El Salvador is highly unusual among developing countries in its number of overseas migrants relative to the national population: at least one in seven Salvadorans lives outside of the country, primarily in the United States. Estimated total personal income of Salvadorans living in the United States was $13.3 billion in 2001, roughly equal to El Salvador’s GDP in that year.1 These overseas earnings bring substantial benefits to migrants’ origin families and communities via remittances, which has amounted to 14% of Salvadoran GDP in recent years. The overseas Salvadoran community can be one of the cornerstones of a pro-poor growth strategy. Migrants typically come from more disadvantaged Salvadoran households, specifically those with less-educated heads and those in rural areas. For this reason, policies that assist overseas migrants, facilitate remittances, and provide investment opportunities for remittances will disproportionately benefit poor and disadvantaged Salvadoran families. This report begins with a broad picture of aggregate changes in migration . . .

We consider the estimation of life length of people who were born in the seventeenth or eighteenth century in England. The data consist of a sequence of times of life events that is either ended by a time of death or is right-censored by an unobserved time of migration. We propose a semi parametric model for the data and use a maximum likelihood method to estimate the unknown parameters in this model. We prove the consistency of the maximum likelihood estimators and describe an algorithm to obtain the estimates numerically. We have applied the algorithm to data and the estimates found are presented.

In his classic book, A Piece of the Pie, Stanley Lieberson described divergent trends in occupational standing for African Americans and European immigrants after 1920, as the Great Migration from the South swelled the size of the black population in northern cities. In this paper I build upon Lieberson's work using longitudinal data drawn from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for the census years 1880-1970. This more versatile data source allows me to examine separate occupational trends for northern-born blacks and southern-born migrants and to control for relevant socio-demographic characteristics. The findings confirm Lieberson's general conclusion that blacks lost ground, occupationally, to immigrants after 1920. However, they show further that: (1) northern- and southern-born blacks experienced different trends in relative occupational standing after 1920, (2) that these different trends were due largely to compositional differences between the two groups of northern blacks, especially educational differences, and (3) that blacks were generally less successful than immigrants at translating additional educational attainment into improved occupational status, with southern migrants experiencing the weakest occupational returns to education. It is concluded that compositional differences and a racially-defined occupational queue were the most important factors shaping group differences and trends in occupational standing between 1920 and 1970. Timing of arrival in the northern industrial economy and a response by whites to the "racial threat" from a growing black population were less important. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

This article examines the evolution of the black extended family by documenting a black-white crossover in the proportions of unmarried adults living in complex households after the middle of the twentieth century. We demonstrate significant racial differences in the trends in complex household residence over the life course, characterized by far greater declines in complex living among whites, particularly at younger ages. In this context, the higher level of family extension that recent research has found typifies black families is both a relatively new phenomenon and one that is not just limited to single-parent families; it characterizes all ages, those with and without children, and men as well as women.

During the twentieth century, African Americans participated in one of the most significant demographic events in U.S. history. Their "Great Migration" from the South to the North contributed to profound social, economic, demographic, and cultural changes in northern cities. After the Great Migration, blacks continued to move in search of opportunity as some returned to die South, while others moved to suburbs or better neighborhoods within the North. My review focuses on the Great Migration by discussing research that has examined its causes, the characteristics of the participants, the adaptation of migrants to northern society, and their impact on northern cities. I also briefly review research on return migration to the South and residential mobility by African Americans. Finally, I identify key issues and discuss possible data sources for future research.

This paper develops a state choice model and estimates it using the 1990 census in order to determine if state and local governments can attract retirees to their states using fiscal policy. In order to control for the sunbelt-state effects, a nested logit structure which is less restrictive than the multinomial logit model is embedded in the model. The empirical results show that the nested logit model catches a significant role of state fiscal policy on retirement migration. More specifically, they reveal that the young old of age 60 to 65 are significantly influenced by income tax and property tax, and the normal old of age 66 to 75 are affected by death tax, as well as income tax and property tax. In addition, the migration decision of healthy retirees turns out to be significantly influenced by fiscal policy whereas the migration decision of unhealthy retirees is not. A specification test of the state choice model rejects the competing multinomial logit specification. The estimated model predicts that the average migration rate will be close to the observed migration rates, but over-predicts return migration because of the presence of high birthplace attachment.

