Canadian Social Research Newsletter

Canadian Social Research Newsletter
April 1, 2007

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter,
a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1775 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian Content

1.The Social Determinants of Health (new website) - Public Health Agency of Canada
2. Building Emotional Intelligence: Darwin Reconsidered (Vanier Institute of the Family) - March 27
3. Quebec General Elections - March 26
4. Bringing Minimum Wages Over the Poverty Line (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - March 26
5. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Employment Insurance, January 2007 (preliminary) - March 27
--- Keeping up with the times: Canadians and their news media diet - March 27
--- Study: GDP per capita and productivity in Canada and the United States, 1994 to 2005 - March 26
--- Perspectives on Labour and Income articles: (March 2007 issue) - March 23
------ Literacy and employability
------ GDP and employment growth
--- Work Absence Rates, 2006 - March 23
--- Current economic conditions - March 22
--- Canadian Economic Observer, March 2007 - March 21
--- Consumer Price Index, February 2007 - March 20
--- Youth custody and community services, 2004/2005 - March 14
--- Population and dwelling counts, 2006 Census - March 13
--- Labour Force Survey, February 2007 - March 9
6. Ontario Budget Aftermath : Working poor get little relief from Flaherty (Toronto Star) - March 23
7. 211Ontario.ca - directories and inventories
8. What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - March 30
9. Internet Petition? No thanks...
10. Canada's New Government and Nova Scotia's New Government
11. Nova Scotia Employment Support and Income Assistance (welfare) Online Policy Manual (Department of Community Services) - March 2007
12. Dead Canadian Social Research Links
13. Harper turns his back on politics, joins Curves and devotes the rest of his life to fostering kitties.

International Content

14. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
15. Bulletin N°123 - March 19 (Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris)
16. Policy Hub Bulletin (U.K.) - March 2007 issue (Policy Hub)
17. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing

Have a great week!

Gilles Séguin
Canadian Social Research Links
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net

E-mail:
gilseg@rogers.com

1. The Social Determinants of Health (new website)
(Public Health Agency of Canada)

New Website On The Social Determinants Of Health
The Public Health Agency of Canada has launched a new web site related to Canada’s work in the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. It provides information on the Canadian reference group, on the work of the Agency with governments of other countries to develop policy frameworks to address the determinants of health inequalities, and links to WHO knowledge networks and other resources.
Source of this info:
Wellesley Institute Blog

Related link:

Canada's Response to WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health
- incl. links to: WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health * Some Recent Activities of Canada’s Commissioner Monique Bégin * Canadian Reference Group (CRG) * Knowledge Networks * Country Action * What's New * Frequently Asked Questions * Events * Resources * Glossary * Links
Source:
Public Health Agency of Canada

- Go to the Health Links (Canada/International) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/health.htm
- Go to the Poverty Measures - Canadian Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm

2. Building Emotional Intelligence: Darwin Reconsidered - March 27
(Vanier Institute of the Family)

Hallmarks of a Compassionate, Civil Society
Press Release
March 27, 2007
Ottawa—Love, sympathy, reason and morality – all evolutionary imperatives according to Darwin – are the hallmarks of a compassionate, civil society. Sadly, our collective reading of Darwin’s theories of human development emphasizes an almost universally accepted notion of human nature as predominantly aggressive, violent, selfish and competitive.

Complete report:

Building Emotional Intelligence: Darwin Reconsidered
by Jenni Tipper
2006
HTML version
PDF version (303K, 36 pages)

- Go to the Non-Governmental Organizations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ngobkmrk.htm

3. Quebec General Elections - March 26

PQ fails miserably to rally sovereignists
March 27, 2007
Chantal Hébert
MONTREAL–Quebecers all but showed the Jean Charest Liberals the door yesterday even as they served the sovereignist Parti Québécois stern notice that its days as a major force in the National Assembly could be numbered. With the first minority government in more than a century in place in Quebec City, the three main provincial parties now have about 18 months to get ready for a more decisive rematch in an ongoing realignment of the province's politics, which has left the Liberals with just a slight lead over the Action démocratique party in the National Assembly with the PQ not far behind, holding the balance of power.
Source:
The Toronto Star

