{"title":"How to Assess Livelihoods? Critical Reflections on the Use of Common Indicators to Capture Socioeconomic Outcomes for Ecological Restoration workers in South Africa","authors":"M. Pasgaard, N. Fold","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03433-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03433-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social outcomes from conservation and development activities on a local scale are often assessed using five livelihood assets—Natural, Physical, Human, Financial and Social—and their associated indicators. These indicators, and the variables used to measure them, are typically based on ‘common practice’ with limited attention being paid to the use of alternative indicators. In this article, we present a typical survey of socioeconomic benefits for ecological restoration workers in South Africa, and ask whether the common livelihood indicators used are adequate and sufficient, or whether any relevant indicators are missing. Results from the livelihood survey show the value of income, food and education as strong indicators of financial and human assets, and the importance of open-ended questions in eliciting details of workers’ perceived changes in their livelihoods. However, by complementing the survey results with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and stakeholder workshops, we show how unconventional livelihood indicators and aspects provide a deeper understanding of changes in livelihoods that are tied to restoration projects. We guide scholars and practitioners to advance their process of selecting livelihood indicators, in particular to include three additional types of indicators: intangible indicators to assess life quality; relative indicators reaching across spatial and temporal scales to capture community outcomes and livelihood resilience; and, political indicators to uncover causal relationships.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142262972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Oussama Abi Younes, Leila Dagher, Ibrahim Jamali, Paul Makdissi
{"title":"Quantifying Turbulence: Introducing a Multi-crises Impact Index for Lebanon","authors":"Oussama Abi Younes, Leila Dagher, Ibrahim Jamali, Paul Makdissi","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03426-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03426-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper provides an in-depth analysis of Lebanon’s severe economic crisis, a situation aggravated by the collapse of Banque du Liban’s financial strategies, delayed reforms by the government, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastating Beirut Port explosion. These events have precipitated a sharp decline in disposable income, soaring inflation rates, and an alarming increase in unemployment and multidimensional poverty. Central to this study is a comprehensive field survey that examines eighteen coping mechanisms adopted by workers in various economic sectors of Lebanon. From this survey, we introduce a new index designed to systematically categorize and evaluate these coping strategies across four critical dimensions of well-being: nutrition, healthcare, education, and financial issues. We use this index to quantify and understand the extent to which workers have relied on these coping mechanisms, offering novel insights into the socio-economic repercussions of the crisis.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mònica González-Carrasco, Silvana Aciar, Ferran Casas, Xavier Oriol, Ramon Fabregat, Sara Malo
{"title":"A Machine Learning Approach to Well-Being in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence: The Children’s Worlds Data Case","authors":"Mònica González-Carrasco, Silvana Aciar, Ferran Casas, Xavier Oriol, Ramon Fabregat, Sara Malo","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03429-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03429-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Explaining what leads to higher or lower levels of subjective well-being (SWB) in childhood and adolescence is one of the cornerstones within this field of studies, since it can lead to the development of more focused preventive and promotion actions. Although many indicators of SWB have been identified, selecting one over the other to obtain a reasonably short list poses a challenge, given that models are particularly sensitive to the indicators considered.Two Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, one based on Extreme Gradient Boosting and Random Forest and the other on Lineal Regression, were applied to 77 indicators included in the 3rd wave of the Children’s Worlds project and then compared. ExtremeGradient Boosting outperforms the other two, while Lineal Regression outperforms Random Forest. Moreover, the Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithm was used to compare models for each of the 35 participating countries with that of the pooled sample on the basis of responses from 93,349 children and adolescents collected through a representative sampling and belonging to the 10 and 12-year-olds age groups. Large differences were detected by country with regard to the importance of these 77 indicators in explaining the scores for the five-item-version of the CWSWBS5 (Children’s Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale). The process followed highlights the greater capacity of some ML techniques in providing models with higher explanatory power and less error, and in more clearly differentiating between the contributions of the different indicators to explain children’s and adolescents’ SWB. This finding is useful when it comes to designing shorter but more reliable questionnaires (a selection of 29 indicators were used in this case).