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Economists have debated the costs and benefits associated with anti-sweatshop activism for more than twenty years. The modern anti-sweatshop movement dates to the early 1990s and began garnering more attention [...]

Many commentators contend that the Chinese government adopted an incremental approach to welfare policy reform because its leaders lacked an overall blueprint for it, allowing initiatives to be implemented only after lengthy experimentation. While this perspective has provided an essential account of the implementation and changes of some welfare programmes, it has inadequately addressed the slow progress in rural areas' welfare programmes and the different welfare entitlements for rural and urban residents. Further investigation is therefore required to resolve these anomalies. Using the minimum standard of living scheme (MSLS) as a case example, this article illustrates how the Chinese government's legitimacy needs, during different stages of its economic reforms, have been the principal motivation for the implementation of such schemes. The introduction of an urban MSLS in 1997 aimed to reduce laid-off workers' dissatisfaction following the government's reforms of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The implementation of a rural MSLS in 2007 was intended principally to minimise conflicts between land-losing farmers and local officials after widespread rural riots. These MSLSs are also minimal and stigmatising public-assistance schemes that fulfil the dual objective of securing a stable political environment for economic reform and maintaining poor people's work ethic for China's mixed economy. doi: 10.1017/S0047279410000322

JEL Codes: H31, J22, R23 "Among the 122 large cities ... the average EITC (for all earners) in 2003 ranged from roughly $1,200 in Cambridge, MA, to $2,284 in MeAllen, [...], This paper explores the interaction between the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the cost-of-living faced by single mothers. After the 1993 EITC expansion, we identify up to an 8 percentage point increase in labor force participation for single mothers in the lowest cost areas but no discernible response in the highest cost areas. We conclude that the EITC's welfare-enhancing properties are undermined by the interaction of the program 's fixed national rules and geographic variation in wages and the cost-of-living. In addition, our findings suggest that the EITC does little to reduce joblessness in many of the nation's largest cities. Keywords: EITC, labor Supply, housing costs, cost-of-living differentials

The broadest and most commonly used measure of the cost of living across U.S. cities is the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association (ACCRA) index. This index is used by business and government organizations and the media to rank living standards and real wages across U.S. cities. In this study we reduce the aggregation bias in the index by calculating national average prices for the 59 item prices using population weights instead of the equal weight formula used by ACCRA. This correction results in a decline in the index values for all cities and changes in the rankings and bi-variate comparisons between city pairs. In some high-cost cities the index values decrease by over 25 percent, and in 74 percent of the cities the rank changes by greater than one spot. Keywords: Cost of living index, population weighting, regional data DOI 10.3233/JEM-2010-0328

The vulnerability of the urban poor to the recent food and fuel price crisis has been widely acknowledged. The unfolding global financial crisis, which brings higher unemployment and underemployment, is likely to further intensify this vulnerability. This paper reviews the evidence concerning the disproportionate vulnerability of the urban compared with the rural poor to these types of shocks. It reviews some of the unique characteristics of urban life that could make the urban poor particularly susceptible to price and financial shocks and summarizes the evidence regarding the disproportionate vulnerability of the urban poor. The focus is on impacts on poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition. The review shows that although the urban poor are clearly one of the population groups most affected by the current (and previous) crises, the rural poor, landless, and net buyers are in no better position to confront the crisis without significant suffering. The poorest of the poor are the ones who will be most affected, irrespective of the continent, country, or urban or rural area where they live. The magnitude and severity of their suffering depends on their ability to adapt and on the specific nature, extent, and duration of the coping strategies they adopt. A better understanding of how these coping strategies are used and staggered is critical to help design triggers for action that can prevent households from moving to more desperate measures. Using these early coping strategies as early warning indicators could help prevent dramatic losses in welfare. J. Nutr. 140: 170S-176S, 2010. doi: 10.3945/jn.109.110791.

Byline: Therese Nilsson (1) Keywords: Multidimensional inequality; Inequality indices; Stochastic dominance; Expenditures; Education; Health; Land holdings; Zambia Abstract: Despite a broad theoretical literature on multidimensional inequality and a widespread belief that welfare is not synonymous to income--not the least in a developing context--empirical inequality examinations rarely includes several welfare attributes. We explore three techniques on how to evaluate multidimensional inequality using Zambian household data on consumption, education, health and land. The examination indicates that level and changes in non-monetary inequality are at odds with consumption inequality. Moreover, assessment of a multidimensional index shows evidence of that dimensions of wellbeing compensate and reinforce each other with respect to inequality. However, a majority of the results using this technique are sensitive to the degree of substitution between attributes. In applying a stochastic dominance method few combinations fulfill the required dominance conditions. Accordingly, less imposed structure come at a cost. Clearly, sensitivity analyzes, explicitness and analyzes involving more than one technique are constructive in portraying multidimensional inequality. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Economics, Lund University, P.O. Box 7082, 22007, Lund, Sweden Article History: Registration Date: 02/03/2009 Received Date: 10/02/2009 Accepted Date: 02/03/2009 Online Date: 18/03/2009

