When Marriage Ends: Differences in Affluence and Poverty Among Older Adults in Israel

Studies show that the economic benefits of marriage carry over into old age and that widowhood and divorce have detrimental economic consequences, especially for women. This study asks how affluence and poverty are affected by the timing of widowhood and divorce and tests whether they operate in symmetry. The study draws on Israel's annual Social Survey from multiple years (2013-2017), conducted by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. The sample is limited to older individuals, aged 55+ (n = 4824 men, 5643 women). The findings show that married people are less likely to be poor than unmarried people, but they are not always more likely to be affluent. Widowed men and women, and divorced men are more likely to achieve affluence than continuously married couples. The explanation may be that, in the Israeli context, the widowed tend to inherit benefits accumulated by their late spouse, whereas the divorced tend to divide resources when the marriage dissolves. Women incur higher and longer-term penalties for their change in marital status than do men, so that previously married women tend to have higher rates of poverty and lower rates of affluence than previously married men. The findings show that affluence and poverty do not operate in symmetry and that affluence does not simply mirror poverty, especially among men. For example, early widowed and late divorced men have higher odds of both poverty and affluence than married men. These findings demonstrate that poverty and affluence operate differently and examining both leads to new insights.

Narratives to revert overconsumption: human-nature interdependence and Circular Economy

Policy and practitioners' initiatives to stimulate sustainable consumption have so far failed to have notable impact on individuals' behaviors. The current commentary is a plea to social and sustainability scientists, particularly to economists dealing with sustainable agri-food systems, to dig deeper into the notion of narratives to trigger societal dynamics that stir consumers toward more sufficient lifestyles. As dominant cultural narratives have a critical role in shaping shared meanings and acceptable behaviors, in the future they could guide dramatic changes in individuals' conduct, triggering drastic modifications of current consumption patterns. Based on the power that concepts as the Circular Economy and the Anthropocene have had in the recent past, a future step to develop an ecological worldview across society, and nourish individual identities deeply committed with the preservation of natural ecosystems, is working on narratives based on the notion of human-nature interdependence.

The varying roles of the dimensions of affluence in air pollution: a regional STIRPAT analysis for Germany

STIRPAT models investigate the impacts of population, affluence, and technology on the environment, with most STIRPAT studies revealing positive impacts of both population and affluence. Affluence is commonly defined as GDP per capita, but investigations of its impact largely neglect the possibility that increasing prosperity affects the environment in varying-even opposing-ways. This study addresses this gap by decomposing affluence into three dimensions-income per taxpayer, private car ownership, and the share of single-family houses-and analyzing their roles in the production of local NO_x emissions. Results for 367 German districts and autonomous cities between 1990 and 2020 indicate that, while private car ownership and single-family houses per capita can be considered drivers of local pollutants, such is not the case for income per taxpayer, which we find has a negative impact on NO_x emissions. The empirical findings suggest that policies should strengthen integrated mobility concepts and establish incentives that favor investment in modern heating or self-sufficiency systems.

Does the pollution halo hypothesis exist in this "better" world? The evidence from STIRPAT model

Multinational corporation has changed their host countries. The new wave of FDI inflow attracted the interest of policymakers. FDI has significant effects on both productivity and carbon dioxide emissions. The host countries should carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of FDI to their nation. The previous literature has not illustrated the global context's theoretical halo or haven pollution hypothesis. Using panel data of 96 countries between 2004 and 2014, our empirical results confirm the haven pollution hypothesis in both developing and developed countries. We employ the different general methods of moments (GMMs) to engage FDI in traditional STIRPAT theoretical frameworks. The empirical results contribute to the evidence of the EKC theory. The country's income level has been used to modify our models. The affluence of the economy, urbanization, FDI, and industrial sector would cause harmful effects on carbon dioxin emissions globally. The paper implies the two models which can be used for both developed and developing countries. The policymaker can use both short-run and long-run elasticities from those models to implicate their country's FDI inflow strategy.

Inequality in historical transboundary anthropogenic PM2.5 health impacts

Atmospheric transport of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), the leading environmental risk factor for public health, is estimated to exert substantial transboundary effects at present. During the past several decades, human-produced pollutant emissions have undergone drastic and regionally distinctive changes, yet it remains unclear about the resulting global transboundary health impacts. Here we show that between 1950 and 2014, global anthropogenic PM_2.5 has led to 185.7 million premature deaths cumulatively, including about 14% from transboundary pollution. Among four country groups at different affluence levels, on a basis of per capita contribution to transboundary mortality, a richer region tends to exert severer cumulative health externality, with the poorest bearing the worst net externality after contrasting import and export of pollution mortality. The temporal changes in transboundary mortality and cross-regional inequality are substantial. Effort to reduce PM_2.5-related transboundary mortality should seek international collaborative strategies that account for historical responsibility and inequality.