------------------

Quebec General Elections - March 26, 2007
- includes links to : Electors - Parties and Candidates - Election Schedule - Info on Electoral Divisions - Documentation and history - Forms and manuals - Latest election news - voting info by postal code - much more...
Source:
Directeur Général des élections (Chief Electoral Officer - English home page)

------------------

Nodice Elections: Quebec
http://www.nodice.ca/elections/quebec
Source:
Nodice Elections

Links to Quebec political parties websites

------------------

Related Web/News/Blog links:

Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"quebec elections, 2007"
Web search results page
News search results page
Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

------------------------------------------------------

Élections générales - le 26 mars 2007
- liens vers les infos suivantes : Électeurs - Partis et candidats - Agenda électoral - infos sur les circonscriptions - Documentation et historique - Formulaires et manuels - infos sur les scrutins par code postal - beaucoup plus...
Source:
Directeur général des élections du Québec

- Go to the Québec Links (English) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qce.htm
- Rendez-vous à la page de liens de recherche sociale au Québec: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qcbkmrk.htm

4. Bringing Minimum Wages Over the Poverty Line - March 26
(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Set minimum wages above poverty line: Study
Press Release
March 26, 2007
TORONTO – Not a single province in Canada pays a minimum wage that lifts working Canadians out of poverty, concludes a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line shows that provincial governments have allowed the value of minimum wages to be eaten away by inflation for too long. Since 1990, their real dollar value has flatlined or increased only slightly in every Canadian province.

Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line
March 2007
By Stuart Murray and Hugh Mackenzie
Complete report: (877K, pages)
Summary (PDF file - 248K, pages)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

- Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm

5. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Employment Insurance, January 2007 (preliminary) - March 27
--- Keeping up with the times: Canadians and their news media diet - March 27
--- Study: GDP per capita and productivity in Canada and the United States, 1994 to 2005 - March 26
--- Perspectives on Labour and Income articles: (March 2007 issue) - March 23
------ Literacy and employability
------ GDP and employment growth
--- Work Absence Rates, 2006 - March 23
--- Current economic conditions - March 22
--- Canadian Economic Observer, March 2007 - March 21
--- Consumer Price Index, February 2007 - March 20
--- Youth custody and community services, 2004/2005 - March 14
--- Population and dwelling counts, 2006 Census - March 13
--- Labour Force Survey, February 2007 - March 9

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

March 27, 2007
Employment Insurance, January 2007 (preliminary)
An estimated 484,330 Canadians (seasonally adjusted) received regular Employment Insurance benefits in January, down 0.2% from December.

March 27, 2007
Keeping up with the times: Canadians and their news media diet
by Leslie-Anne Keown
This study used the 2003 General Social Survey (GSS) on social engagement to examine the frequency with which Canadians follow news and current affairs, the variety of media sources they use and whether this affects their level of civic participation, as measured by involvement in non-voting political activities. A subsequent article will examine in greater detail the factors influencing political participation.
HTML
PDF(101K, 7 pages)
Earlier issues of Canadian Social Trends

March 26, 2007
Study: GDP per capita and productivity in Canada and the United States, 1994 to 2005
Canada's economic output per person is lower than it is in the United States, but the gap has narrowed since the turn of the millennium, according to a new study.

The Comparative Level of GDP per Capita in Canada and the United States:
A Decomposition into Labour Productivity and Work Intensity Differences
March 2007
Executive Summary (HTML)
Complete report (PDF file - 306K, 54 pages)
by Jean-Pierre Maynard

Earlier StatCan reports on productivity in Canada

March 23, 2007
Perspectives on Labour and Income
March 2007 online edition
The March 2007 online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income, released today, features the two following articles:

Literacy and employability looks at the effect of literacy and numeracy skills on the employability and incomes of high school dropouts compared with graduates. Regression analysis based on the demographic characteristics and family backgrounds of early school leavers indicates that increasing proficiency in these skills significantly improves the probability of being employed, the number of hours worked, and income.

