Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Inequity'

Thesis (B.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009.
Project advisor: Christopher Bickel. Title from PDF title page; viewed on Feb. 2, 2010. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on microfiche.

Background: Rapid economic growth in mainland China has been accompanied in recent years by rising levels of inequality and a growing burden of non-communicable disease (NCD), though little is known at present about the relations between these forces. This thesis makes use of data from a large sample of older men and women in Guangzhou, one of China’s most developed cities, to examine the relations between inequality, inequity and non-communicable disease. Objectives: This thesis addresses two research questions: what is the relationship between inequality/inequity and non-communicable disease in China; and what are the implications of this relationship for health policy in China. These two questions lead to two working hypotheses: first, that inequalities may be both a cause and consequence of NCDs in China, potentially creating a vicious cycle which reinforces inequality and inequity; and second, that reducing dependence on out of pocket payments as a source of healthcare finance may help to prevent the continuation of the inequality-NCD cycle. Methods: I used data from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (GBCS), including 30,499 men and women aged 50 or over from Guangzhou and multi-variable regression methods to examine associations of socioeconomic position at four life stages (childhood, early adulthood, late adulthood and current) with several health outcomes: self-rated health, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, metabolic syndrome and markers of immunological inflammation (white blood cells, granulocytes and lymphocytes). These analyses related to the hypothesis that inequalities may be a cause of non-communicable disease in China. I also examined whether inequity may be a consequence of non-communicable disease by measuring whether horizontal inequity (deviation from the principle of equal access to healthcare for equal need) was greater for treatment of NCDs than for general healthcare. I tested this using both concentration index methods and multi-variable regression models. For comparative purposes, I conducted these analyses in data from three settings: Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Scotland (UK). Results: I found that socioeconomic deprivation across the life course was associated with poorer self-rated health, higher risk of COPD, higher white cell and granulocyte cell counts and (in women only) higher risk metabolic syndrome and higher lymphocyte cell counts. I also found evidence of pro-rich inequity in utilisation of treatment for three major non-communicable conditions (hypertension, hyperglycaemia and dyslipidaemia) in Guangzhou, whilst there was no evidence of inequity in general healthcare utilisation (doctor consultations and hospital admissions) or treatment of gastric ulcer. Conclusion: My findings gave qualified support for the idea that socioeconomic inequalities may contribute to some, though not all, non-communicable diseases in China. Moreover, the mechanisms which link socioeconomic inequality to NCDs in China remain unclear. My results also supported the suggestion that a rising burden of non-communicable disease may contribute to greater pro-rich inequity in healthcare utilisation, especially for conditions which are chronic and asymptomatic. As rates of NCDs continue to rise in China and other developing countries, policies to prevent and treat common NCDs may be improved by a clearer understanding of how inequality is related to non-communicable disease.
published_or_final_version
Community Medicine
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

The Thesis studies moral hazard problem in teams. We consider team production models where incentive can be provided through explicit sharing and relational contract. Incentive provision is discussed under various information structures. Under deterministic production, the output itself act as a strong signal of deterring shirking, thus noisy soft signal would not help to improve efficiency. While in cases where soft information is sufficient to infer agents' effort, we show that the optimal sharing would concentrate negative sharing on one agent who will be fully motivated by relational incentive. We further studied a model with sub-teams where sub-team performances are deterministic signals to sub-team members' effort. The value of the certainty in the soft information crucially depends on the structure of the sub-teams. Once we can ensure some heterogeneity between the organizational structure within the sub-teams, strongest relational incentive can be provided to cope with unilateral deviation. A necessary and sufficient condition for implementing a target effort level is then provided under general sharing. However, once we restrict the sharing rule to be linear, utilities among agents are no longer transferable. We show that linear sharing can implement the efficient effort, but with more restrictions on surplus distributions among agents. In general, linear sharing can be applied without loss of generality only if the surplus distribution is relatively balanced. Finally we had some preliminary discussion of non-monetary incentive provision based on inequality aversion model on linear public good games. Applying Fehr and Schmidt [1999]'s model with Bayesian game technique, we explore a boarder range of equilibriums with positive contributions. However, equilibrium behavior relies on how inequality is defined among players, future theoretical and experimental work needs to be done to enable inequality aversion as a tool of incentive provision.

This thesis is on inequity-averse decisions in operational research, and draws on concepts from economics and operational research such as multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and mathematical modelling. The main focus of the study is developing systematic methods and modelling to help decision makers (DMs) in situations where equity concerns are important. We draw on insights from the economics literature and base our methods on some of the widely accepted principles in this area. We discuss two equity related concerns, namely equitability and balance, which are distinguished based on whether anonymity holds or not. We review applications involving these concerns and discuss alternative ways to incorporate such concerns into operational research (OR) models. We point out some future research directions especially in using MCDM concepts in this context. Specifically, we observe that research is needed to design interactive decision support systems. Motivated by this observation, we study an MCDM approach to equitability. Our interactive approach uses holistic judgements of the DM to refine the ranking of an explicitly given (discrete) set of alternatives. The DM is assumed to have a rational preference relation with two additional equity-related axioms, namely anonymity and the Pigou-Dalton principle of transfers. We provide theoretical results that help us handle the computational difficulties due to the anonymity property. We illustrate our approach by designing an interactive ranking algorithm and provide computational results to show computational feasibility. We then consider balance concerns in resource allocation settings. Balance concerns arise when the DM wants to ensure justice over entities, the identities of which might affect the decision. We propose a bi-criteria modelling approach that has efficiency (quantified by the total output) and balance (quantified by the imbalance indicators) related criteria. We solve the models using optimization and heuristic algorithms. Our extensive computational experiments show the satisfactory behaviour of our algorithms.

Many studies have documented adverse affects to inequitable situations in non-human primates. The behaviors that have predominantly been examined include food taking, collecting, giving, and refusals between the primate subjects and the experimenters. However, no studies had looked at the affective responses to inequity in primates. In a recent study, four-year old children who were rewarded inequitably accepted the reward, however they showed affective signs of dissatisfaction. For this study, we looked for affective displays in capuchins during inequitable exchange tasks. We predicted that the capuchins that were experiencing inequity would show more signs of agitation and aggression than those in equitable situations. We saw no increase in agitation or aggression when subjects were treated inequitably. There was higher aggression towards partners who received the lower reward in inequitable situations and less agitation seen by partners during frustration controls. Future studies may find our hypothesized results using different methodologies.