Economic and social theorists have modeled race and ethnicity as a form of personal identity produced in recognition of the costliness of adopting and maintaining a specific identity. These models of racial and ethnic identity recognize that race and ethnicity is potentially endogenous because racial and ethnic identities are fluid. We look at the free African-American population in the mid-nineteenth century to investigate the costs and benefits of adopting alternative racial identities. We model the choice as an extensive-form game, where whites choose to accept or reject a separate mulatto identity and mixed race individuals then choose whether or not to adopt that mulatto identity. Adopting a mulatto identity generates pecuniary gains, but imposes psychic costs. Our empirical results imply that race is contextual and that there was a large pecuniary benefit to adopting a mixed-race identity.

Between 1984 and 2001, the share of non-elderly adults receiving Social Security Disability Insurance income (DI) rose by 60 percent to 5.3 million beneficiaries. Rapid program growth despite improving aggregate health appears explained by reduced screening stringency, declining demand for less skilled workers, and an unforeseen increase in the earnings replacement rate. We estimate that the sum of these forces doubled the labor force exit propensity of displaced high school dropouts after 1984, lowering measured U.S. unemployment by one-half a percentage point. Steady state calculations augur a further 40 percent increase in rate of DI receipt.

Even in the early twentieth century, black children were much more likely to be living apart from one or both parents than were white children. This paper examines the contribution of these racial differences in family structure to the racial differences in childrens experiences in the American South. Living apart from one or both parents was associated with lower school attendance and greater labor market participation,particularly for blacks. However, racial differences in adult literacy, household resources, and school characteristics were much more important for explaining the racial gaps in childrens activities than were racial differences in family structure.

Et primært mål for mange historikere er å skrive hele befolkningens historie, ikke bare konsentrere seg om utvalgte elitegrupper slik det var vanlig tidligere. De nordiske land har bedre forutsetninger for å lykkes i arbeidet med å framstille også vanlige menneskers historie, siden vi har lengre, mer dekkende og mer detaljerte serier med individdata i form av folketellinger og kirkebøker enn andre land. I noen grad har dette kildematerialet blitt utnyttet til å framstille aspekter ved den historiske utvikling i enkelte lokalsamfunn, regioner eller hvert enkelt land. Sammenligning over landegrensene er imidlertid mangelvare, selv om den betydelige likhet mellom nabostatenes historiske utvikling gjør komparasjon naturlig og fruktbar. Ikke bare foregikk en parallell utvikling av landenes sosiale, økonomiske og demografiske historie, det var også nær kontakt mellom dem bl a gjennom migrasjon. Mangelen på samordnet forskning skyldes derfor ikke savn av likeartede problemstillinger, men at det befolkningshistoriske grunnlagsmateriale fins i så mange ulike formater at sammenlignende studier blir svært ressurskrevende for den enkelte forsker. Når grunnlagsdataene er samkjørt til ens formater, blir det enkelt å forske på og presentere resultatene for Norden samlet. Dermed får vi både et mer systematisk bilde av hvilke trekk ved Nordens innbyggere som er felles, og innsikt i hvordan og hvorfor islendinger, finner, dansker, svensker og nordmenn er ulike med omsyn til andre egenskaper. Et komparativt perspektiv vil også gjøre det enklere å vekke interesse for forskningen internasjonalt, siden så mange betrakter Norden som en enhet og flere forskere er motivert til å sette av ressurser til å studere regionens historie samlet enn til å sette seg inn i hvert enkelt lands utvikling.

