No description available.

The present thesis is a study of the economic consequences of declining real wages in the United States. It proposes that, when the real wages of the majority of the U.S. workforce declined in the 1970s, 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, household labour supply increased. Consequently, real family income in the bottom eighty percent of the income distribution rose. Wage-earning households were not only struggling to maintain their acquired standard of living as real wages were declining, but they were also, perhaps more importantly, trying to raise their standard of living. It was precisely when household labour supply hit a ceiling in the second half of the 1990s, that household debt exploded. Surging household debt from the late 1990s until 2007 – driven primarily by home mortgage debt – suggests that the culturally powerful “American Dream” motivated wage-earning households to seek and expect a continuously rising standard of living via home ownership even in the face of topped out work hours and historically low real wages.

The present thesis is a study of the economic consequences of declining real wages in the United States. It proposes that, when the real wages of the majority of the U.S. workforce declined in the 1970s, 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, household labour supply increased. Consequently, real family income in the bottom eighty percent of the income distribution rose. Wage-earning households were not only struggling to maintain their acquired standard of living as real wages were declining, but they were also, perhaps more importantly, trying to raise their standard of living. It was precisely when household labour supply hit a ceiling in the second half of the 1990s, that household debt exploded. Surging household debt from the late 1990s until 2007 – driven primarily by home mortgage debt – suggests that the culturally powerful “American Dream” motivated wage-earning households to seek and expect a continuously rising standard of living via home ownership even in the face of topped out work hours and historically low real wages.

Diss. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2004.

Aim Despite the country's explicit political goal to establish equivalent living conditions across Germany, significant inequality continues to exist. We argue that premature mortality is an excellent proxy variable for testing the claim of equivalent living conditions since the root causes of premature death are socioeconomic. Subject and methods We analyse variation in premature mortality across Germany's 402 districts and cities in 2014. Results Premature mortality spatially clusters among geographically contiguous and proximate districts/cities and is higher in more urban places as well as in districts/cities located further north and in former East Germany. We demonstrate that, first, socioeconomic factors account for 62% of the cross-sectional variation in years of potential life lost and 70% of the variation in the premature mortality rate. Second, we show that these socioeconomic factors either entirely or almost fully eliminate the systematic spatial patterns that exist in premature mortality. Conclusion On its own, fiscal redistribution, the centrepiece of how Germany aspires to establish its political goal, cannot generate equivalent living conditions in the absence of a comprehensive set of economic and social policies at all levels of political administration, tackling the disparities in socioeconomic factors that collectively result in highly unequal living conditions.

Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de avaliar os empreendimentos habitacionais verticalizados de interesse social, resultantes dos projetos elaborados pelas assessorias técnicas, contratadas pelos movimentos de moradia, com a parceria dos órgãos públicos responsáveis pela fomentação de habitação popular na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. São denominados Mutirões Verticalizados. A compreensão histórica e ideológica da verticalização das habitações sociais, da sua inserção e/ou espoliação no espaço da cidade e das políticas de mutirão existentes na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, pretende subsidiar uma reflexão a cerca dos resultados da ocupação dos projetos que tem como principal característica, o acompanhamento dos futuros moradores em todas as etapas da construção. Através da APO- Avaliação de Pós-Ocupação, aplicada em alguns mutirões verticalizados, localizados em vários pontos da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, podemos apontar indicadores do desempenho da aferição de satisfação dos usuários, e as principais causas que levam aos mutirantes quererem repassar ou ficarem em sua atual moradia. Essa pesquisa visa contribuir para o aprimoramento de programas de processos de projeto e da produção dos conjuntos habitacionais, na busca de uma melhor qualidade de vida aos moradores desses conjuntos. / The objective of this thesis is the assessment of social interest vertical-housing developments, as a result of projects elaborated by technical consultants, and contracted by housing movements in partnership with public institutions in charge of promoting popular dwellings in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo City, known as Mutirão Vertical (self-built vertical housing). The historical and ideological understanding of vertical social housing, of its insertion and/or exclusion from public space, and of the self-building policies in Metropolitan São Paulo, intends to provoke reflection about the results in projects occupation, whose main characteristic is the follow-up, in all phases of construction, by the future dwellers. Through the APO Avaliação Pós-Ocupação (post-occupation assessment) carried out in several self-built vertical projects throughout the city of São Paulo, it is possible to indicate and evaluate the users satisfaction, and their main reasons either to remain in the property or to transfer it. The research aims at contributing to the improvement of project development programs, and of the production of social housing, in order to provide its dweller with better living standards.

