Francis G. Castles
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199270170
- eISBN:
- 9780191601514
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199270171.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This book uses data from 21 OECD countries for the period 1980 to 1998 to test a variety of hypotheses suggesting that contemporary welfare states are in crisis and to establish the factors shaping ...
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This book uses data from 21 OECD countries for the period 1980 to 1998 to test a variety of hypotheses suggesting that contemporary welfare states are in crisis and to establish the factors shaping the trajectory of welfare state development during these years. It assesses the validity of arguments that globalization leads to a ‘race to the bottom’ in social spending and that population ageing poses a threat to public budgets. It finds both of these arguments wanting and, instead, suggests that contemporary welfare states have been converging to a steady state over recent decades. The book also examines the extent to which welfare states across the OECD have been restructured in recent years and whether there are signs of the emergence of a distinctive European ‘social model’. Again, it finds that accounts of substantial welfare state restructuring and of the Europeanization of the welfare state are much exaggerated. Finally, the book identifies a potential threat to the viability of existing societies in a trend to declining fertility throughout the advanced world, but argues that the welfare state in the form of family-friendly policy is actually our best protection against this trend.Less
This book uses data from 21 OECD countries for the period 1980 to 1998 to test a variety of hypotheses suggesting that contemporary welfare states are in crisis and to establish the factors shaping the trajectory of welfare state development during these years. It assesses the validity of arguments that globalization leads to a ‘race to the bottom’ in social spending and that population ageing poses a threat to public budgets. It finds both of these arguments wanting and, instead, suggests that contemporary welfare states have been converging to a steady state over recent decades. The book also examines the extent to which welfare states across the OECD have been restructured in recent years and whether there are signs of the emergence of a distinctive European ‘social model’. Again, it finds that accounts of substantial welfare state restructuring and of the Europeanization of the welfare state are much exaggerated. Finally, the book identifies a potential threat to the viability of existing societies in a trend to declining fertility throughout the advanced world, but argues that the welfare state in the form of family-friendly policy is actually our best protection against this trend.
E. Philip Davis
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198293040
- eISBN:
- 9780191684944
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198293040.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics, Public and Welfare
Because of lower fertility and the various advances in terms of medicine, the number of people over 60 will have raisen from 500 million in 1990 to about 1.4 billion in 2030. If seen on a global ...
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Because of lower fertility and the various advances in terms of medicine, the number of people over 60 will have raisen from 500 million in 1990 to about 1.4 billion in 2030. If seen on a global scale, the issue of population ageing may give rise to various economic problems. As compared to when life expectancy was still relatively low, a large portion of the population will have claims to a share of a particular output in spite of not being about to provide labour sufficient enough to maintain their incomes. One of the major issues in both advanced and Third World countries will then involve how to organize this type of system while retaining economic growth and efficiency. In taking the political and financial risks into account, the resulting option as well as its consequences for pension fund development will significantly affect the financial system's structure.Less
Because of lower fertility and the various advances in terms of medicine, the number of people over 60 will have raisen from 500 million in 1990 to about 1.4 billion in 2030. If seen on a global scale, the issue of population ageing may give rise to various economic problems. As compared to when life expectancy was still relatively low, a large portion of the population will have claims to a share of a particular output in spite of not being about to provide labour sufficient enough to maintain their incomes. One of the major issues in both advanced and Third World countries will then involve how to organize this type of system while retaining economic growth and efficiency. In taking the political and financial risks into account, the resulting option as well as its consequences for pension fund development will significantly affect the financial system's structure.
Alessandro Cigno and Furio Camillo Rosati
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199264452
- eISBN:
- 9780191602511
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199264457.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
Why is there child labour? Are there arguments for abolishing or curtailing all forms of child labour, or just morally and physically dangerous ones like soldiering and prostitution? Given that at ...
