Understanding the Socio-Economic Distribution and Consequences of Patterns of Multiple Deprivation: An Application of Self-Organising Maps. ESRI WP302. June 2009

In this paper we apply self organising maps (SOM) to a detailed set of material deprivation indicators from the Irish component of European Union Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The first stage of our analysis involves the identification and description of sixteen clusters of multiple deprivation that allow us to provide a detailed account of such deprivation in contemporary Ireland. In going beyond this mapping stage, we consider both patterns of socio-economic differentiation in relation to cluster membership and the extent to which such membership contributes to our understanding of the manner in which individuals experience their economic circumstances. Our analysis makes clear the continuing importance of traditional forms of stratification relating to factors such as income, social class and housing tenure in accounting for patterns of multiple deprivation. However, it also confirms the role of acute life events and life cycle and location influences. It suggests that debates relating to the extent to which poverty and social exclusion have become individualized should take particular care to distinguish between different kinds of outcomes. Further analysis demonstrates that the SOM approach is considerably more successful than a comparable latent class analysis in identifying those exposed to subjective economic stress. This finding, combined with those relating to the role of socio-economic factors in accounting for cluster membership, confirms that a focus on a set of eight SOM macro clusters seems most appropriate if our interest lies in broad patterns stratification. For other purposes differentiation within clusters, which clearly takes a systematic form, may prove to be crucial

Mapping Patterns of Multiple Deprivation and Well-Being using Self-Organizing Maps: An Application to Swiss Household Panel Data

The aim of this paper is to propose multidimensional measures of deprivation and wellbeing in contemporary Switzerland, in order to overcome the limitations of standard approaches. More precisely, we have developed self organising maps (SOM) using data drawn from the 2009 Swiss Household Panel wave, in order to identify highly homogeneous clusters of individuals characterized by distinct profiles across 44 indicators of deprivation and well-being. SOM is a vector quantiser that performs a topology-preserving mapping of the k-dimensional input data to a two-dimensional, rectangular grid of output units, preserving as much as possible the information contained in the original input data. "Topology-preserving” means that, when an SOM is properly developed, units that are close in the output space are also close in the input space. Our results suggest that the SOM approach could improve our understanding of complex and multidimensional phenomena, like those of well-being, deprivation, vulnerability, that show only a partial overlapping with standard income poverty measure

Understanding the Socio-Economic Distribution and Consequences of Patterns of Multiple Deprivation: An Application of Self-Organising Maps

In this paper we apply self organising maps (SOM) to a detailed set of material deprivation indicators from the Irish component of European Union Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The first stage of our analysis involves the identification and description of sixteen clusters of multiple deprivation that allow us to provide a detailed account of such deprivation in contemporary Ireland. In going beyond this mapping stage, we consider both patterns of socio-economic differentiation in relation to cluster membership and the extent to which such membership contributes to our understanding of the manner in which individuals experience their economic circumstances. Our analysis makes clear the continuing importance of traditional forms of stratification relating to factors such as income, social class and housing tenure in accounting for patterns of multiple deprivation. However, it also confirms the role of acute life events and life cycle and location influences. It suggests that debates relating to the extent to which poverty and social exclusion have become individualized should take particular care to distinguish between different kinds of outcomes. Further analysis demonstrates that the SOM approach is considerably more successful than a comparable latent class analysis in identifying those exposed to subjective economic stress. This finding, combined with those relating to the role of socio-economic factors in accounting for cluster membership, confirms that a focus on a set of eight SOM macro clusters seems most appropriate if our interest lies in broad patterns stratification. For other purposes differentiation within clusters, which clearly takes a systematic form, may prove to be crucial.

A Comparative Analysis of Inequality in Health Across Europe

The study of inequality in health concerns the relationship between socially structured characteristics and health outcomes. Howewer, health disparities are also linked to purely individual characteristics and contextual ones. In particular, the contextual effect at a national level may reflect differences in the functioning and performing of national health institutions, that may be conceived as further determinants of health inequalities. In this work we aim at estimating the effect of education on self-assessed health across European countries, taking into account potential confounders like age, gender and family social background. Using a multilevel model with individuals nested in countries, we can achieve two aims. First, we can see whether countries differ in their average self-assessed health score. Second, we can test our hypothesis about the existence of a European social gradient, that is that education exerts a relatively constant effect on self-assessed health. We develop our models using data from European Social Surveys (88,842 interviews).Health Inequalities, Health Policies, Public Health Care Systems, Comparative Studies

