Labour Migration and Time Use Patterns of the Left-Behind Children and Elderly in Rural China

Rural-urban migration has become a major feature of the Chinese economy since the mid-1990s. Due to institutional arrangements and economic and cultural factors, massive labor migration has resulted in a large left-behind population consisting of children, non-elderly married women, and the elderly. This paper examines the impacts of labor migration on time use patterns of the left-behind elderly people and children in rural China, using data derived from the China’s health and Nutrition Health Survey (CHNS) for the period between 1997 and 2006. The results show that the migration of household members increases the time spent on farm work and domestic work for the left-behind elderly, and the migration of parents increases the time spent on farm work and domestic work for the left-behind children. Importantly, migration has striking gender differentiated impacts with the increase in work time being greater for elderly women and girls than elderly men and boys. These results have important policy implications.

Transitions from temporary to permanent work in Canada: who makes the transition and why?

The focus of this paper is on a microeconomic analysis of the annual transition rate from temporary to permanent work of individual workers in Canada for the period 1999-2004. Given that a large proportion of temporary employment is involuntary, an understanding of the factors associated with the transition to permanent work may inform public policy. Factors associated with the transition, namely, human capital, household structures and labour market segmentation are analyzed using data from the Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) for the period 1999-2004, limited to paid workers aged 2-4 years, excluding students. Among the key factors associated with the transitions are younger age and low unemployment rates. The analysis adds to the Canadian and international literature on transitions from temporary to permanent work

Vibrio species are predominantly intracellular within cultures of Neoparamoeba perurans, causative agent of Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD)

Neoparamoeba perurans is a free-living protist that can cause Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) in a number of teleost fish species and is responsible for substantial losses of farmed Atlantic salmon in various locations world-wide. The intimate relationship of the amoeba with bacteria can present challenges for its laboratory culture and drug discovery programmes. Herein, we report our findings on the bacteria that live in close association with N. perurans. These include the presence of various marine bacteria, including those of the Pseudoalteromonas, Halomonas, Cellulophaga and Mesonia genera. However, next generation sequencing (NGS) identified a substantial proportion of sequences that matched with the Vibrio genus in filtered amoebae and not in the medium suggesting an intimate association between this genus and N. perurans. Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) revealed that Vibrio species are predominantly found within N. perurans. This information is important in the management and control of AGD as bacteria associated with N. perurans may have relevance to virulence and advancement of disease

Genetic predisposition to hypertension is associated with preeclampsia in European and Central Asian women

Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy, affecting both maternal and fetal health. In genome-wide association meta-analysis of European and Central Asian mothers, we identify sequence variants that associate with preeclampsia in the maternal genome at ZNF831/20q13 and FTO/16q12. These are previously established variants for blood pressure (BP) and the FTO variant has also been associated with body mass index (BMI). Further analysis of BP variants establishes that variants at MECOM/3q26, FGF5/4q21 and SH2B3/12q24 also associate with preeclampsia through the maternal genome. We further show that a polygenic risk score for hypertension associates with preeclampsia. However, comparison with gestational hypertension indicates that additional factors modify the risk of preeclampsia

Three essays on earnings inequality in Canada during the 1980s.

This thesis, comprised of three essays, focuses upon changes in individual employment earnings inequality in Canada during the 1980s. The empirical analysis uses data from the Survey of Work History (1981), the comparable Labour Market Activity Survey (1986 and 1989), and the Survey of Consumer Finances (1986 and 1989).The first essay addresses the question: "Do researchers' measurement choices influence our understanding of earnings inequality?" Changes in earnings inequality are assessed in terms of statistical significance and the magnitudes are compared to those observed in other countries and in the previous decade. A central issue examined is whether, for a given definition of the population (for example, all male workers or full-time/full-year female workers), the trends in earnings inequality are robust to measurement choices. Apart from practical implications, the results are used to make several observations about economic methodology.The second essay empirically examines the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and earnings inequality, within a specific model of labour market adjustment which is a novel feature of this essay. The model shows the conditions under which changes in firms labour strategies influence the degree of earnings inequality. Regression analysis is used to test the hypothesis that the inverse relationship between macroeconomic conditions and earnings inequality weakened in the late 1980s, as has been reported for the U.S.; and we conclude that the hypothesis can be rejected.In the third essay, the labour market model of essay two is extended to incorporate other dimensions of inequality which are the age and education premia and other determinants, namely. structural, institutional, and demographic factors. Macroeconomic and unionization variables are found to be consistent and significant determinants of the three inequality dimensions. Support also exists for other hypothesized relationships, such as the relationship between the relative supply of university-educated workers and education premium, and the relationship between technological change and earnings inequality.Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1996

Increased Earnings Inequality and Macroeconomic Performance: the case of Canada in the 1980s

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the increase in earnings inequality and the relationship to macroeconomic conditions, in Canada, during the 1980s. Regression results presented here indicate that a positive and uniform relationship between the unemployment rate and earnings inequality existed through the period 1981 to 1989. These results contrast with recent findings that the unemployment-inequality relationship weakened in the late 1980s in other liberal economies, such as the US and UK. The main policy implication is that stimulative macroeconomic policy remains a relevant policy instrument in Canada and, more generally, that institutions, such as the degree of unionization, and policies, such as minimum wages, may partially explain differences in the pattern of inequality among countries.