Measures Of Economic Status Research Articles

Money value of consumption and income of rural families: Two measures of economic status

In this study a measure of economic status, money value of consumption, is defined and its relationship to income is examined using data collected from 628 U.S. rural families and 1170 North Carolina rural families. Findings suggest that for rural families money value of consumption is linearly related to income, that the variance of money value of consumption is proportional to income and that money value of consumption is more equally distributed than income. Money value of consumption is more closely related to income for one-and four-or-more-person families than for two-or-three-person families. A comparison of how the two measures (money value of comsumption and income) rank rural families by consumption status indicates that income is most likely to rank families inaccurately at very low and very high levels of income. Findings should assist in the appropriate interpretation of income when it is used as a proxy for consumption.

Effect of Varying Degrees of Transitory Income on Income Elasticity of Expenditures

Abstract Expenditure-income relations of selected groups of families are examined in two ways: (a) with the importance of transitory income increased and (b) with its importance decreased. The importance of the transitory income is increased by dividing groups of families into subgroups differing in permanent income, and then examining consumption in relation to current income of the subgroups. Such stratification tends to increase the importance of transitory income, since the more homogeneous the families are in permanent income the more the difference in income observed is transitory. The income elasticity of total expenditures is generally lower for the subgroups than for the entire groups—by 30 to 40 per cent. Similar tendencies also occur for expenditures for food, clothing and other consumer goods. The effect of the contrary tendency, i.e., reduced importance of transitory income, is tested by using mean income of consecutive years as a measure of economic status in place of current annual income. When this is done the coefficient of elasticity of expenditures in relation to income among families is increased over that observed for expenditures in relation to annual income. The increase is around 30 per cent. The findings support the hypothesis that much of the difference observed among groups in expenditure-income relations is the result of variation in the mixture of the income components.

Effect of Varying Degrees of Transitory Income on Income Elasticity of Expenditures

Abstract Expenditure-income relations of selected groups of families are examined in two ways: (a) with the importance of transitory income increased and (b) with its importance decreased. The importance of the transitory income is increased by dividing groups of families into subgroups differing in permanent income, and then examining consumption in relation to current income of the subgroups. Such stratification tends to increase the importance of transitory income, since the more homogeneous the families are in permanent income the more the difference in income observed is transitory. The income elasticity of total expenditures is generally lower for the subgroups than for the entire groups—by 30 to 40 per cent. Similar tendencies also occur for expenditures for food, clothing and other consumer goods. The effect of the contrary tendency, i.e., reduced importance of transitory income, is tested by using mean income of consecutive years as a measure of economic status in place of current annual income. When this is done the coefficient of elasticity of expenditures in relation to income among families is increased over that observed for expenditures in relation to annual income. The increase is around 30 per cent. The findings support the hypothesis that much of the difference observed among groups in expenditure-income relations is the result of variation in the mixture of the income components.

Anomie, Social Isolation, and the Class Structure

Several recent studies contain data which suggest that anomie, as measured by the Srole scale, is an important determinant of prejudice (7, 12, 13). It is less clear, however, as to what factor or factors may be important in producing anomie in an individual. Srole has found economic status to be negatively related to anomie, but other researchers interpret their data to the contrary.2 There remain, however, persuasive theoretical considerations which would lead one to contend with Merton that the strain toward anomie operates unevenly throughout the various segments of the social structure, with persons in low economic positions being characterized by personal demoralization or disorganization (6). Thus, one purpose of this paper is to bring a new set of data to bear on the hypothesis that economic status is an important determinant of anomie. A second purpose of the paper is to locate other factors which may be related to anomie. The most important of these considered here is social isolation, the hypothesis being that those persons who are relatively isolated are more likely to be anomic than persons who are less isolated. Participation in informal groups such as the neighborhood group, the kin group, the work group, and the friendship group as well as participation in formal groups can be expected to be inversely related to anomie in that the individual achieves through such participation not only close, intimate, and personally satisfying social relations, but also a sense of being a meaningful and effective part of the society. The third purpose of this paper is to relate both unit and personal measures of economic status to anomie. The economic characteristics of the neighborhood in which a person lives (a unit variable) is expected to affect his responses to the anomie scale even when his individual economic characteristics (a personal variable) are controlled.

Demography of Urban Psychotics With Special Reference to Schizophrenia

HIS PAPER is concerned with the make-up of the urban population in mental hospitals: What kinds of persons the patients are, what types of urban areas they come from, and what kinds of social life characterize those areas. Special attention is paid to social isolation as a possible cause of schizophrenia. From a large scale study of Mental Disorders in Chicago, by the writer and H. W. Dunham, there emerge some very clear answers which may be typical of urban patients in general. Some parts of this study have been repeated in Providence, Rhode Island, with identical results. The details, which may be published soon cannot be presented here, but some of the principal findings can be summarized. A most significant general finding is that different answers to the above questions must be given for the different types of mental disorders. In answer to the first question concerning what types of persons constitute the hospital population, each index measured shows great differences for the different diagnoses. Omitting details, the true picture can be indicated by certain index figures. Age, for example, varies greatly in the different diagnostic groups. The peak age group for the senile psychosis, that is, the age group with the highest rate, is 75 years and over. The peak age group for general paralysis, manic-depressive, and alcoholic psychosis is 45 to 54 years. The peak age for paranoid schizophrenia is 35 to 44 years, and for hebephrenic and catatonic schizophrenia, 25 to 34. The range of ages as well as the peak age group also varies with each diagnostic group. Marital status shows similarly great contrasts. In the same sample of cases, the ratio of married to single, taking single as ioo, is, in the general paralysis group, 3.I9, in the senile group 2.25, in the alcoholic group 2.07, in the manic-depressive group i.82, and in the schizophrenic group .64. Some differences of marital status also appear between the manic and depressed types, between the types of schizophrenia, and in each of the schizophrenic types between the sexes. Though no direct measure of economic status of these patients is available, it is possible to construct a serviceable index by using the median rentals in the areas from which the patients come. This procedure yields a symbolic monthly rental figure of $62 for the manic-depressive, of $39 for general paralysis, of $37 for paranoid schizophrenia, of $35 for senile psychosis, of $30 for hebephrenic schizophrenia, of $29 for catatonic schizophrenia, and of $23 for alcoholic psychosis. This represents a great spread