Class Households Research Articles

Winners and losers: Class dynamics and social protection in Pakistan

AbstractThis study responds to the recent call in the literature for the interrogation and understanding of how social protection is accessed and distributed among various groups and classes of society. It explores who stands to win and lose from social protection through the lens of social class using the case study of Pakistan, where the elite class holds significant sway over decision‐making. Using a unique mixed methods approach, this study offers a two‐fold contribution: First, it applies cluster analysis to group households based on their socioeconomic demographics, with clusters serving as proxies for class and thereby giving unique insight into class composition in Pakistan. Second, it provides analysis of access to and experiences with social protection of households in different classes. The study concludes that social protection in Pakistan is insufficient in reaching and aiding lower‐class households. Instead, it predominantly benefits the wealthy, reinforcing a cycle of privilege and disadvantage among different socioeconomic classes. This study contributes to the construction of knowledge on how concentration of power within an elite group leads to resource allocation that perpetuates existing inequalities, hinders social progress and amplifies challenges faced by the lower classes.

Remote assessment of the association between early executive function and mathematics skills

AbstractExecutive function (EF) skills are consistently associated with global mathematics assessments. However, less is known about which specific mathematics skills invoke EF in early childhood. We adapted batteries of EF, numerical, and patterning tasks to be conducted via synchronous video conferencing with typically developing 4‐year‐old children (N = 115, 56.6% female, 85.2% White, non‐Hispanic, 7.8% Multiracial, 0.9% Hispanic, 0.9% Black, 1.7% American Indian/Alaska Native, 2.6% Asian and 0.9% missing) from primarily upper middle class households (maternal education range: some college to graduate or professional degree, mode = graduate or professional degree) in the United States. We found feasibility of remote adaptation varied greatly by task. Just over half of enrolled children (57.02%) completed all tasks and there were higher rates of missingness compared to an in‐person sample with a similar age range collected in schools. Nonetheless, working memory predicted various mathematics skills, including patterning, verbal counting, and number comparison, controlling for age and maternal education. Relations between cognitive flexibility and patterning varied across model specifications. Overall, these findings provide insight into the costs and benefits of remotely administered direct assessments of EF and mathematics in early childhood and add to the growing body of literature suggesting working memory plays an important role in several foundational early mathematics skills. Suggestions are offered for remote assessment with preschoolers.Highlights Executive function and mathematics tasks were adapted for remote use and associations among skill sets were examined. Remotely administered data collection sessions had higher rates of missingness than comparable in‐person studies. Findings replicate and extend prior work on the associations between working memory and patterning, verbal counting, and number comparison in a remote setting.

AS THE IMPOVERISHED GET EVEN POORER: AN ANALYSIS ON THE IMPACT OF PHILIPPINE TRAIN LAW TO THE MINIMUM WAGE EARNER

In the Philippines, the TRAIN Law or tax reform for acceleration and inclusion legislation was put into effect in 2018. This law sought to significantly alter the nation's tax structure in order to increase money for poverty alleviation, healthcare, and infrastructure. One of the features of the law was to increase the income threshold below which minimum wage earners would not be required to pay income tax. But it also resulted in higher costs for goods and services, which had an effect on Metro Manila's level of living. This qualitative research examines the significant data and information based on the participant's experiences with the TRAIN law. Semi-structured questions were used in the in-depth interview to facilitate deeper clarification and additional discussion. The results show that the majority of the impact of the law on the poor is related to basic needs like food, for which they must cut their budget in order to survive because there are other expenses to consider, such as utility bills and debts. Moreover, it impacts an individual's emotional and overall health, including mental health concerns brought on by financial difficulties. Additionally, it has an impact on their social interaction because they tend to engage with others less frequently because they are preoccupied with the things that need significant financial outlays. Thus, it may be inferred that the poor income class households' standard of living declined with the introduction of TRAIN law. KEYWORDS: tax reform law, poverty alleviation, minimum wage earner

The Intersection of a Child's Demographics and Household Socioeconomic Status in the Multimorbidity of Malaria, Anaemia, and Malnutrition among Children Aged 6-59 Months in Nigeria.

