Your search found 2684 results.

Descriptors:
Bayesian Statistics; Intervals; Guidelines; Measurement; Cross Cultural Studies; Indexes; Social Indicators; Scores; Probability; Economic Development; International Organizations; Mothers; Health; Neonates

Abstract:
We offer a straightforward framework for measurement of progress, across many dimensions, using cross-national social indices, which we classify as linear combinations of multivariate country level data onto a univariate score. We suggest a Bayesian approach which yields probabilistic (confidence type) intervals for the point estimates of country scores--a vital, and often missing, feature in cross-national comparisons. We demonstrate our approach using the United Nations Development Programme's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), via the Maternal and Neonatal Program Effort Index (MNPI) data (Ross et al. in "Trop Med Inter Health" 6(10):787-798, 2001), and Human Development Index (HDI) (2010) as examples. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Performance; Social Indicators; Research Methodology; Scores; Indexes; Sustainable Development; Economic Development; Social Change

Abstract:
In 2010, EU adopted a new growth strategy which includes three growth priorities and five headline targets to be reached by 2020. The aim of this paper is to investigate the current performance of the EU member and candidate states in achieving these growth priorities and the overall strategy target by allocating the headline targets into the priorities and the priorities into the strategy by the use of a composite indicator methodology. The paper determines how far away each member and candidate state is from the targeted levels of the priorities and the strategy by making a distinction between EU 15 and relatively new member states as well. The developed composite indices enable the observation of the performances of the member and candidate states in a single indicator for the overall strategy and each growth priority. The results of the strategy index and three growth priority indices show that Nordic states possess the highest index scores already having reached many of the targets; many new member states performed as good as EU 15 and some EU 15 states are placed at the bottom of the ranking with quite poor performance in reaching the EU 2020 strategy. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Factor Structure; Sustainability; Indexes; Measurement; Social Indicators; Economic Development; Individual Development

Abstract:
This paper seeks mainly to contribute to the debate on how the relative degree of development of a country should be measured by proposing an indicator to build on the valuable starting point provided by the Human Development Index (HDI). The indicator proposed is called the "Composite, Dynamic Human Development Index". It incorporates in a simple way additional points which are significant for the current concept of human development and provides a dynamic factor that distinguishes between countries on the basis of achievements attained. It helps ensure that the static average data on which the HDI is based does not conceal wide-ranging economic, social and political differences within countries, lack of sustainability in current levels of development or effective development strategies drawn up by governments. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Well Being; Foreign Countries; Income; Economic Development; Indexes; Social Indicators; Diseases; Gender Differences; Benchmarking; Reputation; Evaluation Methods; Birth; Government Role; Models

Abstract:
This paper calculates a human Wellbeing Composite Index (WCI) for 42 countries, belonging to the European Economic Space, North Africa and the Middle East, as an alternative to the shortcomings of other well-known measures of socio-economic development (i.e. Gross Domestic Product per head and Human Development Index). To attain this goal, different data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are used as an aggregation tool for seven selected socio-economic variables which correspond to the following wellbeing dimensions: income per capita, environmental burden of disease, income inequality, gender gap, education, life expectancy at birth and government effectiveness. The use of DEA allows avoiding the subjectivity that would be involved in the exogenous determination of weights for the variables included in WCI. The aim is to establish a complete ranking of all countries in the sample, using a three-step process, with the last step consisting in the use of a model that combines DEA and compromise programming, and permits to obtain a set of common weights for all countries in the analysis. The results highlight the distance that still separates Southern Mediterranean countries from the benchmark levels established by some European countries, and also point to the main weaknesses in individual countries' performance. Nordic countries, plus Switzerland, top the list of best performers, while Mauritania, Libya and Syria appear at the bottom. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Employed Women; Occupational Mobility; Health; Comparative Analysis; Measures (Individuals); Longitudinal Studies; Regression (Statistics); Indexes; Socioeconomic Status; Prediction; Adults

Abstract:
Occupational mobility is highly valued in American society, but is it consequential to women's health? Previous studies have yielded inconsistent results, but most measured occupational mobility by identifying transitions across occupational categories. Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, this study (1) compares objective and subjective measures of work trajectories and (2) examines the contributions of each to self-rated health. With 36 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women (1967-2003), growth curve models are used to estimate the effects of middle-aged work trajectories on health among 2,503 U.S. women. Work trajectories as measured by the Duncan Socioeconomic Index predict health, but not after adjustment for perceived work trajectories and status characteristics. The findings reveal that subjective measures of occupational mobility provide important information for assessing health consequences of work transitions and that downward occupational mobility in middle age is deleterious to women's health in later life. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Disadvantaged Environment; Income; Multivariate Analysis; Social Differences; Comparative Analysis; Indexes; Measures (Individuals); Correlation; Life Satisfaction

