PARETO EXTRAPOLATION USING GROUPED INCOME DATA*

ABSTRACT. The distribution of above-median income groups can be described accurately by OLS regression of the Pareto distribution. The excellent fit of log-linear regression has led some researchers to conclude that extrapolated income measures in the open end of the distribution are reliable. The analysis of income distribution data for metropolitan areas reveals: (1) that OLS tends to consistently overestimate the number of families in the tail, and (2) that the overestimation can have serious implications for hypothesis testing.     

Metropolitan Income Inequality During the 1980s: The Impact of Urban Development, Industrial Mix, and Family Structure

The empirical analysis in this paper explores the interurban variation in family income distribution. The results point to increasing urban development, rising female-headship, a widening educational distribution, and changes in the industrial and occupational mix as major contributing factors to rising inequality. However, the increase in the relative number of multiple worker families was a significant mitigating force to rising inequality. A decomposition of 1979 and 1989 cross-sectional models revealed that while changes in urban family and industrial characteristics have been sources of rising inequality, there has been significant structural change in the urban models acting to decrease inequality.     

Quand le mercure s'élève trop haut à la Baie James…

Summary

This paper underlines some aspects of the problem of pollution caused by methyl mercury in Northern Québec, more specifically in the James Bay region, the ancestral lands of the Swampy Cree Nation. We distinguish between two main phases in our analysis as well as in the methods used to counteract the effects.

Several studies have demonstrated the amplification of this problem since its discovery in 1970 and likewise the necessity of a multi‐level intervention in order to ward off the ill effects, thereby better preserving the way of life and health of the Cree nation thus affected.

Finally, this paper tends to demonstrate the necessity for a new orientation in the mercury program and even implies involving the native people who are directly concerned by this problem. Moreover, it tends to show the pertinence and need of involving multidisciplinary teams to do research at the social, cultural and economic levels and not only at the medical and environmental levels. It tends to demonstrate the importance of a holistic overall view of the problem and consequently the thinking out of solutions.     

The space between: using ‘relational ethics’ and ‘relational space’ to explore relationship-building between care providers and care recipients in the home space

Geographers and other social scientists have a longstanding interest in ‘geographies of aging’ focused on the provision of care to vulnerable older populations and the challenges and experiences of caregivers [Skinner, M. W., Cloutier, D., & Andrews, G. J. (2014). Geographies of ageing: Progress and possibilities after two decades of change. Progress in Human Geography, 1–24]. This qualitative research project explores strategies for relationship-building used by home support workers and older residents according to a ‘relational ethics’ framework, enacted in the ‘relational space’ of the home environment. This framework rests on four principles: engagement, embodiment, mutual respect and environment, and argues that ‘relationships’ between care providers and care recipients must be preserved as the real essence or heart of the health care experience. Two linked conclusions are drawn from the research: that the treatment of the environment can be expanded using a social geographic lens to capture the more active influence of ‘homes’ on relationship-building and second, the relational ethics framework is useful in the home care context to characterize and ground the importance of relationships in the home care domain and the importance of home care to foster aging in place for vulnerable older persons.     

LOGNORMAL EXTRAPOLATION AND INCOME ESTIMATION FOR POOR BLACK FAMILIES*

ABSTRACT. In studies of urban and state income distribution, the estimation of percentile incomes within intervals reported by the Bureau of the Census has often been done under the assumption that incomes are uniformly distributed. This paper shows that income may be significantly underestimated if the assumption is applied to lower-level percentiles in the black family income distribution. Consequently, conclusions about the level and determinants of the relative income of poor black families may be misleading.