Multimorbidity of malaria, anemia, and malnutrition (MAMM) is a condition in which an individual has two or more of these health conditions, and is becoming an emergent public health concern in sub-Saharan African countries. The independent associations of a child's demographic variables and household socioeconomic (HSE) disparities with a child's health outcomes have been established in the literature. However, the effects of the intersection of these factors on MAMM, while accounting for other covariates, have not been studied. Therefore, this study aimed to determine how children's sex, age, and household socioeconomic status interact to explain the variations in MAMM among children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria. Data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and the 2018 National Human Development Report (NHDR) were used. This study included weighted samples of 10,184 children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria. A three-level multilevel mixed effect ordinal logistic regression model was used, such that individual characteristics at level 1 were nested in communities at level 2 and nested in states at level 3. Subsequently, predictive probability charts and average adjusted probability tables were used to interpret the intersectional effects. Five models were created in this scenario. Model 1 is the interaction between the child's sex and household wealth status; model 2 is the interaction between the child's sex and age; model 3 is the interaction between the child's age and household wealth status; model 4 has the three two-way interactions of the child's sex, age, and household wealth status; and model 5 includes model 4 and the three-way interactions between a child's sex, age, and household wealth quintiles; while accounting for other covariates in each of the models. The prevalence of children with a 'none of the three diseases' outcome was 17.3% (1767/10,184), while 34.4% (3499/10,184) had 'only one of the diseases', and 48.3% (4918/10,184) had 'two or more' MAMMs. However, in the multivariate analyses, model 3 was the best fit compared with other models, so the two-way interaction effects of a child's age and household wealth status are significant predictors in the model. Children aged 36-47 months living in the poorest households had a probability of 0.11, 0.18, and 0.32 of existing with MAMM above the probability of children of the same age who live in the middle class, more prosperous, and richest households, respectively, while all other covariates were held constant. Thus, the variation in the prevalence of MAMM in children of different ages differs depending on the household wealth quintile. In other words, in older children, the variations in MAMM become more evident between the richer and the poorer household quintiles. Therefore, it is recommended that policies that are geared toward economic redistribution will help bridge the disparities observed in the prevalence of multiple diseases among children aged 6-59 months in Nigeria.

An environmental justice analysis of air pollution in India

Due to the lack of timely data on socioeconomic factors (SES), little research has evaluated if socially disadvantaged populations are disproportionately exposed to higher PM2.5 concentrations in India. We fill this gap by creating a rich dataset of SES parameters for 28,081 clusters (villages in rural India and census-blocks in urban India) from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4) using a precision-weighted methodology that accounts for survey-design. We then evaluated associations between total, anthropogenic and source-specific PM2.5 exposures and SES variables using fully-adjusted multilevel models. We observed that SES factors such as caste, religion, poverty, education, and access to various household amenities are important risk factors for PM2.5 exposures. For example, we noted that a unit standard deviation increase in the cluster-prevalence of Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Class households was significantly associated with an increase in total-PM2.5 levels corresponding to 0.127 μg/m3 (95% CI 0.062 μg/m3, 0.192 μg/m3) and 0.199 μg/m3 (95% CI 0.116 μg/m3, 0.283 μg/m3, respectively. We noted substantial differences when evaluating such associations in urban/rural locations, and when considering source-specific PM2.5 exposures, pointing to the need for the conceptualization of a nuanced EJ framework for India that can account for these empirical differences. We also evaluated emerging axes of inequality in India, by reporting associations between recent changes in PM2.5 levels and different SES parameters.