</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Where You Sit Is Where You Stand: Perceived (In)Equality and Demand for Democracy in Africa","authors":"Thomas Isbell","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03409-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03409-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, I explore whether perceived individual inequality is associated with popular demand for democracy in 33 African countries. Past research has diverged on whether individual-level inequality should increase or decrease support for democracy, with some arguing that people might see democracy as a solution to inequality, and others that people might see it as a cause. Much of this research however uses country- level measures of inequality. Recent research however increasingly suggests that such country-level scores of inequality insufficiently capture how ordinary people perceive levels of inequality. I advance our understanding of co-variates of demand for democracy by using a perceptual measure of inequality from the Afrobarometer survey: how people feel their living situation compares to others in their country. I find that perceived relative equality is significantly associated with greater demand for democracy, while perceptions of both relative deprivation and relative advantage are significantly associated with lower democratic demand. These effects are largely significant above and beyond the effect of absolute poverty and known predictors of demand for democracy, such as free and fair elections and level of education.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SDG Impact Index with Double Materiality Perspective: Evidence from OECD Commercial Bank Industry","authors":"Guler Aras, Ozlem Kutlu Furtuna, Evrim Hacioglu Kazak","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03421-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03421-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The soundness and healthy functioning of financial institutions that contribute to sustainable development by channeling savings into investments has a direct impact on the economy as a whole. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without the strong support of the financial services industry. The novelty of this study is that it investigates the SDGs with ESG indicators through a double materiality perspective for 1888 companies from the OECD financial institutions. This study shows how commercial banks can identify and prioritize the SDGs and targets and how sustainable practices at the corporate level can contribute to achieving these global goals by adopting a sound methodological approach. The empirical results indicate a significant variation between three perspectives including financial materiality, double materiality, and double materiality with fuzzy logic and some of the SASB issues and GRI issues are more material to a particular SDG than others. There are few studies that focus on developing such a multi-perspective methodology, and this study further contributes to the existing knowledge by shedding light on the SDG Impact Index of commercial banks’ with double materiality perspective. In this context, this paper aims to explore the impact of material issues for the OECD financial services industry to achieve the 2030 Agenda’s goal of leaving no one behind.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Evaluation of the Impact of the Pension System on Income Inequality: USA, UK, Netherlands, Italy and Türkiye","authors":"Can Verberi, Muhittin Kaplan","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03417-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03417-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines empirically the impact of various characteristics of pension systems, in particular their quality and integrity, on income inequality, utilizing micro-level data from the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Türkiye and Italy. To this end, the income inequality model, which includes public pension (or public/private pension mix), age, education, gender, marital status and employment as independent variables, has been estimated using quantile regression. The results provide a number of valuable information on the impact of the pension system on income inequality: (i) Public pension income significantly reduces overall income inequality across almost all inequality groups in all countries, except for the UK and the Netherlands; (ii) Different types of pension systems vary significantly in their redistributive effects on income; (iii) The empirical results also show that the effect of different pension systems on inequality changes by inequality groups significantly.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"70 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring Domains of Quality-of-Life with Vulnerable Young People in Bogotá: A Capability Approach Perspective","authors":"Juan Fernando Bucheli","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03414-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03414-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Young adults aged 18–28 represent a pivotal demographic whose experiences of inequality significantly shape their life trajectories in cities. Despite their potential for innovation and social advancement, public agendas often marginalize their needs and aspirations. This paper explores urban inequality among young adults by examining how they define and value different aspects of their daily lives when urban inequality is at play. Drawing on focus group discussions in two socioeconomically segregated urban districts in Bogotá, this paper employs the capability approach to construct a comprehensive list of 15 capability domains that young adults use to define and value their daily experiences. The paper adds to the existing literature a detail a step-by-step process involving the identification, selection, and ranking of relevant capabilities, with young adults actively engaged in value judgements through a deliberative process of public reasoning. Findings reveal that quality-of-life domains for young adults extend beyond traditional youth policy sectors, encompassing political participation, public space and mobility, social norms, and independence. The results not only expand the scope of existing youth agendas but also align with demands expressed during recent social unrest in Colombia and the region, where young adults have played a central and vocal role.