Household Position Research Articles

Gender Dynamics in Beekeeping: An Examination of Roles of Men and Women in the Beekeeping Value Chain in Chamwino District, Tanzania

Information on gender specific contribution and challenges within the beekeeping values chain is vital for shaping policies that promote gender equity and enhance productivity. This study examined gender dynamics in beekeeping, focusing on the roles of men and women in the value chain. Using cross - sectional design, 265 individuals were surveyed, and interviewed. Descriptive statistics summarized respondent’s demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, while binary logistic regression identified factors influencing involvement in beekeeping. The findings found that most respondents (81.1%) were males aged 41-60 years, and over 80% were married. A majority (87.2%) were heads of their families, and over 60% had incomes below 1,500,000TZS. Most respondents (57.7%) involved in beekeeping as a part-time activity. Men were engaged in apiary preparation, placing hives, honey harvesting and selling with women’s involvement significantly lower across most beekeeping activities. Older men, household heads from large families, and those attending seminars were more involved. Factors such as a gender, family size, household position, age, education, income, seminar attendance, technology, market access, and number of beehives influencing involvement, with a p – value of < 0.05, indicating strong associations with beekeeping activity levels. The illustrated notable gender disparities in beekeeping, with the beekeeping, with men dominating key activities compared to women

The Changing Nature of Pollution, Income, and Environmental Inequality in the United States

This paper uses tax records linked to administrative Census data and high-resolution measures of air pollution exposure (PM2.5) to study the evolution of the Black-White pollution exposure gap since 1984. We decompose changes in the racial exposure gap into (i) rank-preserving compression of the pollution distribution and (ii) changes stemming from a reordering of Black and White households within the pollution distribution. We find a narrowing of the racial exposure gap that is overwhelmingly driven by rank-preserving changes rather than positional changes. Recently, however, the relative positions of Black and White households in the upper tail of the pollution distribution have converged.

HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND THE EFFECTS OF FISCAL POLICY

AbstractWe examine how the effects of government spending shocks depend on the balance sheet position of households. Employing U.S. household survey data, we find a large, positive consumption response for households with mortgage debt, smaller response for renters, and an insignificant response for outright homeowners, in response to a positive government spending shock. We consider a model with three types of households and show that it can successfully account for these findings. Liquidity constraints and wealth effects play a crucial role in shock propagation. Our findings suggest the importance of household mortgage debt position in the transmission mechanism of fiscal policy.

Factors influencing the willingness to pay a price premium for red meat with potential to improve consumer wellness in Australia and the United States of America

This study determined consumers' attitudes towards physical and mental wellness related to red meat consumption and their willingness to pay (WTP) more for the meat. In 2019, two online surveys of red meat eaters were conducted in the USA (n = 1000) and Australia (n = 523) using commercial platforms. Results showed that over 90% of respondents indicated interest in purchasing red meat to improve their wellness status. Additionally, about 85% indicated their WTP more for red meat for its wellness benefits, with Americans indicating stronger willingness than Australian respondents. The potential of meat consumption to improve overall wellness among red meat eaters was a dominant factor influencing consumers' WTP more. Other factors that increased WTP included frequency of meat consumption, physical exercise, sleep quality, number of children in a household, partnership status, and economic position. Outcomes from this study highlight a unique opportunity for the meat industry to position meat on its qualities that include wellness improvement if backed up with robust scientific evidence.

Monetary policy and the persistent aggregate effects of wealth redistribution

Monetary easing redistributes from savers, some of whom are retired and not adjusting labor supply, to borrowers who reduce their labor supply. This results in persistently lower aggregate labor and output. Hence the interaction of labor supply heterogeneity with heterogeneity in net nominal positions of households creates a monetary policy trade-off whereby short-term economic stimulus is followed by lower output over the medium term. The policy trade-off is stronger in economies with more nominal household debt and a larger wealth share of retired households but weakened by a more aggressive monetary policy stance and under price-level targeting.

Determinants of individual income in EU countries: implications for social policy targeting.

The introduction of the Income Index constructed by authors as well as the identification of demographic, socio-economic and occupation-related factors influencing the income of individuals in EU countries is the main contribution of the paper. The Income Index makes it possible to analyze data of individuals from all EU countries. The multiple hierarchical regression of EU-SILC microdata provides the factors that influence individuals' income. Outcomes show through which factors can be intervened in social policy settings to reduce income inequality. Factors significantly affecting the Income Index are the household composition, occupation sector (typically agriculture and accommodation and services are related to low incomes) and the degree of urbanization (rural areas with the lowest incomes of individuals). Findings confirm ongoing discussions about the specific position of single parent households in the labour market and their need for social support.

