Kim Korinek

Passing by the Girls? Remittance Allocation for Educational Expenditures and Social Inequality in Nepal’s Households 2003–2004

We examine the utilization of remittances for expenditures associated with development, specifically childrens education. We use household-level data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS II, 2003–04) to separate remittance effects from general household income effects to demonstrate the migration–development relationship reflected in child schooling investment. We find that family-household remittances are spent on education of children, but the expenditures are disproportionately for boys’ schooling. Only when girls are members of higher-income households do greater schooling expenditures go to them. This gender-discriminating pattern at the household level contrasts with the call for universal and gender-equal education.

Shifting coresidence near the end of life: Comparing decedents and survivors of a follow-up study in China

What we know about transitions in coresidence of elders in China is based on panel data involving survivors. This article examines the tendency to and determinants of shifts in coresidence with adult children among the very old, comparing survivors of an intersurvey period with those who died (decedents). Data come from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Baseline and follow-up surveys indicate shifts in coresidence, defined as change from not living with an adult child to living in the same household as an adult child, and the converse. Rates of shifting are adjusted for time to follow-up. Regressions examine predictors of shifts among four groups: baseline coresident and noncoresident survivors and decedents. Decedents and noncoresidents are more likely to shift than survivors and coresidents. Covariates related to physical and material need as well as marital status are the strongest predictors of shift. Thus, the needs of a very old person dominate coresidential shifts and stability, lending support to an altruistic notion of living arrangement decision making. In the end, we conclude that the period nearing the end of life is a time of flux in living situation and that coresidential shifts are underestimated when those who die during a follow-up study are ignored.

Family Life Course Transitions and Rural Household Economy During China's Market Reform

This article investigates the effect of family life course transitions on labor allocation strategies in rural Chinese households. We highlight three types of economic activity that involve reallocation of household labor oriented toward a more diversified, nonfarm rural economy: involvement in wage employment, household entrepreneurship, and/or multiple activities that span economic sectors. With the use of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 1997, 2000, and 2004), our longitudinal analyses of rural household economic activity point to the significance of household demography, life course transitions, and local economic structures as factors facilitating household labor reallocation. First, as expected, a relatively youthful household structure is conducive to innovative economic behavior. Second, household entrances and exits are significant, but their impacts are not equal. Life events such as births, deaths, marriage, or leaving home for school or employment affect household economy in distinctive ways. Finally, the reallocations of household labor undertaken by households are shaped by local economic structures: in particular, the extent of village-level entrepreneurial activity, off-farm employment, and out-migration.

DOES FAMILY SIZE PREDICT WHETHER AN OLDER ADULT LIVES WITH OR PROXIMATE TO AN ADULT CHILD IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION?

This study examines the probability that an older adult—from one of six Asian societies sampled—lives in the same household or proximate to an adult child and how this probability fluctuates by the number of children, rural/urban residence, and several other covariates. Proximate residence is defined as living either with or near a child. Results show positive and linear associations between number of children and proximate residence, that is, each additional child increases the chances of proximate residence in a relatively consistent way. But, results with co-residence vary more across countries. Virtually no association with co-residence is found in China; each additional child increases the probability of co-residence in Singapore; and there is a positive but non-linear association in other countries. In spite of the different findings, rates of co-residence and proximate residence remain high, particularly in the rural areas. The findings indicate the importance of considering both near and co-residence when examining proximate living. Conclusions regarding a potential decline in support due to changes in living arrangements are somewhat ambiguous—more children increase chances of living proximate to an adult child, but probabilities of living proximate to a child remain high overall, with the possible exception of those with only one living child.

The Long-term Impact of War on Health and Wellbeing in Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses from a Recent Survey

War is deemed a major threat to public health; yet, the long-term effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on data collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines current health profiles of northern Vietnamese war survivors who entered early adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnams older adult population. To ascertain how war and military service in the early life course may have had long-term impacts on health status of Vietnams current older adults, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among veterans and nonveterans, and within these groups, regardless of their military service, between combatants and noncombatants. Multivariate results suggest that despite prolonged exposure to war, veterans and those who served in combat roles are not significantly different from their civilian and noncombatant counterparts on most health outcomes later in life. This is in contrast to American veterans who fought on the opposing side of the war. The near absence of differences in older adult health among northern Vietnamese with varying degrees of war involvement might be explained by the encompassing extent of war; the notion that time heals; and the hardiness and resilience against ill health that are by-products of shared struggle in war and a victorious outcome.

