Estimating the Net Effects of Migration and Remittances on Poverty and Inequality: Comparison of Fiji and Tonga

We use original 2005 household survey data from Fiji and Tonga to estimate the impact of migration and remittances on income distribution and measures of poverty, after controlling for selectivity in migration and endogeneity in the relationship between remittances and income. Measures of inequality and poverty based on actual, with-migration income and remittances are then compared with those based on a no-migration scenario. Counterfactual household incomes are estimated, taking account of what the migrant members would have earned had they not migrated. The results are compared with alternative income estimates in which remittances are treated simplistically as exogenous transfers. The positive effects of migration and remittances on poverty alleviation and income distribution are found to be stronger when the more rigorous, counterfactual income estimates are used.migration, remittances, income distribution, poverty, Fiji, Tonga

A Mixed-Motives Model of Private Transfers with Subjectively-Assessed Recipient Need: Evidence from a Poor, Transfer-Dependent Economy

We extend the mixed-motives model of transfer derivatives developed by Cox et al (2004) introducing subjectively-assessed recipient need in place of an absolute income threshold at which the donor’s dominant motive switches from altruism to exchange. This refinement provides a theoretically justifiable threshold amenable to empirical measurement. We test the extended model with customized survey data from Tonga and find evidence consistent with Cox et al in support of altruism for households below the threshold, but, we also find a positive, exchange-motivated relationship for those above the threshold. We conclude that either crowding-out or crowding-in of private transfers can occur when the recipient’s welfare improves, depending on the household’s pre-transfer welfare level. This also has implications for the distributional impact of private transfers and could explain why poverty reduction can be accompanied by increased income inequality.

Assessing the poverty impacts of remittances with alternative counterfactual income estimates

We estimate the impacts of remittances on poverty with survey data from Tonga, a poor Pacific island country highly dependent on international migrants’ remittances. The sensitivity of poverty impacts to estimation method is tested using two methods to estimate migrants’ counterfactual incomes; bootstrap prediction with self-selection testing and propensity score matching. We find consistency between the two methods, both showing a substantial reduction in the incidence and depth of poverty with migration and remittances. With further robustness checks there is strong evidence that the poorest households benefit from migrants’ remittances, and that increased migration opportunities can contribute to poverty alleviation.

Remittances and Subjective Welfare in a Mixed-Motives Model: Evidence from Fiji

To analyze migrants’ remittance motivations we extend the mixed-motives model of private transfers developed by Cox et al (2004), incorporating subjectively-assessed recipient welfare. We test the model with customized survey data from Fiji, finding evidence supportive of altruism for households below a subjective threshold level, indicating that international migrants’ remittances provide important social protection coverage to households where formal social protection systems are lacking.Unlike previous studies, we also find a positive, exchange-motivated relationship for those above the threshold. The conventional linear model applied to the same sample uncovers neither relationship. We conclude that either crowding-out or crowding-in of remittances can occur when recipients’ welfare improves, depending on the household’s pre-transfer welfare level. The net effects of recipients’ welfare improvements on remittances, and the effects of remittances on poverty alleviation and income distribution, are consequently more complex and ambiguous than previous studies suggest.

Lived Experiences of Asian and Latinx Online Doctoral Students

Over the past two decades, Asian and Hispanic immigrants who have been living in the United States for ≥ 10 years has increased substantially. Yet, Asian and Latinx students are behind Caucasians in doctoral degree completion rates. Enhancing enrollment, time-to-completion rates, and decreasing attrition, are of national concern among promoters of higher educational for these groups. We conducted a phenomenological study to explore the lived experiences of seven Asian and 10 Latinx online doctoral students (N = 17). Participants were recruited using nonrandom purposive convenience sampling and snowball techniques. Data were collected by one of three members of the research team. The other two research team members independently coded and conducted the thematic analysis of the de-identified transcribed interviews and reached consensus for inter-rater reliability. The major findings were that both Asian and Latinx students experienced a sense of duty and rely on family to earn a doctoral degree. Asian students were typically not the first in their families to pursue a doctorate whereas Latinx students usually were. Asian students feel pressure to succeed in the “respectable professions” by their families. Latinx students rely on “cultural capital” to succeed. Language barriers were more of a challenge for Latinx students than for Asian students. Asian and Latinx students desire shorter timeframes for feedback. The research implications include that integrating a limited amount of synchronous teaching could improve their feeling of cohesiveness which coincides with collectivism. Also, shortening timeframes for feedback during the dissertation phase could impact time to completion and decrease attrition rates

Men Who Have Sex with Men and Use of an In Home HIV Test

The authors will examine Men Who Have Sex with Men’s (MSM ) knowledge, attitudes, and utilization patterns of a new rapid in home HIV test. Data will be collected via a focus group interview session of MSM ages 18-21 recruited from the Houston, Texas metropolitan area with the assistance of a community research collaborator partner, the Montrose Center.https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/archivedposters/1045/thumbnail.jp