Humans show such strong sensitivity to whether resources are distributed fairly that they sacrifice personal gain to avoid distributional inequity. This inequity aversion plays an important role in guiding human social decision-making and appears to be ubiquitous across human populations. However, we currently do not understand whether or how inequity aversion evolved over the course of human evolution or how it develops in children.
Human Evolutionary Biology

Diese Dissertation enthält drei Aufsätze zur Theorie der Anreizsetzung bei nicht-verifizierbaren Leistungsmaßen. Untersuchungsgegenstand sind die Auswirkungen individueller Fairnesspräferenzen auf die Ausgestaltung und Eignung verschiedener Anreizmechanismen, welche in realen wirtschaftlichen Situationen Anwendung finden. Alle Arbeiten analysieren Umgebungen moralischen Risikos, in denen eine Firma zwei ungerechtigkeitsaverse Mitarbeiter beschäftigt, deren individuelle Arbeitsleistung zwar beobachtbar, jedoch nicht kontrahierbar ist. Der erste Aufsatz untersucht die Effekte von Ungerechtigkeitsaversion auf relationale Anreizverträge. Als Leistungsmaß eines Agenten dient sein individueller Beitrag zum Firmenwert. Abweichend von der Literatur zeigt sich, dass Ungerechtigkeitsaversion vorteilhaft sein kann: Für bestimmte Zinssätze können relationale Verträge mit neidischen Agenten profitabler sein, wenn sie nicht sogar nur mit solchen implementierbar sind. Der zweite Aufsatz vergleicht relationale Individual- und Gruppenbonusverträge. Durch das Vermeiden ungleicher Löhne sind letztere profitabler, solange sich die Firma keinem Glaubwürdigkeitsproblem gegenübersieht. Dies kann sich jedoch umkehren, da Individualboni vergleichsweise kleiner sind und somit die Selbstdurchsetzung des Vertrags fördern. Ursachen dafür sind das Vermeiden des Trittbrettfahrerproblems und die Anreizwirkung von Neid. Im dritten Aufsatz wird relationalen Individualbonusverträgen ein relatives Leistungsturnier gegenübergestellt. Im Gegensatz zum Bonusvertrag unterliegt das Turnier keiner Glaubwürdigkeitsbeschränkung. Dennoch ist ersteres Anreizschema profitabler, solange das Glaubwürdigkeitsproblem der Firma nicht zu groß ist. Dies liegt an der zwingenden Auszahlung ungleicher Löhne im Turnier und den daraus resultierenden hohen Kosten für Ungleichheitsprämien. Weiter wird für ein Beispiel gezeigt, dass die Zinsspanne, für die der Bonusvertrag das Turnier dominiert, im Neid der Agenten steigt.
This thesis consists of three self-contained essays that investigate the impact of fairness concerns among agents on the design of real-world incentive contracts used to mitigate moral-hazard problems under non-verifiable performance. All papers consider situations in which a firm employs two inequity averse workers whose individual performances are, albeit observable by the contracting parties, not contractible. The first paper studies the effects of inequity aversion on relational employment contracts. Performance is evaluated via an agent’s individual non-verifiable contribution to firm value. In contrast to the literature, we find that inequity aversion may be beneficial: In the presence of envy, for a certain range of interest rates relational contracts may be more profitable. For some interest rates reputational equilibria exist only with envious agents. In the second paper, I compare group to individual performance pay. Avoiding payoff inequity, the group bonus contract is superior as long as the firm faces no credibility problem. The individual bonus contract may, however, become superior due to two reasons: The group bonus scheme is subject to a free-rider problem requiring a higher incentive pay and impeding credibility of the firm. Moreover, with individual bonuses the firm benefits from the incentive-strengthening effect of envy, further softening the credibility constraint. The third paper contrasts a rank-order tournament with independent bonus contracts. Whereas the bonus scheme must be self-enforcing, the tournament is contractible. Yet the former incentive regime outperforms the latter as long as credibility problems are not too severe. This is due the fact that the tournament requires unequal pay across peers with certainty and thus imposes large inequity premium costs on the firm. For a simple example, I show that the more envious the agents are the larger is the range of interest rates for which the bonus scheme dominates the tournament.

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(社会健康医学)
甲第11470号
社医博第7号
新制||社医||2(附属図書館)
23113
UT51-2005-D220
京都大学大学院医学研究科社会健康医学系専攻
(主査)教授 吉原 博幸, 教授 白川 太郎, 教授 中原 俊隆
学位規則第4条第1項該当

The purpose of this study is to examine the root causes of the organisational inequity in the conventional retail banking sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It aims to recommend practical motivational and participative strategies to curb this problem. A critical review of three interdisciplinary fields (motivation, participation and leadership) has been conducted to identify inherent limitations in the key motivation theories and determine the main gaps in the existing knowledge. Although there is a broad literature providing useful insights, their applications remain untested and inconclusive. The current literature does not provide enough scope to understand the motivational process as an open system from a business perspective because psychoanalysis and behaviorism dominated the developmental process of most of the motivation theories. In addition, the extant literature provides a great deal of information about the explicit relationship between satisfaction and motivation but very little about the implicit relationship between dissatisfaction and motivation. This study uses mixed methods approach (quantitative and qualitative). Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews are used to collect the required numerical and non-numerical data. The main findings of this study confirm the existence of organisational inequity in the conventional retail banking sector in Bahrain, there is high demand for participative management due to lack of clear and effective motivational and participative strategies, although personal factors mitigate the negative impact of organisational inequity on motivation, inadequate monetary factors and ineffective non-monetary factors play a major role in determining the level of the organisational inequity, finally the motivational process in the conventional retail banking sector is an open system because it is exposed to changes in a wide spectrum of situational factors. The findings help raise awareness for decision-makers to introduce measures to promote and develop an Integrative Motivational Framework from which six practical recommendations are derived to integrate employees’ needs and expectations with the organisational objectives in order to address the organisational inequity.

In modern Ukraine and other countries of the world inequality is becoming extremely widespread. This leads to lower in the quality of life of people, increasing in the number of poor people, decreasing in life expectancy and deterioration of economic development. In order to overcome all the types of inequality, it is necessary first of all to understand the nature of inequality, its causes and manifestations. Social inequality is the social division of society into classes with different rights, responsibilities and social opportunities. Social inequality is also characterized by an uneven distribution of resources between individual members of society. The main manifestations of inequality in modern society are inequality in socioeconomic status, age groups, gender, health, education, professional area, place of residence, regions, and so on. Today social inequality is identified as a major problem of our time, which causes social and economic instability.

Background: Strong evidence has been provided by several researchers on the influence that structure and social factors have on health. However, there is relatively little information about the mechanisms by which the structure shapes health-related practices and the place there is for agency in this process. Therefore, this thesis explores the mechanisms through which the structure influences the space for agency that men and women from different social groups have over their health-related practices in their daily lives in a strongly neoliberal economically high-income country such as Chile. Design and objectives: Following a critical realist approach, this thesis uses mixed methods to answer the research question. The contextual analysis aims to comprehend the wider political and economic forces related to the Chilean neoliberal regime that underlie people’s health-related practices. It is based on a bibliographical review and quantitative analysis of secondary data. The extensive analysis focuses on the extension of health-related practices and their statistical association with structural variables. Finally, the intensive analysis explores the meanings and values people give to health and to their health-related practices. It is based on the analysis of fifty-seven in-depth interviews conducted with twenty-nine people living in Santiago de Chile. Results and conclusions: By combining intensive and extensive approaches with a contextual analysis of Chilean society, this thesis concludes that there are different mechanisms through which the structure influences the space for agency that people have over their health-related practices in Chile. These mechanisms affect people differently according to their socioeconomic level and gender. They are related to people’s economic, social and cultural capital, all of which are unequally distributed in Chile. The analysis shows that these mechanisms are a consequence of a structure with high levels of inequalities consolidated by the Chilean neoliberal policy regime.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.
Title from title screen. Robert Adelman, committee chair; Charles Jaret, Dawn Baunach, committee members. Electronic text (92 p. : ill., col. maps) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed July 25, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-92).