This thesis discusses the interaction between inflation, living standards, and political change in Soviet/Russian history. It traces the establishment and evolution of the Soviet monetary system, inflationary episodes, and their consequences. The goal of this study is to show how inflation affects the lives of ordinary people and how it has contributed to larger changes in Soviet history. Sources include economic statistics and analysis from articles and monographs, as well as first-hand accounts from interviews and newspapers. The results show that inflation was a factor in both the rise and the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia's first hyperinflation (1917-1923) nearly destroyed the economy, and the Bolsheviks were forced to stabilize prices. The Soviet system of price controls prevented inflation, but it also created persistent shortages of food and consumer goods. Mikhail Gorbachev tried to alleviate these problems, but his efforts resulted instead in Russia's second hyperinflation (1992-1993).

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.

Following the success of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Microfinance institutions (MFIs) which apply group-lending method through the medium of small credit have been regarded as a new and effective tools for poverty alleviation for the poor in many Less Developed Countries. This study analyses the role of two MFIs, namely KUKESRA, a government administered programme and Mitra Karya East Java (MKEJ) which is a privately managed institution in poverty alleviation in Indonesia. It examines to what extent these institutions have been successful in helping the poor, and improving the living standards of the recipients. Two alternative approaches, namely the institutionalist and the welfarist approaches, are used to examine the question of whether the poor benefited from the two programmes, followed by a comparison of the performances between the two. Using data obtained from a sample survey of 393 respondents in the District of Malang in East Java, from December 1998 - June 1999, it was found that the differences in management, organisational structure, programme design, and the system of coordination all resulted in differences in performance of the two MFI institutions studied. It was found that both programmes increased the incomes of the recipients, but the impact of KUKESRA was much lower than that of MKEJ. However, KUKESRA had a greater positive effect on employment than MKEJ. Neither of the programmes resulted in a significant improvement in the consumption of basic needs of the recipients. Of the two approaches used in the evaluation of the programmes, a good performance in terms of outreach and sustainability under the institutional approach did not imply that the poor really benefited from the programme. It was found that the welfarist approach is much more appropriate in evaluating the effectiveness of MFIs in Indonesia.

This thesis examines three questions concerned with the relative income needs of families of different sizes - often summarised by indices known as ???equivalence scales???. The first is the extent to which researchers and policy makers should offset the costs of family composition (eg the expenditure costs of children) with the benefits associated with demographic choice (eg the ???joys of parenthood???). Chapter 2 concludes that there are demographic and financial market constraints that will often make a narrow focus on expenditure costs appropriate for distributional research and tax/transfer policies. However, this will not always be the case. One implication of this result is that it may be reasonable for distributional research to use different equivalence scales for adults and children in the same household. Part 2 of the thesis introduces a new method for the estimation of the within-household income distribution and expenditure costs of different family types. This is based upon the household welfare model of Samuelson together with Lau???s method for modelling the joint consumption of household goods. In Chapter 4, this method is applied to the estimation of equivalence scales for older singles and married couples. The estimation is based upon a detailed set of assumptions about the extent of joint consumption for 17 different commodity groups. The main conclusions are that: the theoretical model fits the observed behaviour well (with the exception of some home production effects); that aged couples share their income relatively evenly; and that the relative rate of pension for aged singles in Australia is probably too low. In Part 3, the thesis examines how changes in poverty can be estimated when there is uncertainty about the equivalence scale. The thesis proposes a new method which permits a set of upper and lower bounds for the equivalence scale to be assumed, which in turn determine upper and lower bounds for the increase in poverty. This method is applied to measure the change in poverty in Australia during the 1980s. Equivalence scales can be found that imply either an increase or a decrease in poverty.