Exploring factors influencing domestic violence: a comprehensive study on intrafamily dynamics.

This econometric analysis investigates the nexus between household factors and domestic violence. By considering diverse variables encompassing mood, depression, health consciousness, social media engagement, household chores, density, and religious affiliation, the study aims to comprehend the underlying dynamics influencing domestic violence. Employing econometric techniques, this study examined a range of household-related variables for their potential associations with levels of violence within households. Data on mood, depression, health consciousness, social media usage, household chores, density, and religious affiliation were collected and subjected to rigorous statistical analysis. The findings of this study unveil notable relationships between the aforementioned variables and levels of violence within households. Positive mood emerges as a mitigating factor, displaying a negative correlation with violence. Conversely, depression positively correlates with violence, indicating an elevated propensity for conflict. Increased health consciousness is linked with diminished violence, while engagement with social media demonstrates a moderating influence. Reduction in the time allocated to household chores corresponds with lower violence levels. Household density, however, exhibits a positive association with violence. The effects of religious affiliation on violence manifest diversely, contingent upon household position and gender. The outcomes of this research offer critical insights for policymakers and practitioners working on formulating strategies for preventing and intervening in instances of domestic violence. The findings emphasize the importance of considering various household factors when designing effective interventions. Strategies to bolster positive mood, alleviate depression, encourage health consciousness, and regulate social media use could potentially contribute to reducing domestic violence. Additionally, the nuanced role of religious affiliation underscores the need for tailored approaches based on household dynamics, positioning, and gender.

Crop biocultural traits shape seed networks: Implications for social-ecological resilience in south eastern Senegal

CONTEXTAgroecosystems' social-ecological resilience largely depends on the crop diversity generated and maintained by farmers, which provides insurance against changing environmental and socio-economic conditions. In turn, crop diversity generation, maintenance, and distribution is influenced by seed circulation networks. Thus, patterns of seed circulation can support or constrain households' access to crop diversity, affecting on-farm crop diversity. OBJECTIVEWe aimed at understanding the mechanisms shaping seed circulation and farmers' access to crop diversity by: 1) assessing how crop biocultural traits influence patterns of seed circulation; 2) exploring the connections between household position in the seed circulation network and on-farm crop diversity for different crops. METHODSWe conducted research in south-eastern Senegal applying crop diversity inventories and a survey to document seed acquisitions for the six local staple crops, which differ in biocultural traits. Household's varietal diversity and household- and community-level network measures calculated for each crop were used to compare seed circulation patterns among crops. Then, we analyzed the association between households' position in the seed circulation networks and households' on-farm crop diversity using generalized linear models. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSOur research advances two main findings about the importance of seed circulation networks for farmers' access to crop diversity.First, several seed circulation networks operate in the same community and at the same time. Each species circulated differently, which can be explained by crop's biocultural traits. Socio-cultural traits, like the cultural relevance of a crop, and biological traits, like crop's functional group (e.g., legumes, cereals), affect the patterns of seed circulation. Seed circulation networks that involved external actors, like agricultural extension projects or NGOs, were more centralized than seed circulation networks in which these actors were absent.Second, household's centrality in the network of seed circulation (indegree and betweenness) was generally associated with higher on-farm varietal diversity. However, the factors that determined household's access to seeds differed among crops and variety types. SIGNIFICANCEFarmer-to-farmer seed circulation networks are instrumental for the maintenance and distribution of agrobiodiversity and catalyze the introduction of new diversity in the agricultural system. However, tensions exist between traditional and new (e.g., interventions) mechanisms of seed sharing, resulting in centralized and unidirectional seed distribution, which might affect the social-ecological resilience of the system.

Determinants of Household Vulnerability in Networks with Formal Insurance and Informal Risk-Sharing

Effective risk management is key to strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable. Insurance products can help achieve this goal. Yet, in particular in low-income countries, not all can afford the regular premiums. Instead, informal risk-sharing within social networks plays a crucial role in protecting against unpredictable environmental shocks such as droughts and floods. However, this support may not reach households in need if income is heterogeneously distributed and poor households are not connected to those with sufficient resources to share. To study the determinants of vulnerability to extreme events when insurance is available but not affordable to all, we aggregate outcomes of an empirically informed agent-based model in a regression model. We show that not only a household's own financial situation is important for shock resilience, but also the household's position in the network and the financial situation of connected households. We demonstrate the transferability of our results by achieving high prediction accuracy for an empirical risk-sharing network of a village in the Philippines. The study demonstrates how model-based results can help detect vulnerable households. This can be used to develop a reliable identification tool to leverage external support and effectively target subsidies for different types of shocks.

