Satisfaction with life as an antecedent of fertility

This paper examines the relationships between satisfaction with life in general, particular domains of life, the partner, and parental relationships with existing children, and subsequent fertility. The data are from 2,948 women and 2,622 men aged 15 to 44 years from a longitudinal survey of the household population in Australia. For both sexes a strong positive relationship between prior satisfaction with life and fertility two years later is found. Men’s satisfaction with their partner and with their partner’s relationship with existing children are positively related to fertility. Fertility is also related to age, parity, marital status, education, employment and birthplace.Australia, depression, education, fertility, happiness, life satisfaction, longitudinal data, risk aversion, subjective well-being, women’s employment

The contribution of increases in family benefits to Australia’s early 21st-century fertility increase: An empirical analysis

Between 2001 and 2008 Australia’s total fertility increased from 1.73 to 1.96. This period also saw changes to family benefits, most notably the introduction of a universal, flat-rate at birth payment and an increased subsidisation of child care. This paper analyses individual-level fertility, using data from a large-scale longitudinal survey and focusing on the effects of changes to family benefits, macroeconomic variables, entitlements to family-friendly working conditions, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. It finds the effects of the ‘Baby Bonus’ and the Child Care Rebate are slight. The effects of education, income, occupation, marital status, age and parity are significant.Australia, economic conditions, education, family allowances, family benefits, family policy, family size, fertility, maternal age, maternity benefits, pronatalist policy

Utility Coordination for Municipalities

This session reviews utility coordination and subsurface utility engineering specific to locally funded municipal projects. We will discuss the expectations a municipality should have from an individual performing utility coordination or SUE work; the level of experience needed to perform the tasks; and the resulting deliverables. We will discuss the document “SUE for Municipalities,” and audience feedback will help with the development of a companion document, “Utility Coordination for Municipalities.

Implementing a Gravel Road Conversion Process

Boone County has over 330 miles of gravel roads in its network and a long list of public requests for conversion to hard surface. This session presents a systematic process developed to score roads based on criteria such as traffic volumes, connectivity, road classification, public support, right-of-way dedications, and private owner financial participation to improve public acceptance and department transparency. Challenges, benefits, and lessons learned from creating a new process will be discussed

Administer and Manage Construction Projects with Ease

Trying to balance the daily challenges of a county highway department while managing multiple capital projects and/or contracts can become challenging and sometimes over-whelming. We will present processes and procedures put in place at the Boone County Highway Department to streamline the project development process. We will also discuss tools we have developed to help us maintain project schedules and deliver our capital program

Integrating Private Company Principles into a Government Department

In this session we present steps taken to improve the public image and employee culture at the Boone County Highway Department, including policies, processes, and strategies we implemented successfully and attempted changes that weren’t successful. We will discuss challenges we faced and the image we had to overcome at the onset of our transformation, as well as goals established in planning for the future of the department

How academic entrepreneurs can bridge the gaps in the green economy

In a brief Q&A, Adam Parr says that instead of focusing only on content, they should think about process - how they are going to build an enterpris

Improving the delivery of care for patients with diabetes through understanding optimised team work and organisation in primary care

Peer reviewedPublisher PD