Health Insurance Coverage and its Determinants among Middle-Income Households in Urban

Background: Health insurance usually covers the expenditure during patient hospitalization. To achieve universal health coverage, it is mandatory to cover the middle-income groups under the government health insurance scheme. According to the review of literature, there is very limited knowledge present on health insurance and the factors determining its coverage among this group. Objective: The study was conducted to analyze the coverage of health insurance and its factors among the middle class households in urban areas. Study design: It is a community based study. This study was conducted on 210 participants attended the community medicine department of our hospitals for the duration of one year from November 2021 to October 2022. Material and Methods: The study was conducted on 210 participants. The written consent was taken from the participants and they were fully aware of the study. Interviews were conducted to find the issues and the point of view of clients and health insurance providers. It was also evaluated that what factors are liked by clients about the health insurance scheme. Results: There were three categories made to find the client’s perspective. One of them was lack of awareness. Then there were monetary issues. There were 28% participants that reported that they have recently insured themselves. There were 62% participants already insured in the past and 62% said that they have never insured themselves. Conclusion: Middle income families had better health insurance coverage than lower middle class. High premium charges, poor financial condition, lack of guidance, lack of knowledge about benefits of health insurance are some of the factors that lower the prevalence of health insurance. Keywords: Health insurance and financial condition.

Small area estimation of general finite-population parameters based on grouped data

This paper proposes a new model-based approach to small area estimation of general finite-population parameters based on grouped data or frequency data, often available from sample surveys. Grouped data contains information on frequencies of some pre-specified groups in each area, for example, the numbers of households in the income classes. Thus, grouped data provide more detailed insight into small areas than area-level aggregated data. A direct application of the widely used small area methods, such as the Fay–Herriot model for area-level data and nested error regression model for unit-level data, is not appropriate since they are not designed for grouped data. Our novel method adopts the multinomial likelihood function for the grouped data. In order to connect the group probabilities of the multinomial likelihood and the auxiliary variables within the framework of small area estimation, we introduce the unobserved unit-level quantities of interest. They follow a linear mixed model with random intercepts and dispersions after some transformation. Then the probabilities that a unit belongs to the groups can be derived and are used to construct the likelihood function for the grouped data given the random effects. The unknown model parameters (hyperparameters) are estimated by a newly developed Monte Carlo EM algorithm which uses an efficient importance sampling. The empirical best predicts (empirical Bayes estimates) of small area parameters are calculated by a simple Gibbs sampling algorithm. The numerical performance of the proposed method is illustrated based on the model-based and design-based simulations. In the application to the city-level grouped income data of Japan, we complete the patchy maps of the Gini coefficient as well as mean income across the country.

Smart in-line cleanup cartridge modules and floating sorbent systems for BrO3- removal from natural water sources – An innovative approach

Functionalized montmorillonite–chitosan hybrid systems were developed as novel and cost-effective sorbent materials for the quantitative removal of carcinogenic bromate from natural water sources. The developed materials were custom fabricated via two facile and innovative approaches viz. reusable cartridge as a ‘point of use’ clean up modules and carbon cloth based “floating sorbents”, as a removal strategy at the ‘point of entry’. The packing density and flow rate of inline clean up cartridges as well as the sorbent coating and drying procedure of floating sorbent systems were sequentially optimized and validated. The application potential of the fabricated materials was subsequently explored and the studies revealed excellent removal efficiencies of > 99% for batch and flow based systems. The developed modules could successfully remove bromate levels in spiked natural water samples such as drinking, well and river water, down to 10 µgL−1 with more than 97% efficiency. The findings were substantiated through characterisation studies and detailed mechanistic investigation was carried out to understand the better adsorption characteristics of hybrid functionalized clay-chitosan composite. Consequently, the studies implied that a modular inline clean up cartridge packed with 600 g Mt-H-CTS sorbent connected to a water purification system is sufficient to quantitatively remove as high as 100 µgL−1 bromate for a middle class household on a monthly basis. Furthermore, the rapid and efficient regeneration of the material could improve the longevity and makes it an ideal candidate for post disinfection treatment applications at drinking water outlets such as taps (point of use) as well as for large reservoirs in the form of ‘floating sorbents.

Can the Development of Digital Finance Improve the Financial Asset Allocation Efficiency of Middle Class Households?

