Family Assets Research Articles

Educational Resilience of Urban Squatter Children in Kathmandu

Squatters are the illegal tenants residing in public lands as immigrants due to livelihood collapse in their origins. They have been denied of public resources and urban facilities because of their identity crisis leading to a vicious circle of poverty with impoverished livelihood creating multifaceted adversities of learning for their children. In this context, this paper, based on a cyclical mixed method research design under transformative research approach, has explored the learning adversities faced by the squatter children of Kathmandu Metropolitan city, their protective and promotive strategies to cope with adversities and life-skills as learning outcomes. Squatter children are struggling against the backdrop of exposure to unhygienic settlements with low health conditions, poverty with impoverished livelihood, and illiteracy of parents, poor homely environment, and dysfunctional families. Despite such adversities, they were able to continue school education with the support of their teachers, peers, parents and families. The research study finds stronger family and community assets of the students. These assets are helpful for building educational resilience of the squatter children.

Youths’ Educational Resilience in Rurban Jumla: A Narrative Inquiry

Drawing on the concept of resilience, this paper discusses a narrative-based research which explores rural/urban disparities among young people who face various obstacles to continue their higher education in recently announced ‘urban’ Jumla. I explore major adversities faced by the youths in rural-urban disparities, their promotive and protective measures, and cultural and family assets to cope with adversities. The three narratives illustrate how the youths develop their assets to overcome geographical and social adversities in rural-urban disparities. In doing so, I mainly deal with the youths’ issues of higher education attainment. They experience that it has been more privileged living in urban than in rural areas to continue their higher education. However, they could not detach themselves from the rural values and tradition. I generate meaning of youths’ educational resilience that overcomes such rural urban disparities.

The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and CV Risk Factors: The CRONICAS Cohort Study of Peruvian Adults.

BackgroundVariations in the distribution of cardiovascular disease and risk factors by socioeconomic status (SES) have been described in affluent societies, yet a better understanding of these patterns is needed for most low- and middle-income countries.ObjectiveThis study sought to describe the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and SES using monthly family income, educational attainment, and assets index, in 4 Peruvian sites.MethodsBaseline data from an age- and sex-stratified random sample of participants, ages ≥35 years, from 4 Peruvian sites (CRONICAS Cohort Study, 2010) were used. The SES indicators considered were monthly family income (n = 3,220), educational attainment (n = 3,598), and assets index (n = 3,601). Behavioral risk factors included current tobacco use, alcohol drinking, physical activity, daily intake of fruits and vegetables, and no control of salt intake. Cardiometabolic risk factors included obesity, elevated waist circumference, hypertension, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high triglyceride levels.ResultsIn the overall population, 41.6% reported a monthly family income <US$198, and 45.6% had none or primary education. Important differences were noted between the socioeconomic indicators: for example, higher income and higher scores on an asset index were associated with greater risk of obesity, whereas higher levels of education were associated with lower risk of obesity. In contrast, higher SES according to all 3 indicators was associated with higher levels of triglycerides.ConclusionsThe association between SES and cardiometabolic risk factors varies depending on the SES indicator used. These results highlight the need to contextualize risk factors by socioeconomic groups in Latin American settings.

Establishing a Governance Framework for Family Art Collections

Family governance is a term sometimes used to describe the management of a family’s assets by a family office however rarely do you see it applied to a family’s private art collection. Just as family governance is important to ensuring adherence to the family’s value system and successful wealth transfer of financial assets, the same holds true for the family's art assets.

Consumption Inequality and Family Labor Supply

We examine the link between wage and consumption inequality using a life-cycle model incorporating consumption and family labor supply decisions. We derive analytical expressions for the dynamics of consumption, hours, and earnings of two earners in the presence of correlated wage shocks, nonseparability, progressive taxation, and asset accumulation. The model is estimated using panel data for hours, earnings, assets, and consumption. We focus on family labor supply as an insurance mechanism and find strong evidence of smoothing of permanent wage shocks. Once family labor supply, assets, and taxes are properly accounted for there is little evidence of additional insurance. (JEL D12, D14, D91, J22, J31)

Succession, division, and the drive for self-employment: the case of the renowned Hong Kong restaurant 'Yung Kee'

Since the practice of equal division of assets among sons (the equal inheritance system) is the institutional and cultural context of Chinese family businesses, the capital that has accumulated in the family property is continually diluted in the process of family division. This can obviously lead to strife. Academics have explored in depth the obstacles that this custom poses to the continued development of a business. However, these discussions have very seldom touched upon the equally pervasive positive aspects of this custom, which are brought about by division and competition. This paper uses the case of Yung Kee, a renowned restaurant in Hong Kong, to illustrate this under-studied area. In describing the development of the business, and the division and contention over the family's assets, we analyse the situation wherein no distinction is made between older and younger sons in the system of an equal division of property among the sons, and how this practice encourages the members of the family to develop their potential and compete with each other. From this process, we locate the source of the dynamism in Chinese family businesses - entrepreneurship, i.e. the strong drive for self-employment.