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Why is there child labour? Are there arguments for abolishing or curtailing all forms of child labour, or just morally and physically dangerous ones like soldiering and prostitution? Given that at least some forms of child labour ought to be abolished or curtailed, which is the most effective way of doing it? The book tries to answer these questions both theoretically and empirically. Child labour can be inefficiently high or inefficiently low, but more likely the former. Market and government failure can lead to children being effectively sold into slavery. Even the most common and least objectionable forms of child work, helping parents on the family farm or with domestic chores, have harmful effects. The mechanisms that produce excessive child labour are the same that produce excessive fertility and infant mortality. There is no single remedy for child labour. A ban is unlikely to be effective on its own. The list of effective instruments includes not only obvious candidates like schools, credit, and cover against certain risks, but also less obvious ones like sanitation and preventive medicine. Even humdrum policies such as bringing electricity and piped water into people’s homes can significantly reduce child labour.Less
Why is there child labour? Are there arguments for abolishing or curtailing all forms of child labour, or just morally and physically dangerous ones like soldiering and prostitution? Given that at least some forms of child labour ought to be abolished or curtailed, which is the most effective way of doing it? The book tries to answer these questions both theoretically and empirically. Child labour can be inefficiently high or inefficiently low, but more likely the former. Market and government failure can lead to children being effectively sold into slavery. Even the most common and least objectionable forms of child work, helping parents on the family farm or with domestic chores, have harmful effects. The mechanisms that produce excessive child labour are the same that produce excessive fertility and infant mortality. There is no single remedy for child labour. A ban is unlikely to be effective on its own. The list of effective instruments includes not only obvious candidates like schools, credit, and cover against certain risks, but also less obvious ones like sanitation and preventive medicine. Even humdrum policies such as bringing electricity and piped water into people’s homes can significantly reduce child labour.
Hans-Peter Kohler
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199244591
- eISBN:
- 9780191596544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199244596.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to ...
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Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to fertility is embraced by its supporters because it facilitates the application of sophisticated consumer and household production theory to one of the most private and intimate questions: a couple's reproductive behaviour. Despite the theoretical appeal of the economic approach, it has been eschewed by many critics because of its lack of social and institutional context, its neglect of cultural factors and its requirements of ‘rationality’. The integration of social interaction with economic fertility models in this book emerges as a powerful tool to overcome many of these criticisms. First, the analysis provides a formal integration of economic, sociological, and other approaches to fertility and shows that there is a useful and promising agenda at the intersection of these schools. The second and more important goal is to sharpen the analytic lens with which theorists from different schools investigate fertility. For economists, the work shows the advantages of moving beyond individual decision‐making and embedding the fertility decisions in a ‘local environment’ with interpersonal information flows, ‘atmospheric’ or social externalities, norms, and customs. For sociologists, this work intends to show that the theorizing about the interaction in social network can be more sophisticated. Thirdly, the findings have important implications for population policy. The analyses in this book show when family planning is likely to diffuse and lead to rapid adoption of birth control, and they derive conditions when Pareto‐improving policy measures are likely to exist.Less
Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to fertility is embraced by its supporters because it facilitates the application of sophisticated consumer and household production theory to one of the most private and intimate questions: a couple's reproductive behaviour. Despite the theoretical appeal of the economic approach, it has been eschewed by many critics because of its lack of social and institutional context, its neglect of cultural factors and its requirements of ‘rationality’. The integration of social interaction with economic fertility models in this book emerges as a powerful tool to overcome many of these criticisms. First, the analysis provides a formal integration of economic, sociological, and other approaches to fertility and shows that there is a useful and promising agenda at the intersection of these schools. The second and more important goal is to sharpen the analytic lens with which theorists from different schools investigate fertility. For economists, the work shows the advantages of moving beyond individual decision‐making and embedding the fertility decisions in a ‘local environment’ with interpersonal information flows, ‘atmospheric’ or social externalities, norms, and customs. For sociologists, this work intends to show that the theorizing about the interaction in social network can be more sophisticated. Thirdly, the findings have important implications for population policy. The analyses in this book show when family planning is likely to diffuse and lead to rapid adoption of birth control, and they derive conditions when Pareto‐improving policy measures are likely to exist.
Francis G. Castles
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199270170
- eISBN:
- 9780191601514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199270171.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
Instead of focusing on a crisis for the welfare state, this chapter examines a contemporary crisis threat for which the welfare state in the form of family-friendly social policies may provide the ...
