There is extensive research investigating race and nativity disparities in the US housing market, but little focuses on the group representing the intersection of the two literatures. This study investigates whether black immigrants are disadvantaged due to racial stratification or are able to leverage human or ethnic capital into positive housing market outcomes compared to US-born blacks. I find that racial stratification affects the housing market outcomes of black immigrants. However, high homeownership and house value relative to US-born blacks suggest that immigrants are able to use ethnic community capital to avoid some of the disadvantage experienced by native-born blacks.

ObjectivesWe describe modern and alternative health services use in terminal illness of adults, and assess whether utilization patterns of TB/AIDS patients are distinct from those of patients suffering from other illnesses. MethodsData are from post-mortem interviews with close relatives or caretakers of the deceased. We provide descriptive statistics of health care utilization in adults and discuss their covariates in multivariate analyses. ResultsOver 85% of terminally sick patients visited a modern medical facility, but less than 40% spent more than 24 hours in a medical facility and only 25% died in one. Traditional healer (11%) and holy water (46%) visits offer a common treatment and healing alternative, but these visits do not co-vary in any consistent manner with the utilization of modern medical services. In terms of the cause of death, we find a higher contact rate with both modern and alternative medical service providers among TB/AIDS patients compared with those suffering from other medical conditions. The duration of illness seems to account for a good share of that variability. Other covariates of health services utilization are socio-economic status, education and age.Conclusions The contact rate of adults with modern medical facilities in terminal illness is almost universal, but their usage intensity is rather low. Alternative curative options are less commonly used, and do not exclude modern health services use. This suggests that both types of services are considered complements rather than alternatives for each other. Because the contact rate with health service providers is greatest for TB/AIDS patients, it is unlikely that HIV/AIDS-related stigma is an impediment to seeking care. We cannot exclude, however, that it delays health-seeking behaviour.

Many countries in the developing world are experiencing rapid population aging, prompting concerns that this will have adverse effects on their socioeconomic advancement and on the well-being of older populations. How these forces play out in the coming years is subject to many unknowns, including world and country specific economic conditions, social changes related to family dynamics, urbanization and education, and the policies and programs adopted. What can be foreseen with more clarity is the composition of the future elderly in terms of characteristics like education, marital status, and number of children, which relate directly to their well-being on several dimensions as well as to trends in the larger society. This paper uses the demographic technique of cohort succession to generate profiles of the elderly to 2050 on key characteristics for a set of thirteen developing countries that vary by region, size, economic level, and cultural traditions. Findings show dramatic shifts in the educational attainment and family size of the elderly over the next 30-40 years. Implications of these changes for policy and program development are discussed.

U.S. immigration policy debates increasingly center on attracting highly‐skilled immigrants. African immigrants, in particular, exhibit high levels of over‐education. But questions remain about whether African immigrants’ skills are appropriately utilized in the U.S. labour market. This paper uses U.S. Census and American Community Survey data to determine whether Africans’ over‐education leads to a corresponding wage disadvantage. I also investigate whether search and match, imperfect transferability, or queuing theory describes African immigrants’ wage outcomes. I find that, while African and Asian immigrants have similarly high rates of college education and over‐education, Africans experience significantly larger wage disadvantages due to over‐education. African immigrants’ low wages are closer to that of U.S. and Caribbean‐born blacks indicating that queuing theory describes their wage disadvantage. These findings suggest the need for policy addressing racial disparities in the labour market rather than new immigration policy.