LABOR MARKET STRUCTURE AND UNION WAGE LEVELS

This paper uses disaggregated data taken from union collective bargaining agreements to test several hypotheses on the impact of labor market structure on the wage levels of union members in U. S. manufacturing. The structure of collective bargaining, specifically the bargaining unit, is shown to play an important role in the determination of wage levels although this role is in some cases different than has generally been believed.     

MARKET STRUCTURE, DURABILITY, AND QUALITY: A SELECTIVE SURVEY

This essay provides an expository survey of that branch of the theoretical literature on product quality determination which assumes that quality can be represented by a scalar. The bulk of the work discussed associates that scalar with durability. Peter Swan's result that market structure has no impact on quality is derived in a straightforward way, and the assumptions on which it rests are identified and discussed. The consequences of relaxing these assumptions, as revealed by the subsequent literature, are described. The general implications of the durability literature are summarized .     

MARKET STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE: NEW DATA ON POLITICAL EXPENDITURES, ACTIVITY, AND SUCCESS

This paper utilizes new data to evaluate the determinants of the political influence of thirty-five manufacturing industries on the U.S. Congress during 1976–80. Several measures of influence serve to distinguish between political activity and success. Seller concentration and geopolitical dispersion increase both activity and success, but neither industry size nor leading-firm size proves significant. We test whether political expenditures facilitate obtaining the favors conferred on an industry by its market structure or by influence independent of that strurture; statistical inference strongly confirms both roles.     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

LINKING LIFETIMES: A GLOBAL VIEW OF INTERGENERATIONAL EXCHANGE. By Matt Kaplan, Nancy Henkin, and Atsuko Kusano (Eds.). University Press of America, 2002. Reviewed by Margaret Ann Nicholls

BIG MAMA. A Film by Tracy Seretean. Winner of the 2001 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Running time 40 minutes. Reviewed by Cathy Tompkins     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

GENERATIONS IN TOUCH: LINKING THE OLD AND THE YOUNG IN A TOKYO NEIGHBORHOOD. By Leng Leng Thang. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001, 209pp., pbk £10.95 ISBN 0 8014 8732 3., by Leng Leng Thang Reviewed by Stephen W. Ellis.

LEGACY:INSPIRINGSOCIALCHANGEINTHEU.S.ANDABROAD.A Film by Tod Lending. Reviewed by Jaia Peterson     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

A CITY OF ALL AGES. AN INTERGENERATIONAL LOOK AT LOCAL SOCIAL POLICY (EEN STAD VAN ALLE LEEFTIJDEN EEN INTERGENERATIONELE KIJK OP LOKAAL SOCIAAL BELEID). By Kees Penninx. Utrecht: NIZW, 2003, 212 pp., ε18,75, ISBN 9059570340. Reviewed by Christina Mercken

LIFELONG LEARNING, INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING AND SOCIAL CAPITAL: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE. By Ann-Kristin, Boström. Stockholm: Institute of International Education, 2003. Reviewed by Harvey L. Sterns     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEW

Abstract

LE SAVOIR SILENCIEUX DES GÉNÉRATIONS (THE SILENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE GENERATIONS). Olivier Taramarcaz. Sion (Suisse): INAG-INUK, 2005. 170 pp. Reviewed by Gilles Renault.     

THE EFFECT OF TECHNICAL CHANGE ON MARKET STRUCTURE

The paper examines the effects of technical change on market structure. It is found that: 1) the role of independent inventors and small firms is much more important in the early stages of the evolution of a product; 2) the net effect of innovations on entry reverses itself over the product cycle; 3) there is a shift in the importance of various sources of innovation over the product cycle. The two forces which contribute to this result are: 1) a decline in the importance of innovations as technology matures and 2) the proliferation of products adapted to specialized uses.     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

ABSTRACT

PEDAGOGIA SOCIAL Y PROGRAMAS INTERGENERACIONALES: EDUCACIÓN DE PERSONAS MAYORES. By Juan Saez (Coordinator). Malaga: Aljibe, 2002. Reviewed by Francisco Maños.

ELDER CARE AND SERVICE LEARNING: A HANDBOOK. By S. B. Seperson and C. Hegeman (Editors). Westport, CT: Auburn House (division of Greenwood Publishing Group), pp. 1–332, 2002. Reviewed by Paul Roodin.     

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

HOMESHARE IN EUROPE. By Anne-Lotte Kreickemeier and M^aAsuncion Martinez Roman. Alicante: University of Alicante, 2001. Reviewed by Johan Galtung.

ABOUT SCHMIDT. A Film by Alexander Payne (Director). New Line Cinema, 2002. Reviewed by Liz Larkin.

THE LIVING MAYA: THE MOPAN AND Q'EQCHT OF THE TOLEDO DISTRICT, BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA. By Anne-McheUe Marsden. Belize: MayaViewkeeper, 2002. Reviewed by David Burdick.     

CLASSROOM DIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

This paper tests how the race and ethnicity of one's college classmates affect academic performance. Incoming students at a Catholic college are assigned to their first semester, team‐taught, required course. Statistical tests support that this assignment is uncorrelated with a variety of student characteristics. Controlling for team fixed effects and student characteristics, I find evidence of racial peer effects that differ for white students and students of color. White students earn higher grades in classes with more students of color. Students of color with more nonwhite classmates earn lower grades; these effects occur exclusively among those with lower SAT scores. (JEL I21, I28)     

MEDIA LOGIC AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

Media logic and formats associated with television programming are shown to contribute to our understanding of the role of reflexive communication in defining a situation, and suggest the relevance of a theory of mediation for clarifying how an agent's communication products can influence the time, place, and manner of activities for us all. Social rules informed by conventional temporal and spatial considerations can be transformed through electronic content and formats. Viewers obtain information from mass media content that can transcend conventional personal experience (e.g., a 10-year-old child can learn how to be a teenager in 1940 or 1990). Materials illustrate how media logic and formats compatible with popular culture increasingly guide the form, content, and scheduling of social interaction. By the same token, certain kinds of experience are recognized for their mediated characteristics (e.g., rhythm, pacing, syntax, and grammar). As these patterns are incorporated into other realms of social life, temporal and spatial features of organized activities will embody the new formats. Viewing mass mediation from this perspective can illuminate a path for development of a theoretic understanding of mediation throughout social life.     

MARKET STRUCTURE AND PRICE-COST MARGINS:A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF U.K. AND U.S. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

This paper reports a comparative study of market structure- performance relations in U. K. and U.S. manufacturing indus- tries. The multivariate regression results support the hypothesis of homogeneity of the links between market structure and the price-cost margin dimension of performance in manufacturing industries of the two countries. Furthermore, the results indicate that the differences in the legal and cultural environments of U.K. and U.S. industries do not significantly affect the pattern of similarity in the links.     

EXCESS DEMAND AND MARKET ADJUSTMENT

This paper develops a model of wage and price adjustment that is based on the optimizing behavior of firms. The output of the model is a relationship between price changes and excess demands that looks like a generalized Walrasian adjustment but which is based on firm microfoundations. The model is then applied to stability analysis and the "Phillips curve," using restrictions derived from the underlying optimization to generate results.