Multinomial Logistic Regression can be used with a categorical dependent variable that has more than two categories. Multinomial Logistic Regression can be done with SAS using PROC CATMOD. For this example, the dependent variable marcat is marital status. The syntax for proc catmod is as follows.

From the publisher's web site: 'How the Other Half Works solves the riddle of America's contemporary immigration puzzle: why an increasingly high-tech society has use for so many immigrants who lack the basic skills that today's economy seems to demand. In clear and engaging style, Waldinger and Lichter isolate the key factors that explain the presence of unskilled immigrants in our midst. Focusing on Los Angeles, the capital of today's immigrant America, this hard-hitting book elucidates the other side of the new economy, showing that hiring is finding not so much "one's own kind" but rather the "right kind" to fit the demeaning, but indispensable, jobs many American workers disdain.'

Married female labor supply in terms of participation as well as hours worked has increased tremendously throughout the twentieth century. I show that one remarkable feature of this increase is that it has occurred simultaneously throughout their husbands income distribution. Then I study the cross sectional implications of two mechanismsthat have been proposed to explain the increase in marriedfemale labor supply, namely exogenous changes in the adjusted gender wage gap and falling prices of durables used in home production. When the exogenous gender wage gap decreases, female labor force participation increases independently of husbands income. However some additional heterogeneity is needed for the participation rate tobe interior. As the price of home durables falls, the aggregate participation rate increases continuously. This continuous increase however works itself through the income distribution from top to bottom, so that participation depends on husbands income.

During the first half of the twentieth century, degradation, poverty, and hopelessness were commonplace for African Americans who lived in the South's countryside, either on farms or in rural communities. Many southern blacks sought relief from these conditions by migrating to urban centers. Many others, however, continued to live in rural areas. Scholars of African American rural history in the South have been concerned primarily with the experience of blacks as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, textile workers, and miners. Less attention has been given to other aspects of the rural African American experience during the early twentieth century. African American Life in the Rural South, 1900-1950 provides important new information about African American culture, social life, and religion, as well as economics, federal policy, migration, and civil rights. The essays particularly emphasize the efforts of African Americans to negotiate the white world in the southern countryside. Filling a void in southern studies, this outstanding collection provides a substantive overview of the subject. Scholars, students, and teachers of African American, southern, agricultural, and rural history will find this work invaluable.

The strong correlation between parents' economic status and that of their children has been well-documented, but little is known about the extent to which this is a causal phenomenon. This paper attempts to improve our understanding of the causal processes that contribute to intergenerational immobility by exploiting historical changes in compulsory schooling laws that affected the educational attainment of parents without affecting their innate abilities or endowments. We examine the influence of parental compulsory schooling on grade retention status for children aged 7 to 15 using the 1960, 1970 and 1980 U.S. Censuses. Our estimates indicate that a one-year increase in the education of either parent reduces the probability that a child repeats a grade by between two and seven percentage points. Among 15 to 16 year olds living at home, we also estimate that parental compulsory schooling significantly lowers the likelihood of dropping out. These findings suggest that education policies may be able to reduce part of the intergenerational transmission of inequality.

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we test Costa and Kahns colocation hypothesis, which predicts that power couplescouples in which both spouses have college degreesare more likely to migrate to the largest cities than part-power couples or power singles. We find no support for this hypothesis. Instead, regression analyses suggest that only the education of the husband and not the joint education profile of the couple affects the propensity to migrate to large metropolitan areas. The observed location trends are better explained by higher rates of power couple formation in larger metropolitan areas.

Winter 2003 includes: Minnesota Population Center forges European Alliances; Austrian Elections 2002: Bye bye Blues; Hungary’s House of Terror; Interviews of Robert Wilkinson, Hubert Lengauer, and Fred Stambrook. Book reviews: “Casanova’s Journey Home and Other Late Stories” and “Parlor and Kitchen: Housing and Domestic Culture in Budapest, 1870-1940.”