Abstract:
This paper considers different ways of making comparisons between individuals in terms of deprivation and/or satisfaction. This allows the Gini index, the Bonferroni index and the De Vergottini index to be interpreted as social deprivation measures as well as social satisfaction measures. The inequality measures that belong to the [beta] family, or linear combinations of them, are obtained when using different weighting schemes to average the deprivation and satisfaction associated with each income level. Particularly, the generalised Gini indices (Yitzhaki, Int Econ Rev 24:617-628 in 1983), the indices proposed by Aaberge (J Econ Inequal 5(3):305-322, 2007) or those proposed by Imedio-Olmedo et al. (J Public Econ Theory 13(1):97-124, 2011) can be used to evaluate social deprivation or social satisfaction in an income distribution. (Contains 8 figures and 24 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Evidence; Foreign Countries; Individual Development; Social Indicators; Surveys; Indexes; Income; Comparative Analysis; Census Figures

Abstract:
In measuring human development, one of the main concerns relates to the inclusion of a measure that penalizes inequalities in the distribution of achievements across the population. Using indicators from nationally representative household surveys and census data, this paper proposes a straightforward methodology to estimate a household-based distribution-sensitive human development index aggregated through generalized means. The evidence shows that the losses in human development due to inequality reach up 22, 29 and 57% in Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua, respectively. Among dimensions, the loss in the income index reaches up 61% in Nicaragua, while the education index appears as the most sensitive in the case of Mexico and Peru, with a percentage of loss between 38 and 48%. The importance of household-level calculations is highlighted when we compare the indices computed from the entire distribution with those existing indices computed for quintiles of the distribution, which minimizes the losses due to inequality. Overall, the estimations evidence a higher sensitivity of the index to inequality, and therefore an important space for public action to reduce inequality that could involve positive development returns. (Contains 5 figures, 5 tables and 15 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Adolescents; Student Attitudes; Muslims; Foreign Countries; Social Bias; Secondary School Students; Questionnaires; Religion; Prediction; White Students; Gender Differences; Friendship; Race; Christianity; Correlation; Neighborhoods; Indexes; Psychology

Abstract:
This study examines the Outgroup Prejudice Index (see "Research in Education," 83, 2010) to see what factors best predict levels of outgroup prejudice among adolescents living in northern England. A sample of 2,502 eleven- to sixteen-year-old secondary school pupils completed a questionnaire that included measures of outgroup prejudice, religiosity and outgroup contact. The six new findings implied by the results suggest that outgroup prejudice is predicted by somewhat different factors among White pupils in the region than among Muslims. First, girls are less prejudiced than boys. There was strong evidence for this for both Whites and Muslims. Second, having friends of a different race reduces prejudice. There was strong evidence for this also for both Whites and Muslims. Third, mid-teens are more prejudiced than other adolescents. Prejudice peaked among mid-teens for Whites, but not Muslims. Fourth, Christian affiliation is associated with increased prejudice, although greater religious salience reduces prejudice. Fifth, home neighbourhood has some slight effect on Muslim pupils' prejudice but it is not very strong. Sixth, school effects are only evident for White pupils. School neighbourhood has rather little effect. Building on previous research, the present study has added new knowledge by succeeding in measuring outgroup prejudice among secular, Christian and Muslim young people within the same study and thereby confirming the usefulness of the Outgroup Prejudice Index in extending the scope of studies in the psychology of prejudice within a multi-faith context. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Stakeholders; Professional Education; Role of Education; Foreign Countries; Schools of Education; Internet; Poverty; Universities; Engineering Education; Indexes; Case Studies; Comparative Analysis; Cultural Context

Abstract:
The education of professionals oriented to poverty reduction and the public good is the focus of the article. Sen's "capability approach" is used to conceptualise university-based professional education as a process of developing public-good professional capabilities. The main output of a research project on professional education in South Africa is an innovative "Public-Good Professional Education Index" generated by using three knowledge sources: theory; empirical data from five university-based professional education departments in three universities in South Africa; and deliberations with stakeholders. Here the case of a Department of Engineering is selected to exemplify how the Index assists an evaluation of the development of public-good professional capabilities in universities, which allows some optimism in the spaces between realism and idealism. Attention is drawn to the relevance of the approach and arguments to contemporary university-based professional education worldwide. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Best Practices; Multilingualism; Translation; International Trade; Court Litigation; International Organizations; Indexes; Comparative Analysis; Classification; Laws; Second Languages; Ambiguity (Semantics); English; French; Spanish; Difficulty Level

Abstract:
Multilingualism is a sensitive and complex subject in a global organisation such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the WTO legal texts, there is a need for full concordance, not simply translation. This article begins with an overview of the issues raised by multilingual processes at the WTO in the negotiation, drafting, translation, interpretation and litigation phases. It then compares concordance procedures in the WTO, European Union and United Nations and proposes new procedures to prevent and correct linguistic discrepancies in the WTO legal texts. It then categorises linguistic differences among the WTO legal texts and considers the suitability of proposed solutions for each category. The conclusion proposes an agenda for further work at the WTO to improve best practices based on the experience of the WTO and other international organisations and multilingual governments. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website