GDP and employment growth examines the slowdown of output growth relative to employment growth during 2006. The article finds that the situation has similarities with previous years and that most indications point to transitory factors dominating in the short term.

Back issues of Perspectives on Labour and Income - dozens of feature articles going back to 2000

March 23, 2007
Work Absence Rates, 2006 - March 23 ("New Products")
- incl. links to : Highlights - Analysis - Tables - Charts - Data quality, concepts and methodology - User information - Related products - PDF version

March 22, 2007
Current economic conditions
The economy grew at a steady pace in the fourth quarter, including a 0.4% burst in December in real GDP, its best month of the year. Business investment remained the fastest growing sector, notably engineering projects.

March 21, 2007
Canadian Economic Observer, March 2007 (PDF file - 783K, 120 pages)
(Feature article: "Recent trends in output and employment”)

March 20, 2007
Consumer Price Index, February 2007
Consumers paid 2.0% more in February for the goods and services included in the Consumer Price Index basket than they did in February 2006. This represents a substantial acceleration over the previous month.

March 14, 2007
Youth custody and community services, 2004/2005
Admissions of young people aged 12 to 17 to remand, as well as sentenced custody and probation, fell for the second consecutive year following the enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) on April 1, 2003. This decline in admissions coincides with decreases in both the youth crime rate and the youth incarceration rate.
Related report:
Youth custody and community services in Canada, 2004/2005
Highlights
Complete report (PDF file - 197K, 19 pages)
Source:
Juristat
[ Earlier issues of Juristat ]

March 13, 2007
Population and dwelling counts, 2006 Census
Today, Statistics Canada begins to paint a statistical portrait of Canadians with the release of the first data from the 2006 Census, covering population and dwelling counts. A detailed analysis of growth rates, demographic trends and geographic distribution of the population is available in the report Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006.
Related link:
Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006
[ Report highlights ]
Source:
2006 Census

March 9, 2007
Labour Force Survey, February 2007
Estimates from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey show little overall change in the labour market in February as employment edged up slightly (+14,000). The unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percentage points to 6.1%. Employment has been on an upward trend since August 2006 with average monthly gains of 42,000.

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm

6. Ontario Budget Aftermath : Working poor get little relief from Flaherty - March 23
(Toronto Star)

Ontario Budget Aftermath:
Working poor get little relief from Flaherty
By John Stapleton
March 23, 2007
Upon closer inspection, the Conservative finance minister's Working Income Tax Benefit falls way short of the original proposal first floated by his Liberal predecessor Ralph Goodale, notes John Stapleton.
Source:
The Toronto Star

- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.htm

7. 211Ontario.ca - directories and inventories

Access to Professions and Trades in Ontario
- connects internationally trained people with services that can help put their skills and knowledge to work.

Justice Service Resource Directory Directory of Justice Services and Resources in Ontario
- a public website developed by and for people who work in correctional services.

Directory of Youth Justice Services in Ontario
- connects the youth justice system with supports in the community for young persons in conflict with the law.

Inventory of Programs and Services leading to employment
- a comprehensive database of employment programs and services in your local area that can lead to employment. In addition to local programs, you will find information on provincial available throughout the province of Ontario and federal available throughout Canadaprograms and services.

Ontario Aboriginal Services Directory
- guide to social, recreational, educational, counselling and other resources and support services for Aboriginals in Ontario.

Source:
211Ontario.ca
211 is an easy-to-remember source of information on human services. It is the ‘first stop’ for information on education, job skills, housing, child care, health services and more. The service is for everyone from individuals, families and professionals to community agencies and people facing barriers due to poverty or personal difficulty. 211 is a multi-channel service, offering access to information through an easy-to-remember 211 telephone number and online database. Initiatives are currently (April 2007) underway to bring 211 to all Ontario. Currently, 211 telephone service is available in Niagara Region, South Georgian Bay and Toronto.