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Instead of focusing on a crisis for the welfare state, this chapter examines a contemporary crisis threat for which the welfare state in the form of family-friendly social policies may provide the answer. The crisis in question is a serious decline in advanced country fertility rates, which has left most OECD cou n tries with birthrates well below those required to replace existing population levels. The analysis shows that in the past few decades the world has almost literally been ‘turned upside down’, with fertility rates now highest in countries where cultural v a lues are least traditional and where public policies are most encouraging to female labour force participation. The chapter also analyses the effect of a variety of family-friendly policies and shows that the provision of childcare places is the measure m o st vital to raising advanced nation fertility levels.Less
Instead of focusing on a crisis for the welfare state, this chapter examines a contemporary crisis threat for which the welfare state in the form of family-friendly social policies may provide the answer. The crisis in question is a serious decline in advanced country fertility rates, which has left most OECD cou n tries with birthrates well below those required to replace existing population levels. The analysis shows that in the past few decades the world has almost literally been ‘turned upside down’, with fertility rates now highest in countries where cultural v a lues are least traditional and where public policies are most encouraging to female labour force participation. The chapter also analyses the effect of a variety of family-friendly policies and shows that the provision of childcare places is the measure m o st vital to raising advanced nation fertility levels.
Hans‐Peter Kohler
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199244591
- eISBN:
- 9780191596544
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199244596.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Summarizes the main findings and discusses how social interactions can be used to extend the rational and individual‐centred approach of economists with social norms, bounded rationality, social ...
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Summarizes the main findings and discusses how social interactions can be used to extend the rational and individual‐centred approach of economists with social norms, bounded rationality, social learning, changing values, and attitudes. The combination of these elements yields new insights about the dynamics and determinants of fertility change. More generally, the book also reveals how the economic approach to individual behaviour can be broadened in order to overcome many of its traditional criticisms.Less
Summarizes the main findings and discusses how social interactions can be used to extend the rational and individual‐centred approach of economists with social norms, bounded rationality, social learning, changing values, and attitudes. The combination of these elements yields new insights about the dynamics and determinants of fertility change. More generally, the book also reveals how the economic approach to individual behaviour can be broadened in order to overcome many of its traditional criticisms.
Ruth Deech and Anna Smajdor
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199219780
- eISBN:
- 9780191713002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219780.003.0010
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
The authors observe that the issues covered in the book are subject to ongoing debate. They note that at the time of the book's publication, these questions were under review since the UK parliament ...
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The authors observe that the issues covered in the book are subject to ongoing debate. They note that at the time of the book's publication, these questions were under review since the UK parliament was revising the legislation governing reproductive technologies and embryo research.Less
The authors observe that the issues covered in the book are subject to ongoing debate. They note that at the time of the book's publication, these questions were under review since the UK parliament was revising the legislation governing reproductive technologies and embryo research.
Zhigang Guo and Wei Chen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter examines the fertility decline in mainland China since the 1970s. Using data from a wide range of sources, including the 2000 census and through linking recorded children to their ...
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This chapter examines the fertility decline in mainland China since the 1970s. Using data from a wide range of sources, including the 2000 census and through linking recorded children to their mothers, it shows that China's Total Fertility Rate was likely to have fallen to 1.6 at the end of the 20th century. Useful information on changes in cohort fertility is provided through the examination of a tempo-adjusted Total Fertility Rate.Less
This chapter examines the fertility decline in mainland China since the 1970s. Using data from a wide range of sources, including the 2000 census and through linking recorded children to their mothers, it shows that China's Total Fertility Rate was likely to have fallen to 1.6 at the end of the 20th century. Useful information on changes in cohort fertility is provided through the examination of a tempo-adjusted Total Fertility Rate.
Anne Case
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305197
- eISBN:
- 9780199783519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305191.003.0018
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Many economists believe that education is key to economic development. The first section of this essay highlights what is known about the role of education in three interrelated areas: income ...
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Many economists believe that education is key to economic development. The first section of this essay highlights what is known about the role of education in three interrelated areas: income generation, health status, and fertility. It discusses reasons why measuring the impact of education is difficult, and presents the best current estimates for the effects of education in these important areas. In bringing education to people in the developing world, an understanding of which school inputs are most effective and at what levels of education is paramount. The second half of the essay discusses why little is known about which inputs are most effective, and contrasts different approaches to assessing the impact of school inputs. The essay concludes with a discussion of programs that promise to be more successful in helping governments and policy makers decide how best to invest in human capital.Less
Many economists believe that education is key to economic development. The first section of this essay highlights what is known about the role of education in three interrelated areas: income generation, health status, and fertility. It discusses reasons why measuring the impact of education is difficult, and presents the best current estimates for the effects of education in these important areas. In bringing education to people in the developing world, an understanding of which school inputs are most effective and at what levels of education is paramount. The second half of the essay discusses why little is known about which inputs are most effective, and contrasts different approaches to assessing the impact of school inputs. The essay concludes with a discussion of programs that promise to be more successful in helping governments and policy makers decide how best to invest in human capital.