Prekäre Beschäftigung und depressive Symptomatik – geschlechtsabhängige Assoziationen

Precarious work and depressive symptoms: gender-related associations Introduction: Longitudinal studies indicate that men are at greater risk than women of developing symptoms of depression as a result of precarious work. A South Korean study suggests that household position may explain this difference. The question arises as to whether these risk differences could be explained by the position in the household (i.e. living alone without a partner or living with a partner). Methods: The analysis was based on a cohort of 2,009 employees from the “Mental Health at Work Study” (S-MGA) (Rose et al. 2017). Five indicators of precarious work were used: subjective job insecurity, marginal employment, temporary employment, low wages (net hourly wage <60 % of the median) and episodes of unemployment in the past – also summarised in an index of precarious work. Possible associations between precarious work during the period 2012–2017 and depressive symptoms in 2017 were examined by logistic regression analysis – stratified by gender and position in the household (i.e. living alone without a partner or living with a partner) in 2012 and adjusted for depressive symptoms, age, occupational status and partnership status in 2012. Results: Position in the household had no significant interactions with the indicators of precarious work or an index of precarious work among either women or men. Conclusion: It is still unclear why, in many studies, the risks of developing depressive symptoms from precarious work are higher in men than in women. Keywords: precarious work – depressive symptoms – gender differences – longitudinal study

The diverging gender inequality across households: The case of Palestinian-Arab families in Israel

This article focuses on how the family’s position in the stratification system affects the division of housework and childcare in Palestinian-Arab society in Israel; a highly gendered society experiencing socioeconomic change. Recent studies carried out in economically developed countries have shown that the household position indicated by education, income, and employment, related to the way the household tasks are shared by the spouses. However, less is known about the phenomenon in the context of societies that maintain gendered norms regarding family roles while women improved their education and employment status. A multilogistic regression analysis for household tasks and logistic regression analysis for childcare were applied to data from Israeli Social Surveys to examine the effect of household strata in the social stratification system regarding the way Palestinian-Arab families in Israel manage their household’s demands. The main results show that upper-class households and couples with a higher education pose their gender roles as more egalitarian, which demonstrates selective gender equality. The gender boundaries in the sharing of caring tasks are less rigid by class in Palestinian-Arab families while they continued to be determined mainly by the couple’s relative education and attitudes toward gender roles.

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES INFLUENCING AWARENESS OF GOOD AGRICULTUAL PRACTICES AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN MURANG’A COUNTY IN KENYA

Awareness of GLOBAL G.A.P. standards is the bedrock for the growth of export horticulture as it provides livelihoods to many small-scale farmers in developing countries. However, non-compliance with food safety requirements has evoked questions about farmers’ levels of awareness. Previous studies have overlooked the awareness-seeking behavior of smallholder farmers with diverse social characteristics. Therefore, this study was conducted in Murang’a County in Kenya to investigate the influence of social characteristics on awareness-exposure behavior among smallholder French bean farmers. The study systematically selected 115 small-scale French bean farmers. Questionnaires were administered through face-to-face interviews to elicit the data. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics by employing Pearson’s correlation and the Chi-square test. The study found that farmers differed in their awareness of different components that constitute GLOBAL G.A.P. Gender, farmer’s position in household, occupation, and wealth status were among the social inequalities that had a significant influence on the awareness of GLOBAL G.A.P. standards. In addition, farmer’s participation in awareness forums and affiliation with multiple sources of information on GLOBAL food safety standards had a significant influence on their level of awareness. This study recommends that proponents of farming innovations should always consider the socioeconomic status of potential adopters.