Related Links:

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Link to the CRRU home page:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

9. Internet Petition? No thanks...

Internet Petitions, Shminternet Petitions.
Please stop now.
Here's why.

I've had problems with the concept of online petitions from the very first one that I was asked to sign back in the late 1990s, because they offer a simplistic feel-good solution (for the signatories) that's easy to do. It's sometimes called "Slacktivism", and it's so easy that there's software out there now that can create the most authentic-looking collection of fake signatures and e-mail addresses for *any* petition. Lawmakers and judges know this, and they don't give much weight to such petitions...

In 2002-2003, the Internet conferred celebrity status upon Amina Lawal, a Nigerian woman sentenced to death under Sharia law for adultery. Like most people who are connected to the social justice movement in Canada, I received invitations to sign an online petition advocating for fairer treatment of Amina Lawal; I also received a number of requests to post the link to the Internet petition on my website and in my newsletter.

I decided to inform myself to help me make a more enlightened decision whether or not to post the Amina Lawal petition on my website. I exchanged e-mails with both Amnesty International Australia (the NGO that was spearheading the petition effort) and with BAOBAB, the Nigerian women's rights group that was defending Ms. Lawal. BAOBAB felt not only that the Internet petition would be ineffective, but that it could well inflame anti-Western sentiment among the Sharia judges and result in a worse outcome for the defendant than if there had been no intervention at all.

Needless to say, I didn't post a link to the petition. I also felt that it was worth documenting the whole course of events, and it was also worth including an article by Michele Landsberg of The Toronto Star stating flatly that Internet petitions are "a complete waste of time and cyberspace". I agree.

Internet Petitions and Letter-Writing Campaigns - Yes or No?
The story of Amina Lawal
- includes links to the e-mail exchanges and related web content - read all about Amina Lawal here.

On a more general level, there are many problems with the whole notion of Internet petitions in addition to fake lists of signatories.
Here's one of the better overviews of the dangers of Internet petitions that I've seen recently:

Internet Petitions
[NOTE: this text is five years old, but every word is as true today as back then.]
"(...) Those truly committed to righting the wrongs of the world are encouraged to take pen in hand and craft actual letters to their congressmen or to whomever they deem are the appropriate people to contact about particular issues. Real letters (the kind that are written in a person's own words and sent through the regular mail) are accorded far more respect than form letters (let alone petitions), and that should be kept in mind by those intent upon being heard."
Source:
Snopes.com Urban Legends
[NOTE: Snopes.com is one of the best online sources if you want to check to see if something you received via e-mail is a hoax.]

The text below is part of a message from "A contact in the RCMP" forwarded to me by my uncle Rick in Bancroft:
[the "alleged" source (RCMP) is questionable, of course, but the techniques are very plausible...]

"Any time you see an e-mail that says, "Sign this petition and forward this on to 10 (or 25, or all) of your friends, and you'll get good luck" or whatever, it has either an e-mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and e-mails of those folks you forward to, or the host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of "active" e-mails to use in spam e-mails, or sell to others that do."

Post Scriptum (Post Rantum):

Oh yeah - and the same goes for those straight-from-the-heart expressions of True Friendship or religious fervour, or awe and wonderment with respect to one of the Wonders of Nature..
No, I won't send these to everyone in my Address Book within the next 24 hours, for the reasons above AND because we all have different a different set of values and a different sense of humour.
The only time I reply to ANY email (joke, petition, expression of undying friendship, etc.) that's forwarded to me as part of a mailing list by a friend or relative is when there's an actual message to little old *me* somewhere in there. If you *must* send jokes and what-not, at least have the decency to put people's names in a BCC list so they're not exposed for all the world to see...