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Economic Disparities, Life Events, and the Gender Mental Health Gap","authors":"Thi Thao Nguyen, Kim Huong Nguyen, Nicholas Rohde","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03424-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03424-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper studies factors explaining the gender mental health gap using Australian data. We show that men have significantly higher mean outcomes and the left tail of the combined distribution is disproportionately female. Using regression-based decompositions, we examine the degree that both socioeconomic inequalities and life experience account for this phenomenon. We find that disparities in income play a substantial role, and subject to an assumption of exogeneity, would be enough to account for the gender gap amongst individuals with very poor psychological wellbeing. We also examine the mental health effects of various negative life experience, such as the death of a family member or being a victim of violence. At the individual level, these variables have large effect sizes but are not strongly correlated with gender to explain our mental health disparities.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Catalina Nicolás-Martínez, María Concepción Pérez-Cárceles, Prudencio José Riquelme-Perea, Carmen María Verde-Martín
{"title":"Are Cities Decisive for Life Satisfaction? A Structural Equation Model for the European Population","authors":"Catalina Nicolás-Martínez, María Concepción Pérez-Cárceles, Prudencio José Riquelme-Perea, Carmen María Verde-Martín","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03423-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03423-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The growth of cities is an unstoppable phenomenon that began in the last century and will undoubtedly be one of the challenges of the current century. It is not only a question of urbanization; its implications and consequences extend to the economy, society, culture and the environment. The capacity of cities as engines of change and progress cannot be questioned, and its consequences will alter the lives of their citizens, who will search, in a more liquid world, for the best places to live. Therefore, this study aims to examine the influence of perception of urban quality (PUQ) and social trust and security (STS) on the life satisfaction (LS) of European citizens to find out if these variables are essential for the population living in Europe. The data were selected from the European Urban Audit survey, which covers 40,597 people living in 80 European cities. The analysis in this study is carried out at the city level. The partial least squares structural equation modelling approach was applied to verify the hypotheses. The findings reveal a positive correlation between PUQ and STS with LS, with STS being a mediator between PUQ and LS. These results underline that improving the perception of the urban environment can significantly increase well-being, contributing more than 70% to citizens' life satisfaction. This multidisciplinary analysis highlights the importance of considering various urban dimensions in planning and public policies to foster prosperous and satisfactory urban development.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Flexibility Stigma Across Europe: How National Contexts can Shift the Extent to which Flexible Workers are Stigmatised","authors":"Heejung Chung, Hyojin Seo","doi":"10.1007/s11205-024-03420-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-024-03420-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although flexible working has expanded rapidly, especially during the pandemic, biased views against flexible workers – namely, flexibility stigma - are still prevalent and returning. Flexibility stigma hinders worker’s take up of flexible working arrangements and can make flexible working arrangements result in negative outcomes for worker’s well-being and productivity. This study examines how national cultural and policy contexts shape flexibility stigma levels within a country. We use a multilevel approach using the Eurobarometer dataset of 2018, covering 28 European countries, matched with national level aggregate data on policy and culture. Results show that in countries with a more work-life balance work culture and egalitarian gender norms, we see less prevalence of flexibility stigma. Similarly, in countries with generous family-friendly policies, workers are less likely to have negative perception towards flexible working. Finally, stronger bargaining positions of workers, may it be through stronger union power or through better labour market conditions, helps remove stigmatised views around workers who use flexible working arrangements. This study evidences the importance of contexts that shape views around flexible working, to help us better understand policy changes needed to ensure better flexible working practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":21943,"journal":{"name":"Social Indicators Research","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142203601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}