Recently Published Working Papers in Demography : January 2002

Center for Demography and Ecology Information Services
University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/library/papers.htm


Bureau of the Census. Population Division

Malone, Nolan J.  "Evaluating Components of International Migration: Consistency of 2000 Nativity Data."   No. 66.  January 2002.  40 pages.
Abstract:  On March 1, 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau issued the recommendation of the Executive Steering Committee for A.C.E. Policy (ESCAP) that the Census 2000 Redistricting Data not be adjusted based on the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.). By mid-October 2001, the Census Bureau had to recommend whether Census 2000 data should be adjusted for future uses, such as the census long form data products, post-censal population estimates, and demographic survey controls. In order to inform that decision, the ESCAP requested that further research be conducted.

Between March and September 2001, the Demographic Analysis-Population Estimates (DAPE) research project addressed the discrepancy between the demographic analysis data and the A.C.E. adjusted estimates of the population. Specifically, the research examined the historical levels of the components of population change to address the possibility that the 1990 Demographic Analysis understated the national population and assessed whether demographic analysis had not captured the full population growth between 1990 and 2000. Assumptions regarding the components of international migration (specifically, emigration, temporary migration, legal migration, and unauthorized migration) contain the largest uncertainty in the demographic analysis estimates. Therefore, evaluating the components of international migration was a critical activity in the DAPE project.

This report focuses on the consistency of the data sources related to the foreign-born population. Specifically, the analysis examines the comparability and consistency of data from three different data sources collected in 2000: the March 2000 Current Population Survey (original and reweighted); the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey; and a provisional Census 2000 nativity data file. We examine differences in estimates among survey/census items specific to the foreign-born population – citizenship, place of birth and year of entry – as well as by general population characteristics, such as age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.

Our evaluation reveals that there is no significant difference in the total foreign born estimated among the data sources (when controlling for differences in coverage and methodologies). The provisional Census 2000 estimate of 30.6 million foreign born does not differ significantly from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey estimate of 30.5 million foreign born. Further, both of these figures fall within the 90-percent confidence interval of the (reweighted) March 2000 Current Population Survey estimate of 30.1 million foreign born. Additional detailed comparisons show similar results, a general consistency in nativity data across data sources.
http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/population/www/techpap.html

International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) 

De Santis, Gustavo.  "Population Ageing in Industrialized Countries: Challenges and Issues."  No. 19.  December 2001.  17 pages.
Abstract:  None available   
http://www.iussp.org/English Site/Publications/7listPRP.htm

Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)

Agree, Emily.  "Alleviating Disability and Unmet Need: Differential Dimensions addressed by Assistive Technoloy and Personal Care."  WP 01-4.  January 2002.  27 pages.
Abstract:  Purpose. To examine differences in reports of residual disability and unmet need by type of care arrangement (assistive technology and/or personal care) amongst disabled adults.
Method. This study compares three specific dimensions of residual difficulty (pain, fatigue, and time intensity) and unmet need for hands-on care across combinations of assistive technology and personal care. Analyses are conducted on samples of between 3,493 to 7,051 persons with limitations in bathing, transferring, walking, and getting outside from the U.S. 1994-95 National Health Interview Survey Phase 2 Disability Supplements. Results. Even accounting for differences in underlying disability, equipment use confers no additional benefit in the three dimensions of residual difficulty analyzed here. Equipment users equally or more often report that tasks are tiring or time consuming, or painful even when they use assistance. Though this would appear to indicate unmet needs for care, fewer equipment users report a desire for hands on personal care. Conclusions. We find that disability alleviation by technology is no better on specific dimensions of difficulty, but technology users report less unmet need for personal care. Designing appropriate and cost-effective home care for disabled adults depends upon an understanding of the ways in which technology users may differ from others and the circumstances in which technology can be most effective.
http://popctr.jhsph.edu/publications/wp/index.html


Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Kohler, Hans-Peter, Lisbeth B. Knudsen, Axel Skytthe, and Kaare Christensen.  "The Fertility Pattern of Twins and the General Population Compared: Evidence from Danish Cohorts 1945-64."  WP-2002-005.  January 2002.  26 pages.
Twin studies provide an important possibility for demographers to analyze patterns of heritability and to estimate structural models with controls for endowments. These possibilities are increasingly used in the context of fertility and related behaviors. A close congruence between the fertility patterns of twins and that of the general population, however, is an essential pre-condition in order to generalize the results of twin-based investigations of fertility and related behaviors to the general population. In this paper we therefore compare the fertility of Danish twins born 1945--64 to the fertility pattern of the general population born during the same period. Our analyses find a very close correspondence between the fertility pattern of twins and of the general population. There exist only few statistically significant differences, and the primary difference pertains to the fact that female twins have a slightly later onset of childbearing than non-twins. There are virtually no relevant differences between the fertility patterns of dizygotic and monozygotic twins.
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Publications/working.htm

Buber, Isabella.  "The influence of the distribution of household and childrearing tasks between men and women on childbearing intentions in Austria."  WP-2002-004.  January 2002.  53 pages.
Abstract:  The purpose of this paper is to look at the extent to which the division of household work and childrearing and the perception of how fair these tasks are divided influence plans of further childbearing. We concentrate on women with one child and want to look at the question whether a woman whose partner shares the domestic responsibilities with her wishes to have a second child more often than a woman with a partner who does not help out. The data used in this study are drawn from the Austrian Fertility and Family Survey 1995/96, which includes biographies of partnerships and childbearing, detailed information on the division of household chores and childcare duties between the two sexes, and the desire for a (another) child. We model the desire for a second child using a probit model. The major findings of the paper are that sharing childcare duties among couples is a driving force behind plans of further childbearing, whereas the division of feminine household tasks between men and women has no explanatory power. Our results also illustrate that the satisfaction of a woman with her contribution to childrearing is a predictor of an increased desire for a second child. 
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Publications/working.htm

Wienke, Andreas, Anne M. Herskind,  Kaare Christensen, Axel Skytthe, and Anatoli I. Yashin.   "The influence of smoking and BMI on heritablity in susceptibility to coronary heart disease."  WP 2002-03.  January 2002.  13 pages.
Abstract:  Cause-specific mortality data on Danish monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins are used to analyze the influence of smoking and body mass index (BMI) on heritability estimates of susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD). The sample includes 1209 like-sexed twin pairs born between 1890 and 1920, where both individuals were still alive and answered a questionnaire, including information about smoking, height and weight, in 1966. The analysis was conducted with both sexes pooled due to the relatively small number of twin pairs. Follow-up was conducted from 1 January 1966 to 31 December 1993. We use the correlated gamma-frailty model with observed covariates for the genetic analysis of frailty to account for censoring and truncation in the lifetime data. During the follow-up, 1437 deaths occurred, including 435 deaths due to CHD. Proportions of variance of frailty attributable to genetic and environmental factors were analyzed using the structural equation model approach. Different standard biometric models are fitted to the data to evaluate the magnitude and nature of genetic and environmental factors on mortality. Using the best fitting model without covariates, heritability of frailty to CHD was found to be 0.45 (0.11). This result changes only slightly to 0.54 (0.16) after controlling for smoking and BMI. This analysis underlines the existence of a substantial genetic influence on individual frailty associated with mortality caused by CHD. No evidence for common genetic factors acting on smoking, BMI, and susceptibility to CHD are found which indicates that the association between smoking and susceptibility to CHD and BMI and susceptibility to CHD is not confounded by common genetic factors.
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Publications/working.htm

Kohlmann, Annette.  "Fertility Intentions in a Cross-Cultural View:  The Value of Children Reconsidered."  WP 2002-02.  September 2001.  38 pages.
Abstract:  This paper seeks to explain the differences in fertility intentions between Turkey and Japan, based on a theoretical modification of the social-psychological concept of the ‘Value of Children’. We assume that the ‘Value of Children’ consists of their support for their parents in order to achieve general human goals. We investigate the causal structure between individual socio-economic characteristics and the ‘Value of Children’ and fertility intentions.