A step in the journey to food waste: How and why mealtime surpluses become unwanted

This paper explores how and why Saudi householders designate mealtime leftovers as unwanted, thereby making them more likely to become waste. The paper argues that although over-provisioning is cited as one of the main antecedents for food waste, food becomes unwanted before it becomes waste and the designation of over-provisioned food as unwanted is an important but neglected driver of food waste. The study draws on in-depth interviews with 28 Saudi women to reveal four main reasons for the classification of leftovers as unwanted. First, food touched by others, such as plate leftovers, is perceived as unclean because it fosters feelings of disgust. The causes of this disgust are related to changes in social norms of eating. Second, clean leftovers are seen as less desirable for hedonistic reasons because they do not provide the same sensory eating experience as fresh food. Third, the rejection of leftovers might be related to the implications of rising levels of affluence for the attractiveness of leftovers. Lastly, food becomes unwanted as a result of social norms regarding eating home-cooked food outside the home. This highlights the possible influence of norms on the wider issue of food waste. These findings illustrate the circumstances in which food is categorized as unwanted and underline the significance of social and hedonistic factors. Such findings help us to better tackle the issue of food waste by providing in-depth insights into an important part of the journey between over-provisioning and food waste. The findings also strengthen the scarce literature on food waste in Arabic and other Islamic countries and highlight underlying normative and cultural aspects in such countries that are relevant to the issue of household food waste.

Modernizing our way out or digging ourselves in? Reconsidering the impacts of efficiency innovations and affluence on residential energy consumption, 2005-2015

This study scrutinizes the impacts of efficiency innovations as well as affluence on residential energy consumption, which is a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions. The study draws on the ecological-modernization perspective, which is optimistic about how technological innovations and affluence can help societies overcome environmental challenges associated with production and consumption, and the political-economy perspective, which raises doubts about whether these factors are beneficial to the environment, given their tendency to drive more consumption. Analysis of nationally representative longitudinal data reveals mixed relationships between efficiency innovations and residential energy consumption: while some measures of efficiency innovations, generally those not requiring human-technology interactions, are negatively related to residential energy consumption, others are either unrelated to it or drive more consumption. These findings suggest efficiency innovations offer only minimal opportunities for conserving energy, and may depend on the nature of the innovation. Raising doubts about the potential for rising affluence to promote environmental protection, this study reveals positive relationships between our measures of affluence and residential energy consumption.

Impact of energy consumption and human activities on carbon emissions in Pakistan: application of STIRPAT model

This study examines the impact of fossil fuel consumption, nonrenewable energy consumption, population, affluence, and poverty on carbon emissions in Pakistan by using a time series data from 1972 to 2014. The study uses a flexible ecological framework known as the STIRPAT model. The Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) Model and Error Correction Model (ECM) are used to estimate the robust results. The results show that consumption of fossil fuels, population growth, improvement in affluence level, and urbanization are contributing factors to high carbon emissions in Pakistan. The results also highlight that poverty alleviation and carbon emissions have opposite trends, this shows that the efforts to reduce poverty are stimulating the consumption of low-cost energy sources such as fossil fuels, and contributing to carbon emissions. However, results indicate that an increase in the share of renewable energy in total energy use and consumption of hydroelectric energy has the potential to reduce carbon emissions in Pakistan. The results highlight that there is a need to promote the use of renewable and hydroelectric energy. At domestic level, this will assist to meet the energy demand of the growing population and also prove helpful to reduce carbon emissions. Thus, the study recommends that a transition from fossil fuel energy to renewable and hydroelectric energy could prove an effective strategy to improve the affluence level, to alleviate poverty and effective to reduce carbon emissions in Pakistan.

How are Immigrant Children in Sweden Faring? Mean Income, Affluence and Poverty Since the 1980s

This article presents new research on income-based child indicators for immigrant children from 17 different national backgrounds and children of parents born in Sweden observed during the 3-year periods 1983-85, 1995-97 and 2008-10. This research examines mean household income, representation at the top of the income distribution and relative poverty differ for immigrant children from the corresponding levels among children with native born parents. Most of the analysis is concentrated on the second generation of immigrant children. It is shown that the relative position of immigrant children deteriorated between 1983-85 and 1995-97 when the labour market situation of immigrant parents weakened more than among native born parents. Changes thereafter were more complex. Children born in Sweden to parents from Denmark, Norway or Germany were as likely as children of native born parents to be observed at the top of the income distribution in contrast to children of parents from countries with middle or low human development. Poverty rates among immigrant children were higher among all categories of immigrant children in 2008-10 than among children of native born parents. These cross origin differences in income-based child indicators can be attributed to the reasons and qualifications parents had when they entered Sweden and the number of years since their immigration. A majority of children living in Sweden that are classified as poor in 2008-10 were immigrant children of various categories.