I conduct a case study of Atlanta's metropolitan core in order to provide a rich, detailed analysis of urban neighborhoods, and to document the persistence of racial inequalities. Using Census 2000 block group data, I examine racial residential segregation in the five core counties of Atlanta between whites and minority groups, as well as among minority groups. I find high levels of residential segregation between whites and blacks, as well as between blacks and Asians, and blacks and Hispanics; segregation is lower between whites and Asians, and whites and Hispanics. I also investigate neighborhood characteristics like percentage poverty and educational attainment in neighborhoods with different racial compositions. These results highlight the advantages found in predominately white neighborhoods compared to racially concentrated minority neighborhoods, particularly African American and Latino neighborhoods. Overall, this thesis shows that residential stratification remains a hallmark indicator of racial inequality through the opening of the twenty-first century in Atlanta.

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman
Between the years 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population in the United States grew by 15.2 million people at a rate faster than any other racial or ethnic group. Despite this population’s increasing size and political power, past researchers find that significant and persistent gaps exist between the test scores of Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. This study examines one solution proposed to close the test score gap: the assignment of students to demographically similar teachers. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, this study explores how instruction by ethnically and/or linguistically similar teachers affects the reading, math, and general science test scores of Hispanic kindergarten students. Findings suggest that when taught by a Hispanic teacher, students reported as Hispanic are predicted to earn reading test scores higher than those of students in other student-teacher dyads. Linguistic similarities have negligible effects on student outcomes after controlling for individual-, teacher- and school-level factors. Policy implications are described
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2015
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Departmental Honors
Discipline: Sociology

The gaps of school funding and student achievement are particularly pronounced in Illinois, raising statewide concerns about the inequity of school funding and the injustice of the achievement gap. While Illinois educators generally recognize the differences in funding levels and achievement levels in Illinois schools, studies to determine the relationships between the two are lacking. This study examines the relationship between per pupil spending and student achievement in Illinois elementary schools. This study also examines the relationship between student achievement and racial composition of the school and between student achievement and poverty level of the school. Additionally, relationships between per pupil spending and racial composition of the school and per pupil spending and poverty level of the school are examined. Finally, this study investigates the perceptions of principals on how funding inequity in their school affects student achievement.

In this dissertation, I explore the systematic failure of the current state of the art statistical techniques to detect gender salary inequity in a special case to propose a more appropriate quantitative method for analyzing gender salary discrimination. This research contributes in three key areas for the development of the quantitative analysis of salary inequity detection. I uncovered salary inequities within gender groups that can mask the salary discrimination between these groups. I then proposed the Two-stage Classification Regression as an appropriate novel statistical method. Finally, the additional propositions made can enhance future salary inequity research.Regardless of the outcome of any gender salary inequity study, we can often find a subgroup of females that is discriminated against when compared to the rest of females. Likewise, a subgroup of males may also be victim of salary inequity when compared to other males. In this context, the first main discovery is that the existence of salary inequities within gender groups can prevent regular statistical techniques from detecting salary inequity between males and females. Detecting this form of salary inequity will increase the sensitivity of the statistical test and hedge its potentially higher risk to the institution.Facing such a statistical problem, the second main contribution was devising a novel statistical approach that can not only succeed where other techniques systematically fail, but also provide a new framework for a more informative statistical analysis. In addition, a more comprehensive definition of salary inequity that goes beyond the simple measure of gender salary gap was derived.The third significant contribution is a set of propositions aiming at framing the agenda for future research on salary inequity studies. A statistical test was proposed to determine when the outcomes of these the linear regression and reverse regression techniques can be expected to be the same. Also, the probability model which is not estimable, but the most robust model was shown to be equivalent to the logistic regression model which is easily estimable, but somewhat difficult to interpret. The goal is to create theoretical supports for better statistical and econometric analyses.

African American women are more likely than White women to be diagnosed with breast cancer after the disease has progressed to advanced stages. Further, African American women experience higher breast cancer mortality rates than White women at all stages of cancer diagnosis. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to examine differences between implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and 5-year breast cancer survival rates among African American and White women. The independent variable was African American women and White women who were survivors of breast cancer after the ACA implementation; the dependent variables were breast cancer survival rates after ACA implementation. Data were gathered from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for the time period between 2010 and 2015. The theoretical foundation for this study was Penchansky and Thomas’s concept of healthcare access. This quantitative study followed a retrospective design using cohort data from the SEER program. Data were analyzed via independent samples t-test and chi-square test of association. Results indicated that White women had a higher 5-year survival rate than African American women; the association between race and survival was significant. White women survived also survived breast cancer for more months, on average, than African American women. Findings indicate that racial disparities in breast cancer survival have endured, post ACA. The primary social change implication is that more research is needed to improve the breast cancer survival rates of African American women. The ACA may be working to help reduce the racial disparities in breast cancer survival, but providing access to healthcare is not necessarily enough.

We explore economic segregation, social (ethnic) segregation, and long-term economic decline of neighbourhoods in cities as dynamic processes that emerge over time due to interactions between individual agents. Using the classic Schelling model as the basis of our work, we develop agent-based computational models to study both the emergence of such inequitable outcomes and also potential mechanisms that would enable reversing them. We find the emergence of wealth-based segregation, just as predicted by the Schelling model. However, our work posits that we can see a dramatic, non-linear decline in wealth segregation when even a small fraction of households move into neighbourhoods they cannot afford. The value of this 'small fraction' required for the onset of sharp desegregation decreases with the increase in the number of agents willing to move into less wealthier neighbourhoods. When the number of such willing agents is small, we find that over long stretches of time, more than a third of the richest and poorest neighbourhoods tend to retain their economic status compared to a much lower fraction of middle income neighbourhoods, corresponding to empirical observations from American cities. Therefore, for around one in three poor neighbourhoods, poverty can be a long-term reality. However, when we consider all neighbourhoods, change in economic status over time is relatively common, confirming the underlying intuition of descriptive anthropologies about neighbourhood change. We also find that enabling agent movement into neighbourhoods they cannot afford, precipitating non-linear transformation to desegregation, also increases the probability that poor neighbourhoods break out of their poverty traps. Finally, when agent movement in a city is mediated both by wealth and ethnicity, we find that decreasing wealth-based segregation has the effect of necessarily increasing ethnic segregation. This trade-off potentially enables the reconciliation of the empirical evidence on socioeconomic impacts of wealth and ethnic segregations.