Byline: Carmen Sanchez-Cantalejo (1), Ricardo Ocana-Riola (1), Alberto Fernandez-Ajuria (1) Keywords: Deprivation index; Factor analysis; Small-area analysis; Social indicator; Statistical model Abstract: The term deprivation is often used to refer to economic or social shortages in a given geographical area. This concept of deprivation has been identified for years using simple indicators such as income level, education and social class. One of the advantages of using simple indicators is the availability of data, since they come directly from sources of information like censuses and population registers. However, the main disadvantage of these indicators is their limited usefulness when measuring a concept as complex as deprivation with a single variable. One possible solution to this problem is using compound indices, made up of a combination of simple indicators. For years, the concept of material deprivation in Spain has been measured using indices or indicators imported from other countries. However, there are no studies that investigate if all of these variables are really related to material deprivation in Spain. In this context, the objective of this study is to create a synthetic index for material deprivation for the municipalities in Spain, bearing in mind the variables available from the Population and Housing Census. The index was built on a principal components factor analysis. The analysis showed two factors. The first factor showed a high positive correlation to the variables relating to illiteracy rate, unemployment rate and percentage of manual labourers, while the second factor was seen as highly positively correlated to the variables relating to the percentage of homes without access to a vehicle and the dependency index and also correlated, though negatively, to the percentage of foreigners between 16 and 49 who lived abroad in 1991. The variables that make up the first factor can be considered to be an approximation of the concept of deprivation in Spain. This study proposes a deprivation index made up of three simple indicators available from national information sources: percentage of illiteracy, percentage of unemployment and percentage of manual labourers. With this index, the criteria for measuring deprivation in Spanish municipalities can be unified and a comparison of the results of the different studies in our context facilitated. Author Affiliation: (1) Research, Andalusian School of Public Health, Campus Universitario de Cartuja. Cuesta del Observatorio, 4, Granada, 18080, SPAIN Article History: Registration Date: 13/04/2007 Received Date: 26/02/2007 Accepted Date: 06/04/2007 Online Date: 16/05/2007

The relative cost of living in rural areas has long been of interest to rural sociologists. Today, the popular perception is that rural prices are lower. This study examines geographic differences in the costs of living in Kentucky. The results indicate that, contrary to the popular perception, when prices of the same products and services were compared, there was no consistent pattern of lower prices in the rural counties. Furthermore, differences in the material conditions of rural living meant that there were additional costs that price comparisons alone did not capture.

Cross-country convergence in 'standards of living' is an important phenomenon that attracted the researchers in Economics for a long period. These studies take into account the growth of per capita gross domestic product or labor productivity as a measure of standard of living. The present study measures the standard of living in terms of the indicators reflecting the quality of life of the inhabitants of the country rather than income or productivity and examines whether standards of living converge across economies over a fairly long period of time, such as 35 years (1960-1995). In this connection, the paper follows the straightforward approach to test inter-country convergence which relates the rate of growth of income (GDP) per capita with initial income. The convergence tests for the indicators reflecting quality of life of human beings, such as, infant survival rate, life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, calorie intake as percentage of requirement for the full sample as well as for three income groups indicate that in almost for all the cases for all the indicators divergence is observed rather than convergence. For infant survival rate and life expectancy for the high income group no definite indication is suggestive. Divergence is also observed for per capita real gross domestic product for all types of sample.

INTRODUCTION The effect of fiscal policy on the economy is a controversial and long-standing issue. It is at the heart of the policy debate surrounding the sharp increases in official [...], The effects of fiscal policy on the economy have received substantial attention in academic and policy circles. We review this literature in light of recent policy debates and new research and obtain three results. First, other things equal, deficits reduce national saving and future national income, even if international capital inflows avert an increase in interest rates. Second, the recent fiscal deterioration implies significant declines in future national income. Third, studies incorporating the best available information about expected future deficits tend to find significant effects of expected deficits on current long-term bond yields, controlling for other factors.

