Emerging Socioeconomic Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccine Second-Dose Completion Rates in the United States

Although COVID-19 vaccination plans acknowledge a need for equity, disparities in two-dose vaccine initiation have been observed in the United States. We aim to assess if disparity patterns are emerging in COVID-19 vaccination completion. We gathered (n = 843,985) responses between February and November 2021 from a web survey. Individuals self-reported demographics and COVID-19 vaccination status. Dose initiation and completion rates were calculated incorporating survey weights. A multi-variate logistic regression assessed the association between income and completing vaccination, accounting for other demographics. Overall, 57.4% initiated COVID-19 vaccination, with 84.5% completing vaccination. Initiation varied by income, and we observed disparities in completion by occupation, race, age, and insurance. Accounting for demographics, higher incomes are more likely to complete vaccination than lower incomes. We observe disparities in completion across annual income. Differences in COVID-19 vaccination completion may lead to two tiers of protection in the population, with certain sub-groups being better protected from future infection.

Determinants of Skill Levels of Farm Youth with regard to Agripreneurship: A Multinomial Regression Approach

This study investigated various determinants of the differential level of skill as perceivedby farm youth engaged in agripreneurship. The existing agripreneurial skill levels weredelineated by developing a composite index constituting of 5 skill dimensions. Purposivesampling was adopted to select the rural youth belonging to farming background andinvolved in agripreneurship for higher income in five districts of Odisha representing fivedifferent agro-climatic zones. A total of 250 farm youth was sampled from the selected 10blocks. The findings of the study revealed that, annual income from primary occupation,agripreneurial training, social media exposure and agripreneurship experience havesignificantly affected the existing level of skill possessed by farm youth with regard toagripreneurship. The findings affirm the need for extension personnel to understand theexisting skill level, capacities, abilities of farm youth along with the factors determiningthem in order to create awareness and build capacities required for agripreneurship.

Labor Market Returns to Vocational Secondary Education

We study labor market returns to vocational versus general secondary education using a regression discontinuity design created by the centralized admissions process in Finland. Admission to the vocational track increases initial annual income, and this benefit persists at least through the mid-thirties, and present discount value calculations suggest that it is unlikely that life cycle returns will turn negative through retirement. Moreover, admission to the vocational track does not increase the likelihood of working in jobs at risk of replacement by automation or offshoring. Consistent with comparative advantage, we observe larger returns for people who express a preference for vocational education. (JEL D15, I21, I26, J24, J31, O33)

Entrepreneurial Behavior of Skilled Youths of Banda District of Bundelkhand Region,Uttar Pradesh

India being predominantly agriculture and agripreneurs play vital and important role in theagricultural value chain. In today’s changing scenario, skills in entrepreneurship developmenthave become important and Skill Development of Rural Youth is a flagship scheme of theGovernment of India. The study was conducted in Banda district of Bundelkhand regionof Uttar Pradesh to study the entrepreneurial behaviour of youths and its impact on socio-economic status of youths. Total 90 respondents were selected through proportionaterandom sampling from three youth training centers of Banda district. The data were collectedwith the help of pre-structured schedule and entrepreneurial behaviour of youths wasassessed by seven components of entrepreneurial behaviour. It was found that the majority(66.67%) of respondents had medium level of entrepreneurial behaviour. Further, the socio-economic profile attributes like education, land holding, material possession, occupation,annual income and sources of information utilization were positively and significantlycorrelated with entrepreneurial behaviour of youths.

