Paying for Happiness: Experimental Results from a Large Cash Transfer Program in Malawi

This study analyzes the short‐term impact of an exogenous, positive income shock on caregivers’ subjective well‐being (SWB) in Malawi using panel data from 3,365 households targeted to receive Malawi's Social Cash Transfer Program that provides unconditional cash to ultra‐poor, labor‐constrained households. The study consists of a cluster‐randomized, longitudinal design. After the baseline survey, half of these village clusters were randomly selected to receive the transfer and a follow‐up was conducted 17 months later. We find that the short‐term impact of household income increases from the cash transfer leads to substantial SWB gains among caregivers. After a year's worth of transfers, caregivers in beneficiary households have higher life satisfaction and are more likely to believe in a better future. We examine whether program impacts on consumption, food security, resilience, and hopefulness could explain the increase in SWB but do not find that any of these mechanisms individually mediate our results.     

Prevalence and correlates of physical spousal violence against women in slum and nonslum areas of urban Bangladesh

This study explores the prevalence and correlates of past-year physical violence against women in slum and nonslum areas of urban Bangladesh. The authors use multivariate logistic regression to analyze data from the 2006 Urban Health Survey, a population-based survey of 9,122 currently married women aged between 15 and 49 who were selected using a multistage cluster sampling design. The prevalence of reported past-year physical spousal violence is 31%. Prevalence of past-year physical spousal violence is higher in slums (35%) than in nonslums (20%). Slapping/arm-twisting and pushing/shaking/ throwing something at the women are the most commonly reported acts of physical abuse. Multivariate analysis shows that the risk of physical spousal abuse is lower among older women, women with post-primary education, and those belonging to rich households and women whose husbands considered their opinion in decision making. Women are at higher risk of abuse if they had many children, believe that married woman should work if the husband is not making enough money, and approve wife-beating norms. This study serves to confirm the commonness of physical spousal abuse in urban Bangladesh, demonstrating the seriousness of this multifaceted phenomenon as a social and public health issue. The present findings suggest the need for comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies that capitalize on the interplay of individual and sociocultural factors that cause physical spousal violence. Our study adds to a growing literature documenting domestic violence against women in urban areas of developing south Asian nations.     

School Adjustment in Rural and Urban Communities: Do Students from “Timbuktu” Differ from Their “City Slicker” Peers?

The primary purpose of our study was to explore the effects of rurality on school adjustment and other school-related variables. Using data from 167,738 7th–12th graders located in a national sample of 185 predominantly white communities, multilevel models were estimated for perceived school performance and school liking using a variety of individual-level (e.g., gender, ethnicity, and peer school performance) and community/school-level variables (e.g., school size, rurality, and percentage free/reduced lunch) as predictor variables. Rurality was not significantly related to school adjustment, but rather, the characteristics of individuals living within those communities were. Results also indicated that participation in school and non-school activities, a strength of rural schools, can play a positive role in school adjustment. Given the significant relationships of income and parental education to all of the school-related variables, a key long-term strategy may lie in improving the economic climate of rural areas.

DEMANDING DAUGHTER DUTY

The transnationalization of rural villages in the northeast region of Thailand through women's transnational marriages is reconfiguring gendered familial obligations in the form of “daughter duty.” This article shows how economic and social remittances from dutiful village daughters who are married to foreign husbands connect local villages and communities to the global, bypassing Thai nation-state institutions and agencies that have inadequately addressed the disadvantageous position of Thailand's Isan region. This transnational process depends on daughters' (and mothers') commitment to their care work and to their role as nurturers of the family, kin, schools, temples, and community—the community being seen as a familial extension in this matrilocal society. Women's upward economic mobility and their adherence to valued filial roles contribute to the community's increased favorable acceptance of women with foreign partners, leading to a greater number of transnational marriages. This article offers a nuanced reading of the so-called phua farang phenomenon (transnational marriages) based on an analysis of transformations brought about by daughter duty and the agrarian changes taking place in villages in Thailand's Isan region as the result of the rapid growth of transnational marriages.     

University-industry interaction and product innovation performance of Guangdong manufacturing firms: the roles of regional proximity and research quality of universities

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This study aims to investigate the direct relationships of university proximity and research quality with the product innovation performance of Chinese firms...     

Bouvia v. Glenchur

Bouvia, a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, earlier had failed to win Superior Court injunctions to restrain personnel at Riverside General Hospital from force feeding her if she attempted to starve herself to death while in their care [Bouvia v. County of Riverside, Trial court decision (in Bouvia I), No. 159780, 8 Feb 1984]. In this case, she sought a preliminary injunction restraining the staff of High Desert Hospital from continuing to feed her through a nasogastric tube, and from placing her on a special bed to control bed sores. In denying her request, the Superior Court ruled that, despite her claims to the contrary, Bouvia's refusal of nutrition and medical treatment was motivated by an intention to kill herself using public facilities, and not by a desire to exercise her right of privacy.