Academic economists behaving badly? A survey on three areas of unethical behavior

This article measures the degree to which academic economists have engaged in unethical behavior and the degree to which academic economists believe the profession as a whole engages in unethical behavior. Three main types of unethical behavior are examined: (1) falsification of research; (2) expropriation of graduate student research or including an undeserving co-author on a research paper; and (3) exchange of grades for gifts, money, or sex. Using a unique data set gathered at the 1998 American Economic Association (AEA) meetings, we find that there is a significant amount of misconduct, particularly in the second category.     

Human Health Risk Assessment of Penicillin/Aminopenicillin Resistance in Enterococci Due to Penicillin Use in Food Animals

Penicillin and ampicillin drugs are approved for use in food animals in the United States to treat, control, and prevent diseases, and penicillin is approved for use to improve growth rates in pigs and poultry. This article considers the possibility that such uses might increase the incidence of ampicillin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (AREF) of animal origin in human infections, leading to increased hospitalization and mortality due to reduced response to ampicillin or penicillin. We assess the risks from continued use of penicillin-based drugs in food animals in the United States, using several assumptions to overcome current scientific uncertainties and data gaps. Multiplying the total at-risk population of intensive care unit (ICU) patients by a series of estimated factors suggests that not more than 0.04 excess mortalities per year (under conservative assumptions) to 0.14 excess mortalities per year (under very conservative assumptions) might be prevented in the whole U.S. population if current use of penicillin drugs in food animals were discontinued and if this successfully reduced the prevalence of AREF infections among ICU patients. These calculations suggest that current penicillin usage in food animals in the United States presents very low (possibly zero) human health risks.     

Foreclosing Fluidity at the Intersection of Gender and Sexual Normativities

Binary gender and sexuality are socially constructed, but they structure thought at such a deep level that even those critical of sexism and homophobia can unwittingly reproduce them, with consequences felt most profoundly by those whose gender/sexual identity defy binary logic. This article outlines a generic pattern in the reproduction of inequality we call foreclosing fluidity, the symbolic or material removal of fluid possibilities from sexual and gender experience and categorization. Based on 115 responses from people who are both sexually and gender fluid and a reading of existing sociologies of gender and sexualities from a fluid standpoint, we demonstrate how lesbian/gay/straight, cisgender, and transgender women and men—regardless of intentions—may foreclose fluidity by mobilizing cisnormative, transnormative, heteronormative, and/or homonormative beliefs and practices. Examining patterns of foreclosing fluidity may provide insight into (1) the further incorporation of fluid people and standpoints into symbolic interactionism, and (2) the reproduction and persistence of sexual and gender inequalities.     

Global patterns of healthy life expectancy for older women

This paper focuses on patterns of healthy life expectancy for older women around the globe in the year 2000, and on the determinants of differences in disease and injury for older ages. Our study uses data from the World Health Organization for women and men in 191 countries. These data include a summary measure of population health, healthy life expectancy (HALE), which measures the number of years of life expected to be lived in good health, and a complementary measure of the loss of health (disability-adjusted life years or DALYs) due to a comprehensive set of disease and injury causes. We examine two topics in detail: (1) cross-national patterns of female-male differences in healthy life expectancy at age 60; and (2) identification of the major injury and disability causes of disability in women at older ages. Globally, the male-female gap is lower for HALE than for total life expectancy. The sex gap is highest for Russia (10.0 years) and lowest in North Africa and the Middle East, where males and females have similar levels of healthy life expectancy, and in some cases, females have lower levels of healthy life expectancy. We discuss the implications of the findings for international health policy.     

Researching Resistance to Neoliberal Globalization: Engaged Ethnography as Solidarity and Praxis

In this paper we investigate the process of carrying out ethnographic studies of organized resistance to neoliberal globalization. We do so by drawing upon the critical and public social science of Bourdieu and Santos, two highly influential opponents of neoliberalism, and by utilizing Burawoy's ‘extended case method’ for the investigation of two instances of resistance. The first is of a trade union, Sintraemcali, that has been engaged in a longstanding struggle over the introduction of neoliberal policies in the city of Cali in south-west Colombia. The second is of ‘The European Marches against Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Social Exclusion’. We then reflect upon our approach to researching this resistance and conclude by identifying two key elements of engaged ethnography, solidarity and praxis, that together help provide new insights into the strategies and practices of social movement resistance to neoliberal globalization.

En este documento investigamos el proceso de llevar a cabo estudios etnogràficos sobre la resistencia organizada a la globalización neoliberal. Lo hacemos utilizando la ciencia social crítica y pública de Bourdieu y Santos, dos oponentes altamente influyetes del neoliberalismo, y utilizando el ‘método del caso ampliado’ de Burawoy, (ECM, por sus siglas en inglés) para la investigación de dos ejemplos de resistencia. El primero es sobre un sindicato, Sintraemcali, que se ha involucrado en una lucha de larga duracíon contra la introducción de politicas neoliberales en la ciudad de Cali en el sudeste de Colombia. El segundo es sobre ‘Las Marchas Europeas contra el paro, la precariedad y la exclusión. (Red EM, por sus siglas en inglés). Luego reflexionamos sobre nuestro enfoque en la investigación de esta resistencia y concluimos en la identificación de dos elementos claves de etnografía comprometida, solidaridad y praxis, que juntas ayudan a proporcionas nuevos puntos de vista sobre las estrategias y prácticas de la resistencia de los movimientos sociales a la globalización neoliberal.     

Trends in health expectancies in Australia 1981–1993

Health expectancy indices combine the mortality and morbidity experience of a population into a single composite indicator. This paper summarizes and evaluates methods for the calculation of health expectancies and presents trends in the expectation of life with disability and handicap in Australia from 1981 to 1993. Unlike other countries for which recent health expectancy time series are available, Australian results indicate that the expectation of years with disability has increased for both males and females. Possible explanations for this are examined.     

Office of the future — New challenges for operational research

A technological barrage has been fired on the office environment in an attempt to attack rising costs and improve productivity. Although very new, a dramatic level of effort is already being applied. The state of the art is changing daily but so far the problems still outnumber the solutions. The opportunities to contribute are significant. This paper briefly describes the scene, characterizes the state-of-the-art and suggests an entry strategy for the OR professional. The probable response of the OR profession is considered.     

A Critical Examination of the Social Contagion Image of Collective Behavior: the Case of the Enfield Monster*

This paper makes an initial statement regarding the conceptual and empirical utility of the social contagion image as posited by Blumer and Klapp. Their position is then criticized on the basis of its assumption that unverified and unusual sensory experiences, mobilization processes, and mass preoccupations are equivalent and undifferentiated products of social contagion. Further, the social contagion approach is unable to adequately account for differential participation in these collective behavior events. Most of these problems stem from the assumed discontinuity between collective and institutional behavior embodied in the social contagion perspective. An alternative approach is posited which suggests that communication processes, availability of the population for participation, and institutional demands provide a more adequate explanation of differential participation with respect to unusual sensory experiences, mobilization, and mass preoccupation. A case study of a monster sighting in a rural community is presented and examined from this alternate perspective.