- Go to the Virus and Virus Hoax Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/virus.htm

10. Canada's New Government and Nova Scotia's New Government

Nova Scotia Joins with Canada's New Government to Announce Patient Wait Times Guarantee
News Release
March 26, 2007
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - The Honourable Tony Clement, Federal Minister of Health, and the Honourable Chris d’Entremont, Nova Scotia Health Minister, today announced that Nova Scotia has agreed to establish a Patient Wait Times Guarantee in radiation therapy for cancer by 2010, to be supported by $24.2 million in federal Budget 2007 funding.
Source:
Health Canada

Hey --- WAIT A MINUTE!

If Steve Harper and his Tories came into power at the beginning of 2006 and they still (in March 2007) call themselves Canada's New Government, what should Nova Scotia's government, elected in June 2006, call itself ??
"Nova Scotia's Newer-Than-You Government"?
"Nova Scotia's Answer to Canada's New Government"?
"Nova Scotia's Too-Mature-To-Play-Silly-Word-Games Government"?
<Your suggestion goes here.>

- Go to the Canada's New Government Contest page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/newgovt.htm

11. Nova Scotia Employment Support and Income Assistance (welfare) Online Policy Manual - March 2007
(Department of Community Services)

New Welfare Policy Manual in nova Scotia

In with the new:
Nova Scotia Employment Support
and Income Assistance Policy (PDF file - 920K, 162 pages)
March 12, 2007

Out with the old:
Nova Scotia Employment Support and Income Assistance Manual
(last updated in October 2006)
- there's still [as of April 1/07] a link to this now-superseded version of the manual on the Income Assistance page of the Dept. of Community Services' website (although it won't likely be there for much longer). If you wish to do a comparison of the old and new welfare rules in Nova Scotia, this would be a good time to get it done before the old version is gone from their website.

<My two cents' worth about online Canadian welfare policy manuals.>
Before I retired from Human Resources Development Canada in 2003, welfare statutes, regulations and policy manuals were the tools of my trade for most of the 30 years I spent putting together welfare information deep in the bowels of the federal government. Like most social researchers who have been around the block a few times, I felt and continue to feel quite fortunate to have been around for the birth and rapid evolution of the Web. I was particularly pleased when I saw welfare policy manuals start popping up on a number of provincial and territorial government websites. Transparency of welfare rules and terms, and accountability to the people - what a novel concept!

I recall singing the praises of a few provinces in particular as models that other jurisdictions might consider imitating when they posted their welfare manuals online. The top three provincial welfare manual presentations from this researcher's perspective when the new millennium rolled around were Manitoba, British Columbia and Nova Scotia (this is the link to the superseded NS manual). All three jurisdictions presented their info in a user-friendly table of contents with hyperlinks to the relevant sections of the manual, all of which were cross-linked to specific sections of the Act and regs to give a more comprehensive picture.

Check the current collection of provincial/territorial welfare policy manuals if you're curious to see how much info is presented, and how that info is presented, in different jurisdictions. The best jurisdiction in terms of the user-friendliness of its online presentation is Manitoba, with Alberta running a close second. The rest of the provinces and territories could benefit from some best-practices analysis of Manitoba and Alberta...

- Go to the Nova Scotia Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nsbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Provincial/Territorial Welfare Policy Manuals page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/manuals.htm

12. Dead Canadian Social Research Links - What the *@$?

What?
Dead links on my website?
Here's what to do about that.

Recently, as I was updating some Canadian Social Research Links pages, I discovered that The Gomery Inquiry links on one of my federal links pages were suddenly inaccessible. Not inaccessible as in gone, but moved behind a password-protected "gate". Click the link in the previous line to see what exclusion feels like...

In an ideal cyber-world, there would be some assurance of stability of content on the Internet, at least with respect to something of some historic importance like the Gomery Inquiry papers and proceedings. I'm sure that ideal world is just around the corner, but until then, I'm glad that I can turn to the Internet Archive for help.