Indonesia

A child has the right in the same as like own adult people. There are not many people that have thought to do certain things with Children’s right protection. So there are some efforts to protect children’s right that have been broken by country, adult, their environment, or their parents that did not give much attention to their future. Whereas, child as the soul and the reflection of the future, family asset, religion, and nation. Child get bad experience, like children exploitation, children abusement, being sex toy, child labor, abandoned, become the street children, victims of drug trafficking. Universally, Indonesia in breaking of the children’s right in real or nonreal become a normal and common image as mass media gives news about that. Indonesia as a law nation based on Pancasila must give a law protection to society, because of that the law protection will produce confession and human rights protection in his shape as individual creatures and social creatures in a unitary state that uphold family spirit in order to attain public welfare. Law enforcement to child victims of sexual crime in North Sumatra as conceptually has been located on the harmonizing relations of the values which span the hierarchy activities in good rules and with attitude as series value hierarchy, to build, maintain, and defend the peacefulness social life, conception that has basic philosophy that makes more solid. Construction law to protection children victims of sexual crime in progressive law perspective is an ideology and dedication of the perpetrators of law got the first place to do a dignification.

Impact of Micro-Credit on Economic Empowerment of Women in Madurai, Tamilnadu: A Study

Economic empowerment of women is mainly based on their participation in decision making process with regard to raising and distribution of income, investments and expenditure at all levels. The entire efforts of empowering women are to help them to exercise their rights in decision making at all levels both within and outside the households and enable them to be treated as equal partners in the society. Efforts are on to enhance the capacity of women to earn and ensure that they get access to and control the whole family or community assets. Various institutions are involved in the delivery of microfinance services, especially since the dawn of the 1980s. They include formal commercial banks, rural banks, and NGOs. Women are the major beneficiaries of MFI/Ps, and the destination of the funds mainly includes agriculture, trading, small craft, processing units and consumption. The administrative structure is, in general, simple and the entire process is participatory in nature. Women play a predominant role in our economy and there is always a dire need to bring them into the mainstream of economic activities by breaking out the shackles of old, traditional customs where women are by and large confined to household activities.

LAND TENURE SECURITY ISSUES IN SMALLHOLDER IRRIGATION SCHEMES IN ZIMBABWE

The main objective of the study was to examine land tenure practices and their implications on the sustainability of the smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe. The different phases of land reforms in Zimbabwe have not been focusing on community irrigation schemes and the evolution of land rights. The farmers’ ownership feelings were stronger for their dryland plots than they were on irrigation plots as the irrigation schemes were regarded as an off-farm employment while their dry-land plots were regarded as transgenerational family assets. Farmers had different perceptions about the security of tenure, inheritability, subletting and disposal of the irrigation plots. The differences in tenure practices and perception attested to the absence of land policy for community irrigation schemes. The existence of informal land markets in some schemes and their absence in others affirmed the Market for the Poor (M4P) assertion that where formal rules and their application are weak, the business environment is governed by the informal rules and the absence of both formalrules and informal institutions make the environment for markets dysfunctional. Some farmers felt theirrigation plots should remain state owned to allow smooth running of schemes and management of farmers’ group dynamics of the irrigation. Some, however, felt the irrigation plots should be privately owned in order to allow farmers to invest and to access financial and input markets.Â

VIABILIDADE DE ESTABELECIMENTOS AGRÍCOLAS DE REFORMA AGRÁRIA EM ÁREA PERIURBANA NA AMAZÔNIA ORIENTAL

O processo de urbanização das áreas rurais cresce em todo o mundo. Na Amazônia brasileira, a ocorrência desse processo de expansão pode possibilitar, em assentamentos periurbanos, o aumento do desempenho econômico dos estabelecimentos agrícolas devido à intensificação do uso da terra e à diversificação da produção. O objetivo do artigo foi avaliar o desempenho econômico dos estabelecimentos agrícolas, considerando que ele é fundamental para a permanência dos agricultores no Projeto de Assentamento Cupiúba localizado no Estado do Pará. Foram amostrados 30% dos assentados no projeto, o que corresponde a 65 estabelecimentos agrícolas. O levantamento de dados foi feito por meio da aplicação de questionário semiestruturado sobre diversos aspectos das características dos estabelecimentos, incluindo dados da família, dados econômicos, de práticas agrícolas, de mão de obra e de venda dos produtos. O tratamento dos dados foi realizado por comparação de média pela ANOVA - fator único e de análises de correspondência simples entre variáveis que apresentaram correlações. Nos aspectos econômico-financeiros, foram investigadas as atividades geradoras de renda agropecuária e não agropecuária do estabelecimento. Com base nos resultados analisados, conclui-se que os estabelecimentos se viabilizam pela renda agropecuária enquanto os chefes são jovens, e pelo recebimento de aposentadoria quando estão em idade avançada. A viabilidade agropecuária se dá por meio da venda de produtos vegetais. A intensificação não mostrou efeitos claros sobre a renda e a diversificação mostrou efeito dependendo do método de avaliação. Os estabelecimentos possuem viabilidade econômica e a grande maioria se encontra acima do nível de reprodução simples, que é a renda que permite o nível mínimo de alimentação, habitação, saúde e educação aos membros das famílias em determinadas condições.

