Why Do Spouses Hide Income

This paper is forthcoming at the Journal of Socio-Economics.This paper proposes a simplified model of intrahousehold decision making where cooperative and noncooperative behavior are not mutually exclusive. Individuals choose the optimal share of income they wish to devote towards cooperation, where income is pooled and allocated collectively, and towards noncooperation, where income is allocated independently. Using the example of joint saving as an area of household cooperation, this model shows how limited autonomy and bargaining power can interact to create incentives for individuals to hide income. This result provides theoretical support for the call to collect survey data separately from individuals rather than from household representatives.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90857/1/Malapit_Why_do_spouses_hide_income_JSE_Forthcoming.pd

Labor Supply Responses to Adverse Shocks under Credit Constraints: Evidence from Bukidnon, Philippines

The ability of households to insure consumption from adverse shocks is an important aspect of vulnerability to poverty. How is consumption insurance achieved in a low-income setting where formal credit and insurance markets have been observed to be imperfect or missing? Using 2003 data from the Philippine province of Bukidnon, we investigate how labor supply is used to buffer transitory income shocks, in light of credit constraints. We find that the most vulnerable households are those with little education and with few or no able-bodied male members. Appropriate policy responses include counter-cyclical workfare programs targeted to households with high female-to-male ratios, households with high dependency ratios, and households with little or no education, as well as the provision of universal education and health care. These programs are likely to be effective in strengthening the labor endowments of households and improving their ability to cope with adverse shocks in the future.Labor supply, credit constraints, consumption smoothing, coping strategies, idiosyncratic shocks, Philippines

Design of a Warm X-Ray Radiation Environment for Nuclear Weapons Effects Testing in the Nova-Upgrade Facility

This engineering design project examined the creation of a radiation environment for warm x-ray effects testing in the Nova Upgrade laser facility. With the use of the MORSE Monte Carlo Code and the DABL69 Broad-group cross section library, the ignition of an inertial confinement fusion pellet using D-T fuel in a test cassette was modeled in the Nova Upgrade\u27s target chamber. Various x-ray scattering materials were used in the test cassette to include enriched lithium hydride, polyethylene, liquid hydrogen, liquid helium, and liquid methane. The lithium hydride produced the best warm x-ray doses and least neutron dose. The predicted x-ray dose in silicon was 6.30 ± 0.09 kGy per MJ (630 krad/MJ ) of warm x-ray yield with a peak dose rate of 2.3 x 1012 Gy/s per MJ (2.3 x 1014 rad/s per MJ). For a nominal 20 MJ D-T ICF pellet with a 1% warm x-ray yield, the dose is 1.38 kGy (138 krad) and the peak dose rate is 4.6 x 1011 Gy/s (4.6 x 1013 rad/s). When this result is compared with the existing warm x-ray NWET simulators (MBS and MBS(PI)), three orders of magnitude gain in dose and four orders of magnitude gain in dose rate are realized. Less than 1% of the total dose was due to neutrons

From working in the wheat field to managing wheat: women innovators in Nepal

This article presents research conducted in Nepal’s Terai plains in 2014-15 showing that women are innovating in wheat to the extent that wheat farming is experiencing a shift from feminization of agricultural labor towards women taking control over decision making. Processes accounting for this include male out-migration, non-governmental organizations working on promoting women’s equality that has developed women’s confidence, individual support from extension agents, and strong cooperation between women to foster each other’s “innovation journeys.

Insights into Autoimmune Mechanisms and the Pathogenic Role of Tumor-Infiltrating B Cells in Yo-Associated Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) is an autoimmune neurological disorder that impairs motor function through the immune-mediated death of cerebellar neurons. PCD is frequently diagnosed among ovarian or breast cancer patients, where the tumor aberrantly expresses antigens typically restricted to the cerebellum. Yo-associated PCD is the most common subtype, characterized by serum- or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-derived Yo antibodies. They serve as a diagnostic marker, and prompts the search for an associated tumor. Yo antibodies have been classically defined to target the canonical Yo antigen Cerebellar Degeneration-related protein 2 (CDR2), whose expression is normally restricted to Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. Much contention however exists surrounding the specificity of these autoantibodies and their contribution to the progression of the disorder. In my dissertation, I used single-cell immunoglobulin sequencing to examine the repertoire of tumor-infiltrating B cells and antibody�secreting cells from an ovarian carcinoma patient who presented with anti-Yo paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (Yo-PCD). Here, I show across different reactivity assays that CDR2L (Cerebellar Degeneration Related Protein 2 Like), is also a target of Yo antibodies, and may be the predominant Yo antigen. I also show that these Yo antibodies are secreted by highly-activated and somatically hypermutated antibody-secreting cells that infiltrate the tumor, and likely derive from protracted autoreactive germinal center responses. I could also show that these Yo antibodies can be taken up by Purkinje cells in vitro. Finally, I could show that after continuous intrathecal delivery of monoclonal Yo antibodies in mice, they are also taken up by Purkinje cells in vivo, and normal motor function, evaluated through rotarod assays, is affected. My results demonstrate that tumor-derived Yo antibodies mainly target CDR2L, and have a potential pathogenic contribution to the progression of Yo-PCD. Resolving the relevant Yo antigen and dissecting the epitope specificities of Yo autoantibodies may help improve the diagnosis of this disorder, and the early detection of the associated tumor. Furthermore, deeply characterizing Yo autoantibodies and elucidating antibody-mediated pathogenic mechanisms may fine-tune the prognosis for Yo-PCD, and expand current paradigms for the role of antibodies targeting intracellular antigen

