On the admissibility of the maximum-likelihood estimator of the binomial variance

This paper addresses the admissibility of the maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE) of the variance of a binomial distribution with parameters n and p under squared-error loss. We show that the MLE is admissible for n ≤ 5 and inadmissible for n≥ 6.     

Can expanding access to basic healthcare improve children's health status? Lessons from Indonesia's 'midwife in the village' programme

In the 1990s, the Indonesian government placed over 50,000 midwives in communities throughout the country. We examine how this expansion in health services affected children's height-for-age. To address the problem that midwives were not randomly allocated to communities, the estimation exploits the biology of childhood growth, the timing of the introduction of midwives to communities, and rich longitudinal data. The evidence indicates that the nutritional status of children fully exposed to a midwife during early childhood is significantly better than that of their peers of the same age and cohort in communities without a midwife. The former are also better off than children assessed at the same age from the same communities but who were born before the midwife arrived. Within communities, the improvement in nutritional status across cohorts is greater where midwives were introduced than where they were not. This result is robust to the inclusion of community fixed effects.     

Correlates of negative attitudes toward gay men: sexism, male role norms, and male sexuality

Research has shown that heterosexual men are more negative toward gay men than women are on measures of attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons (Kite & Whitley, 1996). Gender differences in attitudes toward gay men's civil rights are less clear. No empirical studies, however, have investigated these findings with a scale that measures specifically these three attitudinal subcomponents. This study was a preliminary test of a scale that measured these subcomponents. In addition, this study investigated the relationship between these subcomponents and other attitudinal measures: hostile sexism, male toughness, and attitudes toward male sexuality. Results revealed that attitudes toward homosexual behaviour and homosexual persons comprised one factor: affective reactions toward gay men. Results showed that men were more negative on affective reactions than women were. No gender differences were revealed on attitudes toward civil rights. I found significant correlations between affective reactions, hostile sexism, male toughness, and male sexuality. I discuss these findings in relation to traditional gender role beliefs and make suggestions for future research.     

Mythscapes: memory,mythology, and national identity

In this paper I seek to challenge the dominant modes of conceiving the relationship between memory and national identity, and in so doing offer analysts of nationalism an improved understanding of the dynamics of national identity formation. The concept of collective memory is invoked regularly in attempts to explain the pervasiveness and power of nationalism. I argue that the concept is misused routinely in this context, and instead I employ a 'social agency' approach to theorizing, whereby memory is conceived in a more limited and cogent manner. I argue that it is important to distinguish clearly between memory and mythology, both of which are essential to understanding national identity, for not only are the two concepts distinct, they can also act in opposition to each other. Following from this I introduce the notion of a 'mythscape', the temporally and spatially extended discursive realm in which the myths of the nation are forged, transmitted, negotiated, and reconstructed constantly. Through employing the idea of a mythscape we can relate memory and mythology to each other in a theoretically profitable way.