The Effect of Household and Community on School Attrition: An Analysis of Thai Youth

We analyze school attrition among youth in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. We find that family investments in schooling are shaped by both household and local community contexts. There is an enrollment advantage for girls across different households and communities. We find that youth whose mothers have migrated and youth in immigrant households are at greater risk of leaving school. Attrition is negatively associated with household educational and economic resources. The local labor market, especially the supply of professional and managerial work, positively affects family investment in children’s education. For girls, but not boys, the odds of leaving school are lower in communities dominated by manufacturing and services occupations, which disproportionately employ young women. Our findings highlight the obstacles to achieving universal secondary schooling completion in societies characterized both by entrenched inequalities as well as new inequalities brought about by uneven development, feminization of labor, migration, and other processes related to globalization.

Military Service, Exposure to Trauma, and Health in Older Adulthood: An Analysis of Northern Vietnamese Survivors of the Vietnam War

OBJECTIVES We sought to better understand the association between early life exposure to war and trauma and older adult health status in a developing setting. METHODS We analyzed data of 405 Vietnamese men and women in 1 northern Vietnam commune who entered early adulthood during the Vietnam War and who are now entering late adulthood (i.e., ages 55 years and older in 2010). RESULTS The toll of wars trauma in the aging northern Vietnamese population was perceptible in the association between exposure to war trauma and various measures of physical health, including negative self-reported health and somatic symptoms. Killing another person and being exposed to toxic substances in warfare was especially detrimental to health in older adulthood. War traumas were likely implicated more strongly as determinants of late adulthood health in men than in women. The weak association between trauma exposure and reported depressive symptoms raised questions about measuring mental health. CONCLUSIONS Military service and war trauma were important determinants of older adult health beyond the US context, given the widespread waging of war and concentration of recent armed conflicts within developing societies.

Residential Clustering among Nang Rong Migrants in Urban Settings of Thailand

This study examines the residential patterns of rural-urban migrants in Thailand. The analysis takes advantage of a rich dataset that followed migrants from rural Nang Rong, a district in the Isan region, to the Bangkok metropolitan area and the Eastern Seaboard. Findings document substantial residential clustering: almost half of the migrants interviewed in 2000 and 2001 lived in neighborhoods where 80 percent or more of their neighbors came from Isan. Migrants with less than a secondary education, those working in factory jobs, and those working with other migrants from Isan were more likely to be living in Isan-concentrated neighborhoods, net of other variables.

Opportunities and Vulnerabilities of Female Migrants in Construction Work in India

This paper is based on a case study of female migrants working in construction-the second largest industry in India and one which employs almost 30 million people, approximately 30 percent of which are women, many of them migrants. In this paper, we extend beyond an empirical description of female migrant workers in the field of construction, considering the subjective and nuanced realities linked to womens lived experiences as migrants. The study is based on interviews of 110 female construction workers who have migrated from various regions of India to the city of Delhi. An in-depth, qualitative exploration of these womens lives and perceptions captures some of the more latent risks and rewards associated with both migration and work in the informal sector. Specifically, the results shed light on how strong societal norms may actually prevent women from acknowledging or articulating the true reasons for their migrations.

Migration in the 21st century : rights, outcomes, and policy

Human beings, even nomads, have always lived in communities – extremely few humans can thrive in isolation. When a group of people moves from one territory to another, that is called migration, the new arrivals are immigrants, and they are also aliens in that land until they achieve citizenship either by permission or by conquest. Over the centuries, the law relating to the rights of aliens has proven to be one of the most significant and controversial topics of international law. The body of law relates to at least two broad issues: What are the rights of aliens to enter a foreign territory? What are the rights of aliens once they have entered a foreign territory, either legally or illegally? The first task of this chapter is to set out the basic legal parameters under which migration has occurred and will likely occur in the near future. By what law is migration governed? By what rules does it even make sense to speak of “illegal immigrants?” Then we will take a look at some of the historical approaches to the law and policy of migration.