No abstract

FTER RECORD HIGH LEVELS OF sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the late 1940s, China's socialist regime was remarkably successful in suppressing commercial sex and STDs from the 1950s through the 1970s. 1-3 However, in the last 2 decades, commercial sex has returned, and STD prevalence in China has increased. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has begun to spread beyond the initial transmission pockets of injection drug users (IDUs) and blood transfusions. 4-6 If current infection trends persist, absolute numbers of individuals with HIV infection are projected to surpass current numbers in the United States within 2 years and those in South Africa (currently the highest) within a decade. 6,7 Reports from public health clinics and special studies of highrisk clinic patients, IDUs, and commercial sex workers reveal several dimensions of the problem. 8-10 China's public health reporting system tracks 8 STDs, including HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), gonorrhea, syphilis, genital warts, nongonococcal urethritis/ cervicitis, genital herpes, lymphogranuloma venereum, and chancroid. The system does not track chlamydial infections. The reported annual incidence of all 8 infections combined was only 0.07 per 100 total population for the year 2000. 4,11 Asymptomatic infections, incomplete coverage, and other issues could lead to underreporting. 4 Chlamydia trachomatis and, to a lesser extent, Neisseria gonorrhoeae can remain asymptomatic, leading to a hidden epidemic. 12-15 In this study, we surveyed a probability sample from the Chinese adult population aged 20 to 64 years to determine the prevalence of in

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. ABSTRACTGrowth in the education of the labor force is one of the most important determinants of economic growth, and the distribution by sex is a key determinant of gender inequality. In this paper, we examine how parents choose to invest in sons' versus daughters' education and the consequences of these choices for women's life chances. We explore this issue with retrospective data on the life cycle and family behavior of Taiwanese individuals who came of age from the 1940s onward. Since the lives of these cohorts encompass one of the most rapid economic and demographic transitions in history, evidence from their experience is of particular value in sorting out alternative hypotheses. Broadly, while contra-William L. marginal rates of return to investments are equalized across family members. Equalization of rates of return leads to equalization of the educational investment received by different children within the family only if the productivity of investment is the same for all children. Thus, altruistic parents will invest more heavily in the education of their "brighter" children and may seek to equalize the welfare of their children by making compensatory monetary transfers to their "slower" children.Viewed from the perspective of the efficiency aspects of this theory, the fact that girls received far less education than boys in Taiwan during the 1940s and 1950s suggests that the returns to educating females were smaller in the predominantly agrarian economy of the period. Similarly, the relative and absolute growth of female educational attainment in the following 40 years suggests that the rapid growth of the Taiwanese economy led to a shift in the pattern of labor demand toward more skill-intensive occupations in which males had a smaller comparative advantage. In response to increased skill requirements in the labor market, altruistic parents increase investments in the human capital of children of both sexes to the point at which the present value of each child's lifetime earnings is maximized. Without further adjustments, pursuit of this policy would impose a considerable sacrifice on parents who must finance the increased investments. The theory suggests that parents will tend to reduce fertility in response to higher costs per child and, at the same time, partially offset the increased costs of children's human capital by reducing monetary bequests and transfers to children or seeking increased old age transfers from them (Willis 1982). The rapid decline of Taiwanese fertility since the late 1960s together with the persistence of coresidence between elderly parents and their children and the pattern of intergenerational transfers within families are broadly consiste...

No abstract

Using a 1995 national survey of 2,870 Chinese private entrepreneurs, this article examines collaboration between private business and government in times of economic transition. Much as in the late 18th century situation in France as descri bed by Tocqueville, special moments occur when a newly emerging business class offers monetarypayments for charity and for honorary offices. In exchange, the government, desperate for new sources of revenue, provides social recognition and political access. The data suggest that into at least the 1990s Chinese private entrepreneurs donated generously to government welfare projects, and in exchange gained political access and social status via appointment to political councils.There can be few, if any, para//els for this intense desire of the middleclass Frenchman to cut an official figure; no sooner did he find himself in possession of a smal/ capita/ sum than he expended it on buying an official post... (Tocqueville [1858(Tocqueville [ ] 1955. Generally speaking, an investment in office was an investment in standing.What made it desirable was the status, the respectability that it conferred. (Taylor 1967:478).Tocqueville and Taylor were speaking of pre-1789 France, a moment when the state and the emerging bourgeoisie compromised because the state needed revenue and the bourgeoisie wanted status enhancement and protection from onerous bureaucratic fees. In exchange for the purchase of newly created official positions, the state conferred status and protection for newly affluent groups in society (Garrioch 1996). Similar patterns emerged in other commercializing societies in the late 1700s (e.g., England and Russia), with honorific titles and noble status granted in exchange for contributions and exceptional service by businessmen (Rieber 1982:33-38). The thrust of this paper is that in rare moments, when the business class has little access to power or prestige and when the government is short of revenue, special exchange relations between business and government emerge.

No abstract

While 70% of HIV positive individuals live in sub-Saharan Africa, it is widely believed that the future of the epidemic depends on the magnitude of HIV spread in India and China, the world's most populous countries. China's 1.3 billion people are in the midst of significant social transformation, which will impact future sexual disease transmission. Soon approximately 8.5 million 'surplus men', unmarried and disproportionately poor and migrant, will come of age in China's cities and rural areas. Meanwhile, many millions of Chinese sex workers appear to represent a broad range of prices, places, and related HIV risk behaviors. Using demographic and behavioral data, this paper describes the combined effect of sexual practices, sex work, and a true male surplus on HIV transmission. Alongside a rapid increase in sexually transmitted disease incidence across developed parts of urban China, surplus men could become a significant new HIV risk group. The anticipated high sexual risk among many surplus men and injecting drug use use among a subgroup of surplus men may create bridging populations from high to low risk individuals. Prevention strategies that emphasize traditional measures--condom promotion, sex education, medical training--must be reinforced by strategies which acknowledge surplus men and sex workers. Reform within female sex worker mandatory re-education centers and site specific interventions at construction sites, military areas, or unemployment centers may hold promise in curbing HIV/sexually transmitted infections. From a sociological perspective, we believe that surplus men and sex workers will have a profound effect on the future of HIV spread in China and on the success or failure of future interventions.

No abstract