Francis G. Castles
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199270170
- eISBN:
- 9780191601514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199270171.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
Explores the themes of what follows. It argues that the welfare state literature of the past quarter century has been big on crisis theories of the welfare state and much weaker on facts. The chapter ...
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Explores the themes of what follows. It argues that the welfare state literature of the past quarter century has been big on crisis theories of the welfare state and much weaker on facts. The chapter suggests that, in order to say something meaningful about the future of the welfare state, we need to test crisis accounts, such as those built around globalization and population ageing, with facts drawn from comparative analysis to establish which are myths and which are realities.Less
Explores the themes of what follows. It argues that the welfare state literature of the past quarter century has been big on crisis theories of the welfare state and much weaker on facts. The chapter suggests that, in order to say something meaningful about the future of the welfare state, we need to test crisis accounts, such as those built around globalization and population ageing, with facts drawn from comparative analysis to establish which are myths and which are realities.
Edward Jow-Ching Tu, Xin Yuan, and Xia Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter presents a detailed analysis of fertility transition in Hong Kong and Taiwan. While very different from the mainland and people living there are not subject to the strict government ...
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This chapter presents a detailed analysis of fertility transition in Hong Kong and Taiwan. While very different from the mainland and people living there are not subject to the strict government birth control policies, the trajectory of fertility changes in Hong Kong and Taiwan has been broadly similar to that observed in the mainland. Useful information on tempo and quantum effects on fertility and the impact of recuperation on changes in cohort fertility are provided.Less
This chapter presents a detailed analysis of fertility transition in Hong Kong and Taiwan. While very different from the mainland and people living there are not subject to the strict government birth control policies, the trajectory of fertility changes in Hong Kong and Taiwan has been broadly similar to that observed in the mainland. Useful information on tempo and quantum effects on fertility and the impact of recuperation on changes in cohort fertility are provided.
Gøsta Esping‐Andersen
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198742005
- eISBN:
- 9780191599163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198742002.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Revisits welfare regimes through the analytical lens of the family, first making the point that modernization theory should not have been taken at face value, since even if history has, in general, ...
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Revisits welfare regimes through the analytical lens of the family, first making the point that modernization theory should not have been taken at face value, since even if history has, in general, eroded the role of households in welfare production, this is perhaps less salient than specific international variations (some nations are characterized by their advanced level of de‐ familialization of welfare responsibilities, others for their sustained adherence to familialism). In other words, some societies may have brought the idealized Parsonian family into being; others reproduce many of the features of the ‘pre‐industrial’ household. Most welfare state theory provides little help in understanding such variation, and the real problem begins with the association of the nuclear family with industrialism, for it is simply wrong to assume that it lost its welfare functions with the advent of welfare states. The second point addresses the prevailing, often feminist, arguments that models of welfare regimes that have been specified via a political economy perspective fail to hold up when subject to a gendered analysis. Alternative gendered typologies do, in fact, often contradict political economy typologies, but the contradiction may be spurious because different phenomena are being explained and compared. The objective of this chapter is not to debate gender theories, but to understand the position of the (changing) family in the overall infrastructure of welfare production and consumption: what happens to our political economy models of welfare regimes when we insert the family; what are the effects of family change on welfare states and, ultimately, on post‐industrial change? However, since household‐welfare production is largely—but far from exclusively—based on women's unpaid labour, gender differences in the family‐welfare nexus clearly must be addressed. The three sections of the chapter are: Households and Welfare Production; The Family and Comparative Welfare Regimes; and Familialism and the Low‐Fertility Equilibrium.Less
Revisits welfare regimes through the analytical lens of the family, first making the point that modernization theory should not have been taken at face value, since even if history has, in general, eroded the role of households in welfare production, this is perhaps less salient than specific international variations (some nations are characterized by their advanced level of de‐ familialization of welfare responsibilities, others for their sustained adherence to familialism). In other words, some societies may have brought the idealized Parsonian family into being; others reproduce many of the features of the ‘pre‐industrial’ household. Most welfare state theory provides little help in understanding such variation, and the real problem begins with the association of the nuclear family with industrialism, for it is simply wrong to assume that it lost its welfare functions with the advent of welfare states. The second point addresses the prevailing, often feminist, arguments that models of welfare regimes that have been specified via a political economy perspective fail to hold up when subject to a gendered analysis. Alternative gendered typologies do, in fact, often contradict political economy typologies, but the contradiction may be spurious because different phenomena are being explained and compared. The objective of this chapter is not to debate gender theories, but to understand the position of the (changing) family in the overall infrastructure of welfare production and consumption: what happens to our political economy models of welfare regimes when we insert the family; what are the effects of family change on welfare states and, ultimately, on post‐industrial change? However, since household‐welfare production is largely—but far from exclusively—based on women's unpaid labour, gender differences in the family‐welfare nexus clearly must be addressed. The three sections of the chapter are: Households and Welfare Production; The Family and Comparative Welfare Regimes; and Familialism and the Low‐Fertility Equilibrium.