This study examines the effort to achieve equal federal education funding for California's children living in poverty. In 1998 California's children living in poverty received an average Title I per pupil expenditure of $603. The national average was $717. Some states received as much as $1,200 per child. Put another way, California had 14.8 percent of America's poor children and received only 11.3 percent of Title I funding. This study addresses a fundamental question. What are the causes of this inequity? It is reasoned that the examination of inequity will provide strategic direction in the achievement of a more equitable policy benefit for all children. This case study of the 2001–2002 effort to reauthorize Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, employs a qualitative and comparative theoretical approach. It begins with a historical examination of the origins, development and processes of the United States Congress. The examination continues with a thorough review of the legislative history of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. These examinations reveal the utility of three theoretical perspectives: elitism, class conflict and pluralist bargaining theories. These theoretical approaches are used in a case study that utilizes a thorough review of the relevant documents, observation of the process and interviews of primary participants to reveal key components in achieving a more equitable educational benefit for California's students living in poverty.

Inequity aversion, the negative response to receiving an unequal reward, has been intensely studied and is well established in humans. However, why humans developed a profound sense of equity is still enigmatic, and the evolutionary roots of this interesting phenomenon are still largely unknown. The little research that has been completed on nonhuman primates indicates that some species, like humans, are inequity averse, while others are not. Brosnan and de Waal (2003) suggested that an aversion to inequitable outcomes coevolved as a response to an increased emphasis on cooperative relationships, where individuals would respond negatively when their rewards differed from those of a social partner. Chen and Santos (2006), however, suggested that inequity aversion evolved in response to contrast effects, or individual expectations, in which individuals would respond negatively when their rewards differed from those previously received by the individual; this suggests that an animal forms expectations that are irrespective of rewards received by a social partner. This study aimed to test these two hypotheses by examining responses to inequitable outcomes in three yet untested primate genera (Gorilla, Nomascus, and Papio) and one genus which has been previously tested (Pongo). To investigate responses to inequitable outcomes, an established inequity paradigm was used following Brosnan and de Waal (2003), in which primate subjects were required to complete a task before receiving a reward. Because only responses to differences in reward quality had been tested with nonhuman primates using this paradigm, this study introduced an additional test condition to determine how reward quantity differences would affect individual responses to unequal offerings. It was found that some olive baboons, western-lowland gorillas, and white-cheeked gibbons responded negatively to both individual expectations and social expectations. Orangutans, however, responded to individual expectations, but not to social expectations. This study suggests that there is individual variation in inequity responses of olive baboons, western-lowland gorillas, and white-cheeked gibbons; this is similar to the individual variation in inequity aversion that has been proposed for chimpanzees and bonobos. This study also suggests that orangutans are not inequity averse, which supports results found in previous studies of orangutan inequity aversion.

Introduction: In recent years the idea of inequality has been revitalised in the global discourse of development. Despite experiencing significant achievements in addressing the Millennium Development Goal, the fight against inequality remained an unfinished agenda. Disparities in child and maternal health & nutrition exist in almost every low and middle-income country. The global community is increasingly recognising the fact that while a country may be on track to achieve specific targets, the situation concerning some subgroups of the population may remain the same or even worsen over time. To address inequalities within a country, it is thus critical to understand the determinants of inequalities. Social determinants of health, which denote the economic and social conditions and their distribution among the population, have significant influences on individual health conditions. To reduce inequalities in maternal and child health and undernutrition in Bangladesh, it is thus imperative we take proper action on the social determinants of health. But the foremost task is to understand the specific role of social determinants of inequalities in the health and nutrition of the mother and the child. Objectives: Overall the research aims to examine the role of social determinants of health in explaining the inequalities in child health, child under-nutrition and maternal health services in Bangladesh. The specific objectives are to examine the role of social determinants in explaining the inequalities in childhood mortality, childhood malnutrition and maternal health services in Bangladesh. The research also aims to assess the feasibility of monitoring social determinants of health in Bangladesh and testing innovative approached to address inequality in child undernutrition. Methods: Data for Chapter 3, 4, 5 and 6, data were derived from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys, while data for Chapter 7 and 8 were derived from Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Health Care Survey 2010. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used in Chapters 3 and 8. The study used decomposition of concentration index method to assess the contribution of social-determinants to the inequality in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7. The study also used horizontal inequity index (HII) to measure the horizontal inequity. For measuring the feasibility of monitoring social determinants of health and testing of a mobile-based integrated package to improve maternal and child nutrition among low-income families, the study undertook a mixed method approach. Results: Chapter 3 reported the current situation of universal health coverage in Bangladesh based on priority indicators from a suggested UHC framework. For several priority public-health interventions, the country has reached relatively high levels of coverage with greater equity. For example, Bangladesh has achieved high vaccine coverage while reducing disparities significantly between different wealth quintiles. The primary treatment coverage for diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections (ARI) has also improved. In 2011 81% of under-five children with diarrhoea were treated with ORS. Among children with ARI, 35% were taken to a health facility or a health care provider, and 71% received an antibiotic. Bangladesh’s progress with interventions to combat malnutrition has been mixed. According to the latest DHS, 90% of children are breastfed until the age two years and 64% of children less than age 6 months are exclusively breastfed. However, a mere 21% of children age 6-23 months are appropriately fed based on recommended infant and young child feeding practices. The country has done less well with specific interventions that require relatively higher clinical care, For example, the rate of delivery assisted by skilled birth attendants is only 32%. Chapter 4 examined the mortality differentials in children of different age groups by key social determinants of health (SDH). Our study reported that the mother’s age, parental education, the mother’s autonomy to make decisions about matters linked to the health of her child, the household socio-economic conditions, the geographical region of residence, and the condition of the roads were significantly associated with higher risks of neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality in Bangladesh. Chapter 5 measured the extent of socioeconomic‐related inequalities in childhood stunting and identified the key social determinants that potentially explain these inequalities in Bangladesh. The study reported significant inequality in stunting prevalence in Bangladesh. The negative concentration index of stunting indicated that stunting was more concentrated among the poor than among the well‐off. Our results suggest that inequalities in stunting increased between 2004 and 2014. Household economic status, maternal and paternal education, the health‐seeking behaviour of the mothers, sanitation, fertility, and maternal stature were the significant contributors to the disparity in stunting prevalence in Bangladesh. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 examined the inequities in access to maternal health services (facility delivery and caesarean section) and identified the key social determinants that can potentially explain such inequities. Chapter 6 reported that the use of caesarean sections for delivery is mainly driven by the social determinants of health. Household economic status; women’s education, and neighbourhood prevalence of caesarean sections contributed the most to this socioeconomic inequality. Chapter 7 reported that facility delivery in Bangladesh Nepal and Pakistan is driven mostly by the social determinants of health rather than individual health risks. Household socioeconomic condition, parental education, place of residence and parity emerged as the most critical factors. Chapter 8 reported that there is a substantial amount of variation at the community level in the use of facility delivery services. Among the community level factors place of residence, low concentration of poverty in the community, the high concentration of use of antenatal care services in the community, the high concentration of media exposure and high concentration of educated women in the community were found to be significantly associated with facility delivery. Among other individual and household level factors maternal age, educational status of the mother, religion, parity, delivery complications, individual exposure to media, individual access to antenatal care and household socioeconomic status showed strong association with facility delivery. Chapter 9 reported the relevance of a set of indicators of social determinants of health in tracking progress in universal health coverage and population health in Bangladesh and three other countries. For most countries, monitoring is possible. However, a qualitative assessment showed that technical feasibility, reliability, and validity varied across indicators and countries. Producing understandable and useful information proved challenging, and particularly so in translating indicator definitions and data into meaningful lay and managerial narratives, and efficiently communicating links to health and ways in which the information could improve decision-making. Chapter 10 tested an intervention package of voice messaging, direct counselling through mobile phones and an unconditional cash transfer for changing perceptions on nutrition during pregnancy and first year of the child’s life. The study aims to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an integrated package of nutrition counselling, and unconditional cash transfers all on a mobile platform for changing perceptions on nutrition during pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life. The study was a mixed method pilot study with 340 women. The women were either pregnant or lactating. The intervention consisted of an unconditional cash transfer combined with nutrition counselling both delivered on a mobile platform. The participants received BDT 787 per month and a mobile phone. The nutrition messages were delivered by a voice messaging service. Additional nutrition counselling were provided by a nutrition counsellor from a call centre. The poor rural women were interested both in voice messages and direct counselling. Most women reported that they had no problem in operating the mobile phones and listen to the voice messages. There were also able to interact freely with the counsellor. Charging of the mobile handsets posed some challenges. No significant barriers were identified with the use of mobile banking for cash transfers. Regarding the use of cash, our study reported that one of the highest priorities for low-income families was purchasing food. Chapter 11 describes the study protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial that aims to assess the impact of a cash and nutrition counselling based interventions, randomised among villages with an objective of improving the nutritional status of children less than two years of age to reduce stunting. The proposed trial will provide high-level evidence of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a behaviour change communication intervention combined with unconditional cash transfers in reducing child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh. This trial of an innovative approach to enhancing the impact of cash transfers on child nutrition will be a leading study to guide future policies about how to reduce inequalities in child undernutrition in low income and food insecure populations. Conclusions: Health equity is considered as a critical component of progressive achievement of universal health coverage as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3). The results of the research presented in this thesis demonstrate the importance of reducing the inequalities in social determinants of health to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in health and nutrition outcomes. There is no simple solution to tackle inequalities in the social determinants of health. The mechanisms producing social hierarchy are different in different settings so there is no strategy that will be effective for every socio-political context. It is now well established that contextual factors that produce the social hierarchy or social stratification are within people’s control. There are evidence-based actions that can address the determinants of health inequities adequately, and such steps are politically achievable. Policymakers should not limit their focus towards intermediary determinants but also try to tackle the underlying structural determinants of health inequalities. A coordinated multi-sectoral approach will be needed to combat the inequalities in the social determinant of health.