Scientific Pluralism in Practice: Responses to Anomaly in the Sciences

Scientific pluralism has become a household position within the philosophy of science literature. There are numerous accounts of plurality within various research fields. Most scientific pluralists, however, focus on the plurality of theories, explanations, or mechanisms, while other potential targets of plurality that the philosophy of scientific practice has particularly emphasized have so far not received extensive treatment. How should we approach such practice-based candidates of plurality? And what are potential pluralist positions concerning the objects of scientific practice? In this article, I set out to answer these questions. I combine approaching a widely influential topic within the philosophy of science, scientific pluralism, with social science methodology. Using interview data combined with sociological analysis, I provide a nuanced picture of the dynamics of one particular research field that displays plurality. Focusing on how sociological configurations resonate with intellectual commitments within a research field, I disentangle practice-based from theoretical plurality. I consider how these empirical results should feedback on the scientific pluralism literature.

How do income and the debt position of households propagate fiscal stimulus into consumption?

Expansions in public spending induce a surge of private consumption that is accompanied by increasing post-tax income of households, on average, during the U.S. postwar era. Endogenously reacting income, however, appears insufficient to fully rationalize conditional co-movement of private and public spending: private spending even expands in times during which disposable income does not rise, and for medium-income household groups that do not experience income gains. Corroborating these observations, we show within a SVAR-IV framework that fiscal stimulus causally prompts households to take on more credit. This favorable debt cycle is paralleled by dropping credit rates/spreads and inflating collateral prices, e.g., real estate prices, suggesting that softening borrowing constraints support the accumulation of private debt and help rationalizing the absence of consumption crowding-out.

Integrated assessment of the efficiency of the development of the national of the economic system of the republic of belarus from the position of households

The article proposes a criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of the development of the national economic system of the Republic of Belarus from the perspective of households using a dynamic system of indicators, which allows for an integral assessment of the effectiveness of purposeful activities in dynamics and taking into account the development trends of the country's economy, as well as a reasonable approach to the development of mechanisms for achieving the set goals. development goals in accordance with the proposed performance criterion. The effectiveness of the development of the national economic system of the Republic of Belarus was assessed from the perspective of households for 2016– 2020. On the basis of the proposed efficiency criterion, the directions for achieving the goals of development of subjects of economic relations and the national economic system of the Republic of Belarus are determined.

Not Raised ‘To Make Big Decisions’: Young People’s Agency and Livelihoods in Rural Pakistan

ABSTRACT We examine young people’s testimonies about their capacity to make important decisions and their livelihood experiences from agricultural communities that span Pakistan’s countryside. Our analysis is guided by theories of agency that focus on how a young person’s capacity to identify and act on goals is mediated by their local opportunity structure – shaping their household relations, livelihood choices, and prevailing social norms. We apply comparative and contextual qualitative analysis methods to our dataset of 12 village cases, which include 24 sex-specific youth focus groups. We also present a secondary survey analysis. We find high rural employment levels among young men in recent years, and a decline in rural young women’s employment from already low levels. The young study participants mainly observe limited capacity to make important decisions. They repeatedly attribute this to expectations of strict deference to elders and other norms about their gender, young age, junior household position, marital status, and socio-economic standing. They also report negotiating and resisting confining norms; however, young women’s agency appears especially constrained by norms that discourage their physical mobility and visible economic roles. We examine two villages where some youth express healthier levels of agency and more desirable economic opportunities than others, and the significance of kinship relations and fluid norms in this environment. We call for models of young people’s agency that register more effectively the importance of household relations, the gatekeeper role of elders, and the contextual and fluid properties of norms, as these dynamics both constrain and enable young people’s agency.

Multidimensional assessment of the financial position of polish households and its regional diversity

The article aims to present a multidimensional assessment of Polish households' financial position and its regional diversity in 2018. In the first stage of the assessment, the financial position was compared between voivodships in a one-dimensional approach, taking into account the level of equivalent disposable income and total expenditure, the savings rate, the shares of food, and housing expenditures. In the second stage, a multidimensional assessment of the financial position was performed, based on the value of the synthetic indicator constructed with the TOPSIS method. Additionally, TOPSIS-based typological classes helped account for determinants of the financial position and subjective evaluation of households in each voivodship. The article drew on unpublished individual data from the Household Budget Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Office of Poland in 2018. Analyses from both stages showed that the households in Mazowieckie and Dolnośląskie voivodships enjoyed the best financial position, followed by Śląskie and Opolskie, while in Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, and Świętokrzyskie -- the worst. With regards to Zachodniopomorskie and Wielkopolskie voivodships, the financial position of their households was similar to the national average. The reasons for these disparities are social, economic, and demographic and include professional activity (being unemployed), the level of education of household head, location, and meeting debt obligations.

