Using Demographic and Health Surveys, we estimate ages at which 25 percent, 50 percent, and 75 percent of women have first union, birth, and sex. We compute interquartile ranges to measure within-country variation and disparities in the timing of sexual initiation and family formation. Variation in the timing of first union, birth, and sex generally increases as the median ages at these events increase. Disparities in the timing of first union and birth grew in West Africa and Latin America, and women who experience these events relatively early increasingly lag behind women who experience them relatively late. Documenting trends in measures of central tendency is insufficient to capture the complexity of ongoing changes because they mask growing disparities in the timing of family formation across many LMICs. These results are important for assessing progress toward the achievement of sustainable development goals related to the reduction of early marriages and pregnancies and highlight a need for more holistic approaches to measure the timing of family formation., (© 2022 The Authors. Studies in Family Planning published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Population Council.)

Social capital-the strength of an individual's social network and community-has been identified as a potential determinant of outcomes ranging from education to health 1-8 . However, efforts to understand what types of social capital matter for these outcomes have been hindered by a lack of social network data. Here, in the first of a pair of papers 9 , we use data on 21 billion friendships from Facebook to study social capital. We measure and analyse three types of social capital by ZIP (postal) code in the United States: (1) connectedness between different types of people, such as those with low versus high socioeconomic status (SES); (2) social cohesion, such as the extent of cliques in friendship networks; and (3) civic engagement, such as rates of volunteering. These measures vary substantially across areas, but are not highly correlated with each other. We demonstrate the importance of distinguishing these forms of social capital by analysing their associations with economic mobility across areas. The share of high-SES friends among individuals with low SES-which we term economic connectedness-is among the strongest predictors of upward income mobility identified to date 10,11 . Other social capital measures are not strongly associated with economic mobility. If children with low-SES parents were to grow up in counties with economic connectedness comparable to that of the average child with high-SES parents, their incomes in adulthood would increase by 20% on average. Differences in economic connectedness can explain well-known relationships between upward income mobility and racial segregation, poverty rates, and inequality 12-14 . To support further research and policy interventions, we publicly release privacy-protected statistics on social capital by ZIP code at https://www.socialcapital.org ., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Intergenerational processes in which the socioeconomic status of middle- and upper-class parents is reproduced in their children have been extensively documented by social scientists. We mobilized a unique dataset, the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) linked to income data from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), to investigate the relevance of intergenerational socioeconomic reproduction for inequalities in self-rated health in a national sample of Canadians aged 25 to 50. We found strong intergenerational elasticities implicating both parental education and parental family income in the acquisition of both personal education and personal family income. Parental education was not significantly associated with self-rated health. Parental family income was significantly associated with self-rated health among women only, partly explained by the socioeconomic status of the women themselves. These results suggest that intergenerational reproduction plays a small role in the generation of high levels of self-rated health among Canadian women but not among Canadian men., (© 2022 Canadian Sociological Association/La Société canadienne de sociologie.)

In developing countries where medical infrastructure, service delivery systems, and the markets for health insurance are underdeveloped, one important mechanism to cope with the consequences of health shocks is the intra-household substitution of labor. This paper studies the impact of short-term illness shocks on labor supply and wage earnings of prime-aged individuals using data from agricultural households in India. It also documents the compensating intra-household labor supply responses of other non-ill members of the household. We find that an illness shock reduces an individual's monthly wage earnings by 7.1% via the decline in the individual's days of employment in the labor market. Further, an illness shock to the household head causes a compensating increase in the wage labor supply of the wife. An illness shock to the wife, however, induces the household head to devote more time to domestic activities. The compensating labor supply responses are only partially able to insure the loss in total wage income of the household. Our results indicate that the gender-based specialization of labor weakens in the event of an illness shock., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) is currently the principal mechanism for fighting poverty and achieving social inclusion among a plethora of social policies in the European Union (EU). In GMI, education and vocational training hold a major role in fighting social exclusion and promoting social cohesion. The first part of the paper discusses the characteristics and limitations of the GMI scheme. The second part of the paper discusses an alternative model for income support, intended to achieve a fairer and more cohesive society, the Universal Basic Income (UBI). We close by highlighting the potential of UBI schemes on reconfiguring that UBI schemes have on reconfiguring education, with an emphasis on adult education. On its own, UBI cannot challenge the neoliberal hegemony. However, UBI can become a means for shifting attention to alternative conceptualisations of social inclusion based on the creation of adult education for critical and participatory citizenship.