Marxism, which claims to be superior to capitalism, reached China with a promise to eliminate inequity. The reality however has been problematic in that inequality persists. In terms of education, many school-age children are deprived of access. Even those who manage to attend school receive sub-quality education and less opportunity for higher education and higher paid jobs. The focus of this thesis is specifically inequity in educational provision in rural China, by locating policy thinking in discourses from 1949, with three distinct periods identified: the eras of Mao, Deng and post-Deng to the present. This study is inspired by Freire’s humanistic vision. Althusser’s concept of “ideological state apparatus” informs the framework of the existence of complex ideological relations and a dominant ideology. The main theoretical tool employed in this study of Chinese Marxism is through a Foucauldian lens of discourse as knowledge/power nexus. By focusing on the dominant discourses constructed by the Chinese leadership, it is possible to outline the changing nature of discursive practices which inform and legitimate educational priorities. The arguments used to justify policy priorities are both the outcome of power and a contribution to the knowledge/power of the leadership. The analysis examines the interpretation and position of Chinese Marxism in relation to the global context and the local historical and socio-political themes of Chinese society. Abbreviated as a global-local dialectic, this dynamic relationship between external and internal factors distinctively shapes political choices and priorities. This dialectic provides a more complex framework to analyse why it is that deprived Chinese communities — at least in educational terms — have been the least likely to benefit from the country’s increasing wealth. This study reveals that i) Mao’s dominant discourse of proletarianism has turned education into a means of creating a proletarian culture and outlook, leaving other forms of educational inequity irrelevant to its main concern; ii) under Deng’s economism, as related to China’s modernisation, rural educational inequity is acknowledged but mainly in a rhetorical way and often, in practice, to the detriment of this provision; and iii) the post-Deng era is dominated by the attempt to secure social cohesion because of increasing political instability. The official solution involves a focus on “harmony” by linking Marxist and Confucian ideas into a distinct ideological framework, which stresses values of justice and harmony, leading to a greater emphasis on addressing issues such as rural-urban educational inequity. Ideo-political adaptability in shaping policies has sustained the position of the ruling party. Educational policy as a tool, however, continues to be sub-ordinated to the national dominant discourse.

A combination of the urban heat island effect and a rising temperature baseline resulting from global climate change inequitably impacts socially vulnerable populations residing in urban areas. This dissertation examines distributional inequity of exposure to urban heat by socially disadvantaged groups and minorities in the context of climate justice. Using Cutter’s hazards-of-place model, variables indicative of social vulnerability and biophysical vulnerability are statistically tested for their associations. Biophysical vulnerability is conceptualized utilizing a urban heat risk index calculated from summer 2010 LANDSAT imagery to measure land surface temperature , structural density through the normalized difference built-up index, and vegetation abundance through the normalized difference vegetation index. A cross-section of twenty geographically distributed metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the U.S. are examined using census derived variables at the tract level. The results of bivariate correlation analysis, ordinary least squares regression, and spatial autoregression analysis indicate consistent and significant associations between greater social disadvantage and higher urban heat levels. Multilevel modeling is used to examine the relationship of MSA-level segregation with tract-level minority status and social disadvantage to higher levels of urban heat. Segregation has a significant but varied relationship with the variables, indicating that there are inconsistent associations with urban heat due to differing urban ecologies. Urban heat and social vulnerability present a varying landscape of thermal inequity in different urban areas, associated in many cases with residential segregation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the teaching practices and perceptions of teachers, and how those perceptions and practices contributed to or perpetuated gender equity and inequity in elementary classrooms. Data for this study were collected in three elementary classrooms (third, fourth, and fifth grade) in an urban public school in southern Los Angeles. All three teacher participants were female and were self-identified feminists. The data collected for this study showed coeducational settings to be biased in favor of boys in classroom interactions, students calling-out, teachers calling on students, gender geography, negative student behavior, teacher discipline, early finishers, teacher feedback, the reinforcement of gender roles and stereotypes, classroom climate, lack of feminist pedagogy, classroom practice, gendered language, textbooks, and the use of color in the classroom. The gender-equitable practices the teachers in this study were implementing in their classrooms such as calling on male and female students equally, seating children in coed groups, and making sure that classrooms were gender-balanced was gender-equitable teaching practice, but it only scratched the surface of gender equity. The bias in favor of boys observed in these classrooms was at odds with the teachers' beliefs that they were creating a gender-equitable environment by providing only surface interventions which led to the finding surface equity. Although these teachers were implementing some gender-equitable teaching practices, they were not implementing any revolutionary pedagogy, like feminist pedagogy, which could negate inequity and provide for more than just surface equity. It is recommended that changes be made to policy in teacher education requirements and programs. Ongoing professional development must also be provided to classroom practitioners and educational leaders in order to move beyond surface equity. There must be continued research on gender and the creation of equity to create gender-equitable learning environments that move beyond surface equity to create social change.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Couseling and Educational Psychology, 2009.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 10, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Rex Stockton.