With the development of economy, the middle class families have become the backbone of the society, and efficient family financial asset allocation is undoubtedly of great significance for their realization of wealth creation, preservation and transmission. Based on the CHFS database, this paper empirically examines the impact of digital finance development on the efficiency of financial asset allocation of middle class households and the transmission path. It is found that the development of digital finance can significantly improve the financial asset allocation efficiency of middle class families mainly through promoting social interaction, improving financial literacy and increasing risk appetite.

Financial factors and saving behavior of salaried class: A case study of Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Human economic decisions are based on their preferences and motivations, which maximize their degree of happiness and lead to a better outcome in their lives. The majority of saving decisions are made by households. Different demographic, societal, and economic factors influence these choices. This study uses primary data from 243 salaried class households to investigate the behavioral aspects that influence human decision making. The main factor that affects the decision to save money is financial hardship. Households of the salaried class experience financial stress due to impulsive behavior, consumer debt, consumer financing products, pro-consumptive behavior, family financial support, and domestic externalities. The marginal effects of the agreed upon region, or "agree" and "strongly agree," demonstrate that important factors play a role in determining financial stress. Consumer loans account for 7.5% of financial stress, family financial support for 3.8%, and domestic externalities for 4.3%. The marginal effects of the Ordinary Logit saving model in the accepted region demonstrate that consumer loans have a 3.5% impact on saving behavior, while pro-consumptive behavior has a 3.6% impact and domestic externalities have a 1.9% impact. The consumer loan, pro consumptive behavior, and domestic externalities all have a negative effect on the saving behavior of the salaried class, according to the saving OLOGIT model. Government should give pro saving households special incentives. Government can help consumers by providing expensive goods with 0% interest in the event of hire purchasing.

DESAIN SISTEM PEMBANGKIT LISTRIK TENAGA SURYA 1 KW MENGGUNAKAN MESIN STIRLING TIPE ALFA

Stirling engine can be operated by focusing sunlight using a concentrator. The Stirling engine was chosen because of its simplicity and efficiency. Stirling engine can be applied to power plants on a large or small scale. In this study, we will discuss the concentrator system for the Stirling engine on a household scale. To be able to meet the household electricity needs of 900 VA, the concentrator must produce an output power of 2254.96 W with a concentrator area of 15.38 m2. First of all, aperture sizing is done to get the best aperture diameter, and obtained 0.04 m. The system analysis that has been carried out shows that the efficiency of the receiver is 57.50%, the efficiency of the Stirling engine is 33.26%, and the efficiency of the generator is 95%. Thus, the Stirling engine with the concentrator as a whole system has an efficiency of 17.07%. To meet the 900 VA class household electricity needs, the system requires 5 unit of 12 V 120 Ah batteries arranged in parallel with a 1000W inverter. This study also looks at the potential of Stirling engine systems with concentrators in other areas. Based on the analysis that has been done, Surabaya is the most potential area for the manufacture of a 1 kW Stirling engine concentrator system. As for areas outside Java, Pekanbaru City is the most potential area.

Effect of Eyeglasses on Student Academic Performance: What Matters? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China.

Although eyeglasses have been considered a cost-effective way to combat myopia, the empirical evidence of its impacts on improving learning outcomes is inconsistent. This paper provides empirical evidence examining the effect of providing eyeglasses on academic performance between provinces with a different economic level in western China. Overall, we find a significant impact in Intention-to-Treat analysis and a large and significant local average treatment effect of providing free eyeglasses to students in the poor province but not in the other. The difference in impact between the two provinces is not a matter of experimental design, implementation, or partial compliance. Instead, we find that the lack of impact in the wealthier provinces is mainly due to less blackboard usage in class and wealthier households. Our study found that providing free eyeglasses to disadvantaged groups boosted their academic performance more than to their counterparts.

