Après nous le Déluge: fertility and the intensity of struggle against immigration

This paper is inspired by a puzzling empirical fact that, despite the importance of controlling migration for their future, the host countries allocate very limited amounts of resources to the struggle against illegal immigration. The present model analyzes this issue in the context of low fertility in the host countries and suggests a novel channel though which the intensity of the struggle against immigration can be related to fertility. The analysis shows that, for childless individuals, who have no reason to care about the future, it is optimal to contribute less to the costly immigration-prevention measures.     

Exploring Queer Consciousness Among Social Workers

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of MSW practitioners toward lesbians and gay men using a recently developed instrument. Whereas prior research focused on blatantly homophobic or heterosexist attitudes, this research uses a measurement tool based on the concept of queer consciousness (QC) and measures subtle forms of prejudice, including both positive and negative attitudes along four dimensions: Value gay and lesbian progress/diversity, resist traditional sex and gender roles, positive beliefs about lesbians, and positive beliefs about gay men. Research findings indicate negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in three out of the four dimensions for the sample of social work practitioners. This article concludes with suggestions for social work educators who want to redress areas of subtle prejudice and promote higher levels of QC.     

Evaluating skill acquisition in motivational interviewing: the development of an instrument to measure practice skills

Social work education has long emphasized the need to provide competence-based education. However, little work has been done to identify, validate and evaluate competencies in specific fields such as addictions. The purpose of this study was to isolate a set of substance abuse intervention competencies using Motivational Interviewing that could be used to teach and evaluate students. The research proceeded in three stages. First, a modified Delphi approach involving social work practitioners was used to discern a set of positive and dysfunctional skills related to Motivational Interviewing. The primary researcher taught a graduate social work class aimed at teaching students theory and skills related to this model. Students demonstrated these skills with simulated clients through videotaped interviews. Finally, three observers rated the student interviews using this developed instrument. While inter-observer agreement was lower than anticipated, this study does provide early support for the development of competencies related to specific theoretical frameworks.     

Marital status behaviour of women in the former Soviet Republics

This paper uses the most recent data and life table analysis to describe the marital behaviour of women in the republics of the former USSR. For the first time a multistate life table analysis was used to describe the marital careers of women from all the 15 republics. In the near future, such a comparative analysis will no longer be possible due to the unavailability of statistical data, especially in some of the Asian states. The analysis shows that despite 70 years of influence by Soviet ideology and lifestyle, the institution of marriage was little subject to rapid change, and retained its traditions for each culture and its ethnic features. Marriage was a universal institution in the former USSR. The majority of the women in all of the former republics entered marriage at least once. The mean age at first marriage varies from 20.5 in Moldavia to 22.8 in Azerbaijan. The proportion of marriages that end in divorce differs from 16% in Georgia to 41% in Latvia. On average more than 30% of divorced women remarry in Latvia and Ukraine and less than 5% in Georgia.     

Juvenile imprisonment and human capital investment

This paper analyzes the effect of juvenile imprisonment on educational investment incentives. The model shows that if some adolescents are likely to be in trouble with law, their chances to complete education and thus the expected value of investment in their human capital are negatively affected. As a consequence, their parents not only optimally invest less in the offspring’s education but also give birth to more children. The analysis helps to understand why some minority groups who for exogenous reasons are more likely to be convicted of crime exhibit higher reproduction rates and lower levels of education. It also demonstrates that prison education may have unintended adverse consequences.     

Free education, fertility and human capital accumulation

This article analyzes the effect of free public education on fertility, private educational investments, and human capital accumulation at different stages of economic development. The model shows that, when fertility is endogenous, parental human capital levels are crucial for determining the effect of free education. At early stages of development when parental human capital is low, free access to basic education may provide the only chance to leave poverty. In contrast, at advanced stages of development when parental human capital is high, the availability of free education crowds out private educational investments, stimulates fertility, and may impede growth.     

Nonparametric Bayesian Methods for Benchmark Dose Estimation

The article proposes and investigates the performance of two Bayesian nonparametric estimation procedures in the context of benchmark dose estimation in toxicological animal experiments. The methodology is illustrated using several existing animal dose‐response data sets and is compared with traditional parametric methods available in standard benchmark dose estimation software (BMDS), as well as with a published model‐averaging approach and a frequentist nonparametric approach. These comparisons together with simulation studies suggest that the nonparametric methods provide a lot of flexibility in terms of model fit and can be a very useful tool in benchmark dose estimation studies, especially when standard parametric models fail to fit to the data adequately.