Instead of deleting my links to the Gomery Inquiry pages, I copied the URL of the Inquiry home page - http://www.gomery.ca - then I went to the home page of the Internet Archive - http://www.archive.org - and pasted the Gomery URL into the text box in the centre of the page, then clicked the "Take Me Back" button. On the results screen, I see no less than 85 date links from May 27, 2004 to April 27, 2006. Each of these links opens a snapshot of the complete Gomery Inquiry website, including secondary links and documents. In the specific case of the Gomery Inquiry, the Internet Archive allows folks to access the site as it existed before the password was added --- here's a link to the latest version of the non-password-protected site, as it existed on April 27, 2006: http://tinyurl.com/yoezxb

The Internet Archive is an indispensable tool for tracking down web content that's suddenly gone without a trace when you later pop in for a return visit. It works best with a domain name, e.g., www.canadiansociaresearch.net (153 results, going back to December 2000), but on a few occasions I've been able to find an archived copy of a particular document using the site's search engine.

Go to the Internet Archive home page - spend some time exploring the incredible collections.
Try the Advanced Search feature, very handy!

13. April Fool's Day : it's great fun until somebody loses an eye.

April Fools' Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

The Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes Ever
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/worstaprilfools.html

14. Poverty Dispatch:
U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs

Poverty Dispatch - U.S.
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
NOTE: this is a link to the current issue --- its content changes twice a week.

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 1 (2006) when the Dispatch acquired its own web page and archive.

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - weekly digest of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire.

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

15. Bulletin N°123 - March 19
(Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris)

New from the Council for Employment, Income and Social Cohesion - Paris
Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale - CERC[version française]

CERC Bulletin N°123
March 19, 2007
This semi-monthly research bulletin recapitulates CERC's documentary researches on Internet during the past two weeks.Below, you'll find a selection of links to content from the most recent issue of the bulletin. To see the whole list along with the links to the studies, click on the CERC Bulletin link above. At the bottom of this section, you'll find a link to the subscription page in case you wish to get on the mailing list yourself...

. On the definition and measurement of chronic poverty (PDF file - 181K, 23 pages), R. Aaberge and M. Mogstad, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, IZA discussion paper, n° 2659, March 2007.
Summary :
As an alternative to the conventional methods for measuring chronic poverty, this paper proposes an interpersonal comparable measure of permanent income as a basis for defining and measuring chronic poverty. This approach accounts for the fact that individuals regularly undertake inter-period income transfers. Moreover, the approach allows for individual-specific interest rates on borrowing and saving as well as for the presence of liquidity constraints. Due to the general nature the proposed method proves useful for evaluating the theoretical basis of the standard methods for measuring chronic poverty.

. Focus on poverty in the EU agenda" (PDF file - 3.9MB, 12 pages) in Jan-March 2007 Network News, the newsletter of the European Anti-Poverty Network, Brussels

. The redistributive effects of pension systems in Europe : a survey of evidence,(PDF file - 120K, 18 pages) M. Lefèbvre, Luxembourg Income Study, Luxembourg, LIS working paper, n° 457, March 2007.
Summary :
Pension systems differ across European countries according to various characteristics. But every one operates some redistribution within cohort. This paper analyses the comparative intragenerational redistributive performances of public pension transfers using data from the Luxembourg Income Study. The analysis shows that there is wide variation among the countries but that these differences can be explained by the characteristics of the systems. It is also shown that redistribution does not occur the same way among subgroups of population and that older women are the less favoured by the pension systems

. Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity : Options for the future of welfare to work, U.K. (PDF file - 2.4MB, 144 pages) D. Freud, Department for Work and Pensions, London, An independant report, March 2007.

. Global employment trends for women, 2007 (PDF file - 330K, 20 pages), March 2007, International Labour Organization, Geneva

. Characteristics of minimum wage workers : 2006 - U.S., (PDF file - 62K, 16 pages) Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, February 2007.

. The impact of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 and state minimum wage increases on US workers by race and ethnicity (PDF file - 1.28MB, 25 pages) R. J. Harrison, Y. Li and C. Gouveia, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Washington, (2007)

. National Minimum Wage (PDF file - 4.2MB, 389 pages)March 2007,Low Pay Commission, London.

. Report from the Commission of the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on equality between women and men, (PDF File - 399K, 26 pages) European Commission, Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Brussels, 28 p., (2007).

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