Construction of an international index of standards of living, incorporating social indicators and economic output, typically involves scaling and weighting procedures that lack welfare-economic foundations. Revealed preference axioms can be used to make quality-of-life comparisons if we can estimate the representative household's production technology for the social indicators. This method is applied to comparisons of gross domestic product (GDP) and life expectancy for 58 countries. Neither GDP rankings, nor the rankings of the Human Development Index (HDI), are consistent with the partial ordering of revealed preference. A method of constructing a utility-consistent index incorporating both consumption and life expectancy is suggested. JEL classification: I31; 047 Keywords: International comparisons; Living standards; Revealed preference; Social indicators; Human Development Index; Ideal Afriat Index

A study is made to analyze the determinants of household living standards in the market economies. Variables are listed which play the largest role in determining household expenditure.

Price indices for thirteen Canadian cities for 1900 to 1950 demonstrate large regional differences in cost of living until 1914. After 1914 regional price levels converged. Before the war, western Canadian cities had the highest cost of living. After 1920 cities in Ontario had the highest cost of living. Accounting for these trends in regional costs of living reveals that regional real wage and real income structures have been present and stable since at least 1901. Thus, regional wage and income disparities are long-standing and persistent features of the Canadian economy.

The authors, based on extensive field work in northern Perm' Oblast, investigate how people who cannot or do not wish to leave Russia's economic and geographic margins survive, in this case using 'subsidiary plots' and forest resources. Northern Perm' Oblast, one of the northern areas that became 'overpopulated' during the Soviet period (in this instance, through forest-industry development), since the USSR's collapse has suffered from loss of the subsidy that previously maintained the standard of living of forestry workers. The paper discusses economic disengagement in the region and its effects on the lives of people who have decided to remain.

This paper begins to remedy the neglect of gender aspects of financial crises by exploring a suggestive microfoundational model of unequal gender power and cost-bearing in a borrower household. This model shows that financial-market liberalization can assess women's access to formal sector employment and encourage the growth of household credit, both for a household enterprise and for the acquisition of labor-saving household assets. The price of these gains, however, is greater household risk because of greater cash-flow dependence and financial fragility. A financial crisis can force the household to bear heavier adjustment costs than would otherwise be felt; and these costs may well be borne disporportionately by women, who become more economically vulnerable as a result.

An enormous amount of research on state politics and policy relies on monetary variables. Such variables are affected by differences in the purchasing power of a dollar over time and across states, but a lack of information about geographic variation in the costs of goods and services has kept social scientists from taking these differences into account. We remove this obstacle by constructing an annual cost of living index for each continental American state from 1960 to 1995. The index constitutes a deflator suitable for cross-sectional, time-series, and pooled research. After establishing the reliability and validity of our index using a battery of diagnostic tests, we illustrate the importance of deflating monetary variables by examining two variables that are often used in state politics research.

Between 1977 and 1995, real after-tax hourly compensation for production workers fell by almost 14 percent. Both real pre-tax wages and the real value of benefits fell over this period. These estimates were generated using a cost-of-living index that was adjusted for a wide range of upward and downward biases.

Byline: Stacy D. Blake-Beard (1) Author Affiliation: (1) Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138 Article History: Registration Date: 14/10/2004

Issues concerning the manner in which poverty is studied are presented, focusing on the sociological implications of poverty. Topics include 19th- and 20th-century understanding of poverty; the influence of such thinkers as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Thomas Malthus on understanding poverty; and historical approaches to poverty in Russia.

The aim of this paper is to shed some light in the decline in personal saving rates in the United States in the 1980s. For a such a purpose the paper analyses the only U.S. data set containing information on consumption and income at the household level: the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CEX) from 1980 to 1991. Because the CEX is not a panel, most of the analysis is conducted using average cohort techniques. The paper identifies a 'typical age profile' for saving rates. Such a profile is 'hump shaped' and peaks around age 57, The paper also argues that such a profile was 'shifted down' for the cohorts born between 1920 and 1939 relative to the younger and older cohorts considered. These cohorts are the parents of the baby boom generation. The paper also argues that these 'cohort effects' can account for a nonneglible proportion of the decline in aggregate saving because these cohorts were, during the 1980s, in the ages when saving rates are typically highest. The result is robust to the consideration of several controls and holds for several definitions of consumption. The only exception is when durable expenditure is considered as saving rather than consumption., 'OK' I said, 'You win. It's a good theory ...' Randall smiled wryly: 'I don't like it myself I was just trying it out. It fits the facts - as [...]

The equivalence scale is an important parameter in view of its use in welfare comparisons. This paper investigates sensitivity of the scale to models, methods and commodities. The estimations range from single equation, OLS in case of Engel and Rothbarth models to maximum likelihood in case of demographic demand systems. The estimated scales from demand systems generally lie between the Engel and Rothbarth scales. The Equivalence Scale Exactness hypothesis, considered necessary for interpretation of the scale as child cost, suffers only a mild rejection. The Australian evidence suggests that rank two demand models, rejected by the data, may exaggerate child costs.

