Explain Country Differences Research Articles

Inequalities in Entry to Higher Education: a Comparison Over Time between Scotland and England and Wales

AbstractThis paper uses data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study to analyse changes over time in gender and social class inequalities in the opportunities of young people to participate in higher education (HE) in Scotland, England and Wales. The results show that in Great Britain, in the period from the end of the 1980s to 2001–2002, HE expansion has benefited more women than men, and in the most recent time points has led to a reduction in social inequalities. However, gender and social class differences persist at degree level and in the choice of subject studied. The results also show that higher proportions of working class students enter HE in Scotland than in England and Wales, but that social inequalities are more marked in Scotland. The larger availability of vocational routes in Scotland, at both sub‐degree and degree level, may explain country differences in HE participation rate of working class students.

GENDER AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FAMILY ROLES, SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, AND ALCOHOL USE: A EUROPEAN CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS

First, this paper investigates (i) gender differences in associations of social stratification, family roles, and heavy drinking, and (ii) country differences in these associations. Second, it seeks to explain country differences in the associations of social stratification and family roles with alcohol consumption by societal level variables. Survey data of 25 to 49-years-old from eight European countries were used. Logistic regressions were used to analyse gender differences in the association between family roles (marriage, having children), social stratification (education, employment), and heavy drinking (>20 g/day for women; 30 g/day for men). Gender differences were tested by means of interactions between gender and social stratification/family roles. Structural measures of work desirability, social welfare, and gender equity were used to explain differences in associations across countries. The associations between social stratification, family roles, and heavy drinking varied across gender and countries. A country's social welfare system was associated with heavy drinking only among women. Women in countries with a strong social welfare system, such as Nordic countries, tended to drink more heavily if employed, having lower formal education, and a non-traditional family role. In countries with weak social welfare systems or work desirability, heavy drinking was associated with high education, while effects of family roles and employment were small. It appeared that the social welfare system and gender equity of a country determines to a large extent how education, employment, and family roles are associated with heavy drinking.

Gender Differences in Poverty: A Cross-National Study

In this paper we describe and explain country differences in the effect of gender on the risk of becoming poor, using data from the Luxembourg Income Study on 22 industrialized countries. Although in most countries women are more likely to become poor than men, this is not the case for all countries. Composition effects explain 18 per cent of the country differences: differences in the educational level of the population are most important, whereas labor market participation plays a smaller role. Country characteristics, especially economic growth and social-democratic tradition, explain between 29 and 36 per cent of the country differences in the gender-poverty-gap. Both composition effects and country characteristics are better suited to explaining the disadvantages of women than the disadvantages of men.

Latent and Actual Entrepreneurship in Europe and the US: Some Recent Developments

This paper uses 2004 survey data from the 15 old EU member states and the US to explain country differences in latent and actual entrepreneurship. Other than demographic variables such as gender, age and education, the set of covariates includes the perception by respondents of administrative complexities, of availability of financial support and of risk tolerance as well as country-specific effects. A comparison is made with results using a similar survey in 2000. While a majority of the surveyed population identifies lack of financial support as an obstacle to starting a new business, the role of this variable in both latent and actual entrepreneurship appears to be even more counterintuitive in 2004 than in 2000: it has no impact on actual entrepreneurship and is positively related to latent entrepreneurship. Administrative complexities, also perceived as an obstacle by a large majority of the population, have the expected negative impact both for latent and actual entrepreneurship in both years. Country-specific effects are important both for latent and actual entrepreneurship and the comparison of 2000 and 2004 results suggests that, once all other factors are controlled for, an improvement in actual entrepreneurship in the EU relative to the US has taken place in the last four years. However, in terms of unweighted averages actual entrepreneurship remained about the same. Latent entrepreneurship dropped while this drop seems to have occurred evenly in the US and the EU member states.

Welfare Regimes, Family‐Supportive Policies, and Women’s Employment along the Life‐Course

This article examines women's employment patterns during thechild‐rearing period and the consequences of those patterns for earnings later in life, in 12 industralized countries. This study proposes an analytic framework that combines “welfare regime” and gender‐specific policies to explain country differences. The findings presented here suggest that institutional arrangements mediate the costs to women's part‐time and intermittent employment. Within welfare regimes, employment continuity is highest among countries in which the state provides support for working mothers. Furthermore, this study finds that lower support for mothers' employment is associated with higher wage penalties to employment discontinuity.

Impression management: the case of inter-country financial graphs

Previous literature on presentational impression management has not generally addressed the issue of whether certain countries are more likely to indulge in impression management than others. Two important forms of impression management (selectivity and measurement distortion) are investigated in the financial graphs of the corporate annual reports of 300 companies in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S. In particular, we examine (1) whether graphs of key performance variables (KPVs) (such as sales, earnings, earnings per share, and dividends per share) are more likely to be included when performance has increased rather than decreased, and (2) whether measurement distortion of KPV graphs are likely to give a more rather than a less favorable portrayal of company performance. In addition, we test the ability of the micro/macro classification of national accounting practices to explain differential national graphical reporting patterns. Some evidence is found of selectivity in graph usage (particularly in the U.S. and Australia, and for the earnings variable) and of measurement distortion (particularly in the U.S. and the Netherlands). The micro/macro classification does not adequately explain country differences, although there is some evidence that impression management is greater in those countries with strong capital markets.