Impact of covid-19 on mediocre life-style and their psychology (Special emphasis on middle-class indian households)

India being the second most populated nation, observed the chronic outbreak of Novel Coronavirus as an instrumental factor for bringing about a major shift in the conduct of routine work and regular course of common life during the tragic year of 2020. The virus has given severe jolts to the economy, its distinct classes as well as its citizens alike, projecting far reaching effects across the country and disrupting the ordinary flow of the vital world. With special reference to the middle- class households in India, the purpose of this study is to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the various facets of mediocre lifestyle including law and order, family and festivals, income and expenditure, mental and physical health, community welfare and social work, creativity and culture, citizen compliance and environmental concern etc. This research intends to provide a useful insight on how the virus is affecting the perspective of mediocre men under the exceptional circumstances of Pandemic and what are the surfacing pros and cons ascribed to the preventive measures like lock- down, quarantine and social distancing.

Characteristics of oral health literacy in Senegal: A cross-sectional study among women in the Department of Pikine.

Senegal having a significant prevalence of socially differentiated oral diseases, oral health literacy (OHL), an individual and social resource, should be considered alongside a remedial response. This work aimed to analyze women’s OHL characteristics. A cross-sectional study on 315 women in Pikine County was carried out, using the Oral Health Literacy-Adult Questionnaire (OHL-AQ) for the OHL data collection and a questionnaire for the women’s socioeconomic characteristics data. These women had an OHL average score of 6.5±3.1 and a median of 6. Among them, 56.5% had a seemingly low OHL level, a little over 68.9% had a score above the median as regards the “listening, communication and understanding” aspect, 58.4% to “decision making”, 55.2% to “understanding numbers” and 33% to “reading and understanding”. According to a multivariate analysis, secondary and higher educated women (p<0.001) with an active social network (p<0.023), in a wealthy household (p<0.0001) and of nuclear household type (p<0.036) had a higher OHL level. Women in Pikine have low OHL and are from working- class households. Therefore, oral health policies must take into account the women’s social network contribution to the OHL improvement.

Impact of Financial Condition on Work Life Balance and New Knowledge Acquisition: A Case of Pakistan

Constant rise in inflation rate as compared to income of many household coupled with several other fluctuating economic conditions leads to the issue of financial stress. Due to these instabilities, people find it difficult to create balance between work and personal life and acquisition of new knowledge. The literature review has revealed that there exists a relationship between the financial condition and work-life balance as well as between financial condition and new knowledge acquisition. This study attempts to investigate that how much one variable causes its influence on another variable especially for salaried class households working in organization. Salaried class is highly hit because of Covid-19 pandemic and is suffering from constant increase in inflation. The Government of Pakistan has also given a little relief to salaried class in the recent budget. The data is collected through self-administered questionnaires from the individuals working in IT organizations of Lahore. IT industry is chosen because of the constant change in technology. The learning factor is maximum in this sector and employees can be given work at any time because they know how to use technology which can disturb work life balance. However, because of financial instability and less job opportunities employers can take extra advantage of their employees. The findings of this study reveal that financial conditions significantly affect work-life balance; thereby, increasing the possibility of acquiring new knowledge.

Trapped by the Lack of Control Over Savings: Evidence From Pakistan.

Gender discrimination and associated social norms are important contributing factors to the high frequency of women trapped in poverty – particularly in developing countries. Financial inclusion, especially access to formal saving services, has recently received much attention from the development community for its potential to lift women out of poverty and reduce inequality. To date, however, the impacts of social norms on women’s ability to use and benefit from such formal saving services are not widely understood. The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of this relationship, by investigating, in a setting where social norms put women at a disadvantage, the association between their decision-making power with respect to a newly opened formal savings account at a bank and the amount of savings kept in that account. We use data on 1,798 married women in Pakistan, from an intervention to encourage savings account uptake among them. Focusing on the usage, 8 months after the intervention, of 512 newly opened bank accounts, we find that women with at least joint control over the bank account save statistically significantly more in this account than women without any control. On average, this difference amounts to 2,339 PKR (22.40 USD), which is substantial considering that the majority of women in our sample are from lower-middle income class households and are rarely the household’s main income earners. This finding has important implications for future research, as well as for policy makers and practitioners providing financial services to women in gender unequal contexts.

