Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Well-Being On Planet Earth, Ed Diener, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Gallup World Poll allows a look at how humanity is flourishing, based on the answers of survey respondents sampled from across the globe. Several conclusions are clear. First, how people are doing depends enormously on the society in which they live, and nations vary from doing very well to extremely poorly. In terms of subjective well-being, nations vary greatly, in both judgments of overall life and in positive and negative emotions. The best predictors of global life judgments were income and ownership of modern conveniences, whereas the best predictors of emotions were social factors such as the control of …

Parental Income, Assets, And Borrowing Constraints And Children's Post-Secondary Education, Jin Huang, Baorong Guo, Youngmi Kim, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

This study is a test of two theoretical models linking parental economic resources to children’s post-secondary education, namely, short-term borrowing constraints and long-term family background. a series of structural equation models (SEM) are tested using data from a sample of young adults (N=650) in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). To further understand the role of parental resources in children’s education, analyses are conducted for both income and assets, with assets measured by liquid assets and net worth. Findings indicate that both income and assets have consistent long-term associations with children’s college entry. When measures of household wealth are …

Economic Transition And Growth, Peter C. B. Phillips, Donggyu Sul

Research Collection School Of Economics

Some extensions of neoclassical growth models are discussed that allow for cross-section heterogeneity among economies and evolution in rates of technological progress over time. The models offer a spectrum of transitional behavior among economies that includes convergence to a common steady-state path as well as various forms of transitional divergence and convergence. Mechanisms for modeling such transitions, measuring them econometrically, assessing group behavior and selecting subgroups are developed in the paper. Some econometric issues with the commonly used augmented Solow regressions are pointed out, including problems of endogeneity and omitted variable bias which arise under conditions of transitional heterogeneity. Alternative …

Latino Middle Class Income-Earners In New York City In 2006, Miriam Jiménez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in New York City in 2006 – particularly the income rates of the Latino population.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: For this study, the middle class refers to those population sectors that fall between $35,000—$59,999 and $ 60,000—$100,000 in annual personal income. Middle-class income earners account for approximately 25.7% of …

Food Insecurity And Disability: Do Economic Resources Matter?, Jin Huang, Baorong Guo, Youngmi Kim

Center for Social Development Research

This research examines the relationship between work disability and food insecurity, and tests whether the positive association between disability and food insecurity is accounted for by two mechanisms: economic resources and/or competing consumption needs. a sample (N=6,997) is chosen from the 1999 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) with over 1,200 households headed by people with disabilities. Findings support both mechanisms but depending on the levels of food insecurity and the types of family economic resources, their success at explaining the relationship of disability with food insecurity varies. In addition, we find that household assets are more effective than income …

Splitsville: A Study Of Income Inequality And Political Polarization In The United States House Of Representatives, Robert O'Brien

Honors Scholar Theses

The study compares a measure of income inequality with polarization scores of U.S. Representatives from the 104th to the 109th Congresses. It attempts to explain the link, on the abstract level, between high inequality and high polarization. The end findings indicate that inequality increases a Representative's likelihood to act liberally.