IN BRIEF
Long-term costs of birth problems
YOUTH POLITICS Only 39 per cent of young people voted in the 2001 General Election. This project follows a 2002 survey investigating attitudes towards politics held by 18-year-olds. It will focus on the new generation a decade later and examine whether their views on the political and democratic process differ from those recorded in 2002. ESRC Grant Number RES-000-22-4450
EXPERIENCE OF AWE Technological advances have come at the cost of natural resources, putting humanity at risk. Researchers will examine how far awe-inspiring natural environments (eg, wilderness) sensitise people to nature by providing exceptional emotional experiences of awe and self-transcendence. Outcome measures will include quantification of concern for the natural environment and the protection of resources. ESRC Grant Number RES-000-22-4453
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP Little is known about the role leadership plays as small, innovative companies grow and face increasing organisational, strategic and commercial challenges. This study will explore the factors affecting leadership and the types of leadership in small, innovative companies and small to medium- sized enterprises as these transform into larger enterprises and encounter increasing organisational complexity. ESRC Grant Number RES-073-27-0024
6 SOCIETY NOW SPRING 2011
AVERTING WOMEN’S pregnancy-related death is recognised as an international health and development priority. Maternal survival is, in this sense, a success story. However, new research into those women who survive severe obstetric complications in Burkina Faso, West Africa finds that the long term-effect is social and health- related rather than financial. These survivors had more fertility and chronic health problems, and were still experiencing higher mortality, as did their children four years on. They were also more likely
to migrate or to divorce. Researchers suggest that maternal health policy needs to be concerned not only with averting the loss of life but also with preventing or ameliorating other losses set in motion by an obstetric crisis.n
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Contact Dr Veronique Filippi, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Email
Veronique.filippi@
lshtm.ac.uk Telephone 020 7927 2874 ESRC grant number RES-183-25-0011 ESRC/Hewlett Joint Scheme
US home ownership falls for young
HOME OWNERSHIP AMONG young Americans fell strikingly between 1980 and 2000, a period when ownership should have become easier. Why was this? A new study has explored house ownership during a period when US government initiatives to increase home ownership and developments in the mortgage market should have made it more attractive to own a home. Findings show that a fall in marriage rates accounts for half of the decline in young Americans’ home ownership. The other main reason was a rise in household earnings risk. A substantial increase in uncertainty about earnings resulted in people delaying home ownership. These two reasons account for three to four-fifths of the decline in home ownership among the young.
This research, the first to draw the connection between heightened earnings risk and lower home
ownership, has important implications for public policy both in the US and the UK. “To the extent that heightened income risk is here to stay, then we should expect aggregate home ownership rates to begin to decline going forward,” states researcher Professor Martin Gervais. “If such a decline is the optimal response of households to an increase in risk, then policymakers should be wary of introducing market distortions to offset the decline. On the other hand, if high rates of home ownership are viewed as a desirable public policy objective then existing institutions and regulations designed to boost home ownership will need to be rethought.” n
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Contact Professor Martin Gervais, University of Southampton Email
gervais@soton.ac.uk Telephone 02380 593 847 ESRC Grant Number RES-000-22-3532
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