Behavioural Determinants of Functionality of Farmer Producer Organisations in Punjab

Small and marginal farming communities of Indian agriculture account for more than 85%of the total farming households. They face the challenges of land fragmentation, high costof inputs and inability to market their produce efficiently. To tackle these challenges, policymakers came up with the model of farmers’ mutual cooperation through Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs). This study conducted in Punjab analyses the behavioural factorsresponsible for functionality of FPOs. A random selection of 150 members from 5 functionaland 5 non-functional FPOs (i.e., 15 respondents from each selected FPO) was made andthe respondents were interviewed personally. The findings revealed that the members(including management) of the functional FPOs had higher risk bearing capacity, greatereconomic motivation and more innovativeness as compared to the respondents from non-functional FPOs. Similarly, respondents from functional FPOs were socially, economicallyand managerially more empowered than the non-functional FPOs. Business skills of themembers, including the managerial members, of functional FPOs were also better ascompared to those from the non-functional FPOs. Regression estimates revealed that thefunctionality, better academic qualification, bigger land holding and joint family systemwere responsible for the higher net annual income of the respondents.

Gender Differences in Risk Tolerance

In this chapter, the author examines the influence of gender on financial risk tolerance. The risk tolerance is assessed by the instrument developed by Grable and Lytton in a sample that includes 272 postgraduate students of the University of Porto (Portugal). The results show that males are significantly more risk-tolerant than females, even after controlling for factors such as the economic status and educational levels of the respondents' parents. The gender differences seem to be essentially driven by a higher proportion of males with high levels of risk tolerance. Moreover, belonging to a household with a high level of annual income contributes to increase the likelihood of exhibiting high levels of risk tolerance. In the total sample, the levels of risk tolerance are lower than those reported in similar studies. Overall, the author documents that there are significant gender differences in financial risk perception.

Information Source Utilization by Livestock and Poultry Farmers of Uttar Pradesh

The study was conducted during 2020-2021 to assess the information sources utilizationpattern of livestock and poultry farmers of Uttar Pradesh. A total of 120 farmers, 40 fromeach group i.e., dairy, piggery and poultry were selected randomly. Semi-structured personalinterview and online survey through google forms were considered together for collectionof data keeping in view the COVID-19 second wave. Information source utilization bymajority of the respondents was medium. ICT utilization among the respondents wasmaximum with mean score of 0.63 followed by mass media with mean score of 0.51 andextension agency contact with mean score of 0.498. Education, land holding and experiencein farming business were found to be significant contributors in information sourceutilization. Except age, all the variables such as education, annual income, land holding,experience in farming business and number of trainings undergone were positively correlatedwith information source utilization of the respondents.

Study on Expectation and Recognition of Farmhouse in Development of Cosmetics Using Local Specialities

This article studied expectation and recognition on the development of cosmetics using local specialities in farmer producing local specialities in South Korea. This is a previous step to present a successful model by convergences of agriculture and cosmetic industry, this model is able to offer basic data in the development of cosmetics using local specialities. A total of 316 farmers in South Korea from May 2021 were enrolled in this study. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows, version 23.0. In the results comparing of expectation and awareness on application of local specialities by general characteristics and recognition of convergence industry, the expectation and awareness on application of local specialities showed significant difference partially according to the age, sex, last educational background, annual income and level on recognition of convergence industry. Also, that showed high difference according to level on recognition of convergence industry and the level on recognition of convergence industry exhibited the difference according to age, sex and income. Therefore, policy support of government based on these results needs in various directions such as technology, education, finance and promotion.

Visualization of Amsterdam Airbnb Business Performance using Customer Reviews

This article focuses on Airbnb that was one of the most popular sharing models in Economics. This study investigates the Airbnb business performance using customer reviews to calculate the monthly occupancy rate and a yearly income of Airbnb hosts in Amsterdam between 2015 and 2019. This study uses modest and optimistic estimates for the review rate with 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, and 3.9 for the average length of stay in Amsterdam. Findings reveal that the visitors increase from May to June, then again in September and October. The monthly occupancy rate of the super host has a higher occupancy rate rather than the regular host at every district. The yearly income of the super hosts in Centrum-West and Centrum-Oost was higher than in other districts, while annual income was most deficient in Gaasperdam - Driemond. In term of average occupancy and number of maximum people per accommodation, accommodations which accommodate more than eleven people have more occupancy rate than others. Customer reviews can be used to calculate the monthly occupancy rate and a yearly income of Airbnb hosts.