Background: While substantial progress has been made globally towards achieving United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) on child mortality, the decline is not sufficient to reach the targets set for 2015. The South Asian region, which includes India, was to achieve the MDG 4 target of 39 deaths per 1000 live births by 2015 but was estimated to have reached only 61 by 2011. A part of this under-achievement is due to the gender-differentials in child mortality in South-Asia. The inherent biological advantage of girls, reflected inlower mortality rates as compared to boys globally, is neutralized by their sociocultural disadvantage in India. The availability of technology for prenatal sex determination has promoted sex-linked abortions. Current government efforts include a law that regulates the use of ultrasound and other diagnostic techniquesfor prenatal testing of sex and a conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme thatinvests a certain amount of funds at the birth of a girl child to attain maturity when the girl turns 18 years of age. This thesis describes the trends in genderspecific mortality during the period 1992-2011 and gender differentials in causes of death among children (paper I), compares gender differentials in child survivalby socio-economic status of the family (paper II), explores the contribution of non-specific effects of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination to the excess mortality among girls (paper III), and evaluates the impact of CCT schemes of the government and explores community attitudes and practices related to discrimination of girls (paper IV). Methods and Results: This study is set in Ballabgarh Health and DemographicSurveillance System (HDSS) of Haryana State in North India that covered a population of 88,861 across 28 villages in 2011. This study uses the electronic database that houses all individuals enumerated in the HDSS for the period 1992-2011 along with other demographic, socio-economic and health utilization variables. Sex ratio at birth (SRB) was adverse for girls throughout the study period, varying between 821 to 866 girls per 1000 boys. Overall, under-five mortality rates during the period 1992-2011 remained stagnant due to the increasing neonatal mortality rate and decreasing mortality in subsequent age groups. Mortality rates among girls were 1.6 to 2 times higher than boys during the post-neonatal period (1-11 months) as well as in the 1-4 year age group. Girls reported significantly higher mortality rates due to prematurity (relative risk of 1.52; 95% CI = 1.01-2.29); diarrhoea (2.29;1.59-3.29), and malnutrition (3.37; 2.05-5.53) during 2002-2007. The SRB and neonatal mortality rate were consistently adverse for girls in the advantaged groups. In the 1-36 month age group, girl children had higher mortality than boys in all SES groups. The age at vaccination for and coverage with ivabstractBacillus Calmette–Guérin, DTP, polio and measles vaccines did not differ by sex. There was significant excess mortality among girls as compared to boys in the period after immunization with DTP, for both primary (hazard ratio of 1.65; 95% CI 1.17-2.32) and DTPb (2.21; 1.24-3.93) vaccinations until the receipt of the next vaccine. No significant excess mortality among girls was noted after exposure to BCG (1.06; 0.67-1.67) or measles (1.34; 0.85-2.12) vaccine. A community survey showed poor awareness of specific government schemes for girl children. Four-fifths of the community wanted government to help families with girl children financially. In-depth interviews of government programme implementers revealed the themes of “conspiracy of silence” that was being maintained by general population, underplaying of the pervasiveness of the problem coupled with a passive implementation of the programme and “a clash between politicians trying to cash in on the public sentiment of need for subsidies for girl children and a bureaucratic approachof accountability which imposed lot of conditionalities and documentations to access these benefits”. While there has been some improvement in investment in girl children for immunization and education during the period 1992 to 2010, these were also seen among boys of the same houses and daughters in-laws who come from outside the state where such schemes are not in place. Conclusions: In the study area, girl children continue to be disadvantaged a tall periods in their childhood including in utero. In the short run, empowerment of individuals by education and increasing wealth without a concomitant change in culture of son-preference is harmful as it promotes the use of sex determination technology and female feticide to achieve desired family size and composition. There is a need to carefully review the use of health-enhancing technologies including vaccines so that they do not cause more harm to society. Current government efforts to address the gender imbalance are not working, as these are not rooted in a larger social context.

Thirty years have passed and five major reforms have followed since the establishment of the Greek National Health System (NHS) in 1983 on universal coverage as an elementary policy goal, and the Greek NHS is still insufficient with regard to organisation, coverage, funding and delivering health services. The primary objective of the thesis is to employ quantitative empirical methods to explore some key aspects of equity in the receipt of health care in Greece among the older population via two nationwide and one urban setting datasets. This thesis comprises three essays which shed light on the equity issue before and after NHS major reforms of 2001-4 and 2005-7. The findings of this thesis suggest that inequalities in health care exist mainly for the probability of specialist and dentist private visits. Income- related inequalities are less apparent in probability of inpatient admissions and probability of outpatient visits, favoring the less advantaged. Income itself is not the only contributor. The findings indicate intra and interregional inequalities in most of health care services use except for probability of GP visits, favoring residents of thinly-populated areas. Compared to Athens region, regional disparities-inequalities are not apparent for inpatient care, as well. Furthermore, the findings suggest that even though we signify territorial disparities in the probability of specialist visit favoring the better off, once the positive contacts of specialist visits are included, the elderly have equal probability to make a specialist private visit, irrespective of their income and their region of residence. In addition, this thesis finds that inequalities are apparent among the Social health insurance funds (SHIFs) in use of most health care types, except the probability of inpatient admissions. Non Noble Farmers OGA SHIF - who tends to be less advantaged - has a more pronounced pro poor contribution to overall inequity in the probability of specialist private visit than the Noble SHIFs, revealing an unfair relationship. This thesis also finds that OOP expenses constitute a significant financial burden to inpatient and outpatient care. There is a regressive trend in OOP amount for inpatient admission in terms of ability to pay and region of residence favoring residents of thinly-populated areas and Central Greece region- who tend to be less advantaged. For outpatient care, there is a progressive trend in OOP amount in terms of ability to pay, SHIF coverage and region of residence. The thesis provides useful tools for understanding and measuring inequalities in the use of health care among the older population, who are the most constant consumers of health services. It urges policy makers to review the governance of primary health care by setting conditions and implements measures for improving efficiency, unifying SHIFunds, eliminating geographical inequalities and control the role of OOP expenses as significant barriers to access health care, especially during the current period of economic crisis.