The reliability of the body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of living standard in developing nations was examined. Data gathered from the first two phases of the Ghana Living Standards Survey conducted between 1987 and 1989 was analyzed to determine the correlation between the BMI and certain household characteristics such as quality of housing, income and nutritional status of children. Results revealed that BMI was positively associated with various socioeconomic indicators of standard of living both at the individual and group levels.

This paper investigates the hypothesis that households in Cote d'Ivoire take part in spatially diversified risk-sharing arrangements with members of their own ethnic group. Empirical tests are presented using several estimation methods to deal with heteroscedasticity, measurement error and extreme value problems to examine whether results are robust across estimation procedures. The hypothesis of complete risk-sharing within ethnic groups is rejected. However, there appears to be some partial insurance performed by individual households with other members of the same ethnic group, particularly for the households residing in the regions least likely to have access to formal financial arrangements. JEL classification: D12; O12 Keywords: Consumption smoothing; Informal insurance systems; Ethnicity and risk-sharing; Cote d'Ivoire

J. Maynard Keynes posited eight reasons why people save and in the course of economic history, a ninth reason was added to the list. A standard theory of savings and consumption encompasses most of these motives, but empirical data show some consumption behaviors that are outside the range of the standard model. The data provided information on consumption and saving behavior, but failed to adequately present reasons why people save. Behavioral models may serve as alternatives or may even be combined to the standard framework for a more in-depth result.

Economics of the family provides a new and exciting ground for research and interdisciplinary studies that involve anthropology, modern evolutionary biology and behavioral psychology. Cultural norms such as care for the elderly and younger siblings, parenthood and generation of income impact on the economy. So do behavioral patterns determining marriage formation and dissolution practice. Studies that employ the tools provided by these disciplines would provide deeper insights into modern economy.

This article reports on comparative research into the living standards of unemployed couples claiming Income Support, couples claiming in-work benefits and couples in receipt of a male median wage. The data reveal high levels of debt and credit dependence across the whole sample, which have a particularly damaging impact on the daily consumption patterns of the unemployed group. The problems this raises for comparative judgements about living standards are discussed, most notably the need for a longitudinal perspective in both the analysis of financial circumstances and the interpretation of data on current standards of living.

Kakwani (1993) suggested some postulates for an index of improvement in the level of living of a population. He also suggested a particular class of improvement indices. In this paper we characterize axiomatically the entire Kakwani class of indices. We also derive a sufficient condition to avoid a non-comparability problem pointed out by Kakwani. JEL classification: I31 Keywords: Living standard; Achievement; Improvement

In the early 1970's, American households spent about one-fifth of their food dollar on food away from home. From the mid-1980's to the present, households have been spending about twice that proportion on food away from home. According to the 1992 Consumer Expenditure Survey, U.S. households allocated 38 percent of their food dollar to food away from home and 46 percent of their alcohol dollar to alcohol consumed outside the home. Consumers who spent the greatest share of their food dollar on food away from home were in the highest income quintile, under age 25, or living alone. Sales at eating and drinking places were up 134 percent between 1980 and 1993, with a corresponding 48-percent increase in the number of employees at these establishments. Factors that influence the decision to dine out include the increasing numbers of women in the labor force, the trend toward more one-person households, price competition among restaurants, and the interest in restaurants that offer some type of entertainment. Consumption trends when dining out, demographic influences, and other issues of concern to nutritionists, food policymakers, and restaurateurs are presented.

Objective. This empirical study compares expenditures on necessities by older Americans for different income categories. Methods. Cross-sectional data utilized in this project are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey interview tapes for 1989-90. A two-stage least squares regression model is used to analyze patterns of expenditure on necessities (food, housing, and medical care) by elderly households. Results. Poor elderly households are found to spend three-fourths of total expenditures on housing, food, and health care. Analysis indicates a sharp contrast between the poor receiving financial assistance and nonrecipients. Welfare recipients spend more on housing and less on food and health care than nonrecipients. Nonrecipients appear to dissave at unsustainable rates, which makes them the most vulnerable households. Conclusions. The findings indicate that a policy extending food stamps and financial assistance (which includes Medicaid eligibility) to poor and low-income elderly households would greatly increase their expenditures on housing and nonnecessities and decrease their expenditures on food and health care. Policy changes in transfer programs designed to cover more elderly households less comprehensively would reduce the differences between welfare recipients and poor nonrecipients.