Zhongwei Zhao and Fei Guo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This book examines the major demographic changes that have taken in China in recent decades and the major demographic challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. The extensive evidence presented ...
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This book examines the major demographic changes that have taken in China in recent decades and the major demographic challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. The extensive evidence presented in the book demonstrates that China has been going through a profound demographic revolution characterized by drastic mortality decline, unprecedented fertility transition, rapid increase of internal migration, fast change in population age structure, and remarkable variations in demographic patterns across different regions and among various ethnic groups. The book systematically analyzes challenges brought about by these changes and their impact on China's future socio-economic development. On the basis of their extensive research and newly available data, contributors to this book provide the latest updated and insightful studies on a wide range of population issues.Less
This book examines the major demographic changes that have taken in China in recent decades and the major demographic challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. The extensive evidence presented in the book demonstrates that China has been going through a profound demographic revolution characterized by drastic mortality decline, unprecedented fertility transition, rapid increase of internal migration, fast change in population age structure, and remarkable variations in demographic patterns across different regions and among various ethnic groups. The book systematically analyzes challenges brought about by these changes and their impact on China's future socio-economic development. On the basis of their extensive research and newly available data, contributors to this book provide the latest updated and insightful studies on a wide range of population issues.
Sara Horrell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199212668
- eISBN:
- 9780191712807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212668.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household ...
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Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household structure and the role of children at the start and end of the 20th century. The next section considers the impact of domestic technology on women's availability for work. The final section considers the interrelationship between work, fertility decisions, and divorce.Less
Changes in household structure, fertility rates, and domestic technology all have consequences for labour market behaviour. This chapter explores these links. It starts by describing household structure and the role of children at the start and end of the 20th century. The next section considers the impact of domestic technology on women's availability for work. The final section considers the interrelationship between work, fertility decisions, and divorce.
Kate Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199267361
- eISBN:
- 9780191708299
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267361.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the increased use of birth control using first-hand accounts from oral history alongside material collected by birth control campaigners, population surveys, and Mass Observation. It argues that men, just as much as women, need to be the focus of study. The strategies used to obtain oral history material in such a sensitive area are outlined and the range of methodological strategies employed in its analysis is revealed. The importance of dissecting the ways in which respondents organized and presented their memories is highlighted. Studying modes of self-presentation and elucidating the subjective meaning and cultural significance that individuals attach to their lives is shown to illuminate the identities which influenced beliefs and behaviour.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the ways in which historians and demographers have characterized and explained the fertility decline. It discusses the value of a systematic social history of the increased use of birth control using first-hand accounts from oral history alongside material collected by birth control campaigners, population surveys, and Mass Observation. It argues that men, just as much as women, need to be the focus of study. The strategies used to obtain oral history material in such a sensitive area are outlined and the range of methodological strategies employed in its analysis is revealed. The importance of dissecting the ways in which respondents organized and presented their memories is highlighted. Studying modes of self-presentation and elucidating the subjective meaning and cultural significance that individuals attach to their lives is shown to illuminate the identities which influenced beliefs and behaviour.