Mapping patterns of well-being and quality of life in extended Europe

In this paper, we have applied a powerful clustering procedure (the two-step cluster analysis or BIRCH algorithm) to a set of non-monetary indicators of well-being and quality of life taken from the first four waves of the European Social Survey. By employing this technique, we have identified nine clusters of people characterized by different forms of well-being and quality of life, while preserving as much as possible the multidimensional information contained in the preselected indicators. We then analyzed the distribution of the clusters among the various European countries, finding significant differences among the groups of Nordic countries, Continental European countries, Mediterranean European countries and Eastern European countries in the chances of belonging to the nine forms of well-being and quality of life previously identified. On average, citizens of the Nordic countries, but also those of Switzerland and Luxembourg, have a higher chance of belonging to cumulative clusters of well-being than countries in Continental Europe and Eastern Europe. In very concise terms, the former appear to be somewhat protected from the risk of incurring the more severe forms of material deprivation, distrust of others and of institutions, poor health and relational isolation. In contrast, Eastern Europeans are characterized by particularly pronounced levels of deprivation across multiple dimension

Dual-earner and dual-career couples in contemporary Italy

'Auf der Grundlage eines nationalen longitudinalen Datensatzes analysiert der Beitrag die Bedingungen, die das Entstehen von Zweiverdiener-Haushalten und berufstätigen Ehepartnern in Italien begünstigen, d.h. in einem Land, das durch eine relativ geringe Partizipation von Frauen am Berufsleben und geringe Mobilität zwischen den Generationen gekennzeichnet ist. Als berufstätige Ehepartner werden auch alle Paare gefasst, bei denen beide Ehepartner höheren Berufsklassen nach der Klassifizierung von Erikson und Goldthorpe angehören. Mittels EHA und Cross-Lag-Modellen haben wir untersucht, wie die Bildung von Frauen und ihre Stellung ihrer Zugehörigkeit zum Arbeitsmarkt über die gesamte Dauer der Familienbildung bestimmen. Wir haben festgestellt, dass in Italien zwar relativ weniger Zweiverdienerhaushalte als in anderen Ländern bestehen, dass jedoch in diesem Fall in der Regel beide Ehepartner eine anspruchsvolle Laufbahn verfolgen. Weiterhin haben wir die Rolle homogamer Ehen im Hinblick darauf untersucht, dass ein Paar zunächst als Zweiverdiener-Haushalt beginnt und sich anschließend zu einer Partnerschaft entwickelt, in der beide Partner eine Karriere verfolgen. Schulbildung und Beruf der Ehegatten haben keinen Einfluss auf ihre jeweiligen Karrieremobilitätschancen. Insbesondere haben Bildung und berufliche Stellung des Ehemannes im Gegensatz zu den Ergebnissen anderer Studien keinen Einfluss auf die Berufstätigkeit der Ehefrau, es sei denn, im negativen Sinne, wenn der Ehemann über eine höhere Bildung verfügt als die Ehefrau. Ehen, in denen beide Ehepartner eine Karriere verfolgen, scheinen eher Ergebnis originär homogamer Merkmale der Ehepartner denn die Folge einer verstärkenden Wirkung des Sozialkapitals hoch gebildeter Ehemänner zu sein.' (Autorenreferat)'Based on a national longitudinal data set, this essays analyses the conditions that favour the formation of dual earner, and specifically dual career couples in Italy, i.e in a country characterized by comparatively low women's labour force participation and intra-generational mobility. Dual career couples include all couples in which both spouses belong to the higher occupational classes according to Erikson's and Goldthorpe's classification. Using EHA and cross-lag models, we have tested the role of women's education and occupational position in supporting their attachment to the labour market throughout the family formation years. We found that, although dual earner couples are comparatively fewer in Italy than in other countries, dual career ones are, in relative terms, the most common kind within them. We have also explored the role of homogamous marriages in shaping the possibility that a couple develops first as a dual earner and second as a dual career one. The school credentials possessed and the occupations performed by the spouses do not affect their respective career mobility chances. Particularly, contrary to findings of other studies, the husband's education and occupational position has no impact on the wife's occupation, except, negatively, when he is better educated than she. Dual career marriages seem more the result of original homogamous characteristics of spouses than of a reinforcing impact of the social capital of highly educated husbands.' (author's abstract

RELACIÓN ENTRE EL RENDIMIENTO ACADÉMICO DE LOS INGRESANTES Y EL ABANDONO DE LOS ESTUDIOS UNIVERSITARIOS: COMPARACIÓN ENTRE CARRERAS DE INGENIERÍA Y ECONOMICAS