An examination of household expenditures as reflected in the Family Expenditure Surveys of 1979-92 revealed trends that differ markedly from changes in household incomes gleaned from earlier surveys. Though no single measure can be reflective of all the aspects of living standards, expenditure may be the most ideal since it factors in the possibility that households will smooth consumption when income is variable. The inequality in expenditure increased rapidly between the early 1980s and early 1990s, though not as much as income inequality.

The rapid growth in inequality of incomes in the UK offers proof of increasing permanent inequality and increasing short-term income risk. A comparison of cohorts has revealed that younger cohorts experience remarkably greater inequality than did older cohorts at the same age. Minimal changes and increases were also noted for measures of poverty based on incomes for younger cohorts, whereas measures based on expenditures have usually been on the decline in the 1980s.

This article uses newly available data on the height of 'habitual criminals' born in Britain between 1812 and 1857 to assess changes in male and female living standards. The data show an unequivocal decline in average heights from the end of the Napoleonic wars to the 1850s, with the most rapid decline occurring in the 1840s. This finding suggests that there was a major deterioration in environmental, nutritional or employment conditions for British workers in this period which is not reflected in real wage data.

This paper incorporates children's perspectives on the issue of resource distribution in households. It is part of a relatively new trend of sociological explorations into childhood. The paper aims to review earlier studies and literature on children's access to money, food, space and time. The data illuminates norms governing distributive justice between adults and children in families.

In examining the economic status of single-parent families, the tendency has been to aggregate rural and urban families. This study examines the characteristics, income, and spending of single-parent families in the two areas separately using data from the 1990-92 Consumer Expenditure Survey. A significantly higher proportion of urban than rural single parents were never married. Slightly over one-fourth of single parents in both areas did not have a high school diploma. A significantly greater percentage of rural than urban single-parent families received alimony and child support, but a smaller percentage received public assistance. Before-tax income of rural families was significantly lower compared with urban families ($16,060 vs. $18,430). Housing accounted for the largest share of total expenses for both groups. A significantly higher proportion of rural than urban single-parent families owned a home, with 29 percent of all rural single-parent families residing in a mobile home. These results can give policymakers and professionals who develop programs targeted to single-parent families a better understanding of the differences in the two groups.

Data covering the period 1987-1989 and dealing with the effect of social policy on poverty in Hungary was evaluated. This undertaking was in line with the intent to find out to what degree social safety nets such as cash benefits could protect people from going below the poverty line or promote people to a higher standard of living. Results showed that such policies merely protected individuals from getting poorer although they did not appreciably extricate them from their present conditions.

Agricultural households in developing countries are vulnerable to idiosyncratic shocks that directly affect crop or agricultural income. These shocks also indirectly affect wealth through household attempts at consumption protection from such shocks. Credit market accessibility affects interhousehold differences in vulnerability to income shocks. In India, well-developed labor markets alleviate the impact of income shocks by increasing labor market hours.

Recent research has shown significant changes in income inequality and real living standards in the UK since 1979. However, research has failed to document the changes in the pattern of inequality prior to that time. To remedy this problem, the changing patterns in income inequality and real living standards in the UK from 1961 to 1991 are analyzed using detailed information on the incomes and characteristics of some 200,000 households.

Variations in cost-of-living indices between different types of UK households are studied. Chained series of pairwise Tornqvist indices are used in calculating the indices. Alternative all-item cost-of-living indices are also calculated using two possible methods of calculating housing costs. Results suggest small differences in the growth ofcost of living at the end of the period. However, the top and bottom of the income distribution and between demographic groups had widely varying inflation rates.

In this paper we assess whether it is changing needs or intertemporal substitution that dominate household expenditure responses to the presence of children over the life-cycle. We construct lifetime expenditure paths for households with different demographic profiles and consider the shape of these paths and some possible implications for welfare measures. Simulated expenditure paths based on consistent single-period and multi-period models indicate that it is indeed changing needs that dominate such paths in periods when children are present in the household. However, allowing for intertemporal substitution is still shown to be important since it can introduce new information relevant to the calculation of household welfare.

Cross-section estimates of income elasticities for food staples in the aggregate based on quantity information from household food expenditure surveys are often in the 0.3-0.6 range. It is shown that differences in per capita calorie intakes across income groups implied by these income elasticities are grossly inconsistent with observed differences in bodyweights. Moreover, time series data frequently indicate that national per capita consumption of food staples in the aggregate remains constant even as per capita gross national product rises substantially. Cross-section income elasticity estimates are biased upwards due to the failure of food expenditure surveys to undertake an accurate accounting of food transfers from high to low income groups, biases which are not generated by survey techniques which record food intakes directly.