Successive governments’ efforts to increase participation by people from working-class households in Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom (UK) have had limited success. In the widening participation debate, little has been written about the place of media coverage, particularly newspaper coverage, of HE. The context of the study was the HE funding changes that were first proposed in the Autumn of 2010 by the Browne Review. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework, in particular his concepts of habitus, capital, field and doxa, this study examined how, as demonstrated in newspaper coverage about HE, agents in the field of journalism responded to the proposed changes, and how they represented HE in the UK. The first main research question was: how does newspaper discourse reflect inequality that is present in the UK’s HE sector? Subsidiary research questions were how the issues of inequality in higher education were reported in the UK mainstream press, and how newspapers represented the value of HE to the individual. The second main research question was in what ways Bourdieu’s theoretical framework could contribute to the analysis of this newspaper discourse with a related subsidiary question of whether critical discourse analysis (CDA) played a useful role in this analysis in the data for this study. Two approaches to CDA were used; these were the corpus linguistics approach (CLA) and the social actors approach (SAA). The application of CDA in the context of Bourdieu’s theoretical framework demonstrated that there were mixed messages in the newspaper discourse about HE concerning the perceived merits of pre- and post-1992 universities. The politicisation of the reporting of the HE funding changes often precluded a fuller discussion of substantive effects of these changes leading to a likely detrimental effect on informed decision making among those with least cultural capital who are under-represented at the most-selective HE institutions.

Thesis (M.A.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you.
In order to address the 10/90 gap and ensure the ‘right to health’ for all, there is a need to identify promising innovations, evaluate them for effectiveness and potential to be implemented at scale. To be of maximal benefit, they must address inequities and access to health in the local context of Southern Africa (taking into account the local disease burden, resource constraints and the complex context of health). This study proposes a method for identifying innovations and evaluating their impact on health outcomes, equity, implementation and potential for scale-up. It examines seven case examples of local innovation in Southern Africa with an application of this method to identify common themes in innovation, elements for success and common barriers. The research was informed by a grounded theory case study approach, with data collection via the innovative method of documenting projects through film and multimedia. The footage served as a data source as well as the source material for inspiring short films that capture the essence of each innovation. Innovation could provide an alternative approach to improve public health practice by using community-based solutions that have been proven to work in context. Ideally, innovation and public health research efforts should be combined to focus on key challenges in population health, and encourage a culture of innovation to accelerate progress towards better health. If effective innovations can be scaled up successfully, we may yet achieve Health for All.
2031-01-01

This research addresses policy inaction, a topic given scant attention in policymaking literature. The specific aim is to understand why policymakers in the state of NSW (Australia) do nothing about people who experience anomalous visual perception (AVP). Atypical perceptual distortions impact on most life skills, including reading, driving, and playing sport, thus these private subjective experiences pose problems in multiple public policy domains. In the education sector, as parent and teacher, I perceived costs of inaction namely, limited educational opportunity, hence my quest to find out why policy inaction prevails. Theoretical frameworks (Agenda Setting; Multiple Streams; Advocacy Coalition; Path Dependency and the Role of Experts) are used to comprehend policy inaction. A phenomenologically oriented methodology draws on counterfactuals: plausible and possible actions are used to spotlight policy inaction. Counterfactuals are verified by an empirical account of policymaking for students with anomalous visual perception at one NSW high school. Interactions between the Board of Studies, bureaucrats, members of Parliament, parents, and staff are recounted; students’ voices are included, and improved academic results are documented. Yet policy inaction prevails because policymakers are inhibited by the federal contract; by traditions which limit policy options and by a narrow problem frame which confines the problem to the education system. No entrepreneur has attempted to link the problem (illumination-induced perceptual distortions) with the politics (of multi-national lighting standards) and with a solution (adjustable lighting). Epistemic conflict fosters inaction. An ‘epistocracy’ claims the problem is non-existent, vision scientists demur, and philosophers argue against reductionist science. My research demonstrates inaction; contributes to understanding why government does nothing for light sensitive people and it provides a warrant for action.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2005.
Thesis research directed by: Psychology. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

This study explored how public health nurses (PHNs) work to address health inequities. Cultural safety was used as a theoretical lens. Methods for interpretive description were relied on for data collection and analysis. Data sources included interviews with 14 staff from an urban public health unit and document review of three policies. Two themes emerged: building relationships and working within a frame. Building relationships involved: delivering the message, taking the time, being present, the right nurse and learning from communities. The public health frame influenced the capacity of PHNs to address health inequities through: culture and stereotypes, public health standards, setting priorities, inclusion of priority populations, responding to change and (re)action through reorganization. Discursive formations of priority populations, and partnership and collaboration, were revealed. Findings highlighted downstream public health approaches to addressing health inequities. Importantly, embedding cultural safety as a framework for public health practice can guide upstream action.

Are health inequalities unjust, and if so, how should we measure and evaluate them? This thesis explores the central moral debates that underlie these sorts of questions about health inequalities, and it argues in support of one particular framework for measuring health inequalities. I begin by shedding light on the questions that need to be asked when attempting to determine which types of health inequalities are unjust. After explaining the complexities of several possible views of health inequity, I use these perspectives to inform my discussion of the debate about whether we ought to measure health inequalities in terms of individuals or groups. I evaluate the key tensions between these two opposing points of view. I then introduce a third possible view, which is Yukiko Asada’s idea that both individual and group-based measures of health inequality leave out important moral information, so it is therefore necessary to include both in order to get a full picture of a population’s health inequality. Next, I respond to objections that the proponents of using either a group or individual measurement of inequality on its own might make to the claim that neither measure is sufficient on its own. Finally, I propose some small changes to Asada’s measurement framework, which I believe will demonstrate why those opposed to her view actually ought to embrace it. I conclude that this approach is a promising solution to some of the difficulties defining health inequities that I have called attention to.

