Measuring and explaining the marriage boom in the developed world

Using aggregated data from 25 developed countries over a lengthy period of time, this article presents a measure of the marriage boom observed in the twentieth century and an explanation for its causes. One of my main conclusions is that even though it basically developed after the Second World War, its origins are to be found before it. I found that, contrary to the views of some scholars, this boom was not a short-lived phenomenon, but actually lasted for 90 years on average. Using panel data analysis techniques, I am able to show that the rise in women’s education, state spending on social benefits, and larger percentages of people employed in the primary sector tended to discourage marriage. I also found a quadratic relationship between the nuptiality index and the per capita income and mortality rates.     

What’s in an MSW? Graduate education for public child welfare workers,intention, engagement,and work environment

ABSTRACT

This study employs a mixed methods analysis of exit survey data gathered from public child welfare employees at their completion of a Title IV-E funded MSW program, distinct because it was initiated during a period of major reform and permitted students to continue employment during their studies. Findings suggest that opportunities for growth and manageable levels of stress were associated with intentions to stay and engagement with the work, reflected in respondents’ positive perceptions of their roles in the work environment and their retrospective assessments of the impact of their social work education.     

A Multi-Level Conceptual Model to Examine Child Welfare Worker Turnover and Retention Decisions

There is little disagreement about the importance of a healthy stable workforce in promoting effective provision of child welfare services. This review proposes a multi-level conceptual model of child welfare workforce turnover combining traditional individual and organizational impacts with factors associated with community context. Identified gaps in the literature along with a related research agenda are reviewed. Also presented is an overview of the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families, a longitudinal study of new hires into the child welfare workforce across Florida, providing opportunities to address gaps and test model characteristics regarding turnover decisions and related outcomes.     

Supports for Families Affected by Substance Abuse

Using an in-home services program model, Project Connect works collaboratively with the child welfare system, substance abuse treatment providers, the courts, and other community agencies to support parental recovery, enhance safety and permanency, and strengthen family relationships. Results from the most recent evaluation of the program, which used a dosage level design to examine project outcomes for 415 families, are presented here. Data indicate that the program was particularly helpful in strengthening parenting capacity. Child safety and permanency were also positively correlated with program participation.     

The Demise of Tax Credits

Introduced in the late 1990s, tax credits grew under successive Labour governments to become a cornerstone of UK social policy. Distinguished from traditional welfare policies by their target group and their mode of administration, and with goals that appeared capable of commanding support across the ideological spectrum, tax credits until recently seemed to hold the key to tackling poverty in a politically popular manner. But since 2010 the tax credit system has been systematically dismantled, initially qualitatively and latterly also quantitatively. This paper discusses the multiple factors that help to explain the rapid fall from grace in the UK of this liberal approach to supporting the incomes of poor working households.     

The Rise of the Far Right in Debtor and Creditor European Countries: The Case of European Parliament Elections

While the 2014 European Parliament elections were marked by the rise of parties on the far right‐wing, the different patterns of support that we observe across Europe and across time are not directly related to the economic crisis. Indeed, economic hardship seems neither sufficient nor necessary for the rise of such parties to occur. Using the cross‐national results for the 2004, 2009 and 2014 EP elections in order to capture time and country variations, we posit that the economy affects the rise of far right‐wing parties in more complex ways. Specifically, we compare the experience of high‐debt countries (the ‘debtors’) and the others (the ‘creditors’) and explore the relationship between far right‐wing party success on the one hand, and unemployment, inequality, immigration, globalisation and the welfare state on the other. Our discussion suggests there might be a trade‐off between budgetary stability and far right‐wing party support, but the choice between Charybdis and Scylla may be avoided if policy‐makers carefully choose which policies should bear the brunt of the fiscal adjustment.     

“Middle-income Trap” Proposition in China: Debate and Rethinking

Most studies suggest that China's economy is gradually moving into the "middle income trap" due to the economic slowdown, the demographic dividend subsiding, economic imbalances and weak manufacturing. But to think about the source of the middle-income trap proposition, there is a big limitation of the scope of its application. There is obvious expansion even "dogmatic" tendency in the understanding of the middle-income trap. Mechanical imitation to guide China's development will inevitably mislead decision-makers in judging the real macroeconomic situation. Middle-income trap hypothesis can be applied to our country? Our government seems to prevent the distribution of income trap and welfare catching-up trap.     

发达国家青年失业群体治理措施及借鉴

近几年来,青年是面临失业的主要群体,这一问题引起了学术界特别是青年研究界越来越多的关注。青年群体有别于传统失业群体,有着自身的特点。发达国家之所以能够较为有效地控制青年失业率,主要是因为实施了积极的就业保障措施来促进青年就业。借鉴国外的经验,我国解决青年群体就业问题的政策取向必须以提高就业能力为出发点。     

呼之欲出的社会公益募捐法

5．12汶川地震之后,全国各界展开了对地震灾区的援助,除了直接赶赴灾区进行救灾援助之外,捐赠或者募捐成为很长一段时间内人们对地震灾区主要的援助手段。基于我国现阶段对于捐赠与募捐的立法现状,其中有诸多的不规范之处,而募捐过程中也产生了诸多问题。这些问题如果在短时间内得不到解决,一方面,会影响到灾区所可能接收到的外在援助,另一方面,也会由于募捐本身的不规范导致捐赠者的失望可能影响到全社会的利他主义与人道主义信念的下滑,这对于现阶段和谐社会的建构是至关重要的。本文将就募捐的法律性质、募捐的现有规范及募捐现存的问题作一初步探讨,以期对我国募捐法案的出台有所裨益。     

Expressions of Culture in American Indian/Alaska Native Tribal Child Welfare Work: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

This qualitative meta-synthesis of materials from three national projects that had examined more than 75 American Indian/Alaska Native child welfare programs sought to articulate how culture is expressed within tribal child protective services (CPS)work and to uncover whether there are cultural elements of tribal child welfare practice that are distinct from practice in non-tribal settings. Through the meta-synthesis, a framework emerged outlining a cultural approach to practice that incorporates: (a) a culturally-distinct definition of Native child well-being; (b) tribal values that form a foundation for practice; (c) practice intentions linking child protection with cultural and community health; and (d) two specialized worker skills.