Gender, Household Structure and Financial Participation in the United States

Despite considerable work on gender and access to financial services in the developing world, there have been few studies on this issue in the United States. In this paper, 2007 and 2010 US Survey of Consumer Finance data are used to study the differential impact of children on the likelihood of being unbanked and underbanked for couples, male-headed households and female-headed households. After controlling for various aspects of socio-economic status, logistic regressions indicate that an additional child increased female-headed households’ likelihood of being unbanked and underbanked. This child penalty is stronger for female-headed households than for couples or male-headed households. This result cannot be explained solely on the basis of demand side factors, including income, and calls for further research into the supply-side dynamics of access to financial services in the US

Conceptualizing pathways linking women's empowerment and prematurity in developing countries.

BackgroundGlobally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5. Many efforts have focused on clinical approaches to improve the survival of premature babies. There is a need, however, to explore psychosocial, sociocultural, economic, and other factors as potential mechanisms to reduce the burden of prematurity. Women's empowerment may be a catalyst for moving the needle in this direction. The goal of this paper is to examine links between women's empowerment and prematurity in developing settings. We propose a conceptual model that shows pathways by which women's empowerment can affect prematurity and review and summarize the literature supporting the relationships we posit. We also suggest future directions for research on women's empowerment and prematurity.MethodsThe key words we used for empowerment in the search were "empowerment," "women's status," "autonomy," and "decision-making," and for prematurity we used "preterm," "premature," and "prematurity." We did not use date, language, and regional restrictions. The search was done in PubMed, Population Information Online (POPLINE), and Web of Science. We selected intervening factors-factors that could potentially mediate the relationship between empowerment and prematurity-based on reviews of the risk factors and interventions to address prematurity and the determinants of those factors.ResultsThere is limited evidence supporting a direct link between women's empowerment and prematurity. However, there is evidence linking several dimensions of empowerment to factors known to be associated with prematurity and outcomes for premature babies. Our review of the literature shows that women's empowerment may reduce prematurity by (1) preventing early marriage and promoting family planning, which will delay age at first pregnancy and increase interpregnancy intervals; (2) improving women's nutritional status; (3) reducing domestic violence and other stressors to improve psychological health; and (4) improving access to and receipt of recommended health services during pregnancy and delivery to help prevent prematurity and improve survival of premature babies.ConclusionsWomen's empowerment is an important distal factor that affects prematurity through several intervening factors. Improving women's empowerment will help prevent prematurity and improve survival of preterm babies. Research to empirically show the links between women's empowerment and prematurity is however needed

Review: Time Use as an Explanation for the Agri-Nutrition Disconnect: Evidence from Rural Areas in Low and Middle-Income Countries

Time is a vital input into nutritional outcomes, as it is necessary for the production, procurement and preparation of food, child feeding and childcare. Thus, agricultural interventions may fail to improve nutritional outcomes if they do not take account of time constraints, particularly of rural women who spend a considerable portion of their time in agriculture. Given the potential trade-offs pertaining to time in productive vs. reproductive activities and its implications for maternal and child nutrition, the goal of this review is to systematically map and assess the available evidence, both qualitative and quantitative studies, agriculture-time use-nutrition pathway. Through an analysis of 89 studies, identified through a systematic search, on rural areas of low and middle-income countries, we observe three findings. First, women play a key role in agriculture, as reflected in their time commitments. Second, evidence from a very limited set of studies suggests that agricultural interventions tend to increase time commitments in agriculture of the household members for whom impact is measured. Third, while changing time use tends to change nutritional outcomes, it does so in a range of complex ways and there is no agreement on the impact. Nutritional impacts are varied because households and household members respond to increased time burden and workload in different ways

Establishing rates of carbon sequestration in mangroves from an earthquake uplift event

We assessed the carbon stocks (CS) in mangroves that developed after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Silonay, Oriental Mindoro, south Luzon, The Philippines in November 1994. The earthquake resulted in a 50 cm uplift of sediment that provided new habitat within the upper intertidal zone which mangroves colonized (from less than 2 ha pre-earthquake to the current 45 ha, 23 years post-earthquake). The site provided an opportunity for a novel assessment of the rate of carbon sequestration in recently established mangroves. The carbon stock was measured in above-ground, below- ground and sediment compartments over a seaward to landward transect. Results showed a mean carbon stock of 549 ± 30 Mg C ha-1 (of which 13% was from the above-ground biomass, 5% from the below-ground biomass and 82% from the sediments). There was high carbon sequestration at a 40 cm depth that can be inferred attributable to the developed mangroves. The calculated rate of C sequestration (over 23 years post-earthquake) was 10.2 ± 0.7 Mg C ha -1 yr-1 and is comparable to rates reported from man- groves recovering from forest clearing. The rates we present here from newly developed mangroves contributes to calibrating estimates of total CS from restored mangroves (of different developmental stages) and in mangroves that are affected by disturbances