There is now recognition that a population’s overall level of well-being is defined not just by income and wealth. Where we live and who we interact with are likely to be equally important in our ...overall levels of satisfaction with our lives. This thinking has stimulated studies of subjective well-being, or happiness, at both national and local scales. These studies suggest that where you live does matter, although it is health and family status that have the most direct effects on well-being. In this study, we use a detailed dataset on well-being from the China Household Finance Survey to reexamine well-being across China, where profound socioeconomic changes are taking place. The study controls for self-reported health and examines subjective well-being across extensive and varied Chinese urban and rural environments. We find that the earlier pessimism about China’s well-being, which emphasized declining happiness, may be misplaced. We make two contributions: first, we show a rising level of subjective well-being, and second, we show that there is a narrowing gap in well-being across different social indicators. Methodologically, we bring in the perspectives of both social capital and geographic context.
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A recent article Vinkovic D, Kirman A (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:19261-19265 showing that the Schelling model has a physical analogue extends our understanding of the model. However, prior ...research has already outlined a mathematical basis for the Schelling model and simulations based on it have already enhanced our understanding of the social dynamics that underlie the model, something that the physical analogue does not address. Research in social science has provided a formal basis for the segregative outcomes resulting from the residential selection process and simulations have replicated relevant spatial outcomes under different specifications of the residential dynamics. New and increasingly detailed survey data on preferences demonstrates the embeddedness of the Schelling selection process in the social behaviors of choosing alternative residential compositions. It also demonstrates that, in the multicultural context, seemingly mild preferences for living with similar neighbors carry the potential to be strong determinants for own race selectivity and residential segregation.
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Segregation through the multiscalar lens Olteanu, Madalina; Randon-Furling, Julien; Clark, William A. V.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
06/2019, Volume:
116, Issue:
25
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We introduce a mathematical framework that allows one to carry out multiscalar and multigroup spatial exploratory analysis across urban regions. By producing coefficients that integrate information ...across all scales and that are normalized with respect to theoretical maximally segregated configurations, this framework provides a practical and powerful tool for the comparative empirical analysis of urban segregation. We illustrate our method with a study of ethnic mixing in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Prospect theory and the decision to move or stay Clark, William A. V.; Lisowski, William
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
09/2017, Volume:
114, Issue:
36
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Migration has always involved stress and risk. More risk-averse households are less likely to move, while less risk-averse households will seek out opportunities and migrate. We investigate how the ...theoretical contributions of prospect theory, and specifically the endowment effect, can provide new understanding about decisions whether to migrate or not. We test the hypothesis that risk aversion extends the length of stay in the dwelling and, by extension, in the local labor and housing markets. How long people remain in place is a function, we hypothesize, of their independently self-assessed propensity to take risks, after controlling for a range of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. We use the theoretical insights of prospect theory and the endowment effect (the notion of the “use value” differing from the “exchange value”) to explain the likelihood of staying after controlling for life-course events. The results confirm the explanatory power of self-assessed risk in the decision to migrate or stay and, equally important, confirm the role of the endowment effect.
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The decision to move is preceded by thinking about moving and then planning the move. Previous work has used varying measures of the intention to move to estimate models of what lies underneath the ...intention to move. That work has shown how family contexts, life course events, and economic resources play roles in forming the intention to move. This paper extends previous research in four ways. We use logistic regression models of moves conditional on an intention to move, we include measures of family structure specifically in the model, we estimate the role of satisfaction in the decision to move or stay, given an intention to move and we use a eleven-year panel data-set rather than cross-sectional data as in many studies. We confirm some of the findings of previous studies including the strong effects for life course events, but neither education nor income are predictors. We also show the role of a strong intention to move in the model. There are modest effects of higher levels of satisfaction with housing and community for those who did not intend to move. It is important to emphasize that this study while confirming some of the previous results reiterates that we need replication to complete and extend our understanding of these social processes.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
7.
Homophily, selection, and choice in segregation models Xu, Bing; Clark, William A V; Pak, Maxwell
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
2024-Feb-13, 2024-02-13, 20240213, Volume:
121, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Schelling's 1971 work on the dynamics of segregation showed that even a small degree of homophily, the desire to live among like neighbors, can lead to a starkly segregated population. One of the ...driving factors for this result is that the notion of homophily used is based on group identities that are exogenous and immutable. In contrast, we consider a homophily that arises from the desire to be with neighbors who are behaviorally similar, not necessarily those who have the same group identity. The distinction matters because behaviors are neither exogenous nor immutable but choices that can change as individuals adapt to their neighborhoods. We show that in such an environment, integration rather than segregation is the typical outcome. However, the tendency toward adaptation and integration can be impeded when economic frictions in the form of income inequality and housing cost are present.
The article provides findings for China that are consistent with the studies that document a negative relationship between the cost of housing and fertility. Although some studies have questioned the ...negative relationship between housing market prices and fertility, overall the evidence from this large sample study in China suggests that the original interpretation of a negative relationship is still viable. The research uses data from the China Household Finance Survey between 2013 and 2017 to show that there is an approximately 0.94-percentage-point decrease in the probability of having a child under two with a 1 percent increase in housing prices. The article provides instrumental models to account for endogeneity. The results are robust across city levels and by wife’s age. The negative effect is significant in the thirty-five large cities in China but not significant for other smaller cities.
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China is a country of homeowners, where >80% of households own their homes and >20% of urban households own multiple homes. China achieved this unprecedented high rate home ownership in a short ...period of three decades. While we have a growing understanding of homeownership in general we are less clear about the process and outcomes of multiple home ownership in China. This paper examines the patterns of and driving forces for multiple home ownership, and explores the implications for housing inequality in Chinese cities. While socio-economic factors appear critical in China as is the case in the West, we argue for an institutional and cultural perspective to better understand multiple home ownership in China. The empirical analyses using 2015 China Household Finance Survey show that households who received housing subsidies, have urban registration, experienced demolition and resettlement, have school age children attending key schools, and have sons are more likely to own multiple homes. By focusing on the institutional and cultural forces, this paper better explains the unprecedented high rate of multiple homeownership in Chinese cities, and demonstrates how various housing policies in China have unintentionally contributed to multiple homeownership and thus housing and wealth inequality.
•Multiple home ownership rate is unprecedented high in Chinese cities•Institutional and cultural factors together with sociodemographic forces drive multiple home ownership in China•Housing subsidies and resettlement promote multiple home ownership•Rural migrant are less while urban migrant are more likely to own multiple homes than local urban homeowners•Having children attending key schools and having sons encourage multiple homes.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The COVID-19 pandemic changed behaviors, at least temporarily, and possibly more permanently, with implications for both work and leisure activities. Some of those behavioral changes, such as dining ...in restaurants, have significant ripple effects on businesses and employment. We investigate the response to health risks in China with a study of decisions about eating out during the pandemic. We find that compared to a traditional measure of financial risk attitude, dining out behavior better captures individuals’ attitude toward the health risk posed by the pandemic and is more significant in predicting their expected total consumption during the recovery phase of the pandemic. In addition, we find that the effect of domestic in-migration is positive with respect to dining out, a signifier of confidence in the government response to the safety of internal flows. In contrast, international migration and port city of entry status are strongly negative with respect to dining out. The risk from the virus is perceived to be much stronger in such contexts. From a policy perspective establishing border controls was critical in re-creating a robust economy. Additional city and household level characteristics that affect dining-out behavior are also identified.
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