We use data from the original "Value of Children Studies", including women in their reproductive age, with children born in wedlock. Based on confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models, we find that in both countries fertility intentions are related to the instrumentality of children to their parents as well as to socio-economic characteristics and institutionally defined opportunities. The ‘Value of Children’ is in part determined by socio-economic independent variables; however, we also observe direct effects that can not be reduced to the instrumentality of children. Therefore, the endogenization of the effects of the ‘Value of Children’ on fertility intentions is limited.
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Publications/working.htm

McMaster University. Program for Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population

Denton, Frank T.Christine H. Feaver, and Byron G. Spencer.  "Alternative Pasts, Possible Futures: A "What If" Study of Fertility on the Canadian Population and Labour Force.'  R.R. No. 367.  January 2001.  37 pages.
Abstract:  The "baby boom" that followed World War II, and the subsequent "baby bust", have cast a long shadow over the Canadian population, society, and economy. Drawing on a series of counterfactual projections, this paper considers what the year 2001 would have looked like if things had been different if there had been no baby boom or no bust, or if the bust had been delayed, to take three examples. The paper then considers what will happen in the coming decades under a number of alternative assumptions. A major finding is that the boom had much less impact on the 2001 age structure of the population and labour force than did the bust that followed. For the future, population aging, slower rates of growth, and increased dependency ratios are likely features, but one should be careful not to overestimate the prospective "dependency burden".
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~qsep/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) 

Lichtenberg, Frank R.  "Sources of U.S. Longevity Increase, 1960-1997."  #8755.  January 2002.  32 pages.
Abstract:  Between 1960 and 1997, life expectancy at birth of Americans increased approximately 10% - from 69.7 to 76.5 years - and it has been estimated that the value of life extension during this period nearly equaled the gains in tangible consumption. We investigate whether an aggregate health production function can help to explain the substantial fluctuations in the rate of increase in longevity since 1960. We view longevity as the output of the health production function, and output fluctuations as the consequence of fluctuations in medical inputs (expenditure) and technology. We estimate longevity models using annual U.S. time-series data on life expectancy, health expenditure, and medical innovation. Reliable annual data are available for only one type of innovation - new drugs - but pharmaceutical R&D accounts for a significant fraction of total biomedical research. The empirical analysis provides strong support for the hypothesis that both medical innovation (in the form of new drug approvals) and expenditure on medical care (especially public expenditure) contributed to longevity increase during the period 1960-1997. The estimates imply that the medical expenditure needed to gain one life-year is about $11,000, and that the pharmaceutical R&D expenditure needed to gain one life-year is about $1,345. Previous researchers have estimated that the average value of a life-year is approximately $150,000.
http://www.nber.org/new.html#latest) 

Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnemand and David N. Weil.    "Mortality Change, the Uncertainty Effect, and Retirement."  #8742.  January 2002.  32 pages.
Abstract:  We examine the role of changing mortality in explaining the rise of retirement over the course of the 20th century. We construct a model in which individuals make labor/leisure choices over their lifetimes subject to uncertainty about their date of death. In an environment in which mortality is high, an individual who saved up for retirement would face a high risk of dying before he could enjoy his planned leisure. In this case, the optimal plan is for people to work until they die. As mortality falls, however, it becomes optimal to plan, and save for, retirement. We simulate our model using actual changes in the US life table over the last century, and show that this 'uncertainty effect' of declining mortality would have more than outweighed the 'horizon effect' by which rising life expectancy would have led to later retirement. One of our key results is that continuous changes in mortality can lead to discontinuous changes in retirement behavior.
http://www.nber.org/new.html#latest)

University of Western Ontario.  Population Studies Centre

Kerr, Don. "Family Transformations and the Well-being of Children: Recent Evidence from Canadian Longitudinal Data."  No. 01-17.  December 2001.  30 pages.
Abstract: None available.
http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/sociology/popstudies/dp2001.html

 

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