Determinants of indebtedness and institutional credit to rural agricultural households: an empirical evidence from South India

PurposeThis article attempts to understand the pattern of credit (loan) among agricultural households and identify the correlates of their access to institutional credit for policy imperatives. It also focuses on the inclusivity of institutional credit and debt pattern in terms of outstanding loan in the southern region of India.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the Tobit model along with the Heckman selection model to study the impact of various factors on the institutional borrowing and the amount outstanding.FindingsThe findings reveal that the access to credit is strongly associated with the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of agricultural households in South India. Asset position of households and size of holding are positively related with the probability of household having access to institutional credit. Education and family size are also found to be associated with higher access to formal credit. On the other hand, the socially disadvantaged households have lower access to formal credit. Similarly, other variables – assets, holding size and education – are associated with higher credit per household.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings indicate that the strategies to develop agriculture in southern India must encompass efforts to bring the small and marginal farmers under the coverage of institutional credit.Originality/valueThere are very few studies that have explored the credit access in South India from the perspective of land class despite the government’s attempts to include small and marginal farmers in the ambit of formal financial services.

Risk factors for child stunting in Bangladesh: an analysis using MICS 2019 data

BackgroundMalnutrition is considered a major public health challenge and is associated with a range of health issues, including childhood stunting. Stunting is a reliable and well-recognized indicator of chronic childhood malnutrition. The objective of this study is to determine the risk factors associated with stunting among 17,490 children below five years of age in Bangladesh.MethodsCorrelates of child stunting were examined using data generated by a cross-sectional cluster survey conducted in Bangladesh in 2019. The data includes a total of 17,490 children (aged < 5 years) from 64,400 households. Multiple logistic regressions were used to determine the risk factors associated with child stunting and severe stunting.ResultsThe prevalence of stunting and severe stunting for children was 25.96% and 7.97%, respectively. Children aged 24 to < 36 months [Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.65, 95% CI: 2.30, 3.05] and aged 36 to < 48 months [OR = 2.33, 95% CI: 2.02, 2.69] had more risk of stunting compared to the children aged < 6 months. Children from Sylhet division had the greatest risk of stunting of all the eight divisions [OR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.46]. Children of secondary complete or higher educated mothers were less likely to develop stunting [OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.79] compared with children of mothers having no education at all. Similarly, children of secondary complete or higher educated father [OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.87] were found to have lower risk of stunting compared with children whose father hadn’t any education. Substantially lower risk of stunting was observed among children whose mother and father both completed secondary education or above [OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.69]. Children from the richest households [OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.58] had 51% lower odds of stunting compared to children from the poorest households.ConclusionsAfter controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, parental education and household position in the wealth index were found to be the most important determinants of child stunting in Bangladesh.

Beyond the ‘Feminization of Agriculture’: Rural out-migration, shifting gender relations and emerging spaces in natural resource management

In international research and development discourses, the ‘Feminization of Agriculture’ is often used as a vague umbrella term referring to an increase in women's labor burden and responsibilities in agriculture as a result of male out-migration. However, the term is under-conceptualized, and fails to reflect changing gender relations in agriculture and natural resource management, with the potential consequence of ill-defined agriculture and gender research programs. This paper challenges narratives of the ‘Feminization of Agriculture’. Drawing from feminist political ecology, this paper conceptualizes gender relations more broadly by highlighting gendered subjectivities and power relations in agriculture in contexts of male out-migration. I propose a conceptual framework to explore shifts in (1) socio-spatial struggles over resources, (2) influence within agrarian households and communal spaces, (3) aspirations, feelings of insecurity and self-determination. I build on extensive participatory fieldwork conducted in three countries, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.The conceptual framework helps analyze how some gender norms and relations are renegotiated in contexts of male out-migration. While unequal power relations shape everyday struggles in agriculture and natural resource management, for some women, increased mobility, social engagement and handling cash create new spaces to influence, move, and communicate. Importantly, everyday struggles over agricultural, water and land resources remain shaped by gender, age, caste, land ownership, remittances and household position, particularly those living with the family in-laws. Research and development programs need to take intersectionality into account and explore emerging spaces for influence, but also be aware of persistent gender norms and power relations which shape agricultural practices, aspirations and self-determination. I conclude by arguing for the need to expand the ‘Feminization of Agriculture’ debate towards a broader understanding of socio-spatial change and gendered subjectivities within agriculture.