Do Family Assets Mediate the Relationship Between Community Assets and Youths' Perceived Spirituality?

With increasing interest in the role of spirituality in youth development, and recent findings linking it to positive development, the authors investigated contextual factors that are potentially linked to youths' perceived spirituality. Using parent–child data from the 4‐H Study of Positive Youth Development, they took a social ecological approach to investigate the links between family and community factors and youths' self‐ratings of spirituality; specifically, they tested whether family factors mediated the relationship between community factors and youths' perceived spirituality. The results indicated that the presence of positive caring adults in a given community was positively related to youths' spirituality, and this link was partially mediated by family religious experience across different conceptions of spirituality. Although these findings have implications for how parents and practitioners engage youth to develop and nurture their spiritual lives, future studies will need more diverse samples and investigate more specific contextual processes that undergird youth spiritual development.

Family Assets and Liabilities in the Innovation Process

Innovation in family firms is often driven by family assets, valuable resources that are particularly prevalent in family firms. For example, they have particularly strong networks that can be deployed in an innovation context. These family assets can over time atrophy and stifle rather than stimulate innovation performance. However, family firms can fight this process by institutionalizing innovation within the family and the firm by means of family and corporate governance and through incentivizing key individuals in the innovation process.

Family, Wealth, and Governance: An Agency Account

Family firms often evolve into ownership constellations with multiple family owners. Building on agency theory, we argue that the growing complexity within a group of family blockholders gives rise to what we label family blockholder conflicts, defined as conflicts within a group of family owners. To curb family blockholder conflicts, families often separate the family from its assets and install intermediary governance structures. We explore four frequently applied structures (uncoordinated family, embedded family office, single family office, and family trust), which vary in their degree of separation between family owners and assets and consequently the extent to which the firm might incur family blockholder costs and the double–agency costs associated with appointing agents to oversee agents. We conclude with a discussion of the distributive effects of the four family governance constellations for family wealth over time.

Women's experiences of gender equality laws in rural Rwanda: the case of Kamonyi District

This article analyses how women in the rural district of Kamonyi experience gender equality laws and policies in their everyday lives. Traditional Rwandan society had a patriarchal social structure that accepted unequal power relations between men and women. The 2003 new constitution, adopted after the 1994 Tutsi genocide, recognizes the importance of gender equality and includes specific legal provisions to ensure women's equal protection under the law. Drawing on focus group discussions with women in Kamonyi, it emerges that women's experiences are mixed with regard to the new laws: they enjoy the right of access to family assets, inheritance, and work opportunities; yet they also experience a “gender dilemma” of whether to exercise rights enshrined in the constitution even though that may lead to marital difficulties in their households.

J. Doling and R. Ronald (eds): Housing East Asia: socioeconomic and demographic challenges

This book is a strong addition to comparative housing research. The authors of individual chapters are all recognized experts and several are prominent in the field. Each chapter of the book demonstrates rigorous scholarship. While the first chapter of this book offers a theoretic framework, the rest covers nine major economic bodies in the region with one chapter exclusively devoted to one country/region: mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. Housing regimes in East Asia are quite diverse. Nonetheless, they are alike in terms of forms and motivations of government intervention (Chen et al. 2014). The editors of this book, John Doling and Richard Ronald, show in the introductory chapter that national housing systems in East Asia share an important common to use housing development as a means to drive urban development and economic growth. Particularly, the editors elaborate the rationales of why the provision of owner-occupied housing is a pillar of welfare under productivist welfare regimes in East Asia. Through promoting asset-based welfare among homeowners, East Asian governments expect the family asset can function as social security and the building up of ‘‘asset-based security’’ can preserve self-sufficiency and reduce the citizens’ demand to develop onerous and costly welfare states. On one hand, the asset-based welfare philosophy reflects the ideology of productivist welfare capitalism. Holliday (2000) introduces the term ‘‘productivist welfare capitalism’’ by stressing the observation that social welfare policy is subordinated to and defined by the growth-oriented economic policy in East Asia. The asset-based welfare practice, however, also carries features of developmental welfare capitalism, which sees social welfare as social investment (Midgley and Tang 2001). Doling and Ronald, however, do not attempt to discern the differences between productivism and developmentalism and simultaneously use them as ‘‘two underlying logics’’ (Doling and Ronald 2014: 24).