An overview of Aboriginal education in the last two hundred years reveals that Aborigines have had a depressingly inadequate education, also marked by inequity of opportunity and participation. The developmental pattern of Aboriginal education has been characterised by four broad periods or eras related to specific government policies. These periods are identified successively as The Protection Era, the Segregation Era, The Assimilation Era and The Integration Era. The Protection Era began with the early frontier settlement of Europeans in Australia and extended until the 1860's. The Segregation Era marked the full development of Aboriginal reserves from 1860 to 1940. The Assimilation Era extended from the 1940s to the mid 1960s. Finally the period of Integration began in the late 1960s and gathered momentum in the 1970s. Throughout the periods of protection, segregation and assimilation very little effort was expended in the provision of adequate education for Aborigines. It was not until the late 1960s that concerted attempts were made to redress the many decades of neglect and apathy. Researchers uncovered glaring problems needing urgent redress. Aboriginal pupils persistently achieved very poorly in comparison with others and left school at an earlier age. As a consequence Aborigines left school lacking the knowledge and skills to compete with other Australians and had much poorer prospects of employment. In the early 1970s the National Aboriginal Education Committee and the state Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups, combined with support and funding from DAA, Commonwealth Education and The Schools Commission, were very influential in establishing programmes. In response to the growing numbers of Aborigines who were denied adequate schooling, three general types of adult programmes were developed: a) enclave/support systems; b) pretertiary/bridging courses and c) off campus centres. It was these programmes operating at WACAE that DEET commissioned me to evaluate. The existence of these programmes is the result of WACAE's prompt response to the need for redressing Aboriginal educational imbalance. The programmes developed following the commencement of the Aboriginal Teacher Education Programme at Mt Lawley College in 1973. The first enclave was established in 1976, external AEEC commenced in 1978 and G.E.C. in 1980, the first off campus centre was set up in 1983, and the Tertiary Preparation Course (internal AEEC) began operation in 1985. Commonwealth money has provided the financial basis for the programmes, but WACAE was the first institution in Australia to implement programmes and its achievement is significant. The terms of reference for this project required that the method of research should be through data gathering by means of interviews and examination of documentary evidence during a three week period in Perth. The evaluator consulted DAIS staff, students and, as particularly requested in the brief, Aboriginal community members. Findings revealed that WACAE's enclaves, on campus and off campus, have made progress towards educational equity for Aborigines, provide good support and are valued by students and Aboriginal community members. Aboriginalisation was found to be essential to maximum enclave effectiveness. Staff, students and Aboriginal community members would like to see increased Aboriginal representation, contract hiring of staff not being conducive to employment security or staff continuity. It is recommended that rationalisation of enclaves would achieve a more efficient pooling of resources. During the last thirteen years considerable amounts of external funds have been injected and it is recommended that WACAE take greater institutional responsibility for enclaves, using funds from normal Commonwealth sources, as distinct from special course funding. The existing staffing patterns and conditions of employment should be regularised in regard to salary, tenure, study leave, superannuation, etc. Such a measure is necessary to ensure staff continuity, security and inclusion in the power structure of the institution. WACAEs external pretertiary courses (AEEC and GEC) have achieved a small measure of progress towards equity of access and participation in education for Aborigines. The wide geographical distribution is significant in providing availability of courses. The courses are valued by Aboriginal community members and there is a need for external courses of this nature to continue in the future. However, progress towards equity has been extremely slow and time taken for completion of courses is unduly long considering the basic nature of GEC, and the fact that the courses are designed for completion in one year. The courses are preceived as enhancing employment performance and prospects as well as being preparation for tertiary study. There has been a shift in opinion regarding Aboriginal education during the 1980s towards the view that education should not be seen in isolation but in combination with employment and training. It is recommended that DEET take immediate steps to implement the Aboriginal Employment Development Policy in Western Australia, considering how best the benefits of external AEEC and GEC can be maintained and expanded. On the other hand, the Tertiary Preparation Course (internal AEEC) has achieved commendable results and is assessed as being worthy of increased resources and energy. Difficulty was encountered in efforts to determine exactly how DEET funding was used. It seems that this type of enquiry would necessitate the services of a qualified accountant. Enclave/support systems and pretertiary/bridging courses will be needed for some time to come. Many Aboriginal people stated that they envisage the time when these programmes will no longer be needed, 'when inequity of education has been addressed' and 'equality' achieved. Until this goal is reached the programmes will remain necessary. The achievement of the broad objectives of the AEDP, i.e. employment and income equity with other Australians and equity of participation in all levels of education, will see Aboriginal aspirations becoming a reality.

Social behaviours have been widely studied in behavioural economics and psychology. However, the origins of these behaviours in the brain are poorly understood. In this dissertation I will discuss two main avenues of study which constituted separate projects during my PhD candidacy. The first section contains experiments in which I collaborated with Dr Raymundo Báez-Mendoza on the topic of inequity. The second part includes a study on coordination and cooperation behaviour in macaques. Inequity is a concept ubiquitous in daily life. It is the difference between one’s own reward and that of another. There have been several studies that have suggested inequity affects brain activity. However, few studies have touched upon how this parameter is incorporated in neuronal activity. In the experiments that will be described here, monkeys (Macaca mulatta) performed actions to obtain rewards for both themselves and another. The level of inequity in these rewards was manipulated by varying the magnitude of own and other’s rewards. We then proceeded to study neuronal activity by means of single neuron recordings in the striatum of two macaques. We found that inequity modulated task related activity in about 32% of recorded striatal neurons. In addition to this study on inequity we also recorded some sessions in which one of the animals made choices with varying rewards for self and other. From these results, I attempted to characterise behaviour with regards to own reward and inequity in choice situations. Inequity has been considered a contributing factor in explaining cooperation behaviour. Coordination and cooperation are important and frequently observed behaviours. To study coordination and cooperation, I designed an experiment in which the combination of two monkeys’ choices determined the rewards for both animals. In this dissertation I attempt to address how the animals perform combined choices (playing together vs. alone) as well as the nature of their behaviour (e.g. pro-social vs. self-interested). The aim of this work was to characterise what type of information the animals use to solve these tasks. This is vital if one is to study these concepts in the brain using macaques as a model. In summary, this work contributes to a better understanding of social behaviour and provides an example of how this social behaviour is computed in the brain.

The disparity between the educational achievement of children from disadvantaged backgrounds compared to children from more advantaged backgrounds in Scotland has led to a number of proposed changes to education. Many of the initiatives to address the disparity have involved multi-agency collaborations such as The Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland and GIRFEC. The only approach in Scotland to specifically involve educational professionals participating in collaborative inquiry across school and local authority boundaries, the School Improvement Partnership Programme (SIPP), is the focus of this study. Drawing on the capability approach and social network theory this study examines the use of school collaboration to ameliorate educational inequity. Educational professionals and pupils from a school partnership programme were invited to participate in this case study. 114 social network analysis questionnaire responses were received over two time points. 25 pupils participated in focus groups and 18 educational professionals participated in either focus groups or interviews. Many of the participating educational professionals took risks by introducing innovative strategies in classrooms, schools and local authorities. Support was provided in the form of resources such as supply teachers to allow classroom teachers to participate in collaborative inquiry. This thesis extends our understanding of the opportunities for capabilities to be fostered in pupils and educational professionals when educational professionals are united in purpose, but have the freedom and support to move between a variety of networks. Knowledge about the degree to which such networks were able to interrupt existing social norms, rules, power structures and pedagogy has implications for planning the appropriate conditions to support long term, dynamic partnerships for the amelioration of educational inequity.