Usefulness of a home affluence scale administered to urban adolescents with asthma to estimate the family's socioeconomic status

PURPOSE

Measurement of socioeconomic status (SES) is traditionally based on education, income, and occupation. This information may not be readily available from adolescents participating in research.

METHODS

Using data from school-based randomized trial of an asthma intervention targeting urban adolescents, we compared percent poverty in zip code of residence (% poverty), median housing value, and parental income and education, to teen responses on the Home Affluence Scale for Children (HASC), which included home, car, and computer ownership for the family and eligibility for free school lunch. The association of HASC with measures of asthma control was also assessed.

RESULTS

Of 422 adolescents, 390 (92%) responded to HASC items (mean HASC = 2.5). HASC was associated with mother's education and household income (both P < .001), and significantly correlated with % poverty (P < .0001) and median home value (P = .003). The association of HASC <2.0 to indicators of uncontrolled asthma was in the direction hypothesized, especially for nighttime symptoms, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.59 (0.95-2.66) and restricted activity, odds ratio = 1.87 (1.12-3.12).

CONCLUSIONS

HASC correlates well with more traditional measures of SES, and the risk estimates for HASC less than 2.0 and indicators of uncontrolled asthma were mostly in the hypothesized direction. Methods of obtaining SES indicators from youth are needed for research studies.

Happier together. Social cohesion and subjective well-being in Europe

Despite mushrooming research on "social" determinants of subjective well-being (SWB), little is known as to whether social cohesion as a collective property is among the key societal conditions for human happiness. This article fills this gap in investigating the importance of living in a cohesive society for citizens' SWB. For 27 European Union countries, it combines the newly developed Bertelsmann Foundation's Cohesion Index with individual well-being data on life evaluation and psychological functioning as surveyed in the recent European Quality of Life Survey. The main results from multi-level analyses are as follows. First, Europeans are indeed happier and psychologically healthier in more cohesive societies. Second, all three core domains of cohesion increase individuals' SWB. Third, citizens in the more affluent part of Europe feel the positivity of social cohesion more consistently than those in the less affluent part. Finally, within countries, cohesion is good for the SWB of resource-rich and resource-poor groups alike. Our findings also shed new light on the ongoing debate on economic progress and quality of life: what makes citizenries of affluent societies happier is, in the first place, their capacity to create togetherness and solidarity among their members-in other words, cohesion.

Declining segregation through the lens of neighborhood quality: does middle-class and affluent status bring equality?

Middle- and upper-class status along with suburban residence are together considered symbolic of the American dream. However, the question of whether they mean access to better quality residential environments has gone largely unexplored. This study relies on data from the 2009 panel of the American Housing Survey and focuses on a range of neighborhood conditions, including indicators of physical and social disorder as well as housing value and a neighborhood rating. Contrary to the tenets of the spatial assimilation model, we find that middle-class and affluent status do not consistently lead to superior conditions for all households. Neighborhood circumstances vary considerably based on householder race and ethnicity, with blacks and Hispanics experiencing the greatest disparities from whites. In addition, suburban residence does not attenuate such differences, and in some cases, well-to-do minorities do even worse than whites in neighborhood quality in suburbs.

Stone formation in the Middle Eastern Gulf States: A review

Objectives

To review the possible causes of the high incidence of urolithiasis in the oil-rich Gulf States.

Methods

Data were extracted from published reports on the incidence of urolithiasis, affluence and diet in the Gulf States, various Western countries and China.

Results

There are strong relationships: (a) between the life-expectancy of stones in men and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of these countries; and (b) between the daily consumption of animal protein and GNI per capita. Together these data suggest that the occurrence of stones is proportional to the intake of animal protein, although they also indicate that there are additional factors that further increase the risk of urolithiasis in the populations of the Gulf. The consumption of oxalate in the Gulf is three times higher and that of calcium a half of what it is in Western countries. Thus, the average oxalate/calcium ratio in the intestines of the Gulf populations is five to six times higher than that in Western populations, leading to enteric hyperoxaluria and an increased risk of calcium-oxalate stone formation. The risk is further accentuated by the lower urine volumes, due to the hot, dry climate of the region, and lower excretions of citrate, from the highly acidic urine resulting from the high intake of animal protein. There is a high incidence of uric acid-containing stones from the acidic urine and the hyperuricosuria caused by the high intake of purine.

Conclusions

The high incidence of urolithiasis in the Gulf is due to an adverse combination of dietary and environmental factors.