Zhongwei Zhao and Fei Guo
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This introductory chapter briefly reviews China's demographic transition, major demographic challenges, the development of population research in China, and the organization of the book. It provides ...
More
This introductory chapter briefly reviews China's demographic transition, major demographic challenges, the development of population research in China, and the organization of the book. It provides useful background information of a wide range of issues examined in this book.Less
This introductory chapter briefly reviews China's demographic transition, major demographic challenges, the development of population research in China, and the organization of the book. It provides useful background information of a wide range of issues examined in this book.
Thomas Scharping
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter critically examines China's recent demographic data, especially the impact of the family planning programme on the quality of fertility data. It identifies various kinds of registration ...
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This chapter critically examines China's recent demographic data, especially the impact of the family planning programme on the quality of fertility data. It identifies various kinds of registration problems and shows that the quality of fertility data collected by some administrative organizations and those from recent censuses has deteriorated in recent years.Less
This chapter critically examines China's recent demographic data, especially the impact of the family planning programme on the quality of fertility data. It identifies various kinds of registration problems and shows that the quality of fertility data collected by some administrative organizations and those from recent censuses has deteriorated in recent years.
Wei Chen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter investigates changes in induced abortion and their relationship with the implementation of the family planning policies, the decline in fertility, and the rise of sex ratios at birth. It ...
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This chapter investigates changes in induced abortion and their relationship with the implementation of the family planning policies, the decline in fertility, and the rise of sex ratios at birth. It identifies a number of factors that have markedly influenced patterns of abortion. It shows that while the contribution of abortion to fertility decline is relatively small, it has a considerable impact on sex ratio at birth in many regions.Less
This chapter investigates changes in induced abortion and their relationship with the implementation of the family planning policies, the decline in fertility, and the rise of sex ratios at birth. It identifies a number of factors that have markedly influenced patterns of abortion. It shows that while the contribution of abortion to fertility decline is relatively small, it has a considerable impact on sex ratio at birth in many regions.
Guangyu Zhang and Baochang Gu
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199299294
- eISBN:
- 9780191715082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299294.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter examines recent changes in age at first marriage and the proportion choosing marriage, their impact on fertility decline, and recent increases in divorce and remarriage. It provides the ...
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This chapter examines recent changes in age at first marriage and the proportion choosing marriage, their impact on fertility decline, and recent increases in divorce and remarriage. It provides the latest update on people's attitudes toward sexual relationships and marriage behaviours in China against a broad backdrop of changing marriage patterns around the world.Less
This chapter examines recent changes in age at first marriage and the proportion choosing marriage, their impact on fertility decline, and recent increases in divorce and remarriage. It provides the latest update on people's attitudes toward sexual relationships and marriage behaviours in China against a broad backdrop of changing marriage patterns around the world.
S.C. Humphreys
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199269235
- eISBN:
- 9780191710094
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269235.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary ...
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This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary fields such as religion. It also highlights the intellectual aspects of religious thought and practice, and attacks the stereotype of religion and ritual as traditional and unchanging. The supernatural — like ‘nature’ in modern science — attracts speculation and experiment. Particular attention is given to the construction of classical studies and its subdisciplines in the 19th century university; to the genesis of the dichotomy rational/irrational in Greece in the 6th-5th centuries BCE (magnified in importance by 19th-century classicists); to the religious reforms of Lycurgus in Athens in the late 4th century BCE; to cultic innovation in the Attic demes; to the 18th-century origins of the idea that fertility cult was the earliest form of religion; and to the history of the Anthesteria festival.Less
This book contains analyses both of Athenian religion and of the history of classical studies. It emphasizes that disciplinary history is an integral part of research, especially in interdisciplinary fields such as religion. It also highlights the intellectual aspects of religious thought and practice, and attacks the stereotype of religion and ritual as traditional and unchanging. The supernatural — like ‘nature’ in modern science — attracts speculation and experiment. Particular attention is given to the construction of classical studies and its subdisciplines in the 19th century university; to the genesis of the dichotomy rational/irrational in Greece in the 6th-5th centuries BCE (magnified in importance by 19th-century classicists); to the religious reforms of Lycurgus in Athens in the late 4th century BCE; to cultic innovation in the Attic demes; to the 18th-century origins of the idea that fertility cult was the earliest form of religion; and to the history of the Anthesteria festival.