New urban politics as post-politics of schooling marketization and distribution in entrepreneurial Chinese cities

ABSTRACT The inadequacy of urban scale in analyzing school system restructuring has generated criticism. Thus, this study interprets school system restructuring as a locally embodied process that produces variegated externalities for local people. This interpretation shifts the position of school system restructuring within the debate on new urban politics (NUP). Following the post-democratic understanding of NUP, we propose three research questions. Firstly, how does school system restructuring produce a new benefit structure that potentially causes dissent from the local society? Secondly, how do different social forces shape the restructuring? Thirdly, how can consensus on the restructuring be reached? We answer by using China as a case study. China has undergone a shift from a public school system to a mixed provision-regulation regime since the 1990s. The comparative analysis of two Chinese cities illustrates the differences in the school system restructuring embedded in local entrepreneurial strategy and the crucial role of the local state in facilitating the restructuring. In Chengdu, school system restructuring has resulted in dissent from middle class households that have the power to reshape the restructuring. In Mianyang, the school system restructuring disadvantaged the working class who was persuaded by the municipality’s discursive strategy to accept the restructuring.

Energy saving behaviours of middle class households in Ghana, Peru and the Philippines

Demand-side management of energy seeks to foster energy efficiency investments and curtailment behaviour in households. The role of environmental concern and knowledge for both types of energy saving behaviour has hardly been investigated in middle income countries with growing middle classes and rising electricity demand. Drawing on unique household survey data from Ghana, Peru and the Philippines, this paper analyses the links from individual motivation to behaviour, and from behaviour to the impact on households' total electricity expenditures. We find that consumers with more environmental concern are more likely to adopt curtailment behaviours, but that concern does not influence energy efficiency investments. In turn, higher levels of environmental knowledge make households' energy efficiency investments more likely, but do not influence curtailment. Neither energy efficiency investments nor curtailment behaviours significantly impact households' electricity expenditures. Small differences between Ghana, Peru and the Philippines exist.

COVID-19 PSYCHOLOGY AND FINANCIAL BEHAVIOUR: THE URBAN MIDDLE CLASS IN BANGLADESH

The analysis, using an online survey, captures the adjustments in economic behaviour and changes in the choice of financial instruments by the urban middle class in Bangladesh due to Covid-19 pandemic. It shows that 43 per cent of the surveyed households suffered income losses—57 per cent belonging to lower middle class (LMC) and 19 per cent to upper middle class (UMC) households. Nearly one-third of the LMC households reduced their food costs compared with 6 per cent of the UMC households. The pandemic has also initiated large scale changes in their financial behaviour more towards digital and online markets with nearly twothirds reporting high reliance on online purchases. The observed changes indicate a long term transformation in the financial behaviour of the middle class households. Complementary evidence highlights the need for reducing their vulnerability since rising expectations of the expanding middle class are the critical drivers of social change in Bangladesh. The key to such dynamic transformations is the creation of a more learning middle class—a dynamic middle class that would be ready to exploit the opportunities of the ‘new normal’ after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Woman among women: Female agency in traditional Chinese households, circa 1947

There is a big debate on the level of present-day female agency within the household in China. Even though the two sides of the debate make implicit assumptions on historical agency, a direct link is rarely established as we lack information on historical female agency among lower class households. In this paper we use a unique dataset on the ranking of women in the household for rural Yugan County (Jiangxi province, China) for the year 1947 when traditional households were still dominant.The main conclusion is that, contrary to much of the classic literature on the subject, ranking among females in traditional Chinese households was much less rigid than expected, with most women being in charge at a certain point in their lives. This was mostly driven by gender-specific issues such as a son's taking over as the head of the household, thereby raising his wife's status, but with potential other daughters-in-law (wives of the brothers of the head of the household) ending up as assistants Yet, other factors also play a role. For example, we find a positive impact of traditional education on female agency.