The Long Goodbye: Wealth Concentration in Italy 2002-2012

The paper illustrates the changes in family assets between 2002 and 2012, and measures the changes in the degree of inequality using Gini coefficient. Futhermore we try to identify which social groups (classes) have gained by these changes, using the decomposition procedure of the Gini concentration ratio proposed by Dagum. The results show that the Great Recession has mainly manifested itself as an increase in the concentration of family assets, whch grows much more than income concentration. The dispersion of values of the assets within social groups has increased, and at the same time so has the transvariation between distributions.

Modification, cultural adaptation and validation of burn specific health scale-brief (BSHS-B) for Hindi speaking population

BackgroundThe burn specific health scale-brief (BSHS-B) has found wide acceptance as a quality of life (Qol) assessment tool. However, BSHS has rarely been employed in a very low income country like India, where burns is endemic and burns are more severe. AimTo modify, culturally adapt and to translate BSHS-B in Hindi. MethodsFive questions were added to the original BSHS-B (40 questions). Two questions on walking and squatting were added to the domain ‘simple abilities’ which was renamed ‘simple abilities and mobility’; a question on itching was added to domain of ‘heat sensitivity’ which was renamed ‘skin sensitivity’; and two questions on family income and assets were added to the domain of ‘work’, which was renamed ‘work and economic impact’. The modified assessment scale was accorded an acronym BSHS-RBA (revised brief and adapted). Twenty patients of thermal burns (mean age 30.95yr) with mean TBSA burns of 39.75%, and who were between six months to a year from healing of burn wounds were included in this validation study. All questionnaires were filled by interviews. ResultsThe kappa value for inter-rater variability was 0.748. The Cronbach's α for internal consistency of various domains ranged from 0.443 (simple abilities and mobility) to 0.908 (sexuality), the scale showed good discriminant validity in 31 of 36 domain correlations, which confirms the construct validity of the instrument. ConclusionsBSHS-RBA with five additional items, on mobility, economic impact and itch is a reliable and valid instrument. It is currently seen to be very useful in assessment of Qol in low income countries.

Life Cycle Flow (LCF) Application to Evaluate the Real Estate Investment in Residential Buildings with Tax Benefit Incentives in Cases of Positive Externalities

Investing in the main home is an important form of investment for families and represented one of the main family assets in Italy in the second half of the 20th century. The evaluation of the convenience of the house purchase needs to consider that technologies in construction have undergone a rapid change in recent times that proposes an approach to sustainable building technologies, such as dry construction systems that can reduce energy consumption over time. Moreover, these construction systems are encouraged with tax deductions from the state, that is, financing with public spending via a tax benefit, which recognizes the role of externalities of investments in sustainable construction. The article would apply Life Cycle Flow (LCF) model to a residential building; LCF is based on the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) model and adapted to assess a real estate investment, such as a residential building for private use, taking into account the effects of a tax benefit. The model quantifies the cost of satisfying consumers’ housing needs in the long run. The model takes into account the absorption of financial resources at all stages of property investment. The proposed LCF approach quantifies an average discounted cash outflow per year and an average discounted cash outflow per year per surface unit in square meters; thus, it is possible to compare project alternatives and choose the alternative that minimizes the absorption of financial resources in the long run. In this article, the LCF model is applied to three project alternatives and highlights the energy savings in the long run for consumption choices and the importance of tax benefits for the reduction of the cash outflow for a family in long-term housing. Given the results of the research, the proposed LCF model can be applied on a larger scale, in particular, to quantify social welfare generated by tax benefits financed with public spending, in terms of economic activation and assessing environmental externalities.

Looking beyond the Buddenbrooks syndrome: the Salvadori Firm of Trento, 1660s – 1880s

The Buddenbrooks syndrome is evoked by business historians to explain the inability of family firms to survive beyond the third generation. Although this argument highlights a major problem – that of ensuring smooth intergenerational succession – this article's contention is that a more complex interpretative framework is needed in order to explain the longevity of some family businesses. By drawing on evidence concerning a family firm which survived for more than two centuries, this article highlights three interrelated factors of longevity: the strategic response to internal drivers and environmental changes; the transmission of skills and values to the following generations; and the successful intergenerational transfer of family assets. All these factors were based on a flexible definition of both the ‘family’ and the ‘business’ which ensured the combination of continuity and change that was necessary for the family firm's long-term survival.

Disability and economic disadvantage: facing the facts

This in-depth article presents evidence and detailed reflection on the ill effects of inequalities on children's health and well-being. We have known about these issues for generations. Indeed Public Health...