We show how to approximate de Finetti's measure of a partially exchangeable sequence by a mixture of products of Dirichlet measures, explicitly built once the approximation error has been fixed. These results are used to give a general method for the elicitation of prior distributions...

Using data from two recent waves of the European Social Survey, we examine the relationship between macro-level supports for child rearing and individual-level fertility outcomes. We characterize country-level support environments across a broader set of domains than is typical, including...

Kulu H. and Billari F. C. (2004) Multilevel analysis of internal migration in a transitional country: the case of Estonia, Regional Studies38, 679-696. Recent geographical migration studies have aimed at clarifying the impact of both social environment and people's desires and beliefs on...

Considering demographic life courses as sequences, non recurrent and recurrent sequences are distinguished from each other. The description of life courses in terms of sequences leads to distinguish atomistic from holistic and static from dynamic approaches. Optimal matching and a monothetic...

We exploit a multistate generalisation of a classical, one-sex, stable population model to evaluate structural and long-term effects of changes in the attainment of adulthood. The demographic framework that inspired this paper is provided by Italy, where a strong delay in the transition to...