La preocupación por orientar adecuadamente los recursos que se afectan a los programas de apoyo a los estudiantes de primer año de las carreras, nos llevó a trabajar intentando generar un modelo que sea capaz de determinar, anticipadamente, que estudiantes se encontrarían en situación de abandonar sus estudios. En una primera aplicación del modelo, se analizó la correlación entre el rendimiento académico y el abandono para diez cohortes de ingresantes, de las dos carreras de Ingeniería que ofrece la Universidad Nacional de Luján, observándose una significativa correlación entre el rendimiento académico del estudiante en el primer cuatrimestre y el abandono de los estudios durante el segundo, tercero y cuarto cuatrimestre. En este trabajo, presentamos los resultados que se alcanzaron al aplicar el mismo modelo a las diez cohortes, equivalentes, de estudiantes de las dos carreras del campo de las Ciencias Económicas que se ofrecen en la misma Institución: Licenciatura en Administración y Licenciatura en Comercio Internacional. Las principales conclusiones a las que arribamos es que el modelo se valida positivamente al cambiar el origen disciplinar de las carreras en las que se aplica. Por otra parte, existe mayor correlación entre el rendimiento académico en el primer cuatrimestre y el momento en que se abandonan los estudios para los estudiantes de carreras de Ciencias Económicas que la observada en los de Ingeniería. Se repite el fenómeno observado para las carreras de Ingeniería, de disminuir la correlación entre el rendimiento académico y el abandono para la cohorte 2002. También se detecta una diferencia significativa respecto de la moda para la cantidad de asignaturas aprobadas durante el primer cuatrimestre para las cuatro carreras

RELACIÓN ENTRE EL RENDIMIENTO ACADÉMICO DE LOS INGRESANTES EN CARRERAS DE INGENIERÍA Y EL ABANDONO DE LOS ESTUDIOS UNIVERSITARIOS

La preocupación por orientar adecuadamente los escasos recursos que pueden afectarse a los programas de apoyo a los estudiantes de primer año de las carreras, nos ha llevado a trabajar intentando generar un modelo que sea capaz de determinar la probabilidad de que un estudiante deje sus estudios en función de su rendimiento académico durante el primer cuatrimestre de la carrera. Trabajamos con diez cohortes de ingresantes de las dos carreras de ingeniería que se dictan en la Universidad Nacional de Luján buscando verificar si existe una correlación significativa entre el rendimiento académico del estudiante en ese primer cuatrimestre y la deserción durante el segundo, tercero y cuarto cuatrimestre. Las principales conclusiones a las que arribamos es que existe una importante correlación entre el rendimiento académico en el primer cuatrimestre y la deserción que se produce durante los momentos ya señalados. Esto llevaría a poder detectar rápidamente a los estudiantes que necesitan de algún programa de apoyo o tutoría pues se identifican como aquellos con una mayor probabilidad de abandonar los estudios. El haber trabajado con diez cohortes nos permitió también probar si el modelo arroja valores de correlación equivalentes ante distintas situaciones políticas, económicas y sociales. En este sentido, se puede observar como se produce una baja en la correlación al atravesar la crisis del 2001

LA TASA DE EGRESO DE QUIENES INGRESAN POR APLICACIÓN DEL ARTÍCULO 7º DE LA LEY DE EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA TASA DE QUIENES INGRESAN CON ESTUDIOS SECUNDARIOS COMPLETOS

Este trabajo es uno de los resultados del proyecto de investigación en que nos encontramos trabajando, que tiene por objeto estudiar el desempeño académico que tuvieron quienes ingresaron en la Universidad Nacional de Luján (UNLu) sin acreditar estudios de nivel medio completo, en el marco del artículo 7º de la Ley 24.521 (LES). Al mismo tiempo, nos proponemos comparar el desempeño académico observado en estos estudiantes con el de quienes ingresaron acreditando estudios completos. En esta oportunidad presentamos el resultado de analizar la tasa de egreso, calculada por cohorte, de los ingresantes mayores de 25 años que no acreditaron estudios completos de nivel medio, de las cohortes comprendidas entre los años 1996 y 2005, ambas inclusive. Por otra parte, se efectuó el mismo estudio para quienes ingresaron en esas cohortes pero habiendo acreditado estudios secundarios completos, con el objeto de comparar la tasa de egreso de las dos poblaciones. Los resultados alcanzados mostraron que, para las diez cohortes estudiadas la tasa media de egreso difiere en 3 puntos, a favor de quienes ingresaron con estudios de nivel medio completo. Por otra parte, para alguna de las cohortes la tasa es superior para quienes ingresaron sin acreditar estudios completos