Lived Experiences of Asian and Latinx Online Doctoral Students

Over the past two decades, Asian and Hispanic immigrants who have been living in the United States for ≥ 10 years has increased substantially. Yet, Asian and Latinx students are behind Caucasians in doctoral degree completion rates. Enhancing enrollment, time-to-completion rates, and decreasing attrition, are of national concern among promoters of higher educational for these groups. We conducted a phenomenological study to explore the lived experiences of seven Asian and 10 Latinx online doctoral students (N = 17). Participants were recruited using nonrandom purposive convenience sampling and snowball techniques. Data were collected by one of three members of the research team. The other two research team members independently coded and conducted the thematic analysis of the de-identified transcribed interviews and reached consensus for inter-rater reliability. The major findings were that both Asian and Latinx students experienced a sense of duty and rely on family to earn a doctoral degree. Asian students were typically not the first in their families to pursue a doctorate whereas Latinx students usually were. Asian students feel pressure to succeed in the “respectable professions” by their families. Latinx students rely on “cultural capital” to succeed. Language barriers were more of a challenge for Latinx students than for Asian students. Asian and Latinx students desire shorter timeframes for feedback. The research implications include that integrating a limited amount of synchronous teaching could improve their feeling of cohesiveness which coincides with collectivism. Also, shortening timeframes for feedback during the dissertation phase could impact time to completion and decrease attrition rates

Wealthy and Healthy in the South Pacific

Objectives- The main aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between socio-economic status and health status at the household level in Fiji, a developing country in the South Pacific, based on original household survey data compiled by the authors Method- We exploit the geographic conditions of Viti Levu, the relatively small main island of Fiji, to isolate the effects of household wealth on health. For households on this island physical distance is not a significant impediment for access to health care and other publicly-provided services. We use a constructed index of household wealth in place of the more commonly used income measure of socio-economic status. To control for reverse causality and other possible sources of endogeneity we use an Instrumental Variable strategy in the regression analysis. Findings- We find that a household’s socio-economic status, as measured by a constructed wealth index, has a substantial impact on the household’s health status. We estimate that if a household's wealth increased from the minimum to the maximum level, this would decrease its probability of being afflicted by an incapacitating illness by almost 50 per cent. Conclusions- Health outcomes from existing health services can therefore be improved by raising the economic well-being of poor households. Conversely, the provision of additional health services alone may not necessarily improve health outcomes for the poorest.

Role Of Maternal Sin3a In Reprogramming Gene Expression During Mouse Preimplantation Development

In mouse, the maternal-to-zygotic transition entails a dramatic reprogramming of gene expression during the course of zygotic genome activation, which is essential for continued development beyond the 2-cell stage. Superimposed on zygotic genome activation and reprogramming of gene expression is formation of a chromatin-mediated transcriptionally repressive state that promotes repression of genes at the 2-cell stage. Experimentally inducing global histone hyperacetylation relieves this repression and histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) is the major HDAC involved in the development of this transcriptionally repressive state. Because SIN3A is essential for mouse development and is part of a HDAC1/2-containing complex, I investigated the role of maternal SIN3A in the development of the global transcriptionally repressive state that develops during the course of genome activation and reprogramming. In addition, previous microarray data generated from our lab of oligo (dT) primed mouse oocyte and 1-cell embryo cDNA revealed an elevation in the relative abundance of the Sin3a transcript between the oocyte and 1-cell stages; the elevation in relative transcript abundance suggests that the Sin3a transcript undergoes translational recruitment during oocyte maturation because the elevation occurs during a period of transcriptional quiescence. Here I show that the Sin3a transcript is recruited for translation during oocyte maturation and following fertilization. I demonstrated that maternal SIN3A is essential for preimplantation development and the reprogramming of genes expression, because inhibiting the maturation-associated increase in SIN3A leads to an arrest in mouse embryonic development and unfaithful reprogramming of gene expression in 2-cell mouse embryos. The mid 1-cell embryo contains the maximum level of maternal SIN3A protein and the protein then rapidly decreases to essentially an undetectable level by the mid 2-cell stage; the rapid loss of maternal SIN3A is likely mediated by the proteasome because a proteasome inhibitor substantially inhibits the loss of maternal SIN3A. Due to the restricted presence of the maturation-associated increase in SIN3A, the function of maternal SIN3A is likely constrained to the 1-cell stage of mouse development. However, the increase in maternal SIN3A does not play a role in the minor ZGA, as depleting maternal SIN3A had no effect on global transcription in 1-cell embryos, but surprisingly results in histone hypoacetylation in 1-cell mouse embryos. Maintaining the presence of maternal SIN3A beyond the 1-cell stage had no effect on pre- and postimplantation development. Collectively, these findings indicate that the maturation-associated increase in SIN3A regulates the reprogramming of gene expression and the oocyte may utilize the translational recruitment of transcripts encoding chromatin-modifying-related factors during oocyte maturation as a post-transcriptional mechanism to faithfully execute the reprogramming of gene expression through the utilization of a maternally-derived transcription machinery

Spanish Language Development through Phonological Awareness in the Learning Process for Non-Native Spanish Speakers

This study was designed to discover how the awareness of Spanish vowel sounds helps non-native Spanish speaking students develop phonological proficiency to improve their pronunciation, their confidence, and self-esteem when speaking in Spanish. Therefore, this study focus on the process of how students obtain the knowledge about Spanish vowels and vowel combination sounds to help them develop an authentic and articulated Hispanic accent. The purpose of this study was to help a group of 17 10th grade students develop phonological awareness in the process of learning and acquiring Spanish as their second language. The main goal was to encourage this group of students to master phonological skills in pronouncing new words and reading out loud by themselves and in public